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I don't have the time to go and hunt through footage. Maybe start with the EF against Essendon last year and otherwise, watch some full Bulldogs games and make an effort to observe his behaviour. I think I fairly clearly explained what I don't like and made clear it's about his behaviour, not what I think his true character might be. I've got nothing against him personally and wanted us to draft him at one point when like you I'd only seen his highlights and footy skills. You asked why people don't like him so I took the time to explain - then you turn around and say nah, you just don't like him? If you'd watched him enough you'd very likely agree. I know the vast majority of people feel as I do about him. Anyway, enough wasted breath and time on an opposition player - was trying to inform but if you're going to shut my view down anyway then let's move on

I've retracted the germ tag and regret including it in my first post...but it's not as simple as 'we don't like the way he high 5s after a goal'. We get he's an excitable young player and I said, he's pretty good. That's exciting for him, Dogs fans and neutrals. But throw in the playing for free kicks (he is absolutely at Lindsay Thomas level if not worse to the poster who said they can't see it) together with the over-celebration and it paints a picture of him being disingenuous, somewhat arrogant, and perhaps presumptuous and almost entitled. It's hard to describe - but there's a level of affectation that makes it seem like he's not even celebrating for himself, rather just to make a scene and get under people's noses, as he himself knows he perhaps hasn't earned what he's got. Certainly not to the point where he can celebrate like he's the best of all time. He knows he's annoying and it's very off-putting that he embraces it seemingly as a character trait. Put it this way - you're playing local footy and the opposition tackles you for a ball up. Everyone gets up off the ground and life goes on. Then this kid gets up in your face bouncing around whooping and carrying on about his teammate making a tackle. He doesn't direct it at you, but it's within sight and earshot and you know he's doing it at least partially to get your attention & annoyance. Now rinse and repeat, every game at every F50 stoppage. It wouldnt take long for you to tell him to relax and calm down, failing which you'll probably run through him when you get the chance later in the game. He wins a free kick. He overcelebrates, and around we go again. There are those who play in the right spirit and those who don't. Doing it under the guise of 'thats just Cody being Cody', which in these PC days means he is immune from criticism, makes it even worse. He was the same draft as Koz and we did consider him closely. I was fan based on highlight videos as his talent is plain to see. It wasn't until I actually watched him over the course of a game that his behaviour became clearer. It has nothing to do with Koz - couldn't be happier he is ours. Not everyone will get it as we all project our biases onto others, but this is what I see and what I find annoying.

Fair enough it is harsh, he doesn't deserve that. I'll edit it, thanks mate

He has a lot of talent - but absolutely bends the rules. Flops on the ground, in the air and generally dives the moment he feels contact. Worse, he then celebrates his ill gotten gains (goals) harder than most celebrate a running team lifter. Over the top and ridiculous. Does it for non goals too - a teammate makes a run of the mill tackle and watch him bounce around with fake bravado and joy. if he concentrated half as hard on his game and role as he does on geeing himself and others up he'd be an even better player. Case in point - in all his crazy enthusiasm he tried to mark that ball on the goal line in the 1st QTR of the GF. Was going through for a goal - a crucial, grand final first quarter goal. He was so excited he genuinely stopped the goal and damn near knocked himself out in the process

Absolutely on the money. 38 point loss

Now I'm well aware of how silly this sounds but there was a moment in the 3rd quarter that kind of summed Weideman up for me. He was on the bench waiting to come on for Rooter (their nickname for Van Rooyen) & play was stuck on the other half of the ground. He yelled Rooter a couple of times. Loud, but not loud enough. Rooter didn't hear it and stayed on for probably 2 minutes longer than he should have. Sam yelled twice and then stood with hands on hips, defeated. Meanwhile, two players for Sandy were rotated (whilst play was still on the far wing) after their counterparts were far louder and more intense in demanding rotation, whilst they were down by 60. It's stupid I know, but it was just a really stark contrast at the ground. I like the kid and hope he can find some intensity. My honest opinion is it's going to take a trade to make it happen. His biggest strength as a junior - flies at the ball with long arms - is his biggest weakness as a senior. Applies no body, wants to use reach only. Block, buffet or engage Sam and you've won the contest. JVR was far more dynamic, intense and hardworking at the ground, despite clearly not quite having the fitness for it and 6 years less in the system. I worry for Sam - looks a footballer, seems to think he is a footballer, engaged to be married and approaching his prime, but his career has been a bit of a non starter really

