titan_uranus

Mate, Gawn absolutely destroyed Draper today. We didn't lose the clearances because of Gawn. We lost them because Jackson struggled in the ruck (he was hobbling at three quarter time, was he injured?) and because Merrett played a blinder and Parish is in AA form.

9-9 actually, and one of theirs was from an unforgivable 6-6-6 free kick we gave them. We do have one of the best midfields in the comp. But Merrett played a blinder and Parish and Stringer are both in red-hot form, so it's not like our opposition's weak in the middle. Plus Viney was clearly underdone.

I can't help but feel there is a major country-wide outbreak on the cards. NSW has let Sydney's outbreak get too far away from them, then a miner potentially exposes hundreds of people who have dispersed across multiple states and territories, and now a crew member flies up and down the eastern seaboard despite not knowing they were a close contact (critical to find out why that is - was this person ignorant and not checking, or were they missed by contact tracers and weren't notified). If the infection rate increases there becomes a stronger argument to get AZ into more people under the age of 60, but that will never happen given the damage to AZ's reputation that the federal government has allowed to happen. Blame Gladys or Dan all you want, far and away the two major reasons we're in this boat are hotel quarantine and the vaccine rollout.

For most of the game I felt we needed another marking option in the forward line. I think we need to try Ben Brown again, but I'm not 100% convinced, particularly because I'm not sure who makes way. I see the arguments for Pickett. He's been off the last few games. But there are clearly risks with taking his pressure and speed from the forward half out of the side. Did Sparrow do enough to hold his spot? I liked what he did but 11 disposals from 55% time on ground, is that something we can improve on with Brown?

6 - May 5 - Lever 4 - Langdon 3 - Oliver 2 - Gawn 1 - Brayshaw Honourable mentions to Hunt, Salem and Petracca.

This is like the Sydney game. So many on here were fearful going in. Now that we've won, so many are criticising the win. Someone said we're being "picked apart". Which is just the most ridiculously bad take from this game you could have. We conceded 8.9.57, so that's 17 scoring shots. That's the second least Essendon's had all season (their lowest was 6.9 against Brisbane) and it's their second lowest score all year (again, Brisbane their lowest). The main reason this game was close was our forward half inefficiency in the first and third quarters. Had we converted our inside 50s and time in forward half when we were on top, we'd have won by more. Which is a frustrating concept, but one mainly within our control. If TMac, Fritsch and/or Harmes kick even one of their set shot misses late in the third, the oomph could easily have gone out of it for Essendon. This wasn't our defence, which yet again stood up on the wide expanses of the G. Lever and May were outstanding, just exceptional again. Hunt took AMT out of the game and Salem was strong and rebounded. If you weren't at the game I don't know if it was clear but Brayshaw was brilliant on his wing (as was Langdon but I'm sure he was noticeable on TV). Brayshaw's two-way running was phenomenal. Oliver's lift in the second quarter helped get us going, and Gawn gave Draper a complete bath in the ruck. Clearly though the delivery inside 50 and the forwards themselves need work. I felt for most of the game we needed another tall forward. I'm sure we were high on forward half pressure acts but for much of the game I felt we were crying out for someone else to offer a marking option, particularly when TMac was up the ground. On the umpiring - the overwhelming majority of the decisions I'm seeing complaints about online, and heard complaints about at the ground, were correct. Stringer hit Jordon in the head late in the second. Harmes didn't have prior and attempted to kick it late in the fourth (which is not HTB). These are important wins. They're built off system, and we know it works because 12 times this year our opponent has struggled to score, and that includes the four highest scoring sides other than us we've played (the Dogs, Brisbane, Essendon and Sydney). Oh, and it's so satisfying beating that mob.

I've seen this a lot, with talk of us being "pretenders" if we lose. IMO, a "pretender" is a side like Port or, in this season at least, Richmond - beefed up record with wins against bottom 10 sides but unable to beat good sides. We're undefeated against the top 8 (and even if GWS replaces Richmond that will remain the same). IMO, a loss tonight doesn't make us a "pretender" or put a question mark on our "September credentials", it will just put in jeopardy our chance to do any September damage because we'll be making our chance of a top 2/4 spot less likely. For so long as we keep playing good football against good sides, we're not a "pretender" and we're absolutely ready to contest in September, but we'll be shooting ourselves in the feet if we keep dropping games to bottom 10 sides.

The Buckley situation plus Darcy Moore I think makes them a very different side this week compared to Queen's Birthday.

That was big for Fremantle's finals chances. They have Carlton and Hawthorn as their next two, which could get them to 9-7. But they then have a five match stretch of Geelong, Sydney, Richmond, Brisbane and West Coast. Even if they win Round 23 vs St Kilda, with their relatively poor percentage they're going to have to go 3-2 through that run. Only Sydney is away from Perth though. Point is, they are going to be going hard against Geelong, Richmond, Brisbane and West Coast, and if they're a serious contender, that can only be good news for us.

That's ended up as expected. I like it, happy to have a Saturday afternoon game and for Burgoyne's 400th to get Saturday night exposure. Sets us up for a five or six day break into a prime time Round 17 slot against Port: whatever break it is, will be the same for Port.

