leave it to deever

Is it unpatriotic and unsporting to hope England win the final test so our Ashes win will seem even sweeter?

Barring three teams, this season is remarkably close. It's fascinating. Even the Dockers have stepped up today and won at fortress Kardinia. There is still a high number of finals permutations five rounds out. Gws recent charge has made our loss to them seemingly more palatable I guess. I suppose the Tigers will throw their all at us tomorrow as they are technically finals contenders. I hope our midfield holds up.

Well cats may not even make the finals. Tee hee.

The defence rests.

Trent Rivers birthday tomorrow. May we get the four points and he plays some great footy as a midfielder.

This thread is like reading a Samuel Beckett play and you are probably the main reason why. I do enjoy it though.

Didn't he break an arm? Probably to protect it in some manner. Or he's mourning the fact he left a premiership team.

I really don't want Power to win the minor premiership. Were Pies fatigued last night or are Carlton a good side. Was their Power win legit or did Power rest too many players? They have had some soft opposition of late but they did look good last night. They have a good run home from here too.

Umps hell hellbent on dissent beginning of season. No objections to it but why aren't they consistent?

Well done blues. I'd say that's that mattress man.

Aussies playing the opposite to Bazball.

Must be something to it. Blues aren't that good. Yea they have five in a row but Port fielded half a team against them and the other four were cellar dwellers.

Thank goodness for Khawaja.

Will be interesting to see how port go tomorrow. Last week's ripper was played at a frenzy and has probably taken some toll.

Blues pseudo purple patch about to turn black and white.

I thought this was going to be about Pearl Harbor.

What's the deal with Dunstan. Is he injured or not performing?

The Rivers in the midfield would make the Hibbo selection understandable. Hope it happens. Petty forward would account for him in the same team as Tommo. I don't get where Spargo would fit in and Grundy not forward brings everything back to square one. Although Gawn needs some relief.

Me too. Have been holding a lot of hope that he would finally get going after showing some really signs before the Crows games. He didn't seem to be moving well in his last match. It's definitely not the time of the year one wants to get dropped. Not unreasonable to assume his season is finished. But is great to see Tommo rewarded for his hard work. Has done well to fight back ( again) after being dropped from the team that beat Collingwood. Interesting that Hibbo is back in. Have no idea who would make way for him. Clearly Harmes comes in for Sparrow. Spargo too is interesting as it's not like Chandler and Kozzie are on thin ice anymore. Which leaves us with with Petty and Grundy. Does the inclusion of Petty with Tommo mean Petty is back forward? And then what does Grundy do....spend time in the ruck again? Hard to figure what will happen with these new soldiers. I do feel bad for Bbb. He looks somewhat hampered by injuries. Also at this stage of the season I don't think we will see Tmac again. In fact given his last two seasons, I would not be surprised if Tom hung up his boots.

Ironically in his last game forward when he was injured for a good time after. Was leading and marking very well. I know it's only one game but he did look good.

I would love to see Petty play fwd again. Would also like to see Hibbo back in the team. I fear however if Tommo is dropped he might not get another look in.

You make a good case. But to vicariously quote the writer of Mad men through the character Don Draper... " What is happiness? It's a moment before more happiness." I thought one flag would be enough. No way , not now that I've tasted one. Ignorance was to some extent better. And yes before anyone says it....there's no pleasing some people.

Heard others say the same about Jefferson. I do hope your wrong about nobody available. I hope we are looking far and wide and outside the box. Jvr is great but still developing too. We don't really have the luxury of time with our current list. Most of our key players are around the 26 yo range which is good news but we need to get cracking on fixing our forward line. Grundy and Gawn helping out was a bandaid. Not saying it wasn't a good one. Tmac showed signs of his body letting him down in our premier year. Bbb not long after. While not as old as Tom Hawkins who is still traveling well, guess the club thought they would both continue to be productive so it's unfortunate that we are where we are. Schache has been disappointing. It took a long time but it was great to see Goodwin doing something different with Petty but he seems to have shelved this. He may not have too many options and have to revisit it this year .Don't get me wrong , the club has been wonderful in recruiting but alas has not out of fault, fallen "short of talls" up forward. At this stage it may even be worth trying Tommo there. We may even go with two mediums in Fritta and Melksham. I feel sorry for Spargo but I do think we had too many smalls. We need some more marking injected into the team. Melksham did a good Tmac of old impersonation against the Lions with ten marks. I think Jvr will fullfil this need in the next year or two. If Bbb is in this round and doesn't do more I think he will be out for good. Maybe he's doing more than I know he but at the end of the day needs to mark more and score more goals. Also needs to apply more pressure. Discounting Schache, we only have Grundy or Smith to take his place. We may say we are not trying to make Grundy a forward but we need him performing in this role and not just because it makes Max play better.Seeing Kozzie and Chandler back to their best is comforting in knowing we can kick a hundred points even without the talls on fire. Maybe the clock has run out for Bbb. I also think it's a mistake not to let Tommo play . If Petty is fit let's put him in the mix up forward. While they may seem they are competing for the same spot, we could still play Melksham and Fritta play together and like Cwood have a medium sized attack. Melksham does struggle with consistency. For me with a fit Petty, our fwd line is Jvr, Petty, Milk, Fritta, Chandler and Kozzie. Goody has shown good judgement in trusting the latter. If Petty is fit and plays in defence, it's a shame for Tommo and waste of a very talented player. Which leaves a spot for Grundy or Smith. I think I prefer Grundy but only just. At least Smith comes in as the perfect sub. It's not panic stations up forward because as mentioned with Chandler and Kozzie back on song it takes the pressure off. Also When Oliver is back Trac can drift forward more and do his Dusty Job. Hopefully Oliver is back soon and Jordan comes out. I'm not sure who would need to make way for Fritta.

Haven't seen enough of him but his marking is still strong. We desperately need a chf that can mark. Melksham was wonderful against the Lions in this area. Jvr makes the effort but doesn't seem to hold too many as yet. Bbb is struggling to get to the contest. I'm grateful our smalls are back in form as I don't see any solutions to fix this.

He would've handy about now.