SaberFang

Didn't say much interesting. Petracca "probably won't play" but it all depends on Garlett. Is going to Hawaii at the end of the season, won't be coaching next year. Wants the Anzac Eve fixture permanently for Dees and Tigers. Doesn't care how stupid Gawn's beard looks if he keeps playing like he is. Oliver being rested because Angus showed them last year that overplaying kids is a bad idea.

Deledio coming back with no match fitness. It was a disaster when they did that last year (he injured himself again). Rather amusing to see them desperately repeating old mistakes. Ah, Richmond.

Found this a really interesting graphic from BigFooty, from last Friday presumably: Not hard to see what Richmond's problem is, as far as gameplans go. Short, easily intercepted kicks and handballs in defence. They collapse badly against high-pressure teams because their high-possession gameplan doesn't stack up under pressure, mostly because of poor skills and lack of leadership (sound familiar?) If we go into this game highly offensive with manic pressure, we give ourselves every chance to win. If we're dumb enough to fall for the Essendon trick of allowing them to play keepings off while they get cheap goals when we leave holes in defense, we will lose. Roosy's record against Hardwick would indicate he's long worked out how to counter the Tigers, and it looks like most of the competition has caught on.

I just want the damn 2-in-a-row monkey off our backs.

Michael Voss for Phil Walsh is as far from equitable replacement as it gets. We're talking about the coach who revivified Adelaide in half a season, versus the guy who set the Lions on a collision course with mediocrity. Leppa's just finishing the job Voss started.

Sounds like Deledio will play if he trains strongly on Thursday. Incredible that they wouldn't give him a run in the VFL but they're desperate.

Sounds like they might rush back an underdone Deledio. Their record with him is significant, but more significantly is their record without him. Something like only 5 wins in the last 3 years without Deledio playing.

Should really be next GOAL wins. Winning a grand final from a rushed behind would be quite the anti-climax.

Um, yeah, but... uh... he takes flashy marks. ...then turns it over.

There's got to be about 15 other players from GWS I'd rather have than Kelly at this point. Their depth is horrifying.

Very fitting to see him debut against the Saints, if it eventuates. The man they passed on for McCartin; great story.

Anyone who argues that umpires don't have an adverse influence on the results of games is kidding themselves. North got kissed on the dick last week, Hawks this week. Is there a mandate from AFL House to completely screw over young teams to protect their finalists? You genuinely have to wonder.

6-8 for JKH is devastating; the only thing worse would be 4-6 because his season would be over. Hope he can get back to that really great form early in his career...

For our sake next week, I genuinely hope the Tigers get up tonight. Why on earth would any Demon supporter want us to play against them after an entire week of media shitestorm following a belting and 1-3 season start? Those are the exact games we always manage to lose. If they win tonight next week will follow a familiar script: Tigers will get way ahead of themselves after defeating grand final contenders then waltz into next week expecting a walkover. It's equally as predictable from the Tigers, and would be the perfect chance for us to strike a "surprise" win.

Last year, teams who faced a week of media scrutiny before playing against us came out firing (and we lost, probably expecting an easy win.) We better prepare for Colonwood's best because they've seriously underperformed so far this year. If they actually put in the effort they could be a scarily good team. We better not take anything lightly, least of all after round 2's debacle.

Healy is just another News Limited mouthpiece, don't bother listening to the guy.

I found myself agreeing with Robbo for the first time tonight. His analogy with the baby in Prahran really struck me. The guy's injured, not dead. He will likely come back and play again next season and it will be glorious. You don't need to crawl into a corner and cry for a whole week because of it; get some bloody perspective in your life.

The man is toxic. Even Robbo's in on the act, already pre-empting this last week by mentioning Dank at Melbourne on 360. They simply will not stop in their efforts to distract people from what happened at Essendon. Don't trust anything from companies associated with News Limited. They have tentacles all over the media landscape and have fought for Essendon the whole way, due to links higher up the hierarchy. Rich people have rich friends, and sadly Essendon are almost the richest in town.

If New Zealand didn't give a fig about AFL, why on earth would the Chinese?

Of course they'd say that. The umpires are always in Collingwood's pocket and Geelong has the home crowd advantage on their side.

After round 2 I can't fathom why any supporter would want us to be clear favourites, ever. Clearly the players take the odds a bit too literally.

There's a toxic level of denial at Richmond about the quality of their list. You'd think three consecutive elimination final losses would turn the tide, but they remind me of Carlton during the Malthouse years. A total inability to admit what everyone can see: their list is very, very average. Cotchin's the softest captain in the league and seems to hate having the gig, but they actually have very few players worthy of replacing him. Their entire structure seems to collapse as soon as Deledio doesn't play (a regular occurrence) which indicates a seriously flawed gameplan.

I'm not sure you'd drop Vanders when he probably feels he has more to prove next week than most other players. He'd be filthy tonight about his horrible miss in the dying minutes, let him carry it into the next game.

All the more amusing now. Wonder if we'll be returning to this quote with belly laughs in a week's time?