titan_uranus

So it seems so far we know we have Geelong at the G in Round 1, Brisbane away in Round 2, Richmond at home in Round 5, Essendon at Etihad in Round 6, GC in Brisbane in Round 8, Adelaide in Alice Springs in Round 10, Collingwood on QB in Round 12, and Freo at Darwin in Round 16. I think we'll have a bye in Round 11 like this year between Alice Springs and QB). A bit more travel in the first half of the year so far it seems. We've got Geelong and Richmond at home in the opening 5 weeks which is great commercially. Will be interesting to see whether we get any Friday nights and, if so, when and against whom. I can't see us getting any more than 1.

According to the HUN our game after Anzac Eve is an Away game against Essendon at Etihad. A near-certainty that it's their home game again. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/more-news/afl-fixture-2018-afl-has-solution-to-short-week-for-four-anzac-match-teams/news-story/69944909fb9d72aff6336d4114613db2

Nothing dangerous about using 66 on a player like Balic. If it's another Riley/Michie/Newton/Kennedy trade, then so be it. At least we haven't given up trying. But we've bought low given his personal issues so if he does turn out to display what it seems he was promising pre-draft, then this could end up being a good get for 66. I look forward to watching him over the summer and to see how/where he fits into the 22, if at all.

Even if Tippett was a FA and wanted to come here, I'd still say no. If Watts wants out and picks Sydney, there are plenty of other options I'd be looking at.

Neither OMac nor Frost showed enough this year for any of us to be 100% convinced. I'm much more positive about OMac than, say, STMJ, but I still accept that he isn't anything certain. Bringing Lever in will likely make his job much, much easier. It also allows us to do one, and maybe both, of two things: play TMac forward (his best football in 2017 was, in my view undoubtedly, as a forward); and release Hibberd, who spent too much time this year being forced to play as the third tall. Until a quality midfielder becomes available, this is a nothing argument. There isn't currently a midfielder available who promises what Lever promises. Besides which, I think if we bring Lever in and can release Hibberd further up the ground that will assist with part of our current midfield problem. That said, I don't believe Lever is worth two first round draft picks. I think Adelaide is posturing, and fair enough too, but if that becomes the true asking price I wouldn't pay it.

To those who think Richmond has the 2018 flag sewn up already, how short are your memories? The Dogs were young and exciting and did things no one knew how to counter and then failed to even make this year's finals. And to those who can't see how we can climb the ladder next year, just look at Richmond's rise from 13th to premiers. Yes, Martin went to another level but the biggest difference between them this year and last is that their bottom 6 are markedly better. Players like Astbury and Vlastuin took their game from below-average to well above it. They played like a 22, rather than a team with 6 stars and a bunch of others. One common link between the Dogs last year and Richmond this year, though, is workrate. Both sides were based on consistent running (the Dogs with their run and carry, Richmond with their pressure). Let's hope our players were watching. The easiest thing for us to fix, before anything else, is our mentality towards competing for every minute of every quarter.

I feel like this thread has reached the point where people don't want Lever because STMJ wants him.

Whilst we need more class, speed and players with x-factor, we don't need more laziness and inconsistency. Unfortunately, Motlop brings all of this. If we could be confident that the laziness and inconsistency will disappear, or at least get markedly better, I'd be interested.

Watching him closely tonight. Playing really, really well so far. Exciting.

None of the four are surprising but it's nonetheless sad to see Trengove go. Deserved better than this. A serious question: has any other former club captain been delisted? We've delisted two in two years.

This does not sound like a rule to me. The point of the contract is to give the player certainty. I don't think that there is any rule that says a contracted player can be traded without his consent unless it's the first year of the contract.

