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A mixed bag from bigfooty: Expecting to win this. Go cats. This is the game. Without Stewart, potentially without Stanley. I’m for once, not confident at all. Can't show our full hand but Scott needs to do something different. This team has our number in recent years. We will also see how some of the inexperienced players hold up to the pressure. Z. Guthrie, Holmes, De Koning, Close, Stengle . Demons are going ok but not as formidable as the back end of last year. I reckon we are in this up to our ears on current form. If we spend half the game kicking it down lever and May’s throats like we did against Richmond we are going to be in all sorts of trouble I can’t forget the nightmares of last year. Both games V Melbourne. I can see us getting to a decent lead early and them then reeling us back in. Melbourne by 25 points. We are due for a loss and they are too good. Would like to win but quite happy to lose and take some learnings out, hopefully we can be better come finals. While a lot of the names are the same I think we are better placed to face Melbourne than last year. We could have played a couple of kids last night and still won the game. Now Dad's Army will have to front up again on Thursday night. Not expecting a win here. I just want to see if our midfield is any chance of holding it together later in the year. They should smack us in the middle. We are a good chance, but so are they, and they will almost certainly bring their best footy and they play K.Park pretty well. Ii would love this upcoming game against Melb to be at the MCG - to see how Geel would measure up against the reignining premiers on the All those years of handing them out a hiding. They will never forget it. They rested Jackson for a reason. This is the game they want. I don't see us beating them for a while yet. I wouldn't care if we lose but if we could possibility unearth 1 or 2 flaws in their game so that if we meet again in the finals, we can try to expose that weakness. Melbourne are beatable. Put pressure on and get good ball to our forwards. Big game to show we are not just a top contender but we are here for the main course. Yep. That round 23 defeat imo gave them the belief to win the flag. Massive sliding doors moment. My favourites: I knew i shouldnt have tried to have a proper discussion with you. Because honestly it is like dancing with a Cobra snake Memo to players and coaches: if the game is close in the final minute and we have possession of the ball, DO NOT : Kick out on the full Punch the ball into the stand giving away a 50m penalty Fail to man up on Max Gawn at the top of the goal square

I think LJ will stay from what i am hearing from inside MFC The Media are right off course and it’s not about money. Sorry i can’t say anymore at this point, i was asked not too

I personally like it, shows respect for the opposition. much like shaking hands before the game It has nothing to do with toughness. I have seen Kozzi smash a bloke (fairly) and then check if they are OK when the ball is out of play or help them up. Go in bloody hard but respect your opposition.

Barring the GF victory, This was the happiest moment of my supporting life. Unexpected, unbelievable, after the siren, Geelong at Geelong and for top spot! Will never forget this...and I imagine neither will they.

Just finished watching the replay. I'm not sure if it has been mentioned but the Demon supporters at the ground put up a mighty effort. The singing of the song with 4 minutes to go and then the chant of "Lever Lever" and the roar when took his last intercept mark was fantastic. Well done to all those that travelled or turned up from Adelaide to support the Dees.

Happy memories

Geelong have strung together six wins in a row, but the highest ranked of those opponents is Richmond, in seventh now, who they only just scraped past. Their whole midfield/medium-sized player pool is quality without being exceptional. Yes, even Dangerfield and Selwood are now just quality without being exceptional. That will make for an interesting coaching challenge - our 'best' centre clearance midfield ought to shred theirs, but then their second rotation will be basically the same quality as their first. I have a feeling we will see some brutal momentum turns when Petracca is brought into the middle at the same time as the other prime movers are sent in after a refresh. Missing Stewart and now apparently Kolodjashnij as well not only shrinks their defence, it really reduced their intercept marks. On both counts that'll suit us as we will have more forward-50s actually stay in our forward 50, and when they do come out it'll be a little less clean and will often play literally into the hands of our harass-and-intercept game. Their forward line is more of a problem because we won't have so much luxury to move off opponents when they have the two potent talls up there. Stengle also worries me as just the kind of small forward who has always, always caused us trouble. I also think we might see our own forwards break loose a bit. For all that Ben Brown has struggled for form, I think he goes a step faster than anyone they have who is tall enough to go with him. I also think Fritsch will beat any given opponent they might send to him; when it isn't by mobility, it'll be out-contesting or by sheer cleverness. Got to admit, I really would like to make Geelong our bunny team, now and forever.

I've heard that Luke Jackson made his mind up ages ago, but hasn't announced anything because he's having too much fun trolling Demonland posters.

