titan_uranus

I think Mitchell only had one touch to quarter time. He had 24 overall which was -14 on his season average to date of 38.

We did something about it this week. Our mids were trying to block de Boer at stoppages.

Fritsch to Stewart? He took Haynes today (and did it in Round 17 last year too). May to Hawkins. If Cameron plays, Lever takes him.

Nope, haven't missed your point at all. I completely understand what you're saying. You are just saying something ridiculous. Again: signing the song does not stop us from having "brutally honest conversations", nor does it stop us from analysing our performance, critiquing it, learning from it, demanding improvement. You are arguing that we shouldn't sing the song so that we can focus instead on getting better. The necessary implication is that we can't improve on that performance if we choose to sing the song. It's ridiculous. Demand improvement, sure, but don't do it in a ridiculous way like this.

Dangerfield and Rohan are suspended. Menegola didn't play today, not sure if he'll be fit next week. Higgins did a hamstring I think.

1994. Which is also our last 5-0 start. Edit: unless you actually mean our first, which was in 1897.

50,000 would be great but IMO we'll do well to clear 40,000. Hawthorn v Richmond last Sunday at 1.10pm drew 41,051. Today was 50,000 but Easter Monday is a bit more "blockbuster" than next week will be.

Geelong are absolutely beatable next week. They haven't looked that good in any of their three games so far. They don't play a style that traditionally scares us (i.e. they play slow), and Hawkins aside they don't have a forward line that scares me. They set up well behind the ball but the way we have moved the ball so far this year, I think we're capable of scoring against them.

No worries. FWIW, I rate defensive half pressure acts equally meaningful with kicking efficiency, but yes, we want the same thing from Brayshaw, so let's hope he builds on this week next week vs Geelong.

Oh lord that kick from Hawthorn was so bad Melbourne-esque.

I know people want to see Geelong lose but the thought of Hawthorn being 2-1 is not great either. I think I'd prefer Geelong to limp over the line.

If I were a Hawthorn supporter I don't think I could deal with playing CJ and Frost in the same backline. Both are the same - they take off helter skelter but make ridiculous harebrained decisions. Like that 50. He's faster than his teammates, which is useless to the teammates.

I have no issue with the royal blue jumper as our clash jumper. I like it. The question is why were we wearing it vs GWS, a side with whom we don't clash? If this is the start of a new "policy" whereby we wear the clash jumper in all our away games, I'm not interested. We should wear the home jumper with white shorts in any away game which doesn't involve a clash (which, IMO, are away games to Brisbane, Collingwood, Geelong, Gold Coast, GWS, Hawthorn, North Melbourne, Richmond, Sydney, West Coast and the Dogs).

Whatever the umpires have done to Geelong this game, that free kick against them for a "hold" in defence is just terrible. That was just strong bodywork from the Geelong defender. No hold. Never should have been penalised.

I don't care. I like Salem. He's playing really well. That's all I care about.

Good to see I'm not the only one thoroughly unimpressed with Geelong. Now of course they'll probably come out next week and play a manic fast game or something, but if this is how they play next week, I like the chances of our defensive set up against their ball movement.

Mate you can't get upset at my use of stats and then "hang your hat" on kicking efficiency, which isn't a precise stat. By the way, according to the AFL website his kicking efficiency was 64.7%. That was better than Daniels, Hopper, Ward, Taranto, Toby Greene and Haynes, as well as Spargo, ANB, Hunt, Petracca, Viney, Oliver and Jones. In other words, he was above plenty of mids on both sides on the night. Efficiency was generally down yesterday I suspect in part because of how GWS chose to play, sinking players back into defence and clogging up our forward half. He gained us territory whilst doing his part in the defensive half. I don't think those stats are irrelevant, certainly no more so than the KE stat. And if we're going to start talking misquoting (which I clarified), I don't disagree that he can perform to a higher standard. I'm not satisfied with this output on its own: as I said, I thought yesterday he was good but not great. I want him to be great. I think he can be great.

Yeah I liked the play-by-play commentary last night. Kelli Underwood's voice is no more or less grating than Brian Taylor's or James Brayshaw's. She called the game fine. So did Leigh Montagna, by the way. The special comments, though, were no good. Brereton is awful, just genuinely a terrible commentator. I've never been a Healy fan either.

Geelong didn't add Smith, Higgins and Cameron to be anything less than a premiership contender and top 4 finisher. Which means they have no business losing to Hawthorn today. Pressure is on.

Did Geelong, Hawthorn or Richmond ever refuse to sign the song after any of their wins during their respective dynasties? What you're arguing is that by singing the song they're incapable of critiquing their performance or reviewing the game. That is patently ridiculous. There's no statement to make or signal to send by not signing the song. If anything, it will get people riled up that we have rifts between players and coaches. Wins are to be enjoyed. It's why people play football. If you can't reconcile celebrating a win with getting better, then you'll never get there.

Jeepers, just paraphrasing. From memory you described him last week as "filling space". Feels akin to "contributing nothing", but anyway, semantics. So he had our third most metres gained. He also had our sixth most defensive half pressure acts (Salem, Oliver, Rivers, Viney, Sparrow ahead). And our fourth most intercepts, including our second-highest intercept marks. He floated forward for a goal, too. Again, nothing spectacular, but a decent performance IMO, and a sign he's building into his role.

Why not? You've criticised Brayshaw for contributing nothing on that wing. Well, he's providing drive and is "linking up forward".

We were not at the "bare minimum", ridiculous to imply as much. Yes, our skills were poor, as they have been all year so far, but the way we set up across the ground was consistent and indeed it was our reliable structures and systems that ensured we got back into the game early. As to whether we'd have won without their injuries, you'd imagine it would have been closer but we were already turning the tide in the first and early in the second before the injuries took place. Plus Davis has been a shadow of his former self so far this year. Brayshaw was good today. Not great, just good. Some mark him too easily, I accept that. But I get the sense you mark him too harshly. 3rd highest metres gained for us is of major importance for our non-Langdon wing.

Not sure you'll get an answer until olisik returns after our next loss.

Fair re: Sparrow. 4th most pressure acts for both sides despite only 66% time on ground. But on the other side of the coin, just four touches. Melksham won't offer us that level of pressure but at his best links us up better from the back half to the front. If we're honest, Melksham's spot is probably being taken by Jones right now. Hunt is all about balance. The run is important, but to be fair to him he's doing more than that. His bodywork and aggression is better than it's ever been. But yes, his errant kicking is an issue and he needs to tighten that up, and not let himself get completely sucked up the ground too frequently.