Forest Demon

I have never been as filthy as I am this weekend. I hope to god the players feel the same, and I hope they don't forget it all summer. Somehow I doubt it though.

Funny you say that, because I actually feel the same right now, although that could change by tomorrow arvo. Today was a effectively a final, and we stunk it up big time.

Probably shouldn't single players out, but Tom McDonald, [censored] me, that is one of the worst games I've ever seen.

How many [censored] contested marks did they take compared to us. And it's been a big problem all year. We never looked like we were going to win it.

That has to be a troll. Petracca is only just getting started, and is already a better player than Sylvia ever was.

That tweet of his, with his kids, is almost a bit of a tear jerker.

Unconvincing, but we have enough good players capable of getting into good form by finals that we could be a threat. Hogan was huge today, especially in the first half. We could have been down without him, and really pushing it uphill.

Really frustrated that Hannan just complained and didn't man the mark after giving away 50. Allowed the Lions to take the kick quicker, further up and under less pressure. And ultimately led to a goal.

Some absolute dribble from both sides of the argument in this thread. Only a handful of reasonable posters are on top of it. He was in poor form and lacked the intensity that the team is expected to carry out as a whole. So he goes back to Casey to recapture it and hopefully comes back fit and firing by finals time. It really is as simple as that.

Oliver to make the side Hibberd also to make it I think in front of players like Howe Jetta maybe in the squad, but he will always be our little gem internally Garlett has fallen away a bit and will miss the squad

Hogan for Weid Maynard for Viney, a little more like for like than Stretch.

I didn't see the Casey game, so will not comment specifically, but Watts is clearly being challenged to show physicality and pressure. If he showed it, he will come back in. If he didn't, he won't. Pretty simple. To bring him back otherwise goes against everything that today's win was built on. Again, I stress, I didn't see Casey, so no idea how he went.

He looked better last year then he has this year imo, which is heartening, but concerning at the same time. At the very least, he did bring the ball to ground and competed well, and as much as people like to look at the stats sheet, it does count for something. He had that game in Adelaide, where he barely got his hands on it, but was actually instrumental in the win due to his defensive efforts. But he will need to develop more than that to make it long term.

Fair call, harsh on my part, apologies. But back on topic, I think there are just so many grey areas, and so many 50-50's, that it is easy to think you are always getting the rough end of it, but in reality, it is really just a case of a messy set of rules and umpires not being able to consistently apply those rules. There is clearly nothing sinister going on. I bet if you went and asked baked on supporters of the other 17 clubs, there would be some who would share the same view as you, and obviously, we can't all be getting the rough end of it.

There are bad decisions and bad non-decisions flying around left, right and centre, but if you think there is anything more sinister going on than a lot of grey area rules being inconsistently applied, you are a screw loose. We copped the rough end of it in the 3rd quarter, no doubt, and probably also in other games as well, but if you could take a step back, you would probably see we get a good run every now and then as well, Queens Birthday comes to mind. And that would explain why it is roughly equal in the frees for and against over the course of the season.

ummm, why?

Do you think that the immense pressure today, especially in the first half, just came from nowhere? No, you need 22 blokes applying it, and those outs were all about that, not about the number of kicks or handballs a player can get. Modern footy is all about pressuring the opposition and turning the ball over, or locking it in, dangerous spots. As much as I rate Salem, and to a lesser extent Watts, Goodwin made a big statement by demanding exactly what I said above, and it paid off.

There were a lot of random "ruck infringements" that went against Gawn in the first 2 or 3 quarters, I was thinking the same.

You are giving Hannan a "nope"??? Well that tells me all I need to know. Not only did he ice the game with 2 fantastic goals, but he was part of a much more even application of pressure that we were able to apply today. And make no mistake, that is more important in modern footy than a couple of extra touches.

It was clear for me it was more about having 22 players hunting with intense pressure, and although Wagner might not be as clean, or Weidemann doesn't get much of it, I thought the pressure around the ground was a lot more even. The last few weeks, Watts has been a weak link in that pressure game that we base our game on.

Jayden Hunt is our point of difference. If we make finals and he can cut loose, look out.

As we have slightly faded in the second half of the year, he has grown immensely. One of our better performers since the half way mark of the season.

Gutsy selections from Goodwin and it absolutely paid off. Deserves a lot of credit.

Has been great so far, especially after that knock, which as the commentators said (for those watching interstate like me), may have been the best thing to happen to him.

West Coast are rubbish. I am pretty sure they have 2 tough games after this, so win, lose or draw for them tonight, they won't be playing finals.