At the break of Gawn

Tackle on McCartin

If Brayshaw could hit 50% of his targets it would actually work ok.

Probably look back on it and say, “Nice. Finished 2nd and won the flag”. Our remaining games are: Brisbane at home (won the last 4 against them) Geelong at home (won 3 of the last 4 against them and 2 of them at the MCG) Sydney at home (The toughest ask but certainly doable) At a bare minimum, we need to make the prelim.

With odds being at $1.30 for a semi-final, a win won’t be a miracle, it’s very much expected. Only once has a team who’s finished 2nd gone out in straight sets in the last 10 years…. And it was Brisbane. In my opinion, Brisbane won their grand final last week and a loss to them, will be simply put, an embarrassment. I’m wary of them and think we’ll have to play very well but, a loss to them will be a disaster for this footy club.

To be fair, we haven't had one game this year where the opposition has had all the momentum and we've been able to turn it around in the second half and run away with it. This happened a number of times last year and I don't know what it is about this year. It almost seems like when a team gets in front of us from the 3rd qtr onwards, we just pack up and lose. If we had somehow been able to respond to the Swans 3 goals in the 3rd qtr and regain the lead and win from there it would have been very off script for us.

Unbelievably confident group of supporters considering they lost both games this year by 10 goals. It's funny how one average game by us and all of a sudden any team out there thinks they can beat us. FWIW, I'm wary of the Lions. I just feel it's not going to be as easy this time and the pressure will go up a notch. If we lose on Friday night this season will be an enormous fail.

I wonder though, is it the ground or the quality of opposition? Teams we’ve lost to: 5th, 3rd x2, 4th x2 All good teams around our mark.

Mid 60s would be a great result. No doubt last week would have discouraged quite a few supporters. If we can win well, we’ll no doubt get >90k against the cats.

It’d be great if you guys can discuss the strategy of playing Gawn as a forward for the majority of the game. Gawn has barely fired a shot as a forward, he provides little to no leads and almost tempts our midfielders to bomb it in long as opposed to lowering their eyes. Why has Goodwin been pursuing it for so long and is it finally time to just scrap the idea?

Changing this to a ‘No’ now. The last 5 games I’ve been to we’ve lost (I missed the Brisbane and Carlton game) and 4 of those losses were at the MCG. To lose so many games at our home ground as the reigning premiers is so disappointing.

It’s amazing how Brayshaw escapes so much scrutiny with his disposals. He absolutely butchers it and is the worst offender in our team. I’m not sure if it’s arrogance but he doesn’t seem to be working on improving his disposals at all.

Was anyone else disappointed with Goodwin’s post match presser? I felt he didn’t really address the core of the issue. He pointed the finger at indiscipline for 3 50m goals, and not executing fundamentals in the front half etc We haven’t beaten another top 4 team this year. We can’t seem to get our game going at the MCG, and we just lack avenues to goal when Kozzy and Fritsch aren’t getting 6-8 between them. Gawn is not and will never be the answer as a forward. We also can’t have guys like Melksham playing a negating forward when he can’t even kick a set shot or even keep his feet. I’m in two minds whether we just go in with no changes and see if we can replicate what we did to Brisbane two games ago and then change things up for Geelong. Surely Gawn has to play 80% ruck against Fort and absolutely dominate him. Got no confidence whatsoever we’ll be there PF week. It wasn’t just that we lost it was the way we lost. It was the worst of us all bundled into one game. I feel like we’re the Port Adelaide of 2021. 2nd on the ladder was a massive over achievement for a team who can’t beat the teams around them. Our 2nd spot on the ladder almost feels fraudulent.

Real danger of going out in straight sets. Yesterday I thought we had great insurance playing the Lions if we lose, but honestly that’s as bad as we’ve looked all year and I’ve got real concerns that Fritsch and Kozzy are going to save us again.

If we lose to Sydney and then lose to Brisbane, it'll have nothing to do with Brisbane but everything about us.

To be fair it just around the McStay discussion. It's very risky against us but they would be ok going with him against Sydney.

Insurance policy locked in. Can’t see us not being in a prelim now.

I’ve read conflicting reports on Hibberd. Cleary is saying he had gastro symptoms, however the Fox Sports person reported that he’s just under the weather and The Age has said he’s unwell but not actually gastro.

I think the bye will help us. Two of our best finals performances last year came off a bye week. Swans have won their past 7 so this puts a circuit breaker on that which can only be a good thing.

Was yesterday the players day off? Hopefully it’s just contained to Goodwin.

It was a miracle really that May didn’t go off during the PF after his hamstring. Can you imagine if that happens again and the game is a lot tighter compared to the Geelong game? Smith coming in to give us that flexibility could be crucial.

Melksham will definitely go to one of the McCartins as a negating forward. I suspect Paddy as he seems the better intercept player. Goodwin will try and stretch their defence and force them to put Rampe on Gawn/Jackson leaving Fritsch to get Fox.

Not sure why Watts is even doing this regular segment. From the sounds of it he didn’t even watch the AFL awards night which he’s asked to pass comment on and I doubt he even watches a whole heap of footy.

80% of the players don’t even watch enough footy to properly vote in this. The coaches award and probably the rising star award is the only award with integrity.

Agree! Demonland is my therapy.

Surely the 10 ticket limit will be restricted come PF week? If we're playing someone like the Pies then it really should be 1 ticket per 1 membership.