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It felt like we got a bit rattled after the buddy 50, absolute gift of a goal that it was. We lost our composure and never really got it back. I wasn’t expecting us to lose the mental battle. We seemed to get frustrated that they wouldn’t let us do what we wanted and weren’t willing to turn it into a brutal grind when we should have. They were incredibly well set up all night and played to it really well. There has to be an element of luck with the way the ball fell to their set up enough over the night to do so well with stoppage but we didn’t try and stop it. They pounced on our errors and spillages time and time again. We gave them too much room particularly across contests on their half forward line. they gave us nothing all night and were very good. Can’t see us going all the way after tonight. Geelong and Sydney are ahead of us on form and we look like we have too many problems and too many holes to plug. Hope I’m wrong but we didn’t look like a convincing side tonight.

I think they may have over rated their list or at least where it’s at. Feels a bit like they panicked with the Clarkson situation and the media pile on and now they have to follow through. Stability is a vital asset to improvement and winning finals. They have none of it. Let’s hope they double down rather than clean out, for the good of the competition.

Anb got a whack in the guts

Much improved field kicking. We took a lot more on tonight. Kicks over players heads running toward goal worked beautifully a few times. Put us in better scoring positions throughout the night.

This has all gone down better than expected. I like north. As much as you can like any other team. Mainly because I relate. They are us a decade ago. Clarkson is no guarantee of success. He had some of the great players of the era to coach. But good on them for finding a way forward. But what is exceptional is the bombers imploding. Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch. Hopefully rutten sues or something on the way out (no idea if that’s possible) just to rub it in. What would make it even better is if after watching the way rutten has been treated the coaches get together and do something about the way the media hunt coaches. It is an absolute disgrace but the media and the afl don’t seem to care at all. Teams where Essendon are on the ladder routinely get flogged this time of year. It’s truly irrelevant. How this became what it did is pure insanity and shows how miopic the media are. Essendon are really just a young team who over performed last year. They have some talent but a long way to go. They are a bunch of skinny kids when you see them live. Their board got sucked in by the media panic and they have stained their brand. What coach on any level, be it assistant or head would want to go there now? Interesting to hear Mahoney and dodoro aren’t getting along too. Hopefully there’s heaps wrong with the place. Absolutely spectacular result. 12 year old me sitting at the grand final in 2000, head buried in the football record after half time, afraid to watch anymore is very pleased with where things are at I imagine.

Yeah winning flags sucks. I couldnt stand the way we ran over the best teams in the league last year when finals came along.

I remember beating them convincingly recently 🤷🏼‍♂️

Where was that kind of kicking from Collingwood last week. Sydney did what we should have done had the kicking for goal not been so nuts.

Watched the replay. Couldn’t watch it live. I thought it was a great game. Would have been very hard to watch live. High pressure contests all over the ground all night. The sloppy disposal comes with the style of game it was. Great to see Gawn and Jackson taking marks. I thought the reason Ben brown was going up one handed all night is because Carlton were very good at holding one arm all night. Not just with Ben brown but any chance they could all over the ground. Sneaky good tactic and hard to umpire cause you can barely see it. He took a few good marks when he got a bit of a run at it. We are trending well. They are a good side who gave absolutely everything, which we hopefully might be getting used to. I like that our prep for finals is as hard as it has been. We will be right where we want to be come finals. Geelongs soft run might be a problem for them. The win meant a great deal to them judging by their post game mood. I think we are right in it. I didn’t see the game some on here saw last night. Struggling to see the season being over as some are suggesting. I saw a very tough game of football and as with last week we are doing a lot right. God it’s good to beat them. I actually like the team they have at the moment, but it’s always about the supporters with the big vic clubs. Just insufferable.

Agreed. We don’t know what we are in for with concussion in the future. Lawsuits around it could decimate the game.

The strange thing is with all of this I kind of agree that he shouldnt get suspended if it was judged he was playing the ball and had no intent to make a hit, If that’s the judgement, which you could argue against too. however, I would love the afl to move toward intent rather than outcome as it seems far less complicated. It does however mean some concussions, like this one, will go unpunished.

