titan_uranus

The Richmond fawning in the commentary box is disgusting. Noticeably though, Daisy doesn't get involved in it. It's all BT, Brayshaw and Leppa.

They still haven't made the finals yet, either. They need to win next week, otherwise they run the risk of Essendon passing them with two wins (could theoretically also be passed by St Kilda or Fremantle but they're far less likely to win both games).

Channel 7 going on and on about Richmond's inexperience:

GWS with this win will likely finish 7th. That means they likely play Sydney in the first final (Brisbane would have to lose to Collingwood or West Coast for Sydney to pass them), and then the winner gets the loser of 2 v 3. So if we win both games and finish 1st, we'll avoid that semi.

Richmond are witches hats out there. GWS was excellent last week vs Geelong but hard to read much into this.

To be fair, if you're a Richmond fan, does it matter? You've had a great run, three flags and an era to always remember. Now let's hope they completely fall apart and spend years wallowing down the ladder.

Remember when people were complaining about "we gave up Hogan/pick 6/Ben King for May"? Ah dear.

Certainly if there's no pre-finals bye, one of my concerns about resting players (missing every second week for five weeks potentially, through to the prelim) isn't a concern anymore.

If there's no pre-finals bye, does that mean a Sunday final in week 1? Or three finals on the Saturday? If not, they'll have to do a Thursday night, but that won't work unless Bulldogs v Port is a repeat match up in the first final and they're both on a six-day break. Otherwise they'll be sending at least one, if not two, sides into that game off a five-day break. From our perspective we'll have already had two consecutive six-day breaks so you'd hope we're on the Saturday in week 1, so that we don't have a third straight six-day break.

Tom Browne at half time was "reporting" (by his standards anyway) that he thinks the AFL is going to scrap the pre-finals bye. Imagine if we get the Friday night final in week 1. Three consecutive six-day breaks. Surely not.

That's not the rule at all.

This might have been fair to say in Round 1. But it's Round 22. No excuses. Stand on the mark, don't move. It's not hard.

This is seriously a poor comment.

GWS is missing Greene, Green, Coniglio, Davis, Daniels, Finlayson, Hill and Reid (along with some season-ending injuries to Flynn, Keeffe and Buckley). They could be a handful come finals. If they beat Carlton next week that puts them in prime position for 7th and potentially a final vs Sydney, the best draw possible for them. They look good, but I'm sure a lot of it is due to Richmond being just absolutely pathetic.

That may be absolutely right, rjay, but the way he's played in the backline in previous years does not lend any confidence that he'd be capable of playing in our backline at AFL level. It may be that in training this year he has developed a level of predictability and maturity in his play, so that he isn't always flying at every contest and peeling off his man at precisely the wrong moment. If that's the case, and he's capable of slotting into a defensive position if we have a player out, then that's all well and good. But based on what he's shown at AFL level previously, I don't think it's unfair for some of us to suggest he might be better suited to the forward line.

It's one of those very rare weeks where the top 9 on the ladder play the bottom 9 on the ladder.

@Lord Nev @WalkingCivilWarI reckon @Macca was referring to the Dean Margetts thread.

I have to say I'm surprised. We know we want to play TMac, Brown and Jackson in the finals, but despite TMac being unavailable we're preparing for finals with a different looking forward line. I accept Weideman may not be in form, but structurally I would have thought we want to keep rolling with the two key forwards (without wet weather anyway) for as much of the season as possible. Of course, rewarding the players who went over to Perth and got the W last week isn't a bad outcome.

Interesting decision. I'm all for depth. We haven't had injuries this year and if the club thinks Smith is capable of filling a gap in the forward line, or (shudder) the back line, then fair enough. But I'm not a fan and I'm not convinced he's good enough to play AFL level football with any consistency. Certainly not in the backline, where his Frost-like unpredictability goes against everything we've strived for this year. No dice. Emergency, along with Bedford, vandenBerg and Weideman.

Final team announced. In: Hibberd Out: Hunt, vandenBerg So no Weideman.

Meanwhile Greene getting a week just tops off the shambles that is the MRO/Tribunal system. Dangerfield in the 2020 GF - not suspended Astbury in Round 1 - not suspended Daniher in Round 1 - not suspended Hawkins on May - not suspended Fritsch vs North - not suspended Shuey on Mills - not suspended Buddy Franklin - not suspended Greene - suspended for a week If your argument against Greene is "if you're going to raise your arm/elbow you suffer the consequences if you hit someone in the head", all of the above players should have received a week. Don't tell me "oh but some of those guys were fined". If you want evidence that fines don't operate as deterrent, look no further than Selwood, who has been fined three times already this year.

You want our club to get in the media and pot Yeo? Have you ever seen a club mount a campaign against a player from another club?

If two big enough clubs make it into an Adelaide or Perth GF, [censored] the general public, tickets should be allocated to the two clubs' members 50/50% and only opened up more broadly if/when the clubs don't use them all up. Make this the fans' GF.

Yep, agree. I'm sure this data exists, but I've never seen it made available publicly. Separate to any discussion about bias/the Bulldogs, I'd be keen to know what sorts of errors we are making more often than other clubs. That's my point: they may well be, and if they are, it stands to reason they'd get more free kicks. Tackling properly is a skill, like kicking and marking. It isn't silly at all to suggest one side might do it better than another, and that should be borne out in a higher free kick count.

Also, how quiet is this teams thread? Surely a sign that Demonalnders have breathed a sigh of relief knowing we can't slip out of the top 4?