titan_uranus

A really different challenge this week. First game for the season where we’ll be favourites. How will we deal with the pressure of expectation? Being the hunted, not hunters? It’s a big test IMO. All the gains of yesterday will be undone if we lose to Essendon.

We did though. We were actually pretty good after the disastrous first quarter. Just can’t give Fremantle a 40-point headstart at home IMO we’ve only played two “bad” quarters so far - first vs Freo and first vs Carlton.

Here's one. We have won 11 out of 16 quarters so far. No matter what happens tomorrow, that will put us 2nd in the competition overall, behind Sydney on 12. 4 of the 5 quarters we've lost have been first quarters - have lost every single one of them. But that of course means that from quarter time onwards, we have won 11/12 quarters, with the only loss being the third vs Fremantle where we weren't even that bad, we just got trampled by a flag contender at the top of their game.

Good shout here @Kev . Low possession counts for all three, and Culley didn't touch it all that much after quarter time, but on TV at least I felt like they were constantly presenting in the forward line and getting back on defence. Langord kicked 2 and Culley should have kicked at least 1. I'd still like them to be getting more of the ball but we are the sum of our parts and gut running wings are key.

Presumably the Dogs eased off? Agree with you though. All the gains from today will be undone in an instant if we lose next week. Team-wise, reports are we want to get a look at Kentfield but I'm not sure we want to change our height/forward set up right now. If we do, we'll have to drop one of TMac or Petty, probably the former, but I'm not convinced that's the right call with the way Petty is getting involved as second ruck. Is Rivers fit? If so, he can have a go in Laurie's spot, on the proviso that he runs both ways and lays some tackles.

I missed the game today but have been able to watch the replay. We are playing proper top 8 (let alone top 10) footy. Time will tell if we can keep it up all season, but if we can dominate Gold Coast, with their level of talent (particularly in the midfield), then we should all have hope that we can be better than just a mid-table side. We are combining elite pressure with both a willingness and an ability to move the ball quickly and score. We still get opened up the other way, conceding another 89 points, but today a lot of that was their accuracy (their expected score was 74 - they were nailing their shots). I felt we were on from the start but just missed some early shots (e.g. Culley and Mihocek missing sitters) when they nailed theirs at the other end. Probably never should have been 3 goals down early, but yet again we kept our composure, maintained our belief, and backed ourselves in to turn it around. That also applied when we were 2.7 at one stage but then righted the ship and at one stage were then 12.9. Steele is getting better, which is amazing. But he's not on his own for defensive pressure, with Chandler, Sparrow, Sharp and Windsor all pulling their weight. Petty works in the ruck, which I didn't have on my 2026 bingo card. Anything is better than JVR rucking but getting Petty involved in the middle is working, he is following up at ground level and we're not losing forward structure. It works particularly well when he can follow an opposition tall forward who goes in as a second ruck. The intrigue will come if/when we want to take a look at Kentfield as another tall forward, because we can't afford to get any taller than we are now. Interestingly we reduced the number of players we ran through centre bounce today - just Steele, Kozzie, Windsor and Sparrow. No Tholstrup tag in there, but also no Culley or Langford, continued to be pushed to wings. A tick to King and the FD for that decision though, as whatever focus we had on stoppage worked today. I'm still unconvinced by Laurie, though. To be fair, I was unconvinced by Sharp going into 2026 and as each week goes by I look more and more wrong about that, so I'm prepared to be wrong about Laurie too, but I just don't see it, I'm sorry to say.

6 - Gawn 5 - Steele 4 - Kozzie 3 - Sparrow 2 - Melksham 1 - Sharp

@Lucifers Hero why did I doubt you! Amazing. We are far more the real deal than I had wanted to let myself think.

With Heath, Kentfield, Jeffo and AJ all having good games and the latter three kicking 11 goals between them at Casey today, but with Adams being well beaten, I think we have no choice but to continue to back Petty in as a defender. There’s nothing else on the list in the KPD area, but (untried or not) there’s some KPF depth.

Can’t edit my post but I wanted to add - can those who watched the game let me know what it was about Kentfield that made him stand out over the other two?

Didn’t see the game but hugely promising result and reports on here. I’m a Kentfield fan so I’m rapt to see so many glowing posts about him. But had I just looked at the stats (obviously not a substitute for actually watching the game) I’d have imagined Johnson or Jeffo would have had the better games - both had more disposals, scoring shots and marks.