All footy journos are the same. They pick the best team to slide, one of the close contenders to win it and the middle and bottom teams to stay where they are. Jake predicted we would finish 9th in 2021. Literally where we finished in 2020. Brilliant insight. His opinion is worth less than that of us random posters on here - bias be damned. Not a single journo picked us to rise even to top 6 in 2021, which shows how little attention they pay to the details - it was all there to see if they looked closely enough, irrespective of the luck we had with injuries. The clairvoyants are now saying Carlton to rise and Hawthorn to fall - literally a continuation of JLT form. Oh how easy a job it must be. Don't get me wrong - I agree on Carlton but for different reasons - no pundit or journo has spoken about their vastly improved body language & team unity that was on show against us. There was a lot of connection, support & selflessness. It wasn't until we added these elements that the other pieces clicked. They'll do Ok. I don't have the time to watch all the teams that closely & only watched Carlton because they were playing us. Other teams may be similarly poised. But the journos are paid to watch it & still not one can really nail some out of the box predictions.

Getting a little fraught in here. We've all forgotten what losing was like! All things told it's not a bad thing - touched up in the middle, taught some umpiring lessons, got miles in the legs, no injuries, exposed some depth, and still only had a narrow loss. I'm glad we didn't pinch it (although Carlton fan's devastation would have made my week - they celebrated this win hard). We were never going to just Romp to a 2nd flag. We have a good shot but it's going to be a hard journey and we'll need luck as we had last year. Let's see how it folds out. We have a strong team, can expect close to a win every week - that's a great thing and it should be a fun year of going to the footy.

A couple people jumped on me in the pregame thread for suggesting we would be in trouble with a few outs. Really does go to show - having a consistent team, no injuries - how fortunate we were last year. The backline was unaccountable tonight (a halfback line of bowey, hunt and harmes/brayshaw should never be used in season, especially when Smith is there roaming and ball watching...still think he is wasted down back) and what it showed was that our mids are perhaps sometimes bailed out by our amazing defence when at full strength. Maybe they're not as accountable as we thought they were. Maybe Carlton's midfield is just very good. Hard to tell. What is clear is that Hibberd and rivers are 5x better defenders (let alone rebounders) than bowey or hunt. Salem - he's a whole other level. Don't underestimate what he gives us from behind the ball - truly our quarterback, lifts composure of the whole team by finding targets when no one else does. Creates time and space for the team. And he's tough and accountable to boot. In our top 5 most important players without a doubt. Don't forget as soon as he was out last year - we lost our first game to Adelaide. Its an even comp, lots of strong players in lots of teams - doesn't take much to tip the scales As I said, this year will be harder than last

You're right, we'll never lose again. What was I thinking? ... I'd forgotten what a circle jerk it could be in here; apparently pointing out that we had luck and no injuries last year, and that we might not be so lucky again whilst the opposition may improve, is an affront to the psyche of our supporters. I never said we were crap - far from it, rather that sterner tests may be coming. We will get an early (albeit inconsequential) preview tomorrow night with 5 of our premiership 6 defence out of action. Don't be surprised if you don't like what you see. No Salem alone changes our ball movement and setup enormously. 'we won by a lot last year, therefore we will keep winning this year' 'we could do the job even with our 2nd stringers in' 'other teams will improve, but we will of course improve more' Do you realise how ridiculous you sound? In no world are Joel Smith, Hunt, Daw, Weideman, Baker and Chandler walking into the best sides of our closest competition. Dunstan spent half of last year out of a bottom 8 side. Our depth is good - they can't all be stars - but we're one of 18 strong teams and we are not infallible. All that said, I'd love for you to be right and quote the hell out of me after Grand Final Day. We have as good a shot as any team, but it's a long year with a lot needing to go right. That's all I'm saying.

Winning one is hard enough, but this year will be much harder in my opinion. Our defensive positioning/game plan and sagging back seemed to catch most teams off guard last year - we can be sure they will all have detailed plans to beat it this year. Add in COVID outs, a few injuries presuming we don't miraculously avoid them again, and who knows. Most teams rely pretty heavily on their top 6 and we are no exception. A long injury or three to the group of Oliver, Petracca, Gawn, Salem, Lever or May would make it tough. Personally, I think we still look very vulnerable to very tall/resting ruck forwards (all of the big bags kicked against us last year fell into this category) and expect a number of teams to capitalise on this whilst also backing their half backs to handball through and around our speed forwards. Collingwood game last year shows the blueprint. As amazing as we were we had our fair share of luck last year. Winning one without it (or maybe without as much of it) is the test from here on out.