I tip him to get a free on the siren in the 2022 G/F, after Weid having been dragged kickless ,and slots the winning goal after the bell Interviewed later he says " I have been waiting for my opportunity "

Yes, the umpiring was noticeable given we only received 3 free kicks in 3 quarters. But can we talk about how we ground down and overcame some high level pressure, possibly Adelaide's best all year, in hostile territory after conceding the lead late in the second quarter? All without Gawn, Jackson and TMac? It's easy to look at Adelaide's ladder position and think this should have been routine, and the way the first five minutes unfolded that's what I thought it was going to be. But they brought really clear heat and made us work for everything. The more games we get into the current back seven, with Hibberd and Salem still needing to find their feet a bit, the better we are going to get. 30 intercept marks is huge. As for the forward line, 24 scoring shots and nearly 100 points in a game where no forward was really all that dominant. Still too many errant inside 50 kicks and missed shots on goal, so there remains room for improvement.

Tracca and Clarry are nothing but class. We should be honoured to have them represent us.

Cats have proven to be one of the most arrogant clubs now and their supporters aren’t far behind. Most other clubs hate them which is probably due to their sustained success and Dangerfield (he thinks he is god’s gift to footy). Hope we win this one more than any other home and away match.

Nealy A clean sweep! 10 Christian Petracca (MELB) 7 Clayton Oliver (MELB) 7 Steven May (MELB) 2 Jordan Dawson (ADEL) 2 Jake Lever (MELB) 1 Ed Langdon (MELB) 1 Angus Brayshaw (MELB) A fairly similar coach vote for top 3 honours. Interesting that 3 of our defenders got votes. They deserve it - a record number of intercept marks. Split 5/5 Petracca 4/3 Oliver and May 2/0 Dawson and Lever 1/0 Langdon and Brayshaw Leader Board Oliver now has a big lead. Will be interested to see how many Brownlow votes he has after round 16. Petracca equal third 83 Clayton Oliver MELB 68 Lachie Neale BL 65 Touk Miller GCFC 65 Christian Petracca MELB 64 Andrew Brayshaw FRE 63 Jeremy Cameron GEEL 60 Patrick Cripps CARL 52 Connor Rozee PORT 48 Callum Mills SYD 45 Sam Walsh CARL 44 James Sicily HAW 43 Hugh McCluggage BL 43 Bailey Smith WB 42 Jack Crisp COLL 42 Jack Sinclair STK 41 Sam Docherty CARL 41 Darcy Parish ESS 40 Max Gawn MELB 37 Charlie Curnow CARL 37 Taylor Walker ADEL

But Jontee doing the unexpected can get in the opponents head. Next opportunity to give you a quick punch in a tackle maybe they don't. Get in their heads and mess with them.

Would be worth getting him just to watch Crows fans heads explode

The scary thing for oppositions is that Petracca might have been best on ground but he was still a fair way from playing at what he's capable of when playing at his very best.

Wasn’t it reported his club of choice was Melbourne but due to Melbourne not being close to getting a deal done with Freo for him he pivoted his choice to Carlton (whom Freo could get a deal done with)?

Even with a totally unbiased view, this game should not be played in front of 21,000 people Because it's on a Thursday night, the game is by default, classed as a blockbuster event plus ... it's 1 vs 2 If they are going to schedule a game in Melbourne's winter on a Thursday night, at least play the game under the roof at Docklands where 50,000 can get to see the game live

I jumped around our lounge room like a wild man. My wife didn't know what was going on. Best H&A win ever The next best was the 2017 win v West Coast when we kicked 3 late goals to snatch the win. That was pretty special as well

What leverage do tbey have? If they couldn't satisfy our demands for a trade, we could force Jackson into the preseason draft. Sure, if we did so we would get nada. But we don't need any more players who will struggle to get in our best 22. We have a premiership defender playing at Casey and a boat load of others who are desperate to play senior footy, including some highish draft picks in Laurie and JVR and a fella who polled 11 brownlow votes last season. So if freo chose to play hard ball and not offer a solid, rolled gold best 22 player then we just say draft time jacko - and enjoy playing at the roos; I hear they have a great program. In fact you could argue, if Jackson is hell bent on going home and doesn't want to play for the eagles, we have all the leverage as only we can make that happen. Doesn't matter though as Jackson will stay, thank God (vibe not intel).

The fix is in. So to speak. Our drop off in aerial dominance has coincided with the loading we have done and the not inconsiderable issue of tmac's injury and having may and gawny miss games - not to mention three games where every bloke over 6 foot 4 got injured during the game. We will soon be back to controlling the aerial contests.