There's no doubt the tackle went high at least in part because Shuey raised his right arm. High contact made, free kick paid. Understandable in that aspect. Whether or not that ought to be a free kick (i.e. whether a player, such as Shuey, who (deliberately) raises their arm in the tackle to push the tackle high deserves a free) is a different question. Port ended the year with 14 wins but only two of them was over a top 8 side (one was Sydney in Round 1 and the other, funnily enough, was West Coast). They did what they needed to do and beat the bottom 10 sides but ultimately they just weren't good enough to compete at finals-football level. Same with Essendon: rarely did Essendon play well against good sides. Exposed yesterday. I'd back Sydney in to beat Geelong and GWS should, with a 9-day break to West Coast's 7, and at home, get the job done.

I was there tonight. I've never barracked for RIchmond before but it was hard not to tonight. It's impossible to like Geelong anyway so watching them lose was a highlight in itself. But seeing all the Richmond supporters' elation at those fourth quarter goals. It hurt. I want that to be us so badly.

Agreed. If he's available, he'd be a good addition to our midfield.

Fair point of course. The other thing I haven't done is compared this with other clubs - do other clubs have these moments of switching off during games, or is it just us? The frequency of it is what worries me more than anything. Also, welcome back!(?)

There's been some post-mortem talk about our lapses and inability to play four quarters all season. Updating this list for the full slate of 22 games: Round 1 - St Kilda kicked 5 in a row in the last 15 minutes of the first quarter. Round 2 - Carlton kicked 5.4 to our 0.2 in about 20 minutes of play either side of half time Round 3 - Geelong kicked 5 in a row in about 7 minutes of play either side of three quarter time (Loss) Round 4 - Fremantle kicked 8 in a row from the half-time siren to the end of the third quarter (Loss) Round 5 - Richmond kicked the last 5 goals in the final quarter in about 15 minutes (Loss) Round 6 - none (the first half was too low quality for either side to do it) Round 7 - Hawthorn kicked the last 4 goals of the first quarter in about 15 minutes (Loss) Round 8 - Adelaide kicked the first 5 goals of the second quarter in about 15 minutes Round 9 - North kicked the first 3 goals of the game in about 10 minutes and also kicked 3.4 in the first 19 minutes of the third quarter to our 0.0 (Loss) Round 10 - none really (GC did kick 3 in a row in the second quarter) Round 12 - Collingwood kicked 6 in a row in the second quarter in about 15 minutes Round 13 - none (we beat the Dogs by nearly 10 goals) Round 14 - WC kicked 3 goals in 4 minutes to end the third quarter and kicked the first of the fourth Round 15 - the second quarter (Sydney kicked 4.7 to our 0.1) (Loss) Round 16 - Carlton kicked the first 3 goals of the game and also kicked the first 3 goals of the final quarter in 6 minutes Round 17 - Adelaide kicked the last 6 goals of the first quarter (Loss) Round 18 - none really (Port did twice kick 2 quick goals to keep themselves in it (end of the second quarter and start of the fourth)) Round 19 - North kicked 3 goals in 7 minutes in the first quarter and also 3 goals in 4 minutes to jump-start the third quarter (Loss) Round 20 - GWS kicked 8 straight goals in 16 minutes in that horrid first quarter (Loss) Round 21 - St Kilda kicked 4.7 to 1.3 in the third quarter, including 3 goals in 3 minutes Round 22 - Brisbane kicked 4 goals in 9 minutes in the fourth quarter Round 23 - the first quarter from hell (Collingwood kicked 6.5 to our 1.3) (Loss) In every single one of our losses, and nearly every win as well, there was a period we just seemed to switch off and let our opponent score heavily, and quickly. The North games were the only losses we had where we didn't concede 4 straight goals but given they were a bottom 4 side that hardly makes much difference. Only the Essendon and Dogs games really didn't have our opponent blowing us away at any point (and they were two of our three largest wins for the year, which is no coincidence).

