titan_uranus

You're kidding, right? For one, Weid's best football this year has been playing a role more like TMac than Brown, so he'd IMO be more suited to playing alongside Brown than alongside TMac. For another, Smith's been playing defence all season. For a third, why the [censored] would we experiment this boldly in our most important game of the year so far?

Press conference currently underway $3M funding to upgrade Gosch's Paddock to "AFL size" (presumably that's MCG equivalent)? $2M from MOPT, $500k from the AFL and MFC.

Before the last lockdown the crowd limit was something like 50% but capped at the MCG at 25,000. If a similar cap is used for finals and the MCG's max crowd isn't much more than whatever GMHBA can hold, that's where the pressure will hit. Geelong will ask for it and the usual defence of "too many fans will be locked out" won't be as strong as normal.

The pressure will come if there is a cap at the MCG that is less than GMHBA's capacity. Geelong kicked up a big fuss last week for their Richmond game - laying the foundations IMO. Best thing we can do is take the option off the table by going 3-0.

To temper that, the Dogs, Geelong, Port and Sydney all won (as did Carlton, who are now just a win out of the top 8, and they have a better percentage than Fremantle too).

So do you expect us to lose the last three games?

Didn't you say last week we were "gone"?

And if you're wondering, had we beaten Hawthorn then the key difference would be that one win would make us much closer to guaranteeing top 4 - Sydney would have to win all three games and make up 13.5% to pass us on percentage. That large percentage buffer over Sydney is useless because of the Hawthorn draw.

I'm not arguing Harmes needs to be as good as Petracca or Oliver, I'm arguing he needs to be better than he is right now. He makes too many mistakes, he turns it over too much as a proportion of his time on ground and ball he wins, and he repeats his mistakes (three set shots all missing to the near side, taking on tacklers and getting caught, not taking the first option, missing targets by foot). We absolutely need defensive mids to complement Petracca and Oliver, and Harmes at his best can be that player, but right now he's a long, long way from his best, and IMO he's not playing well enough. He's talking about the return match, where Greene had 7 disposals, 2 marks and no tackles.

So the status is this: Three more wins guarantees top 2 Two more wins guarantees top 4 One more win is not enough for top 4 unless and until Sydney loses a game (or Port loses twice)

12.2 in the second half to Sydney. They just can't miss, and Essendon can't stop them. Sydney are a huge threat for our top 4 spot. The way they're playing it's hard to see them losing to St Kilda, North or the Gold Coast.

Seeing Franklin play well today really irritates me - he 100% should be suspended and sitting in the stands.

After today Sydney finish with St Kilda, North and Gold Coast. If they win today they'll have won 5 straight against 5 sides better than those three (West Coast, Dogs, GWS, Fremantle, Essendon if they win). They are the threat right now. If they win today we still need another two to be sure of holding them off.

Jordon's shown all year he's capable of working within our side, particularly when we had Harmes in and Viney out. Would be a return to that sort of midfield if we swapped Jordon for Harmes. Otherwise vandenBerg may be a very similar sort of player but at some point we have to put our foot down with Harmes' poor performances. Turnovers need to be in context. Oliver had 35 and Petracca 32, with more disposals comes more turnovers. Oliver had 12 clearances and Petracca 6 (Harmes 3). And Petracca and Oliver were on the park for 89% and 88% of the game respectively, but Harmes only 76%. So he's racking up errors despite getting less of the ball and being on the field for less of the time. And of course, Oliver and Petracca hit the scoreboard but Harmes kick 0.3 from three gettable set shots. Defensively his game was fine, but that applied to the entire side today. But when he picks up the ball Harmes makes too many errors.

Not yet. We still need at least one win to ensure Brisbane can't pass us, and at least two if Sydney beat Essendon (regardless of the result of GWS v Port, too).

Nah not today, @Nasher. A big win does not always mean a flawless 22. I'll happily debate anyone who argues Harmes played well today.

Hawthorn leading Brisbane by 30 halfway through the second. Remember, if Brisbane lose even once for the rest of the year, we only need one more win to ensure they cannot pass us. So if they drop this game and Essendon can get up over Sydney (I can't see either happening but still), then one more win will lock us into top 4.

6 - Oliver 5 - Petracca 4 - Brown 3 - Lever 2 - Jackson 1 - May

If Salem's even remotely sore he should absolutely not play next week - the Eagles game is critical to our season but Salem's fitness for the games beyond it is far more important. Hibberd a more than adequate replacement.

Weid for TMac if injured. Otherwise I'd drop Harmes for Jordon, or vandenBerg even, and I'm no vandenBerg fan. Harmes 4 turnovers and 4 clangers from 76% game time. Just hurts us more, IMO, than he helps us. No other change. Bowey holds his spot over Hibberd for at least one more week.

Disappointing final quarter but we looked absolutely spent, which may well be the result of yesterday. We were 11.5 midway through the second quarter so to finish 18.21 is annoying. Percentage almost certainly irrelevant from here though. Harmes awful, Viney better but not by too much. That aside, heaps to like. Pressure like that beats 17 clubs, not just GC. Oliver dominant, Lever, Petty and May all strong, Bowey looked at home, Brown’s best game, ANB improved, Jackson’s best game, I liked Brayshaw’s defensive work too. A lot to like, despite there being plenty we can improve on.

TMac subbed out with a back injury. Damn.

5.6 is frustrating but they completely flooded our front half so it was always going to get messier. Viney now up to 4 HTB against, by my count. Kicking improved that quarter though. Harmes just does not learn from his mistakes. Loving Brown’s workrate as much as anything. Also loving Petty’s game.

Most likely. Back to back six day breaks into a crucial Geelong game is going to hurt.

Can’t fault much, but Harmes and Viney kill me. Neither has learnt to take the first option and Harmes can’t hit a single target. Really want to see them lift their game, as they should be copping a bake from Goodwin. Loving the forward pressure. Brown’s looked really good and that helps TMac, Fritsch and Jackson get free and hit the scoreboard. Oliver incredible and Lever, Petty and May solid.