Wiseblood

And which players? Just saying 'trade and draft period' is an easy out for you. Who are these quick and skillful players we missed out on?

Where from?

Well that hasn't even been close to being an issue with the crowds we have attracted over the last few seasons. No doubt tonight will be a little bit down on previous years, but it's not as if only 40,000 are turning up. I'd say we will still get around 70,000.

No, it won't. They continued to give us QB for years when we stunk, so I have no idea why they would take ANZAC Eve away from us just because of one or two bad results. It just won't happen OD, no matter how much you wish it too so it can suit your narrative further.

Outside of last season, we've made every one of these games a contest and, prior to 2017, we won a few on the trot. At no point have we been noncompetitive. We have filled out the 'G with some massive crowds and put on some terrific footy, 2018 aside, although we were well in the game at three quarter time. I love how our form means you can make stuff up on a whim. I don't know why you do it.

We'll find out in roughly 9 hours time.

Almost 80,000 fans showed up last year and 85,000 the year before it. A sideshow it isn't.

I've been on it since the Port loss.

Garlett to kick 5, including the sealer from the pocket on his left foot. Tom Mac to have 8 marks and kick 3 goals. Frost to keep Tom Lynch to one kick, which goes out on the full. Hibberd to dash from half back, take 9 bounces at full tilt and dob it from 20 metres out. DEMONS!!

Call me insane, but I think it will be a pretty competitive game. We generally match up pretty well with the Tigers and there is still plenty of talent and ability in our side. I'm not sure we can win and play good footy for long enough, but I don't see it being a blood bath.

I like the theme of the changes - we have brought in five blokes who can either give us some run or go hard at the contest. I think adding Jeffy is a smart move and I'm hoping to see Smith provide a couple of goals and some pressure when the ball hits the deck.

I wholeheartedly disagree. I think I actually engage in some good discussion with others and I've been more than open about my disappointment in how some players approached the off season and their commitment to the season. I just see our 'malaise' a little differently to others, which is fine. We all interpret things differently. To me, I see the issues lying with the fitness of our players and their ability to implement the gameplan as it's intended. I'm not absconding anyone from our poor start, I just see it as a fitness aspect, with tweaks to our gameplan also being needed.

In terms of our forward line, what changed over summer? It seemed to work pretty well most weeks in 2018. We've lost Hannan and, from the second half of the year, AVB to injury. We lost Hogan to Freo. We also have players like Garlett and Spargo out of form, while Melksham and Tom Mac spent a large part of the summer with injuries and their form, especially T Mac's, reflects this. Our forward line is all over the shop, and while teams seem to have worked us out a little, I think the loss of talent, coupled with the fitness levels and the injuries, has hampered how we function down there. I know there are supporters who disagree with how I see things, and that's fine. I haven't denied that the gameplan could have used some tweaks over the summer, but the loss of some key personnel, both on the trade front and injury front, has severely affected what is happening down there.

Good analysis, DZ. I'd be interested to see if, in the games we won, whether or not teams set up the same way, but we were able to control the game better. West Coast got a look at us two rounds out from finals and made the necessary adjustments in the Prelim, although we were way off our game as well.

Fair enough. Thanks for the in depth discussion on the topic.

Thanks. That's the point I'm trying to make. I'm firmly in the camp that how we returned to pre-season training, the off season surgeries etc are far more to blame for the start to the year we've had. As others in the media have discussed, our game is predicated on that manic style of football where we run, run and run. We don't have the fitness to do it right now (which is on the players) and we're being found out. We might have gotten rolled a few times last season, but I also recall that game style working interstate and in two important finals. Do we need to make large changes to a gamestyle that worked more often than it didn't? Maybe we could have made a few more tweaks, but as I said above, I put down the game plan falling down to a side that is not fit enough to implement it the way it should be.

Prove it. He said they didn't do a regular play by play with the players, but that they still took learnings from it and reviewed some of the aspects of the game. He also said they took a lot out of the Grand Final as well. Silly geriatric. “I tried to parcel our finals up into three. We had two really great experiences and one poor one. I certainly didn’t dwell too much on the way we played because it was nothing like the way the Melbourne team plays. But you do reflect on the things in our program we keep addressing and learning from,”

Prove to me that we ignored it. His point is that we didn't do a review of that Prelim Game, when in fact we did, albeit not the usual one we do.

We didn't ignore it. Tell me where Goodwin said we ignored it. This myth is starting to get just as tiresome as our performances on the field. They didn't do a normal review, but that doesn't mean they didn't review it. Not only that, Goodwin has said that they reviewed the Grand Final as well and took plenty away from what the Eagles did that day. Seriously. I know the performances have been well, well below par so far this season, but let's stop pedaling this rubbish about how we didn't review the Prelim. We did.

I know someone related to McCartney and I can find out a little more info around this on the weekend. It's really the only sort of inside info I'll ever have, but it's pretty solid, so I'll see what I can dig up around this. One thing I've heard in the past is we still had too many of the younger players who just didn't work hard enough. One in particular was Petracca. On the flip side, McCartney was always glowing with his praise of how hard Jesse Hogan worked on the track. I still think there are a few players who are relying on talent alone and not doing the hard yards. Again, I'll see what I can find out on the weekend.

And if he did tell them all about it, he did the right thing. Absolutely no way that sort of behaviour should be tolerated.

And do remember, he has admitted that he lies and withholds info all the time. Or so he says. So we have every right not to believe a word he says.

Indeed.

Edit - Don't gifs work on here anymore?