We do have all four of our KPDs in the seniors this week, which I imagine won’t be a common occurrence… But it does show that we are more than a little light on KPD depth on our list. Adams isn’t it, sadly.

Love the optimism but if Witts, Anderson, Rowell, Miller, Powell and Weller is “ordinary”, I shudder to think what word describes our midfield! Witts is one of only a few rucks in the league who challenges Gawn regularly, which hurts any advantage we might otherwise have had with Max. I agree with you though that they haven’t been properly tested this year, given the Geelong game was at home in humid conditions, and obviously they’re missing their best player from their first three games (Trac), but they’re still a lot of talent.

Agreed. Like Fremantle, they’re just a much better side than us, particularly in the middle. I’m hopeful that we start well and maybe put them under early pressure, which they haven’t really had this year so far. But if they are 30 up at quarter time, I won’t be surprised.

Yeah but is their current period of awful-ness impacting their existence in any way? 2nd most members in 2025, at 107,079, up nearly 4,000 on the previous season (despite 2025 being a 1-win season, and their fourth consecutive season in the bottom 3). They have a wait list for reserved seats. They averaged over 42,000 to their home games last year - Fremantle, who were a top 4 contender for most of the season, averaged 46,000. Their supporters haven't dropped off yet. They finally have some promising young talent (Duursma, Reid, CDT, Shanahan). They're effectively the biggest/richest club, whose demise is almost entirely self-inflicted. The AFL doesn't have to worry about them, because they'll always be big/rich, and the tide will eventually turn. Keeping GC and GWS viable and ensuring there is constant competitive/interesting AFL product in NSW and Queensland is far, far more important to the AFL than helping West Coast get out of the hole they built for themselves.

We’re going to be extremely tall if we are replacing Jiath, Cross and Fritsch with Turner, Melksham and Kentfield.

We also know that some people on here think that any story with a shred of criticism or negativity towards the MFC is a witch hunt. The club issued an apology within an hour or so of the story coming out yesterday. Morris has heard the recording of the meeting, and quoted directly from it - Richardson felt the need to say words to the effect of “can we keep this information to ourselves”. We don’t know what he said which led to him then asking everyone to keep it on the DL, but if he felt the need to tell everyone to stay quiet, that’s pretty much all we need to know - he should not have been sharing any information which he wouldn’t be comfortable with being out in the open. It’s a bad mistake. The club has owned up to it. It’s not a witch hunt. It’s not some sort of “media madness”. It’s not a storm in a teacup that Demonlanders are over-reacting to.

Didn’t think we’d see Turner, Petty, Lever and TMac in the same side this year, but there we go.

[censored] hell. Just when we thought we had turned a leaf on this [censored]. There may be mayo on it from the disaffected whistleblower but even then, how did anyone at the club not clock that sharing private information about sensitive, personal allegations was inappropriate? Well-intentioned, sure, but not smart. At least we appear to have acknowledged and apologised for it today.

To be fair his kicking is probably his biggest weakness. Hasn’t been disastrous for us yet, and he’s easily making up for it with the rest of his game, but his kicking isn’t ideal.

Is the Fritsch thing official? If so - [censored]. Just when he hits form. With games against Essendon and Richmond on the horizon, too. Melksham presumably comes in but maybe Jeffo can hit some form at Casey and get a run?

It’s the announcement of our (retro) Gather Round jumper, I think.

King’s said the last two days that he views the two poor starts vs Freo and Carlton differently. Against Freo he said it was their intensity/skill which overwhelmed us, but against Carlton he said it was just our own mistakes. I tend to agree, but either way, we have work to do. Gold Coast won’t let us bring a 43 point lead back (most sides not called Carlton won’t).

I’ve had the occasional run in with @DubDee over this. The balance is the other way around IMO, in that I reckon his kicking/etc isn’t making up for the poor defensive/contest stuff. Personally I think his kicking is overrated but even if not, I don’t think we can carry a (relatively) slow back half player who can’t/won’t defend or win a contest. I know many disagree and that’s fine - it’s not like we have a plethora of options to replace him and his experience. But with Rivers out of the side and AMW fit again, I’d have Salem’s spot under serious watch.

If the story is true, and I suspect it probably is, that tells you everything you need to know about why we punted him. Couldn't get his [censored] together to show up for Gawn's 250th, after everything Gawn did for him over the last 3 years.