von

We didn’t really look to change things much during the season last year. Move things around etc. why give away your tricks before finals. Our game plan is built on predictability but there’s always a few moves you can make to nullify things or create advantages. Clearances for example. Yes we were tired but if it was a prelim we would have worked on nullifying that, I don’t think we did last night.

They had about 12 days with a nice hit out in the middle to blow the cobwebs out

Good for them, they can have it. Our midfield won’t play like they next time.

Very good chance we showed them nothing deliberately

We looked rough up until round 19 last year. Very similar form, problems etc.

That’s all Geelong have. Played well on their home ground. Selwood said post match we prepared for this period in the season and we are running on top of the ground now. We quite obviously were not. We had all the signs of a high loading period. Slow off the mark, fumbles, poor execution. The ball fell in their favour time and time again, partly because they were playing fitter and got to the drop and partly football gods. positives were we held their tall forwards well despite being very average for the night. The ground cost us, we didn’t play it well. Things look different on the mcg. They may have timed their run to peak too early. We look like we will be back week after next.

Feels like the bulldogs game last year at a similar time. Looked heavy, fumbly, got close but ran out of legs.

That’s what it looks like. Slow off the mark tonight

you know why. There’s only one answer

We’re playing with heavy legs and the fumbles. Very few spills have gone our way. The width of the ground is affecting us. We can’t use the breakaway width, the boundary keeps spoiling it. Feels like one of those nights the bounce of the ball has had a huge impact.

Yeah drop him 🤔

Those three have started to get going the last two weeks as well. Plus harness, sparrow, anb. Always feel confident when the midfield are up and about.

These umpires working harder than anyone on the ground

Worked for Richmond one year

Surely the afl have learnt this is what nobody wants when it comes to umpiring. Just taking control of things at the moment

It’s also not what he’s judged on internally. Most oppo supporters don’t rate him very highly. Strangely enough they don’t rate Clarry often either. But Goodwin has suggested he and his small forwards are judged in work rate, pressure acts rather than goals and Kozy is a genius at that stuff

Probably. They squeezed the life out of them not that long ago

You can’t take in the energy of the game. Close ups make the game feel more intense than it sometimes is. You can’t see how the players are covering the ground, setting up etc. in saying this you lose the in close detail of the contest and completely miss the absolute mastery of someone like Clarry. At the ground you see he’s had 40 and go oh wow, didn’t notice. On tv it makes more sense.

I might be biased but i see our mids being held at every clearance/contest/bounce. Especially Clarry. Always being tackled as he is about to take possession. I guess it’s an insurance policy against our terrifying midfield. Play defence and break even.

It’s amazing how much you miss on tv. Impossible to get a genuine feel for the game.

We were all over Richmond when we were up and running. Scoreboard flattered them

Buckley last week after Geelong mentioned it commented along the lines of ‘Geelong have chosen to put an extra load in over the last month and will have to endure the effects of that for the time being but it will hopefully hold them in good stead at the back end of the year’

Good to see us running on top of the ground. First time since round 8 against the saints it’s looked that way. We will have some more running through mud periods no doubt, but it’s good to see we can access that form when required/planned for etc. a stark contrast to the last month.

There weren’t more than 10k Brisbane

No need to perpetuate the dumb drummer stereotype. Blind Freddie understands loading and it’s effects now. Also the media are finally starting to talk about it. To pick a 15 minute patch and say but what about loading here is not even close to the money