deanox

At 21 he possibly has 5 years more than Max. His ability around the ground may come in handy when we reach that transition in the future.

The ball was swinging around at that end all day, drifting towards the south goal post. Weed took the mark and immediately put his hands up: he was taking the shot. He then proceeded to slot it from nearly 50 m out, almost on the boundary. He knew exactly how he was kicking it and nailed it.

Our 6th highest points for ever, and highest since 2000. And our lowest points against since 1968, and third leader points ever (1932 was the other).

Agreed with these comments on formation. Although we're still played a zone for parts of the game we were much less inclined than previous weeks.

Great to have some strong form heading into finals. We really strangled GWS's run today and played the game on our terms. Keep that up and we will be difficult to beat.

OMac channels his inner Travis Johnstone to launch that offensive play.

Correct, sorry! If WCE lose, you can add them as an option for week two of the finals.

They were in 3rd before Sydney kicked those last two behinds!

Week 1: Geelong @ mcg (if we win tomorrow) or GWS @ spotless (if we lose) Week 2 Rich or Haw @ mcg Week 3 WCE or Coll There are no other permutations.

Nup, GWS at spotless if we lose.

2 behinds ...

The teams that finish 5th and 8th play each other in round one. Then the winner keeps going. So apart from the location of the Elimination Final, the finals draw will be the same for both teams. Given we can only finish 5th or 8th (unless Sydney and Hawks draw, and then we'll finish 6th), the only difference is the location of our first final. Our potential travel is influenced more by who wins Syd v Haw tonight, and who wins WCE v Haw/Coll in week 1.

Basically our potential finals opponents from 5th or 8th will be the same, except for the first round. If we win we'll probably get: EF @ MCG vs Geelong SF @ SCG v Sydney (if S def H tonight) Or SF @ MCG v Hawks (if they beat Sydney by 15) or Collingwood (if S def H) or @ Perth v WCE (if C def WCE in QF) PF @ Perth v WCE (or @ MCG v Coll/Hawks, if they win thur QF) GF: @ MCG

I'm sorta happy Collingwood won. That way we won't have the opportunity to throw away the chance tomorrow.

Taking off my "they screwed the MFC" glasses, I actually don't mind this. Even without free agency, the draft is an insufficient balancing tool. As it stands effectively the only difference between finishing first and last is one pick - the bottom side gets pick 1, then after that 18th and first have consecutive picks. One of the biggest problems is the time required for list regeneration: to improve you need to turn over alot of your lost quickly and the current draft makes that hard. This format will mean the bottom sides can rapidly improve. It will mean a reduced likelihood of developing cultural issues associated with losing all the time. It will mean quality senior players are more likely to hang around because improvement won't need 3-4 drafts. It also means top sides will be more inclined to trade players to lower clubs to get back into the top 20. Yes, it might affect us, by reducing our potential "reign" but overall i think it will be a good thing. I'm concerned about how high up it extends, and wonder if it should be bottom 6 only. But by extending up it reduces the benefit of a crash season being a big benefit and reduces the benefit of tanking.

No, the top 2 sides recieve 27 and 28.

Cannot agree more with the top paragraph. If we come out breathing fire with the shackles off, it could be a sign of that the team has clicked. But if we come out a bit cautious approach it could be attributed to lots of reasons: a stress release, taking it too easy etc.

This is most likely thought by the same people who think he doesn't show enough emotion at the press conference so therefore doesn't care enough.

Level 2 or 2A give you the benefit of viewing from an elevation while retaining the closs feeling of level 1. Ihonestly don't like level one; I feel you lose the depth too quickly and its hard to tell what's happening more than 50m away. The wing gives you the best view of the whole ground all game long. During behind the goals makes it difficult to see what's happening at the other goal square, but I like sitting there because you can see how they set up, and what the zone/structure is doing. You can't see the same patterns from the wing.

I've felt similar. Richmond, Hawthorn, Geelong and Collingwood are tough propositions at the G. I think Geelong is the "easiest" to beat of the lot and we didn't get three job done either time. GWS is scary in its quality but with some injuries and their lack of history in finals they could go either way. Still not an easy prospect. WCE and Sydney are probably the flakiest of the other 7 finalists. But even then on their day are very strong. WCE probably has the better talent but might struggle with injuries and suspensions. Sydney have the mental strength to do anything. I do think we're the wild card though. Could go out easily. But also coud catch others off guard. I honestly think draw and venue's will play a large role in the finals. Unfortunately we've played our best football away from the G, but there's where we'll likely play. Perhaps the best outcome could be Geelong at the G, Sydney in Sydney then WCE in Perth? Although a MFC v CFC prelim at the G would be a thriller!

I noticed that and was annoyed on Sunday but then I realized he was doing it to try and gain separation a moment later. It might not work every time but he seemed to engage in a scrag, causing his opponent to stop watching the ball, then use that moment to push off his opponent or nudge his opponent under the back and turn back himself. It didn't work even the back dropped in front of him because then he wasn't able to push off. So might be atactic. Might also just be poor behavior.

I heard Garden interviewed and asked "how hard will you celebrate?" (Or similar) and (paraphrasing him) he said: "We haven't had much to celebrate over the years and I used to watch Geelong win and just go through the motions like it didn't mean anything. We're not going to do that, we'll sing every song like we mean it and keep celebrating every victory, because each time it's hard won" Or something like that, that's the message i took from it. Judd can stick that up his arse.

You mean most supporters full stop right?

Does anyone think this might be artificially inflated due to whiplash from the OMac tackle?

There is a realistic possibility that finals draw, if we continue to progress, would look like Geelong (MCG), Sydney (SCG), WCE (Optus). In other years I would say that travel is the death draw but having won 5/6 on the road this year (and just losing to PA), and playing those different shaped grounds so well, I think we'd be in a good position to navigate this. Of course, we could lose after the siren in week one.