In Harmes Way

Tell them they're dreaming.

The AFL should have consulted them on how they handled the Spanish Flu when it was reeking havoc on the 1919 season fixturing.

Able to take a nudie run on Monday night? @Ethan Trembley

I didn't like the look of this either, but I struggle with the AFL suspension system seemingly along with many on here - how do you get off/fined for deliberately elbowing someone in the head, and the outcome for "not a good look" (with no injury sustained) is potentially worse (according to pundits opinions) than an intentional head high striking act?

I don’t know why we get to round 20 ands the AFL decide not to grade this under their rules Intentional conduct, high contact, low impact = 1 week

The AFL website normally has a replay 24 hrs after the game.

I don't rate the assessment of Spargs, who I thought was at his excellent best.

Surely if we’re going to have a capped crowd for finals, having 25/40/50/whatever% spaced out at the MCG is better than the same at Geelong.

How was Bowery trying to take mark of the year in his first game! Fair effort too. Thought he looked really comfortable, albeit the game didn’t have normal levels of pace and pressure.

Would have been nice for the Qld government to call the lockdown before we boarded the plane today. I’m sure they held out for as long as possible in the hope they would get to see the Dees

I don’t discount Hawthorn having Fagan at the club during their glory years and the work I’m sure he did in the background keeping the train on the tracks and everyone happy and aligned. I also don’t discount the fact they turned to crap after Fagan left. And whilst they have an aging list, Clarko hasn’t done anything since Fagan left results wise that has me salivating at the prospect he’s available and can move us forward in a quest for a flag. All I see is bad results and reportedly bad relationships with those around him. Feel free to load up.

Do any of the players likely to be dropped have a father named John?

If I absolutely had to schedule a Darwin game in, I would much rather we play the Suns in Darwin, fly from there to Perth to quarantine for WCE and then have Crows, Cats in Victoria without the need to travel before finals.

I hope this is flat out wrong.

I appreciate the heads up - especially on the 2 wins. Good news.

I’m surprised the club hasn’t announced his call up already. They typically go early with a debut

A cunning plan that cannot fail

Maybe Salem is still carrying a niggle and they're giving him a week's rest before a solid block of games into the finals?

The NT decision will also be driven by the broadcaster who may not have enough time to setup all the required camera equipment around the ground etc. given it's a non standard venue. I recall last year they played Alice Springs and Darwin in back to back rounds and the Channel 7 team drove between the two grounds with all the gear and setup in the week in between.

I thought this was an interesting observation from Justin Leppitsch in an SEN article evaluating his Top 3 Premiership contenders https://www.sen.com.au/news/2021/07/27/justin-leppitsch-breaks-down-the-top-three-premiership-contenders/ "Leppitsch went on to say Melbourne’s good fortune with fitness could leave them vulnerable when the finals blowtorch is applied to their tactics, not having been forced to experiment. You don’t have many variations, (and) you often become a bit of a sitting duck, which I think Richmond was a little bit in 2018,” he recalled.

Whilst it's only a week, it's long enough that the players would start to acclimatise to their time zone (and then reacclimatise coming back). At least our last two games would be in Victoria.

My analogy for this is missing putts playing golf. It puts pressure on the rest of your game and decision making to try and hit the ball closer to the pin to make up for the critical part of your game that isn't working.

Is that where scrubby creek is?

This is a good warm up opportunity for finals and I hope our guys treat it as such

I love Jack Viney at his best. IMO, he hasn’t built back to his best form yet and looks to lack a bit of pace. If you look at his stats on AFL, he is above average/elite in tackling and pressure acts, but average to below average in most other stats areas. His season average possessions are 20 (10 kicks) and 5 of these are turnovers; 60% disposal eff overall (a further 3 possessions not effective). Not intended as a slap, as you say he bleeds red and blue like us, but we really need him to build for finals. Maybe I notice him more because I hold him to a higher standard.