At the break of Gawn

No way. To say that we equaled the achievement of 2018 would be a choke of the highest order. 2018 we somehow stumbled into the 8 and won two finals on a wave of momentum. We came up against an experienced and formidable opponent who had their sights set on bigger ambitions.

We have barraged our way to the top of the ladder, been there longer than any other team this season, and disposed of another top 4 team with ease in a qualifying final.

A loss next week would be equal to Essendon’s 1999 season. I bet you won’t find many Essendon supporters who would be proud of what they accomplished that season.

19 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Definitely a huge worry game for me.

Last time they didn't have Touhy, Duncan and Rata. 

Joel Smith will stay now especially Big sav down there. Bowey for me is still the vulnerable one down back. I said Hibbo last week but if Jayden Hunt is ready then I'd bring him to give us some speed out of the back half.

Our defence and mids have to be really switched on from get go.

You do realise Ratugolea was dropped to play us in Rnd23. All our defenders will need to do next week is not get out marked (which they’re pretty damn good at). There’s no Charlie Camerons, or Zac Butters, or Fantasias, or Weightmans running around. We have a faster spreading and superior midfield… and they’re also still missing their best defender who glues it all together.

If we can’t win next Friday, then we’re clearly not ready yet.

Like the rest of you, my MFCSS is absolutely raging but I’m trying to think logically and take in some of the commentary I’ve seen from neutral supporters.

I’m surprised Scott brought in Ratugolea. Melbourne’s Achilles heel is when the ball hits the deck in our defence, but the Cats literally  have no dangerous small forwards (Close is the only one but he’s only kicked about 10 goals for the year). After that performance, they’ll keep Ratugolea.

The cats dominated centre clearances in rnd 23 during that 10 min period, and scored easy goals. Optus stadium isn’t as easy to score goals like that. Our only worry is Hawkins and Cameron. I expect Gawn to play a lot behind the ball next Friday to ensure Lever gets a free reign intercepting, because unfortunately Ratugolea will need to be minded.

Would have loved for the Prelim to be on a Thursday night so the Cats only get a 6 day break.

Jack was one of my favourite players but it’s obvious now he didn’t have the drive to be a truly elite footballer. Jack liked the idea of the lifestyle of an AFL footy player more so than the actual hard work that’s required to be successful at it.

People will ponder things such as what if we had drafted a player like Jack 10 years later than what we did in 2008. I’d argue that we wouldn’t have because his lack of competitiveness would have been identified earlier. 
 

I’m all for our club recruiting diverse personalities, and people will always have different vices outside of footy, however when it comes to applying your trade, you have to be 100%. There would be players out there who would put more effort into their footy who are also balancing life with 3-4 kids than what Jack was doing.

7 minutes ago, Dedringer said:

I just contacted the club to ask about my current chances to get a GF ticket and possible upgrades.

They told me that on my current membership (country/interstate), I am placed in priority 2, and I can upgrade to a GF guarantee for $229.

 

I'm debating whether or not I need the upgrade if I'm already priority 2, considering half the country can't go.

Obviously I have no idea of your financial situation, but for roughly $200 to guarantee a chance to see our first premiership in 57 years…that sounds like a steal to me.

1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

If Port have an emphatic prelim win and we fall over the line, I get the feeling Port will almost be favourites to beat us.

They’d be on an 8 game winning streak including beating the Dogs at Marvel and are full strength and playing brilliant footy.

Like us, I get the feeling Port are on a mission this year and have well and truly bought in after blowing it last year.

I’m not sure what it is, but I really don’t rate Port. They barely beat a top 8 side all year, we made them look like pretenders, and then they went and beat an out of form WBD to clinch 2nd spot on the ladder. Geelong played one of the worst games I’ve seen them play on Friday night. Port were good, but Geelong had a horrible night. 
 

What Port do have on their side is a home ground full with their supporters - something Melbourne won’t have in the PF

I was thinking about starting a new thread but this current topic is pretty much the same.

My question:

When was the last time we were unequivocally the best team left in the finals series and favourites for the flag?

From my limited recollection:

2018 - Richmond/WCE the clear favourites

2002/2004/2005/2006 - Certainly not us.

2000 - Essendon hands down.

1998 - North

1994 - West Coast/Geelong

1988 - Hawks

1987 - Carlton?

1964?

I’m of firm belief that this flag is ours to lose, and anyone else who wins it is the underdog.

5 minutes ago, Mr Steve said:

Hopefully The Giants play the game of their lives and beat Geelong who still worry me. Then having play their guts out have nothing left of the PF. 

That would be the dream scenario. Cats still worry me too.

I’m not sure it’s been mentioned earlier in the thread, but I thought Chris Fagan’s impromptu comments at the end of his presser about Melbourne was a nice touch. To summarise, he said full credit to Melbourne, they are a wonderful footy team and are very hard to beat.
 