This is a part of an article written by The Mongrel Punt on the Adelaide v Melb game. I found it interesting reading comments by independent commentators. "Matching them up, they attended a similar number of ruck contests, but that is where the comparison stops. ROB got 48 hit outs from his 70 contests, 16 to advantage while Weideman's 73 contests. netted only 11 hit outs with four to the advantage of his own team. The story is the same for practically all key stats, with O'Brien pantsing Weideman in clearances, tackles, marks, disposals, metres gained, intercepts and even free kicks. Having said all that, Weideman would have known that he was probably not going to win the taps going into the game, so it looked like he intentionally put his body into spaces that O'Brien was looking to use to tap to his mids, while the Melbourne midfield looked to steal the ball as it was tapped down, which they did so very effectively. So while I'm giving O'Brien the nod as a pure ruckman, the way Weideman was able to work with his midfield was everything that Melbourne could have wanted from him in terms of outcome. He still needs to watch some undisciplined play that gave away free kicks, but as a role player, he did very well and will likely be congratulated in the Monday game review."

Oh, and can we just have a moment to marvel at the latest AFL MRO/Tribunal disgrace. Tom Stewart runs past the ball and KOs Prestia. That's "careless". Kozzie Pickett poorly executed a tackle. That's "intentional". (FWIW, I have no problem with Pickett being cited for what he did, but it was careless in the truest sense of the word).

Sick and tired of the word of some D/Lers with Jacko as "potential" . Clearly he will be a better player as he gains more experience but Jacko is a serious player NOW in a premiership winning team. There would only be about 3 to 5 other ruck players in the AFL now that we would consider as a fair replacement for him if he leaves. He has helped our team by direct play on the ball change a number of games in his first 50 AFL outings the highlight being the GF last year in the third quarter. He is a serious and talented player now and not just "potential " who has a serious X factor with agility, ground ball and extraordinary midfield skills plus the ability to score goals and be a real team player in each game. His ruck craft will be stronger and more competitive no doubt once his body matures but make no mistake we will miss him greatly if he decides to leave NOW (or in the future ). Let's hope he stays for a couple more years or all his career for some more flags and success. He is a serious player now about 3/4 complete not just a potential star to be dreamed about into the distant future.

Thank goodness his name isn't van Jordon or we'd get spelling errors too

This anonymous Twitter account which I think is run by a former AFL umpire rates every game from an umpiring perspective and also comments on controversial decisions. This was his take on Saturday’s game.

Nah from me He feasted on Richmond for 5 when Grimes and Vlaustin both had dodgy hamstrings R5, the only other top 8 team he has kicked 2 goals against is Carlton (hardly a defensive benchmark team). Lions 1, Saints 1, GC 1, WB not top 8 and whose defense is shizen 3. A flat track bully (no surprise) who is not getting near it against other top 8 teams. And Wingnuts is a DH as TISM would say 'pure and simple'. Would make NARRM and everything we are doing in this space for indigenous footballers to get a fair crack suspect. He can join Essendon with De Goey at the end of the season.

Cameron is a fantastic footballer. Great hands, one of the best kicks in the AFL (including his field kicking), high footy iq, athletic, huge tank and great hands In terms of his goal kicking, a challenge he faces against us is he is at his most dangerous when he turns his opponent around and runs back inside 50 with the flight of the ball and marks. Which works great against most teams. But we always have our deep spare, meaning instead of running back into an open 50, Cameron is running straight towards may, petty, Lever or Gus. Good luck with that.

I heard an interview with Richo either just before the pies game, or in the following few days, and he said we were going better than last year, noting that too often last year we were down at half time and had to fight back in the second half. Whereas this year we have started better and controlled leads more effectively (clearly a big focus this season). Richo also noted we had won more quarters than than at the corresponding stage last year

If it's any consolation, one of Luke's closest mates Luke Travers was drafted into the NBA last week. So he won't be seeing much of him should he want to return to Perth.

i maintain that the week to announced dogga and gus' contract extensions is in the lead-in to playing in freo

They’ve stopped tanking and have reverted to just being regulation garbage.

That's the moment we won the premiership

Can you really compare playing backup ruck at VFL level to AFL? Besides Weideman doesn't play a full time ruck role, he was playing with Majak as the primary ruck. And I meant he has good hands in the packs and at ground level. He is not good in the air. That is his biggest failing and the reason why he is in and out of the side, he can't impact aerial contests.

