At the break of Gawn

Soligo got interviewed:

“I didn't think there was too much (in it)," Soligo said.

"I kept playing through the game so I was fine. I was all sweet."

As Hawthorn did with the Sicily charge, I think we should definitely challenge the grading. The only thing I’m not sure about is the “potential to cause injury” weighting which might be in play here.

Absolutely rapt to get the 8pts from SA. I thought we were going to run away with it, but to Adelaide’s credit, they really cracked in for the last qtr. The only real downer is Pickett likely to miss 1 week. He’s probably our second best forward and gives us midfield creativity so it’s a massive loss against a Brisbane team who will be desperate.

Could have shut the gate if Billings had kicked that. Bloody disappointing.

2 minutes ago, DeeZee said:

Minimum of two weeks for Koz , and may even be as high as 4 , being intentional, head high and having priors.

Silly boy

Geez, when was the last time you saw the MRO results? It’ll be 1 week max just like King.

Midfield getting smashed again just like against Port. Surely we’re due to turn this around?

We really should win tonight. Adelaide are in terrible form, while we’ve been in good form.They have a complete no name backline and have rung in 5 changes with no-names going in for no-names going out. 

I know some will use a 5-day break excuse, but Adelaide have had a 6 day break and had to fly back from Perth. They just don’t have the cattle to beat us. Unless some flu goes through the club, I just can’t see us losing.

Absolutely LOVE that we won a game where we lost the main stats and the expected score. There’s nothing better than seeing a team take their chances.

My favourite part was Fritsch screaming “[censored] you” at the Port supporters when he kicked the sealer.

Unfortunately I missed the first qtr, but the game looked pretty slippery even though it was a hot and dry day in Adelaide? Was that just the humidity?

Thanks Brisbane for ruining the best running joke of the season. Twitter/X was fun while the Pies were winless.

We’ll need a diffuser against Sicily this weekend. Melksham did it brilliantly last year. Sicily is basically the only player that could get in the way of us winning. 

19 hours ago, Gawndy the Great said:

What was the whole May getting into his face? Felt  more than just a bit of banter.

Yeah I noticed that too. Not to fan the flames, but it was reported that Harmes was at Entrecôte that night so maybe there’s some tension there.

7 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

We could have gotten 60,000 but that would have required 10-15K more Dogs supporters rocking up. Unfortunately the MCC and AFL members are bereft of Dog supporters; and many standard Dogs members aren't rocking up to an away game and paying at the gate.

Add to the fact that both clubs have had a disastrous off season from a PR perspective which may have contributed to a few staying away.

44k is a solid crowd given the history of attendances between the 2 clubs.

This sort of detail is always lost on the so called “journalists”. An MCG tenant against the Dogs always gets relatively low crowd numbers because Dogs supporters don’t show up to away games. A similar time last year Richmond vs Dogs got 52k. 

Still a lot of work needed on our entries. Oliver has absolutely butchered some of his entries. Trying to be too cute and just completely missing the target.

Feel like if we just get some better connection and can nullify Jones better we’ll run away with it.

Today we’ll find out if we’re a challenger this year. Dry weather football at the G. No weather excuses, and barring some unforeseen injury crisis, we’ll get a proper look.

27 minutes ago, Demonland said:

 

Anyone else hear about the whisper Joey heard about Max being sick?

Our crowds in 2018 during the finals were extremely loud. It’s crazy how loud a crowd can get with the momentum of winning a final. The fact is in all 4 of those finals in 2022-23 we barely played any sort of electric footy with 5+goal leads like we did in 21 or even ‘18.

Still not sure Carlton are the real deal. Their defence still looks dodgy. Maybe Weitering makes the difference.

28 minutes ago, Kick_It_To_Pickett said:

Just watched the replay of our game…well the 3rd quarter…how costly was Sparrow’s dropped mark inside 50 with 2 mins to 3/4 time. Would have tied the game or given us a shot to take the lead. It was a reasonably difficult mark to take, but he took his eyes off the ball. Likewise, how [censored] poor was Spargo when he gave up against the Lizard after Clarry banged in the first clearance of the 4th. Blakey actually juggled the mark, but Spargo had already given up.. had he not have, there was a spoil on and plenty of pressure coming. Little moments that prove costly 

I also felt Spargo’s high shepherd in the 3rd really cost us. We had all the momentum going the other way and it just killed us.

I honestly feel Goodwin’s contract is 1 year too long at the minute. A failed year this year would put a lot of pressure on him and then he’d have 2025 to turn things around. Crazy to think he has 3 full years ahead of him (it expires 2026) which brings him to 10 years in total at the club. If there’s not at least another grand final in 2024-2026 then surely his contract won’t be renewed. Although I fear our window would definitely be shut by 2027.

2 minutes ago, BoBo said:

Sigh. 
 

Hogan.

Yes, we bemoan losing Hogan, but without May we don’t win the ‘21 flag.

Just now, Roost it far said:

GWS will belt us. Great mix of ages, strong, determined and hungry. We look old, too young, unfit and not up to it. The vibe of GWS is awesome 

I don’t think we’re getting anywhere near both of these teams this year.

Credit to Carlton. They made some big tactical changes at half time and won territory. If only our coaching staff would make in-game moves…

17 minutes ago, The heart beats true said:

I’ll explain it to you. Grundy was the only ruckman picked for the 6 rounds Max didn’t play last year, and he was very average. He was dominated by Essendon, and it was embarrassing. He showed none of the agility or presence he showed last night. 

He then got annoyed by lack of rucking options when Gawn was available, and didn’t offer enough around the ground. I’ve heard he made himself unavailable for us in the finals, as he wanted out.

He’s a good player, but he brought none of the necessary intensity required for us last year. That’s not the clubs fault. 

Trying to blame Gawn for it seems like an odd thing to do to our best player of the last decade.

To be fair, Grundy has a very good record at the SCG. The smaller dimensions suits him and his limited tank isn’t exposed. I remember one time he got like 65 hit outs there in 2019

Just now, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

No humidity whatsoever tonight players taking possession cleanly and Marking above their heads.

Love how we got shafted with the humidity last night and Carlton get none of it tonight.

For me it wasn’t the forward connection issues (as that’s hard to judge in slippery conditions), but rather our inability to stop the opposition from piling on multiple goals when they get territory and no way to transition out of it. This happened time and time again last year. Here are a few examples 

Port round 10 - last qtr

Carlton Round 22 - kicked the first 3 goals of the last and then held on

Even against Collingwood in the QF.

We need to get better at transitioning out of our d50 when we lose territory.

I think losing Bowey was crucial as it forced May to take the kick outs in that last qtr and he has literally no other way but kick it long.

Also, people are forgetting the Richmond practice match too easily. A bottom 4 team piled on 10 goals against us. There’s no way that would have happened in ‘21.

37 minutes ago, Demon4ever said:

Exactly! They know the ground inside out. They didn't even look like they were sweating at all! Whereas you only had to look at Clarry and he was dripping. If only we played our first game at the MCG in front of 60k+... might have been a different story!

Pretty sure they don’t train at night when the ball is slippery. The problem is that they’re a kicking side and the conditions suited that and our players are dumb and still do handball chains in horrible conditions.