Bang Bang Bang

I know a lot of people are disappointed with our flag being won in Perth rather than on the MCG, but the way we won it is undeniably much more satisfying than what Collingwood dished up this September. Fair play to them though, best team in it all year and there is clearly method to how they win so many close ones. Flat that they won today but not as flat as Geelong winning one and life still went on. No Zorko medal is a bonus.

All these Lions players I hate, I love all of a sudden. Even Zorko is a good bloke today.

I much prefer the way Josh Mahoney (and now Tim Lamb) go about things. We pick our targets and always trade fair currency, if not a little overs sometimes, to secure a deal quickly. Some list managers (like Adelaide's here) are no better than the teenagers on BigFooty.

This is exactly how it would have gone against us, except we would have been up 14-7 instead of 31-2. I feel better now.

Tom Green is the most underrated young player in the comp. He’ll be better than Clarry IMO. So so good. From memory JT loved him and nearly took him ahead of Jackson at 3. GWS weren’t certain to match the bid. Oh well.

I think he’ll be a C grade midfielder wherever he ends up, just like he was with us, but replacing him should still be a priority. No hard feelings, played his role well in 21/22.

Even though it sucks for us, I reckon this finals series is good for the game. Two elimination finalists playing prelims and at least one a huge chance of winning one. It’s not inconceivable that both GWS and Carlton make the GF. It also will give teams who are going absolutely horribly at the Bye cause for optimism for a long time.

In 2021 we were the best team in it and won. In 2022 and 2023 we were not the best team in it and didn’t. I feel like it’s been kinda fair so far. We should have made the prelims at least once though, which is hard to swallow. It burns, in fact. Just glad we took our chances in 2021 after Bontempelli’s goal.

I think we have two more years where we can put ourselves in a good position to win a flag. After that, Max and May will be just about gone, Clarry and Trac will probably be starting to drop off, and our window might be starting to shut. I don’t think too much needs to change for 2024. Petty will be like a new recruit, and McAdam will replace Melksham (albeit it’s a downgrade based on 2023 form). Forget Grundy, it failed. Good luck to him. Don’t care what we get back. I think the 2024 Demons will be similar to the Lions of the past year or two. We will win plenty of H&A games, but they’ll count for nothing until we get to September. Let’s see if Brisbane can get it done this year. A lot will be said about Goody’s game plan and selections, but we’d be most likely playing in a Grand Final if we’d kicked straight against Collingwood. A prelim or more if we’d kicked straight against Carlton. Someone like Naughton, Ben King or Harry McKay would be nice but I’d rather roll the dice on Petty, JVR and Smith being the main guys and taking the great capital we have into the draft.

That's the problem with AFL and most sports in general - the entire 24 round H&A season counts for nothing when you can't execute in big games. 7.11 (+7 total misses) and 9.17 just won't it. That's the dictionary definition of a choke. Twice. We were never beating Geelong last year nor Brisbane this, but it still [censored] sucks not to even get a chance. The wins will be meaningless next year from March-August. Chokers tag well and truly on and we'll be a laughing stock over summer. Time to delete Twitter and stay away from footy talk as much as possible for six months I reckon. Last time I did that was 2017. May was massive and probably has another hurrah or two left in him. But we're running out of time. He's nearly 32 and still our MVP. In hindsight Petty going down injured can't be underestimated. TMac was beyond useless in both finals and Schache wasn't even trusted enough to go on the ground. [censored] [censored] [censored].

That's exactly why he wasn't upfront.

Fritsch is just a forward 50 God with magnificent luscious hair.

I was thinking more along the lines of Port/Melbourne winning tomorrow. We’d have to travel against an inform Port. I’d prefer a flaky Collingwood at the G. But if Port lose and we win, then we’re hosting a final. It’s a difficult day.

Without knowing what will transpire tomorrow, I think St Kilda winning would be bad for us.

Really looking forward to this game. I'm nervous and a pessimist before most games, but Top 4 is now locked in. We've got a ticket in the raffle. We're set. The last time I was this relaxed about a game was probably Round 23 2018 when we had sewn up finals and obliterated GWS on the MCG. Fritsch will be a certain starter if fit. Goody doesn't believe in VFL for the top tier talent. TMac could be a chance too, but maybe bringing them BOTH back is a bridge too far. So just Fritsch for Laurie is my guess. Best case scenario (of the realistic options) is that all Top 4 teams win and we get Collingwood at the G.

When we drafted him, JT's described him as a "real MCG player" (behind the scenes footage video) and was over the moon Brisbane didn't take him. Excellent foreshadowing. He's good on every ground, but he's a real weapon at the MCG.

Best game Lever has played since 2021. Good time to be hitting form!

This was the original plan I believe. But the problem is that Gawn has no forward craft and is not a good converter. A lot of skeptics felt the combo wouldn’t work and to Goody’s credit, he swallowed his pride and abandoned it as soon as he realized it was a bust. Gawn will play for 2-3 more years which is way too long for Grundy to wait. Grundy will seek a trade and we’ll oblige. Maybe a second round pick comes our way. It happens. No hard feelings and move on IMO.

If you mean adding him to our existing team, then I agree. He’s been excellent for GWS, arguably not a whole lot better than he was in 2015, but he set a high bar early. I still think we’ve been much better off and +1 trophy because of his departure though. We’re not having much success in recent years without May.

The Petracca non-goal is a really interesting one IMO. Marchbank immediately claimed he’d touched it (yes he could he lying but looked to me like it was genuine because of how quickly he did it) One angle looks like his fingers move. Another angle looks like he’s nowhere near it. Ultimately the soft call killed us.

Lachie Hunter.

Honestly thought that was a pretty good win. JVR came up with a huge clutch goal on the HT siren (with some thanks to Jayden Stephenson). North should have gone in with a decent lead at the break but instead they went in with almost none. They were never a chance after that. JVR doesn’t have the best technique I’ve ever seen, but he like, doesn’t miss ever? So good.

Shame about Daicos. He’s actually a really likable player and carries himself well for a young guy. Not his fault he’s so damn good and the media obsess over him. Will it hurt Collingwood much? Time will tell. I remember thinking the sky was falling when Clarry went down and that was before it was 12+ weeks! But we found a way. I suspect Collingwood will be similar.

I saw Jon Ralph grade the Luke Jackson trade as an A+ for Fremantle. Absolutely ludicrous. Dogga is an absolute gun, no qualms about that, but virtually no player in the league is worth pick 4, 15 and 23. You could trade for two stars and an excellent role player with that draft capital!

No Cunnington for them is a plus! Always tears us a new one.