KM doesn't have a great track record. Watches a lot of footage/highlights, combines with stats and doesn't actually watch anyone off the ball live. Plus, I'm not convinced he understands what's important in the modern game. Qualifies most of his judgements and is generally just overly verbose, contradicts himself and....annoying. If you couldn't tell, I'm not a fan! He was first to the scene and works hard, but that's about it. ESPN threw him a bone to loss lead their AFL readership from Big Footy. Never liked Kossie, said you could get higher production out of a....Jack Mahony. Yep. My wife took one look at Kossie in the U18 SA game and knew. This kid looked at a stat sheet and saw he didn't kick enough goals Ignore everything the fool says Rant over

It was actually Viney who won both clearances - first with a handball to trac, and then a toe poke into the Path of Jackson (good thing he did this too as both Jackson and Oliver had run ahead of the stoppage!) I will remember it for Petracca and Oliver but let's not forget who got the hard ball

Scrolling in bed with the wife asleep, you and Jaded have moved me to some silent tears here rpfc. Very well said. Nagging hurt is the perfect description. I've nothing to add other than what I said to my 65 year supporting dad on the post game video call...who's to say that this would have happened if this was played at the G? If there had been crowds all year? Its happened the way it's happened and couldn't have happened any other way. We're lucky to have something bringing us so much joy and we're lucky to have this forum of kindred spirits. Reading this thread and hearing of the happiness, the joy, the disbelief, the emotion - it's almost been as good as watching the game!

Scrolling through this thread and the Demons Twittersphere has been a genuine pleasure. I wondered if I was alone in tearing up (only a few, I'm saving them yet) as max celebrated but from what I've read there were many locked down households shedding a tear tonight. Amazing what sport can do. Whilst I don't think the result actually mattered that much (could absolutely be wrong), the manner of the comeback, the fact it was Max having botched it before, and the memory of Tuohy in 2018 (still the most painful loss I can recall. I cannot forget it) was an amazing confluence of events that pushed me over the edge. If we achieve nothing else from here on in, I'm so pleased as Dees fans we were able to have that moment. Despite what the Blues, Bombers, Saints and Tigers (pre '17) fans may claim re. Lack of success, no other supporter base has been through what we have. From the years of beltings to the rays of light being crushed (Jim, Jesse, Jurrah the most notable), to dysfunctional management to all-time worst coaches to bizarre sponsor fiascos, to having no respect in the office, the schoolyard or at the dinner table, it's a miracle we're alive (and now, more than kicking) In my 30 years I've watched other fans enjoy these moments, enjoy these years of success. It never seemed to eventuate for us but it did tonight and it has this year so far. Enormously cathartic. Whilst we don't get to have the 'home QF', the crowd, the fanfare of what (hopefully) is to come, I feel lucky to have enjoyed this season when so many Dees fans no longer with us waited and waited for these days never to come. Doing this without my dad, brother and sister locked down in various parts around the state, or without the swell of Dees fans we all so enjoyed in 2018, is not the way I pictured it. But I'm going to enjoy being the minor premier and at the pointy end of the finals as much as I can. It may never come around again.

Includes the last quarter - they were on the bench when the lightning struck. Nothing to it.

I also like Toby and we know Jack has limitations but this is a pretty amazingly bad call. Not only has Jack played many important roles over the journey and has been our physical barometer, but Toby isn't an inside mid at all. I agree he's eye catching when he's there for Casey but there's more to inside midfield work than the odd burst of speed and acceleration. The absolute peak possibility here is that Toby follows the Shai Bolton school of development as a small forward who develops over a period of years into a very smart HFF/part time onballer. But he hasn't even cracked the team yet on a regular basis... Plus, he can't kick to save himself. I'm so tired of people attributing a high level of skill to Toby seemingly because of his appearance/manner/heritage. He's a shocking shocking field kick and misses more targets than Viney.

A word of warning on the 'third youngest team' thing - that's quite a bit of a misnomer when a lot of our success relies on May (maybe 2 years left at best), gawn (maybe 2 or 3 but he's had a heavy few years), Hibberd (1 year after this probably). They are three key cogs we absolutely cannot replace any time soon. Arguably in the best spot in the ruck with Jackson - but May in particular and Hibberd are irreplaceable and there is no-one in the twos pushing for their spot. Maybe Bowey for Hibberd, but that's not like for like IMO. Bowey being groomed for the Salem QB role. We all know May is irreplaceable and the window with him at the peak of his powers is closing. Unfortunately, another year or two to mature might be what trac, Oliver, Jackson, rivers and kossie need, but by then it might be too late. The list demographic challenge is very real.