We ended the year equal-4th for quarters won, so we stayed up there really. We won the same number of quarters this year as GWS and Geelong and more than West Coast, Richmond and Essendon. Problem is, we lost too many first quarters, by too much, which meant we spent too many games playing catch-up footy. The Collingwood game is a good example. We won 3 of the 4 quarters but lost the match. I'd hazard a guess at too many turnovers at half-forward. I reckon we get enough of the ball across half-back and through the middle but our chains break down at half-forward. A double-edged sword, too. It robs us of scores, obviously, but half-forward is IMO the worst place to turn it over. We're setup for attack, we give the opposition the ball and they break through our set up and find players on their own in the forward half (compared, say, with turning it over at half-back when we're set up in defence and the defensive 50 is clogged up already).

Sure. But the only way we can do anything about the failure that was 2017 and in particular Round 23 is to make finals in 2018. And winning Round 1 by 10 goals would be a good way to start, no matter who we play. Agree with the external factors though. How many people blamed the AFL and/or umpiring for the WC-Adelaide result?

Agree. Our first quarters are a big problem and, IMO, reflect (at least in part) the cultural/intensity issue we have. We just do not start games with the required spark or intensity, and against weak clubs that is exactly what they need to keep the door open. It's so rare for us to dominate a first quarter against a lowly side. Mind you, when we do it's all to common for us to lapse and let them back in. Our starts in 2018 need to be better, and I suspect that is largely going to come down to cultural change more than anything.

How many times did we kick 5 goals in the first quarter this year? One (St Kilda, the second time). How many times did we kick 4 goals in the first quarter? Five (including the St Kilda game). So that's 17 games this year where we kicked 3 goals or fewer in the first quarter. For an interesting comparison, Carlton kicked 4+ goals in the first quarter 8 times.

I love that we celebrate every win. I never want to turn into Geelong for whom some wins bring no joy and they simply go through the motions. I want every season to be full of enjoyment, not just a waiting game in the hope we make finals. And the fans are the last group of people who deserve to be pilloried due to the actions of the club. However, I think there is an argument that we over-celebrate, and that the culture of the club is to accept each win as being more than it actually is. When we fell over the line against Brisbane, we celebrated, when in reality our inability to hold the 32-point lead cost us finals. We still haven't shaken the losing culture we developed from 2008-2013. That's why we have posters who reflect on 2014-2017 and say "it's all good, just remember we only won 2 games in 2013!". That was relevant in 2014. It shouldn't be relevant now. Right now, my hope is that this year and missing finals becomes the "turning point" we didn't necessarily realise we needed. Any other club would use the pain of missing this year as motivation to work harder, for longer, to make it next year. If we're serious, that's what will happen next year. We'll know that percentage may end up crucial so we won't go to sleep during games. We'll focus on beating the bad sides just as much as playing the best sides because we know that wins against the bad sides are the bedrock of making finals. I want to believe that will happen, but I can't believe it until it happens. It'll be a long 7 months.

You can't please everyone. This thread is effectively split down the middle with people who demand someone apologise and people who say "words are meangingless". The only thing we do now that matters is review the season to start the process of making us better. The rest is neither here nor there.

Of the 23 rounds, we finished 16 of them in the 8 (i.e. before this week, only 6 weeks out of the 8).

I read somewhere it's the smallest margin for a team to miss the finals by, ever.

Port - 10-0 (100%) St Kilda - 8-0 (100%) Richmond - 9-1 (90%) Geelong - 8-2 (80%) WB - 7-2 (77.78%) Essendon - 8-3 (72.72%) GWS - 5-1-1 (71.42%) Adelaide - 5-1-2 (62.5%) WC - 5-3 (62.5%) Sydney - 5-4 (55.56%) Melbourne - 5-5 (50%) That's the record of the top 11 against the bottom 7. We're the only club not to be in the positive, and only Sydney is close to us on W-L. Also of note is how easy Essendon's fixture was (the maximum number of games playable against the bottom 7 is 12, assuming all 5 of your repeat games are against them. Essendon had 11 games against them. Compare that to GWS who only had the minimum, 7 (meaning all 5 of GWS' repeat games were against the top 11).