titan_uranus

You have to give them credit for winning that game with the quality of players they had out, on a ground they hadn't won at for 20 years. We'll see how they go next week vs Richmond at home though. Will be a significantly sterner test than Carlton.

They've only got two top 8 sides left for the year, so their only shot really is to win all of the other 8 games (GWS (away), Adelaide, Fremantle (away), Collingwood, North Melbourne, St Kilda, Gold Coast, GWS again). It's not going to happen. You can't "honourably lose" eight times in the first half of the year and expect to make finals. They have no excuse with their list profile, either. Disastrous.

What's most noticeable to me is not the change in overall attitude, but the certain posters who have disappeared (or post significantly less frequently) now that we're winning.

It's unbelievable that this question is being asked. Yes, he comes straight back in once he's fit enough to play a full game of AFL football. We are at our weakest when we are being beaten in clearances. Viney makes us better at clearances. Whether it's Melksham, or Sparrow, or Petracca plays more forward, Viney comes in and makes us better in an area we need to be strong in.

Carlton have to find four goals in 8 minutes to save their season.

If West Coast beats Carlton tomorrow and the Dogs beat Fremantle, there will be a two-game gap between 8th (either West Coast or Richmond depending on percentage) and 9th (Essendon), although GWS has a game in hand. Also if West Coast beats Carlton tomorrow Carlton should sack David Teague. There is no reasonable excuse for Carlton to lose to the side West Coast are fielding tomorrow.

A fair outcome for Sparrow I think. Franklin should have copped at least a fine last week for his bump but careless conduct with low impact is right for Sparrow IMO. Glad he's available for next week.

"This" my [censored]. There is nothing more certain than if we were to have followed the same path, Demonland would be baying for Goodwin's blood. Collingwood has only improved on its previous season's record once in Buckley's 9 seasons. Can you imagine how frequently that stat would be used on here if it were us?

As quickly as they conceded four goals, they've scored them all back. Game over.

Richmond, but only because I got to be there in the crowd Brisbane Bulldogs Geelong Sydney St Kilda Carlton Fremantle Hawthorn GWS North Melbourne Adelaide

What the OP shows is that too many still haven't been able to accept that we're a different side this year. Most previous years being down 20 points to Brisbane at HT would be curtains. But repeatedly this year we have started poorly but improved as the game has gone on (GWS, Richmond, Sydney, North Melbourne and now Brisbane).

The Crows released a press statement accepting the fine and said they accept it and own the mistake "from top to bottom". So I suspect they definitely did the wrong thing. https://www.afc.com.au/news/952221/club-statement-afl-sanction

I'm certainly a bit more confident about beating Geelong with Cameron now that I've seen us hold Brisbane to their third lowest score all year despite them having Daniher, Hipwood, Cameron, Bailey, McCarthy and McStay. But Geelong have a much higher ceiling than the rest of the top 8 because we just don't know how well they can play when they get closer to their best 22 on the park. As to their second half fitness, they're league leaders in third quarters having won 9 of 11, and they're 7th for fourth quarters having won 6.

St Kilda's season's got to be over, you'd think. At 5-7 they're going to have to go 7-3 at a minimum to make finals, but with their terrible percentage of 77.6%, they might need to go 8-2. Their fixture includes Richmond, Brisbane (away), Port, West Coast (away), Sydney and Geelong (away). I can't see it happening.

I think each of Spargo, ANB, Hunt, TMac, Oliver, Harmes and Jordon have arguments in their favour.

Yes but they played that game without Dangerfield, Blicavs, Guthrie, Duncan, O'Connor and Miers. They're playing poorly but winning. They have more room for improvement than probably any other side currently in the top 8.

The sort of thing Sparrow did is the sort of action the AFL wants to stamp out. He runs past the ball to bump - if you then make contact to the head, you get penalised. So, based on that, Sparrow should be cited. However. Buddy Franklin did the same thing last week on Newman and wasn't penalised due to "insufficient force". That's in part because Newman got up and carried on straight away. Based on that, Sparrow should be fine. There was minimal impact to Rich.

It has dawned on me that the second half last night may well be the best football we have played in my lifetime (30+ years). As has been said, premierships aren't won in June. Still three months of H&A games and there will be improvement in some of the sides below us (Geelong and Richmond the two big ones). They've reached 8-3 despite having a number of key players out injured. Unlike Richmond, who gave up some games through injury, they've kept themselves top 4 for a second half of the year surge. I fear Geelong just as much as the Dogs or Brisbane.

Watching the game I thought Melksham was terrible, again. But it's hard to assess off the TV. He had our fifth most pressure acts, with 16 (for context, ANB had 26, Harmes 23, Pickett 22, Oliver 20 and Petracca 17. Assuming no injuries, someone has to go to bring Langdon back. I'd have no issue with it being Melksham, but I suspect he's playing a role the coaches want. I really, really don't want Sparrow to be dropped. Each time he's been given a game this year he's played really well IMO and I think he deserves to hold his spot. So honestly, if Hunt isn't injured and we need to drop someone...I don't know who makes way. As to Weid v Brown, my personal view is Brown never should have been dropped and whilst he hasn't done anything at VFL level to warrant re-selection, Weideman's not doing enough. I'd make the switch, but it's line ball.

Scores conceded vs top 8 sides: Geelong - 60 Richmond - 48 Sydney - 58 Bulldogs - 59 Brisbane - 75 I'll add to that this stat: Across all 12 games, we have been behind in the fourth quarter for 43 seconds (after Taylor Walker's goal). That's it. Someone asked Swamp this on Twitter. There were three such games in Round 10 this year.

That was enormous. We’ve just beaten the two best sides, neither match at our home ground. We held a high scoring side to 20 scoring shots and 75 points. We needed a lift at half time, so we lifted. We backed our system in, we turned the tide, and then we scored heavily. You cannot be anything other than impressed by that.

Huge quarter. Major lift in the middle and as a result we had far more forward half ball. Brings our forward into play and nullifies them. But those three bad misses (TMac, Weid and Pickett) could come back to bite us. At least now we know we can match them. Game on.

The thing about the umpiring is that we're getting some really iffy high contact ones but all the marking contests and HTB calls are going their way. Bailey was caught stone cold and it was play on, Salem gets a 50/50% one and it's called.

If you're having a crack at the forward line you don't get it. We're scoring from 50% of our inside 50s, which is a better conversion rate than the Lions. This is on the midfield. We're -11 in CPs, -8 in clearances, -3 in tackles (despite being -43 in disposals), and -14 inside 50s. No side in the comp will compete with Brisbane if the ball is spending the majority of time in Brisbane's forward half.

It’s hard for them to get involved. Inside 50s are 9-14, they were 6-6 at one stage so they went on an 8-2 run at the back end of that quarter. Ball is spending too much time in our back half.