It's an interesting situation - I think a few of us need to take a deep breath. Fact is every club other than the Bulldogs are looking at us are envious of our position. Until next week at least. I think the combination of the lack of any large margined dominant wins, together with our fragility as a supporter base, is creating this sense of panic that really isn't justified. Personally I've never had a season where we just...keep on winning - I think it's natural that then when we lose, we get dramatic and think the wheels are falling off. We've known nothing else for our football supporting lives. The evidence says we've met every serious challenge this year under a variety of different circumstances -beat red hot Sydney despite playing poorly ourselves ('winning ugly') -reversing momentum against one of the best front running aggressive teams in the comp (Brisbane) -going after the wounded champion (Richmond) -systematically dismantled the gameplan and contest skills of our nearest competitor (WB) Whilst we beat Geelong, there were missing a host of their best players and I'm not sure we'd fare as well against their full strength 22. Unfortunately those who have led the charge - Petracca and Clayton - are immature. There are weeks or months (apparently) where they lose focus, lose application and lose consistency. The forward line is also generally very immature. It's no coincidence that Kozzie's drop in form has corresponded with the team's drop in form. Barring injuries to May and Lever, our defence will keep us in most games. The rest will turn on the mood and attentiveness of Petracca and Oliver. Think about the week to week consistency we get out of May, Lever (who is a very old young man), Hibberd, Gawn, Tom Mac, and the quietly mature Langdon. If we had that sort of consistency of output from our prime movers - Petracca, Oliver, Harmes, Kozzie - we'd look a lot more like a premiership team. The forward line needs work in general but I honestly think that lack of maturity is the problem. We just can't rely on our game changers to show up on any given week or even in any given quarter. We can fiddle with structure, we can add BB in, etc etc....I can't help thinking that is all academic. Our fortunes will rise or fall on the mental positioning of our prime movers come finals time.

Some of you need to remember where we've come from I've no idea why some of you think the team defence was off - i thought the adherence to the gameplan was at season high levels. It was evident extremely early in the 1st when they just couldn't move the ball and continued through the night. A lot of their goals came from stringer breaking lines (not many can do what he does, so I'm comfortable with that) or individual errors from our players. Fact is we kept an extremely high scoring team that has been on a hot run of form, to a very low score. And we did it happily letting their mids get heaps of the ball. Agree with the poster who suggested that whilst we looked like we lacked a target and Weid/BB may have been able to add to our score, I don't think we would have been able to defend them the way we did if another big tall was in the fwd line, given the dynamism of their back half. Defence first wins again. I thought the horses for courses selection in that regard was terrific. It also felt like a frustrating win because of the inaccuracy. Most other weeks that's a 5 goal win and it would have been shut down much earlier. There are weeks where that happens and we fought through it and won anyway Arguably up there with our best wins for the year. Wasn't pretty and wasn't free flowing so it doesn't feel like it, but I think on reflection it was. Koz will be fine, needs feedback to focus on simple things but he's still learning. For a 2nd year player the impact he and LJ and Riv have our team is immense. They'll all have ups and downs - ATM LJ is definitely up! (Despite the brain fade)

Absolutely Love Oliver but he's such a bloody head case. Wins it like no other and gets clear looks to put it i50 - proceeds to stop, pivot, handball sideways or backwards to players on their back foot. Needs to grow up - gawn had 4 cracks at him tonight A brilliant player, brilliant - but childish. Would love choco to mentor as the kid has no ceiling

Fair enough - wasn't referring to you directly, moreso the general vibe of these weekly threads where collectively we seem to have a laugh about opposition fans thinking they're a chance against us. Don't get me wrong - I'm all for deriding them for being Essendon more generally as drug cheats etc - but I personally don't blame any of them (nor the Pies fans last week) for being optimistic against a team that has done nothing but let us down for the best part of 10 years This week's thread has actually been far more humble than the Collingwood one and K2P you're right in that you never said we cant lose it. Apologise for the misrepresentation

Hilarious and ironic that some accuse them of overconfidence....much like they did the Collingwood fans that thought they had a chance Surely we still realise we can lose to anyone on our day with our only losses coming to bottom 4 teams?

The goal was great but far from the most impressive thing.... rewatch the 4th quarter - there is a play near the end where it was impossible for Richmond not to score - it starts on the members side wing/hff for Richmond and eventually ends up in the pocket near the Anzac flame. Between the wide shots and the close shots - nibbler is pretty much never out of frame - he goes and goes and goes and goes and goes and eventually the ball falls into his lap and he mongrels the ball out of bounds. A Richmond guy near me at the game said 'how did we not manage to score there? I implore you to find it and watch it - you will see his value to the team. The goal from the boundary was just a bonus

I just posted saying I was wrong mate Read recent comments