titan_uranus

Whilst I don't know if we'll make a change, I do think we know the following: Daw isn't going to be the sub TMac is going to play defence (unless we have no other options, which means both May and Smith are ruled unfit) Hunt isn't going to play forward

That wont work. Did you see Martin last night? He's cooked. He'll compete in the ruck, but I don't think he is any chance of keeping up with Gawn or Jackson around the ground. It's an area we can, and need to, exploit.

We're better than Port, but the Dogs are better than Brisbane and Geelong. We've been the two best sides all year. It's a fitting final match up. The Dogs will embrace the backs against the wall position - five states in two weeks, bottom half of the 8, quarantine, no training on the oval, etc. The week off will help them more than it will help us. But our best is good enough.

Port and Geelong won't go anywhere until they fix their respective inherent problems. Geelong's gameplan doesn't work in finals. Port cannot deal with pressure.

This game was there for Port if they hadn't been so awful in the first half. Dogs have kicked 3 goals since half time, and look nowhere near as slick as the first half.

No he didn't? 10 disposals, 5 marks. They were rucking him at times, ridiculously.

Stefan Martin's the Dogs' worst player tonight, by a mile. The question is whether he improves with a week off. If this is his effort in the GF, I'll gladly take that match up. Keath will replace Gardiner or Cordy. They'll bring Weightman back but if Martin holds his spot, they'll have to drop Vandermeer or Johannisen.

Why? They're no taller than Geelong was last night.

Port have dominated this quarter for 2.3. This could have been so much more interesting if Port had kicked 5.0. The margin would be 30 points but the feel of the game would be so different.

In Round 11 Naughton kicked 1.1 from 14 disposals and 5 marks. In Round 19 Naughton kicked 2.1 from 9 disposals and 3 marks. Tonight to half time he has kicked 2.1 from 7 disposals from 6 marks. In other words: twice this year, we've curtailed him.

Well at least we get an extra hour to plan for our GF opponent.

Dogs are +26 in contested possessions and +9 in clearances. Hard to beat them with that level of midfield dominance.

That was disgraceful. Three Port defenders watched the ball whilst Johannisen actually went and got it.

They'll destroy Martin and English, too. But we've lost games this year despite dominating the ruck. Gawn and Jackson are part of the broader picture - midfield dominance. We won't beat the Dogs without it.

You just can't have asked for a better crack at it the last two years, though. Top 2 both years, win the QF both years, home prelim both years with opponents who have been all over Australia in the weeks prior. And this year, no injuries at all. They have their entire full list to choose from tonight I believe, except maybe Georgiades.

Dogs are +28 in contested possessions and +10 in clearances. We have to back ourselves in to not be as pathetic as Port in those areas. We know that if you take that part of the game away from the Dogs, they are a very different side. But if you let them dominate those areas, they are arguably unbeatable.

They had 4 wins against the top 8, but two of them were Essendon and GWS, the worst two sides. They beat Sydney and the Dogs in the final round. They were 0-3 against the top 4.

I was about to say Port just need to stem the bleeding, to try to stay in touch and try to over-run the Dogs who played last week and surely will hit a wall before Port. But they can't get their hands on the ball and the Dogs are just embarrassing them at the contest.

Rozee and Butters are so incredibly fumbly under even scant pressure. Port's defence looks amazing against slow play Geelong, but the Dogs bring pace and Aliir can't get into position, exposing Jonas and McKenzie who are just awful one-on-one. Doesn't help that Boak and Wines cannot get their hands on the ball in the middle. Macrae, Libba, Treloar, Smith just doing as they please.

It sounds like they were sick on Wednesday. Jeremy Cameron apparently did a Twitch stream on Thursday which was supposed to be on Wednesday and mentioned he needed time off on the Wednesday or something. They were all then apparently cleared to play last night. I'm not entirely convinced they were labouring under any issues last night.

There have been a lot of posts after our win about having the flag in the bag. Put the lid back on. The way the Dogs are playing tonight, and with a week off after this, we have a massive challenge ahead.

Assuming it's true, does it explain how bad some of those players were? It probably does. I don't care.

@The Mighty Demons you wouldn't be able to do one for Gawn's first goal in the second quarter, would you?

Legend. Thank you.

It's not just the big marks. It's the workrate, and the effort he puts in to even a contest if he can't mark it. The one where Henderson looked a monty to mark it but he got there just in the nick of time and brought it to ground, leading to a Spargo goal, was a perfect example.