I can guarantee you that you won’t hear those sort of comments from Chris Scott if we roll the Cats a third time this year in the Prelim.

6 hours ago, Forest Demon said:

Brayshaw is growing into the wing role. He was excellent tonight and is an underrated one on one player.

May kept Daniher goalless for the first time this year.

Sparrow was superb. Rivers did a lot of small scrappy things that broke up Brisbane attacks.

TMac isn’t quite there atm, but will likely stay for structure rather than risk Weideman who has barely played and has been poor when he has.

Smith had a tough job tonight and stuck at it well. He is borderline though for Hunt or Hibberd.

Brayshaw had a good game but he really has to improve his decision making when he has the ball inside 50. Always looks to be in two minds and sometimes I think he should just have a ping.

I think I prefer to play the Giants. Their forward line isn’t as much of a worry, and they also play a contested game which I think we can beat them at. I know we lost to them earlier in the year, but I think we were struggling with our scoring and clearances which we’ve fixed up since then.

With the Cats, I worry how easily they got a hold of us last time. Cameron and Hawkins can get off the chain and kill our premiership chances. Their over possessive ball movement can work really well for them at times. The reason we won last week was because they just couldn’t get their hands on the footy at all in that last qtr. The other factor is that, yes we’ve beaten them twice this year already, but beating a quality team like that three times in a year is difficult to do. If we do end up playing the Cats and win then we’ll be certainties to beat Port/Brisbane the week after I feel.

Surely if we play the Giants then Hibberd comes in for Smith to play on Greene?

Reckon Petracca just needs to kick a goal and then he’ll explode from there.

Some of them look super nervous.

46 minutes ago, Chook said:

 

1. Max Gawn kicks the winning goal after the siren vs the Cats to win the Minor Premiership for the first time in 57 years, Round 23 2021 
2. Jeff White nails the winning goal vs the Dogs to put Melbourne into the finals, Round 21 2005
3. Jack Watts kicks the winner vs Collingwood to bury his demons against the old enemy, Round 12 2017
4. Nathan Carroll turns the tide vs the Saints, Elimination Final 2006
5. Nathan Jones caps the night of nights vs Geelong in Melbourne's first final in 12 years, Elimination Final 2018
6. HONOURABLE MENTION: Tom McDonald you genius (TMac kicks the winner vs West Coast in Perth, to give the dees a sniff of finals for the first time in 11 years), Melbourne vs West Coast Round 14 2017

That is an impressive list of highlights!

Every HS tipster apart from one person and the Kiss of death tipped us to win.

In the age, no one tipped the Lions.

😬

We’re red hot favourites no matter how you look at it.

1 hour ago, dee-tox said:

Yeah, you have to be nervous, eh? The finality of finals is stressful!

Brissy went out in straight sets last year. Chris Pagan won't like another loss in a major final and this team will give plenty. 

Maybe a big week of distractions for our blokes as well?

But on the surge we can't be beaten. It's irresistible. Do it for long enough and we'll be in a preliminary final in a couple weeks time.

It'll be a tough one.

They actually won their QF final last year but then lost in the Prelim. Funnily enough, so did Port. The two grand finalists from last year lost their first QF. I feel this year is different though without the bye, so I’m desperate for us to win tonight!

1 minute ago, Northern Summer said:

just said Geelong 'dominated the game against Melbourne' except the last part. He's delusional.

Haha jinx!!

1 minute ago, DubDee said:

Anyone else enjoying the Scott presser??

he is suppressing the rage

The man is delusional. Again said they dominated against Melbourne but fell away late.

O’Connor getting injured is a huge blow for Geelong. He’s their main tagger and if we come up against them in the Prelim, it’s comfortable knowing Oliver won’t get tagged by him.

I really feel Scott overestimated Geelong’s performance last Saturday night. You heard it through his post match comments, his coaches votes (he definitely gave 2 to Stanley after I heard him mention how good he thought he played against Gawn), and other commentary through the week. The fact is they played 10 good minutes for the game and Melbourne absolutely bashed them in the second half (in particular the last qtr).

1 hour ago, DubDee said:

Man I’m already a mixture of pumped and frequent visits to the dunny

Long day coming up tomorrow. 

might tell the kids to sleep in. 🤔

I’m super nervous for this game more so than any final in 2018. In 2018 I was just happy we made the finals and winning two was just an absolute bonus. This time, we have genuine expectations on us to win the flag, so not winning it would be considered a choke by some.

Geez we have a good list.

Clarry is a superstar.

I’ve just checked the round 23 votes though, and Scott strikes again. Bizarre voting. How did Stanley get more votes than Max?