Bang Bang Bang

So… you’ll be…. going for…. Geelong… tonight? Never thought I’d see the day.

Went to the game tonight, I actually don’t mind Marvel like everyone else seems to. It’s definitely not as good as the G but it’s always pretty easy to get to on the train and a solid spot to watch a game of footy. 30k was a pretty good turn out, even if we were outnumbered. Was just a “so-so” win at best, but also no worse than our win over them in 2021. And the 4 points were as crucial as they’ll be all season. Puts us in a very good position now. May was masterful, it looked like maybe age was finally catching up to him, but now… perhaps not? We will be in every game of footy as long as May is fit and in form. Beast. Goody will probably be pleased with how the midget forward line worked in tandem. I thought Melksham was very good, Trac was clinical and BB tried hard and did enough. I still feel like we were lacking one tall player down there. Forget Grundy playing forward, he has his strengths but marking and forward craft aren’t it. Gawn too. On that note… I think Gawndy is actually going the way a lot of us predicted it would last October. Just doesn’t seem to work and it’s made Gawn a shell of the player he once was. It’s not really Grundy’s fault either but surely Goody gives thought to replacing him with JVR (or Schache) just to see how it looks.

Give Ben another week or two to show his worth, he was never going to impact in today’s rubbish conditions and should have been a late out if anything. I’d be happy for any of ANB, Kosi and Chandler to be dropped, but this is Goodyball, none will be. As for Harmes, what a poor selection, no hindsight needed, just bizarre to drop JJ for him.

.

David King is paid to analyze the game and had Freo as his 4th seed twelve days ago. Someone needs Champion Data to go and audit his continual [censored] calls.

Joey Montagna is a much better analyst than Kingy. Joey jumped on the FlagDees before anyone else in the media (very early in 2021) - at a time when it was still VERY uncool to take Melbourne seriously. Kingy has no idea really, he'll probably have Essendon in his power rankings tomorrow. I do like him taking Kane Cornes to task every Friday though.

Not enough love for Lachie Hunter's hit on Hoskin-Elliot (3.54 left in the first quarter). Was awesome. Too bad Grundy couldn't finish the work off.

Jack Viney what a man! Not sure what was a bigger disgrace, the umpiring at the end there or Hamish going with "Bang Bang Bang" at the start of the game. [censored] off.

Anyone who thought Schache was going to be John Coleman for us were always going to be disappointed. We only got him on the cheap as insurance which thankfully we haven’t had to tap into much so far. Exactly the same as what Weideman was bringing us.

Delist Jefferson though.

Gunston is an interesting one - he was still an excellent player in 2022 and I was actually disappointed we didn’t go after him. But he has fallen off the cliff now. Not totally unexpected (he’s 32 this year) but just very sudden. Hopefully our plus 30s have a couple of good years left yet.

Umpire 22 is the worst in the business. There’s a reason he’s been around for years but never pops up in the finals. Dogs easily could have won that if it weren’t for him. Port are a bunch of [censored] but they’d have to trip over their own shoelaces to miss top 2 from here. And that gives them a huge chance of a GF spot. They have Geelong next week, I’m honestly not sure what to do for that game. Two despicable teams who are both dangers to us for different reasons. I might watch paint dry.

Five contenders IMO. #1 seed: Collingwood - clearly the Premiership favourites and won't have to leave the MCG in September. #2 seed: Melbourne - not the second best side in it, but crucially we play the MCG well and should be able to do enough to qualify for 4th. Running games out much better than 2022. #3 seed: Port Adelaide - people underestimate them, they probably should have won the flag in 2020 and only had a horror prelim evening in 2021, while 2022 was never a chance for them after the first month. They've bounced back quickly and Butters/Rozee are approaching their prime. They strike me as the most likely to qualify for a GF off the back of two home final wins - but then lose the GF to Collingwood, us or Geelong. #4 seed: Geelong - they just never go away and can easily get on winning streaks. They won 15 straight on their way to a flag last year. Will be strengthened further when Dangerfield and Duncan among others return. Old as hell, but for whatever reason their older stars never seem to slow down. A real wildcard. #5 seed: Brisbane - I think everyone kind of feels the same way about Brisbane. They'll put themselves in the conversation but won't be able to get it done deep into September.

I wish him well for the most part but Weid is still the exact same player he was with us. Those dropped marks are much easier to watch when he’s in Essendon colours.

That is 100% going to be 1-2 weeks. No way he gets off. Just need Mason Cox to dump tackle someone now.

“This will bring the house down” - dead silence. Love his enthusiasm. Haha.

Trac and Clarry will be locks for the next few years. It's disappointing that nobody else has really put their hand up so far - Gawn, Salem, May, Lever, Fritsch, Pickett and Langdon were all in the conversation this time two years ago. That could potentially be a good thing in the back half of the year. Lots of very good players who can lift.

I dunno, he has exposed form at AFL level over many years now. He's not a world beater but if he struggles for impact in subpar conditions at Casey then I don't think that should put a line through his name. Joel Smith was promoted off less.

Out. Bowey (concussed), Harmes (suspended/omitted), Smith (omitted) Ins. Hibberd, Oliver, Ben Brown I don't care what Benny is doing wrong in the eyes of the coaches, he's still good for a cheap free and mark each week. That's 2 goals we could use. Didn't mind the Smith experiment but it didn't work. Stick to what you know. I'll also cop TMac back if he's fit. Harmes will cop a week for his bump but will be dropped either way. When he cops his week I expect it to be one of the shorter threads in Demonland's history. Great clubman and servant, but he's not up to it at the minute. Not sure who I'd play as sub in my scenario. Maybe Chandler? I prefer the sub to have a bit of X-Factor rather than the 23rd man which is generally another vanilla midfielder.

Think a fair few on here owe Steven May an apology. There were posters writing him off after the Essendon game FFS. The All Australian blazers might be a thing of the past given his age but he’s still a colossus 1-on-1 with a great left peg.

I’m sure the mood in this thread will soon resemble a funeral but I’m personally happy enough to win ugly. Tomlinson was ordinary to poor tonight but Lever looked as good as he has in a long time. I’d keep Tommo in until Petty is good to go after the bye. We’ve survived the no-Oliver apocalypse and we just need to beat Collingwood to pump some adrenaline back in our season. Tough ask, but stranger things have happened.

I'd be in favour of packaging up our early picks for a pick in the top 5. Our flag was built off many factors but LARGELY off Trac and Clarry entering their prime in the midfield. Five years from now, they will both be good players still but most likely starting to slow down. Who will be ready from the current crop to take over? Sparrow and JJ are neat players but not going to be elite, Bowey doesn't look like he'll play mid, Pickett will never play there full time. The cupboard is pretty bare. You can find elite midfielders outside the top 5 (Zak Butters was pick 12), but they're much easier to find inside the top 5. Trac and Clarry themselves were very early picks. I think the club are aware of this and tried to package up some picks for Humphrey last year, but couldn't entice the Bombers to do the trade. I wish they had in hindsight.

The 50m against Ainsworth is actually the worst decision I think I’ve ever seen. How do you pay that ?

Jason Taylor was a big Humphrey fan, good to know he’s still got an eye for it.

Even if we win these days I’d say it’s only 60-70% positive, the carry on after the Suns game was pretty embarrassing. Today’s performance was pretty bad though.