Hold on a minute. What's with this whole "injuries are hurting Richmond" thing? How many best 22 players was Richmond missing when they went into last night's game? By my count, three: Astbury, Lynch and Nankervis. Most clubs are missing that many or more (I know we're not, but that's not the point here). They just stank last night. There's no excuse for kicking 2 goals in an entire match. It's abysmal. Perversely though, I can see this performance sparking a renewed focus from them. How do you feel about this post now, @dazzledavey36, after Ryan became the first player in four years to fail to register a single possession on debut? I reckon park the Austin Bradtke hate.

I have a very similar feeling today as I did going into the Dogs game. Coming off a disappointing loss, up against a side who plays in a way that in theory should scare us with fast and attacking football. An opening quarter like the one we put up against the Dogs will do wonders for my nerves (although IIRC Essendon have fought back from a few deficits this year). We know how big this game is. Starting off the second half of the season with a confidence-boosting win, in a week where Geelong and Richmond have already lost, and two of Port, Sydney, West Coast and the Dogs are also going to lose, is huge. But more importantly, we all want to see us rebound.

It's not a gripe about us not getting prime time slots. It's about the general football population being given games on TV featuring the same sides all the time. It's just a heap of Geelong and Richmond. It's an interesting and in my view negative side effect to the rolling fixture, which almost guarantees the same sides playing all the prime time games in the second half of the year.

Meanwhile how is it 6pm on Friday and we don't know when teams are playing next week? Doesn't the length of a break between games influence how a team plans its rehab/training schedule for the week?

Yep. So it's entirely feasible that in the 11 games from Rounds 13-23, Geelong will be on a Thursday or Friday night in all bar four of them. Which will be 10 total given they had three Friday nights before the bye. Meanwhile Richmond tonight plays its 7th Thurs/Fri night with its 8th next week.

If true, that will mean Geelong will have been on Thursday or Friday night for five out of six straight weeks (Rounds 13, 14, 15, 16 and 18). It's of course somewhat possible their Round 17 game vs Carlton will end up in prime time too. And then in Round 19 Geelong plays Richmond, another major Friday night contender. The rolling fixture presents good opportunities but one of the clear drawbacks is that if each week the AFL feels determined to prioritise the top sides, the same sides are going to get all of the prime time matches. The way it's shaping, we're going to have had Geelong on Thurs/Fri night for something like six out of seven straight weeks). Richmond is also likely to feature a lot: Friday night tonight, Thursday night next week, then games vs Collinwood, Brisbane and Geelong, all of which you can easily see being in prime time.

Source for either of the bolded bits? Previously you argued AZ was being phased out and that supported your argument. If it wasn't already clear, the commentary this week about AZ being phased out is an acknowledgement that by October Australia's over 60 population will have been fully vaccinated, meaning there will be no more use for AZ. it is not a commentary about AZ being phased out of use for people for whom it can otherwise be used.

Hi Mason, how are you? Happy to be selected in the 22 again? Not sure what you're doing on Demonland before the game though.

Not with Adelaide v Brisbane on Saturday. Radio will want a Melbourne Saturday afternoon game, not Adelaide v Brisbane.

Looks like this: Thurs GC v Rich Fri Geel v Ess Sat day either us or Haw v Port Sat twi Ade v Bris Sat night Freo v Carl Sat night 2 either us or Haw v Port Sun early Sydney v West Coast Sun day Coll v St Kilda Sun twilight Dogs v North Last question is whether we're the Sat night game or whether they give it to Hawthorn v Port (Burgoyne's 400th, and my bet).

GC rarely plays Sunday home games, I think in Queensland they like the Saturday twilight/night spots so I would expect us to be in that slot for that game. Could easily mean Sunday vs Hawthorn, 6-day break to Saturday vs GC, 6-day break again to Friday vs Dogs.

Can't see it happening, too tight a turnaround for Carlton. I agree, it's more that the concept of a 5-day break isn't going to stop the AFL if it decides that's what it needs to do. I'm fairly sure we'll be Saturday, whether afternoon or night, with Collingwood v St Kilda the Sunday game. Of course, we could get a five-day break into a Thursday night game vs Port the following week.

We're on top of the ladder. We're not here to experiment with our side.

As @Bring-Back-Powell said earlier, that won't stop the AFL from giving us a 5-day break. Brisbane last night played off a 5-day break (Saturday vs North, into Thursday vs Geelong).

Don’t know what to take from that game. Geelong were so bad they deserved to lose by 60+. Don’t be fooled by stats. They were smashed anywhere it mattered with a near full strength side. Brisbane wasn’t able to get that sort of transition going against us. Our forward line on paper is inferior to Geelong’s but we gave way more of a contest in our forward 50 than theirs did tonight and that makes a huge difference. That sort of form from Brisbane is scary though. I do not want to draw them in a final at the Gabba in week 1. They only have two more top 8 sides left this year and one is West Coast at the Gabba. They may feasibly only lose once more. Pressure is right on.