Wiseblood

You're hanging your hat on some pretty flimsy stats. Sure, they took a few extra marks, but that's due to quicker ball movement and better use than anything else. An undersized backline, as you put it, had next to nothing to do with the loss tonight. What your stats highlight is our inefficiency going forward, as we should have clunked 20 marks inside 50 on the numbers we had.

Jesus. Aren't we good at turning on a player after a couple of below par games. The bloke had been in great touch prior to that, yet a couple of poor games and he's an 'absolute pretender'. This is not the Collingwood board, is it?

Of course. That happens in a game no matter how many tall defenders you have. That wasn't our problem. We kept a high scoring side to 75 points on their home deck. Defence wasn't the issue tonight. It's what happened at the other end that is.

As I said FD, he had a rough night. I didn't say he was blameless. Just saying that he was also not helped by the ball coming inside 50.

No, you just don't understand football. Congratulations.

Which of their tall forwards gave us a bath? Think carefully here. Westhoff, who plays all over the ground, is a not a correct answer.

Can't argue that he had a rough night, but he was also played much closer to goal all night and got some of the worst delivery inside 50 I've ever seen. His contribution wasn't solely on him tonight. The blokes passing him the ball are just as much to blame.

Kidding? Nah. Haters will see what they want to see. Gives away a couple of dubious free kicks and he's had a 'woeful' night. His job is to shut down key forwards. He smashed Dixon all night. Job done.

Rubbish. Murdered Dixon all night and was paid two of the softest 50 metre penalties in history against him tonight.

We had 'em. We fair dinkum had 'em in that third term. When Salem kicked that goal to put us 20 points up I really thought we could keep it going. Even when they kicked a couple and we got one back, I thought we could keep them at bay. And we just couldn't do it. For all of our dominance, and I believe we were the better side on the night (yes, I know, smash me for it, I don't give a stuff), our conversion inside 50 sucked and it lost us the game. We moved it too slowly, or missed a target, or just bombed away and it hurt us. I thought we had rectified it in the third term but then we kicked only 1 of the next 7 goals and we lose the game. Heartbreaking stuff. Full credit to our backline who many believed would be undersized and outmatched - that really wasn't the case at all and shows we made the right decision in terms of selection and the players we used through there. Our midfield rectified the clearance problem against the best clearance side in the comp, yet we couldn't capitalise often enough to take advantage of it. We have a huge 3 weeks to get things right - we simply cannot lose any of the next 3 games against sides we should most certainly be defeating. No excuses there. I'm pretty deflated and disappointed with the outcome but, at the same time, happy to see us respond in a positive fashion after the debacle of Queen's Birthday. Keep your chin up everyone, if you can.

Not reading what is no doubt a toilet of a thread. You know what? We are in front. Forward use isn't great, but we are up for the contest and Port are flooding back to choke up our entries. Big second half coming up.

Clearances currently 12-4 our way. Huge improvement.

We just kicked two after my post! Demons!

Not as much as your post.

Horrible 50. What ever happened to a contest? Loving how hard and tough it is at the moment. I'm pleased we've come to play but we need to kick a few goals.

Silly question is correct. It's always a slab - enough to celebrate a win, enough to drown your sorrows if we lose.

Came home to a bonus 6 pack of beer from the wife who knew the game was on tonight. I take this is a good omen. Dees by 6 goals.

I'm hoping that the bloke who celebrates loudly into the Channel Seven microphone after every Demons goal is also present at this game. He seems to be a good luck charm.

Marshall doesn't worry me and Ryder doesn't spend much time forward these days. He's only kicked 4 goals for the season. I get why some might feel as though we've gone in small, but I'm not worried by that. My concern is the midfield and getting on top in there. We have the talent to do it, we just need to put it together tonight and ensure we come out on top for the majority of the evening.

That's two. But I get your drift. The selection committee clearly believe the team we've selected can handle their forward line. With Frost, Petty and potentially Kielty waiting in the wings, it's not as if we don't have the coverage down back if we want it. But we didn't use it for a reason. If Dixon kicks 6 and Westhoff kicks 4 then I'll say we've screwed up. But I think we are going for the game style we've used all year and backing it - winning clearances, getting it forward and locking it in there for large amounts of time. This takes the pressure off the backline and allows us to set up our wall and support each other in the contest.

Which leaves who for Dixon... ?

They may also look to keep Petracca as a deep forward for most of the game as well. With Tyson playing in the middle it means we can be a little more flexible with our forward set up, while being dangerous down there. I know some might question the Tyson for Spargo swap as they aren't like for like players, but most of our forwards are terrific when the ball hits the deck and we will look to get it in there and keep in there through pressure around the ball, something the bigger bodies will be able to do for longer.

And he kicked 6 of those goals. No chance he plays down back. We will be relying on better play from our midfield to support the backline.

I'd say the forward lines are about even. While we have plenty of firepower, they also have Dixon, the Gray brothers, Wingard, Westhoff, Boak and others rotating through theirs as well. That's nothing to sneeze at. In fact I'd say both sides are pretty evenly matched. It has the potential to be a ripping game of footy, which has been a rarity on a Friday night this year!

Stop biting, Moonie. He ain't worth it.