titan_uranus

Lever's been one of our best by peeling off to repel. This isn't on our backline. It is, yet again, on our forwards. The ball has been in our forward half all quarter and we're still behind.

Absolutely fair. I was a fan of Tomlinson last week, but he has indeed cost us all three goals (although the free kick before the vandenBerg 50 was weak, and of course he didn't concede the 50).

Why laughable? Obviously could be wrong. But could, possibly, be right.

We're -44 in possessions, -11 CPs, -29, -2 clearances. But we're +2 in inside 50s and equal on scoring shots.

The majority of the 10 against weren't there. Examples: the reversal on Harmes, the "whatever it was" against Pickett, the two high tackles in the final chain. Add to that the obvious HTB missed in our forward line before Pickett's goal and the hold on Petracca in the final minute. There is some ill-discipline and stupidity though: vandenBerg and Harmes the principal offenders.

Disgraceful from the umpires, absolutely disgraceful. In that last passage: Petracca was held in the marking contest, then possibly tripped in the tackle, then Goldstein ducked, then Zurhaar ducked. Tomlinson's getting well beaten by Larkey. Real problem there. All four of our behinds should have been goals (maybe Pickett the exception). Trac kicks his and we lead. He missed, now we're two goals behind. Make no mistake. They are a bottom 4, maybe bottom 2, side. They are awful. But we will lose this game if we don't lift.

WHAT THE FLYING [censored] WAS THAT FREE AGAINST PICKETT FOR?! This is unbelievable!

Agree. @Skuit might as well. That was so obviously HTB. Ridiculous.

Getting smashed in CPs. We look flat. Really flat.

They are atrocious and we're two goals behind. Their foot skills are worse than ours. But they're getting free kicks for absolutely nothing. Doesn't help with Harmes turns it over with a shocker and vandenBerg gives away a stupid 50. This is not looking good early.

Jackson in the ruck for the opening bounce. I don't like it. Hope it works. Edit: but so did Daw. Interesting.

Gerard Healy commentating again. [censored].

Don't think it could work, nor should be tried. Too much football will ruin it. We don't need football every day. We don't even need Thursday night games. The less is more approach is a far better way to improve the quality, fan engagement, umpiring levels, etc. The 22-game fixture is inadequate but can be improved through a formula which ensures the 5 extra games are rotated and teams play each other a certain number of times over a certain number of years. Trying to get 34 games into a season is just unworkable, IMO.

Rubbish article from a washed up old man desperately trying to remain relevant when his grasp on AFL flew out the window a decade ago.

Make no mistake, this is an enormous game for us. If we win, and assuming West Coast hang onto their lead and beat Carlton, we'll move to 9th on the ladder. We'll be within either 2 or 6 points of Collingwood by the time we play them next weekend, and we'll be in front of the Dogs with a game in hand over them, and they're our following opponent. If we lose then, depending on other results, we could be back in the bottom 4 again. I have no confidence. I haven't been confident going into a game against North for 15 years. They're distinctly average this year, dragging their opponents down to their level where possible. The Dogs and Richmond were able to rise above it and showed North up for what they are: rubbish. But many other sides this year have found themselves scrapping around (Hawthorn, Essendon, Carlton). Let's hope we're capable of the former, not the latter. I'm concerned about TMac being in the side at all: I hope we play him as the number 1 ruck so that we can keep as much of our structure from last week. Swapping him with Jackson will be disastrous IMO.

I don't agree. Max taking the high road and focusing on football is just what I want. I don't want our players stooping to the level of the gutless, cowardly, inept Crows. Or any other club who does that. I want us focusing on football. If we start focusing on the scum of the football earth, as the Adelaide Crows are fast becoming, we'll lose focus on what we need to be doing: winning. Raise it with the umpires. Have the club (Goodwin/Mahony/Bartlett, whoever) raise the issue publicly (tick to Goodwin) and privately with the AFL (hope that's been done forcefully). If it happens again, get louder. The more focus we put on it off the field, the less likely an opposition coach or player will be to try it again, IMO. If anything, I'd have liked some other players getting stuck into McHenry, Walker, Lynch and whoever else was so pathetic as to think that was a reasonable tactic to employ, but always within the boundaries of the game, to avoid giving away free kicks. But I'm absolutely behind Max taking the high road. Agree with this entirely. As I said, scum of the football earth. I hope they go winless and their only talented players desert them. I also hope that next year, within the boundaries of the game, we make McHenry earn every touch he gets.

TMac named as 1st ruck. We'll see if that eventuates. If it does, I can't see it working. If it doesn't, I can't see it working. Either way, I can't see it working. IMO, should have been Preuss. I'm going to be crossing my fingers for a late change. Pickett/Hannan for ANB/Viney makes sense. Rivers for Lockhart does as well. I'm disappointed for Lockhart, thought he was doing well. I'd love Spargo to give us more than Bennell did vs Adelaide, but I'm sure this is as much about fitness/fresh legs as anything. Pressure's on Spargo to hold his spot for the Collingwood game. Tomlinson is named on the wing, interestingly.

In: Hannan, TMac, Pickett, Rivers, Spargo Out: Gawn, Viney, ANB, Lockhart, Bennell

Spargo's in!

Well done to Jackson. He is our first Rising Star nominee since... Oscar McDonald in Round 21, 2016.

This is one of the single worst takes I've ever seen on Demonland, and that's saying something.

My point is that you, of all people, shouldn't be arguing that another poster has prematurely written a player off (which is what you did re: TMac).

Absolutely agree. That metric looks only at opponent. Doesn't look at venue, or shortness of breaks, or anything like that, and it gives teams the same "difficulty" rating for each opponent (i.e. Collingwood are rated as being as "difficult" an opponent to us as they will be to Adelaide, despite Adelaide being 0-10 and us 4-5).

Certainly another option, but I'm not sure they'll want to swing Tomlinson forward after one week resetting him in the backline. Gawn's loss isn't the hit outs, although when the opponent is Goldstein the loss in the ruck contest may hurt. It's everything else he does that somehow seems to get underrated by some on Demonland. He is an elite runner and covers the ground as well as anyone on our list. He's an elite mark, he positions himself perfectly, and he takes hits when necessary in marking contests. We don't have a replacement who can do 50% of what Gawn offers us, let alone 100%. But my vote is for Preuss so that we maintain our structure and balance as much as we can. Rather than moving Jackson or Tomlinson around or playing TMac when he's not in form or fit. At least some people wait to drop off players until they've shown they're in terrible form. You, on the other hand, wrote Spargo off because of the number of centimetres listed next to his name.

A drop in numbers was to be expected after 2019 was so bad. To drop by that amount is disappointing though. I remain strongly of the view that if you can financially afford a membership but choose not to as some sort of "protest" against the club, you are doing the club more harm than good.