Adelaide are the #1 Pressure team. they have been doing it all year. They have a host of problems but pressure isn't one of them

I'm tipping Cats and Dees as top two regardless of the outcome of this match. But a win for either is a massive mental victory: Cats will be playing for revenge; Dees for mental dominance. A good win for them and they will feel vindicated and go into a Final with a swagger. A good win for us and the mental scarring will be complete. Dees to win by 1 point after being 4 goals down. That should finish off their mental scarring!! On second thoughts not sure I could cope with such a close game so perhaps: Dees to win by 2 goals after being 4 goals down...

You would reward a perenially underperforming Weeds. Over a guy that at least was competitive in the ruck and kicked 2 Goals in Mitch Brown... Hnmmm!🙄

This poor bloke is doing the team thing every week and getting no love for it. Really surprised by those having a crack at him.

Honestly I feel like some demonlanders are watching a different team to the one I’m watching. Our forward line instructions are clearly to prioritise bringing the ball to ground. You will see BB competing with 2,3 or 4 defenders regularly and halving the contest. If he goes up in a pack mark situation with soft hands he will only ever mark or be out marked, that is not our strategy. We play percentages and the number of individual goal kickers over the past couple of weeks tells me that our strategy works. He virtually never gets a block and without another genuine tall target he will rarely get space to run and jump. I’m not sure what key metric is telling people he is not doing his job, all I can think of is that his conversation on set shot, which is usually elite, is a little bit off lately. He does a power of work to get up the ground and provide an outlet. I’m honestly unsure what people are seeing that they could attribute to BB not playing his role.

Dismissing Walker out of hand is silly in my view. The reality is that Tmac, Brown, Brown and Weid are all mediocre talls and with Tmac's supposed foot injury our barrel is pretty empty. BBB is either terribly out of form or injured. Worse still he could be past it. Weid doesn't look like it and MBrown is no better as a long term solution. That leaves an injured Tmac. It's a fraught situation. JVR is the future but that future is years away until he'll be an effective key forward so for the next two years he's development. Then we just hope he makes it. For those that think otherwise just look at JUH, Thilthorpe, McDonald and Reid who were all taken in the top ten, all with more development than JVR and none playing consistent AFL footy. Our tall forwards, with a few exceptions, have been very poor this year. We need some class while we develop alternative strategies. And there's no use getting fringe players like Riccardi, if they are fringe elsewhere they'll be fringe at MFC. Walker has played great footy last year and this. He's showing no sign of slowing down. He'd be our best forward if he played for us now. I'd be looking at him as we need to sort out our tall forward situation. Jack Darling is another possibility and as mentioned before Rory Lobb perhaps but his contract is an issue.

Speculation only (rare for this site) but my guess is Jackson’s mgmt have asked Freo & Melb to see if a suitable trade could be organised - if the two parties are too far apart he’ll sign a short term contract with Melbourne. No way his manager will want to put him into a scenario where there is any talk of Melbourne possibly pushing him to the draft.

I actually think their midfield is average. Their forwardline is their strength.

I am of course biased when it comes to Geelong but if we play near our best and they play near their best - we will win by 20+ points.

The umpiring was so bad that my wife was screaming at the TV. For the first time in history She never raises a voice and is normally the one saying to me "you really need to calm down watching the footy, it's just a game"

I want another 80+ point win and Maxy to kick another 5 on them (Again). Would love to see Weid lay another crunching tackle on Danger like he did in the 2018 EF too.

If I were Geelong Id worry about Mitch Brown more than the Weid.

The truth lies somewhere in between, doesn't it? Yes, he's got a role to play that isn't just him kicking bags, yes, as part of our gameplan we need him bringing the ball to ground and he's doing that and yes, he is regularly competing with multiple defenders hanging off him. Agree with all that. Also agree with his work-rate. At the gorund you can see how But also, he is dropping non-pack marks under less pressure, and he's being outworked in one-on-one contests too often. And he's missing set shots that he used to never miss. And he's burning team-mates by snapping shots when he could be passing. He's not "cooked" as some have suggested, but he's also not going as well as your post suggests IMO.

Yes, but he doesn't like the way North are going about things. Roos rues Roos' ruse.

...and that's the one he got a free kick against for shepherding out in the ruck or some such nonsense.

Loved Pedo. I reckon his career best form was when he became our makeshift ruckman when Gawn went down in 2017. I remember clearly a game against Essendon where he gave Tom Bellchambers an absolute bath. He was also so reliable around the ground that some of his contested marking around the ground was elite. He gave lion hearted efforts in the ruck and I think that year alone he won many respect of supporters. I was waiting for that kind of performance from Weideman and M Brown on the weekend but just wasn't quiet there. Both did well to compete but.