The book “the boys club” by Michael Warner was illuminating in understanding how the afl is run. I left that book with little doubt the afl has been taken over by a mafia esque executive branch who operate with impunity. They protect their own and make rules on the go. One book can’t tell the whole story obviously but it was damning. It seems most who come from other areas to deal with the afl are often left shocked by the way they run their show. They take advantage of the fact people are helplessly addicted to the game and will always fork over their hard earned for their beloved club.

The way the afl is run it would be long gone without the irrational and emotional allegiance of the fans to their clubs. They are really just taking advantage of us and walking away with their pockets lined. I’d love to not support this corrupt organisation but I’m deeply brainwashed and I will be buried with a Melbourne jumper which makes things complicated.

I see percentage as very important. Paul Roos spoke about bringing our percentage up being more important than winning at the start of our rebuild as it is a better indicator as to how competitive you are. It’s kinda like how you are faring in the game that is the entire season rather than how you went when the final siren blew at each game. Not a perfect analogy but I think it makes sense. Collingwood statistically are the luckiest team in a very long time. Doesn’t mean they can’t win it all. Just very lucky to this point. It’s literal chance they are winning by the margins they are. Heart, determination etc are overblown in this conversation in my opinion. I think we played quite well and our firm is better than the loss suggested. I think we are very chance to beat Carlton and Brisbane comfortably. Improved conversion alone will do it.

This was about Collingwood wasn’t it?

But that’s the thing. It’s not about being right in this situation. It’s just a layer you can add to your analysis for further perspective to help understand why certain things may be. There’s a level of speculation involved sure, but no one claimed we are a lock as a result of our training program. There seems to be a lot of talking past each other in this thread when we are likely closer to each other’s opinions than we think we are.

This thread doesn’t assume anything will magically change when it matters. That is the number one incorrect assumption made by those who don’t agree with those who talk about loading. It is a layer of nuance to add to or replace some of the other issues that go in in games that we discuss. It’s literal sports science fact that goes on in every professional sport and it is worth consideration when monitoring your sides progress over a season. Nothing more, nothing less. We also played quite well against the pies in a lot of areas of the game. They are on a massive wave and kicked goals out of their [censored]. It happens. Plenty to like moving forward. The wins and losses crowd who don’t like to play in the grey areas miss out on a lot I reckon.

I reckon all that helps with nailing goals

Our skills, running game and decision making will improve each week till the end, which is going to be a problem for a lot of teams.

Would love to see Carlton miss the 8 after all the Carry on earlier this season

Those games are decided by chance. That’s why Collingwood can’t be trusted. There was an article about games decided by less than a goal at the start of the year showing how lucky port were and look at them now. We all revert to the mean eventually

Yeah boy

That’s right. Like our streak early on. You are officially invincible until further notice at which point the sky is falling in.

Getting a gun big forward would help heaps but we don’t have one. We have make do forwards. Bit hard in season to change that. We’ve well and truly been in all the games we’ve lost. That says to me not a lot has to change, which doesn’t sound like a write off to me. We win the Collingwood game over 50 percent if you keep replaying it. the Collingwood loss may be a wake up call that some teams are really going now and if they want it now is the time to go too. everything in the future is a “possible” world. We are sputtering to the finish line at this stage but with signs that we arent far off. I think the coaches might be quietly confident with where we are trending. To be having a rough season and still be this close is a great sign. Well and truly close enough to win it all. Not saying we will but we are right there. Lots can happen in six weeks. I think we will run games out better each week from now till the end, whenever that is. not sure I agree with the plan b idea. Depends how drastic you see a plan b being. The bulldogs and Collingwood games were kind of plan b games. We played attacking shoot out ball and I didn’t like it. I like a system team that can make slight adjustments over wholesale changes in game. Defends is built for finals and we aren’t there yet. A couple of players finding a bit more form and things start looking different again.

I don’t remember us changing a lot in game last year. We turned a few games around by lifting Intensity if I remember correctly. What sort of changes were we making in game last year that we aren’t now?