titan_uranus

Can I sook about the West Coast loss instead? Or even the North loss, which if we'd won, would have us level with North on 11-9 right now? I doubt it. One of the benefits of our strong finish, I sincerely hope, is that when it comes to fixturing we're positioning ourselves as the team to get a better deal next year.

Last win over them was Round 17, 2011 in Darwin - lost the last 7. Last win over them in Adelaide was Round 8, 2000 - lost the last 11 to them in Adelaide. Surprisingly, 2010. Worst losing margin in 2010 was 56. 2010, I think. With three rounds to go in 2010 we were 8-1-10. Win them all, we would have finished with 11.5 wins. Carlton finished 8th in the end on just 11 wins so I guess that means were were still in it at this point in the season.

I love this. Can I ask where you sourced the stat from? A website?

Here's one: If we win one of the last 3 games for the year, we will finish the season having not lost 3 consecutive games at any point. We haven't done that since 1998, believe it or not.

Correct. Number of 60+ point losses: St Kilda - 2 Port - 2 Melbourne - 0 Collingwood - 3 Richmond - 4 Gold Coast - 5 Carlton - 5 Fremantle - 2 Brisbane - 9 Essendon - 9 Indeed, we've only lost one game by more than 50 (Sydney) and a second game by over 40 (Port Adelaide). Our average losing margin is 27.1, 7th best in the league - the 11 teams worse than us average 30+ point losses, including Hawthorn, West Coast, St Kilda and Port Adelaide.

The MRP says Rioli's bump hit Oliver in the head. The AFL has continually said if you elect to bump and you make contact to the head, that is an offence. Rioli was found guilty of an offence. I'm happy with the above. The penalty being $1,000 is the only issue - I can live with it. The spear tackles are a bigger issue, IMO.

It's not the popular opinion but I'd be looking at resting/dropping Weideman, not Pedersen, to bring Hogan back. Weideman is going to be a player, but right now he is nowhere near fit enough. He was spent by half time and couldn't move in the fourth quarter. I want us to give the game against Port our absolute best crack and I'm not sure Weideman is going to afford us that opportunity given his fitness. Won't be fussed either way but just a thought. It's not just the high-risk stuff he is messing up though, he's missing targets 20 metres away and/or when under no pressure. His kicking is becoming a liability and he needs to work on it if he is going to stay in the side long-term. I'm not sure he's adding enough otherwise for him to be a lock at selection.

He has lifted his game inside, in the clearances, this year. He is becoming utterly dominant at stoppages. With Viney, Jones and now Oliver all strong in that area, and the competition's best ruckman, we are now starting to really get somewhere in the midfield.

That hurts, then. All year I'd assumed that was a lost opportunity for 2 points, not 4... And Ricky, I agree with you. We should have gone on with that game but mentally we weren't good enough to finish the job.

We'll already know the result of the St Kilda game by then, too. If the Saints upset the Swans, then there's a strong chance that even if we win out we'll still finish below St Kilda by a win.

The official score has us losing by 5 points, which means his point stood, which means if he'd kicked a goal it would have been a draw. The Essendon and West Coast games are equally, if not more, disappointing in terms of losses we shouldn't have had. Even after today's percentage boost they're still 15.4% behind North. I don't think they are going to make that up. They have to beat Sydney. North, though, is a good chance of losing everything from here, so the chance is certainly there (theoretically also for us and Port, given the smaller percentage gaps).

When the fixture was done the CAS result hadn't been handed down. However, this was the year to send Carlton down the highway, after their disaster last year. I'd be sending them there next year. It's only fair. Instead, Carlton get saved whilst the Dogs, finalists last year, have to go down there. I'd love to see Carlton and/or Richmond playing in Geelong next year. It's time, and it's fair.

Rubbish, Tom's been pushing up the ground and attacking his entire career. Tom does far more attacking than Oscar does, and Tom is better at it than Oscar, too. You are so off the mark.

It shouldn't have even been Ceglar's ball, they shepherded Gawn out of the marking contest. Should have been Gawn's ball, but instead a Hawthorn 50. Agreed.

Let's just focus on beating Port Adelaide in Adelaide first, shall we? Haven't done that 2000. I doubt it. They are likely to have positioning in the top 4 to play for, could be pushing for top 2 and/or avoiding an interstate trip in the first week of the finals. Plus with the bye after Round 23 I don't think their best players will want to rest that week. That's not to say I'm writing us off automatically, but I suspect if we are going to win that game we are going to have to beat a full-strength Geelong.

Whilst you're generally right about the bias on here against Dawes, your bias towards him and against Pedersen is now going too far the other way. Pedersen played well today and at a level Dawes hasn't all year.

Clearly showed he has what it is going to take. it's all about fitness now. He was cooked at half-time and because of his lack of muscle, he shied away from a few contests. Can't wait to see what he can do as his body grows.

He is a gun. A full pre-season and an increased fitness base will allow him to launch into 2017.

With today's loss, if Hawthorn slips up in the run home (they have North, West Coast away, and Collingwood), they could drop from 1st to 5th, given that each of GWS, Sydney, Adelaide and Geelong have a better percentage. If we manage to shake them off the top and, even better, out of the top 2, forcing them on the road in the first week, that will almost make my year.

My favourite win since we beat St Kilda in the 2006 EF, and probably trumps that, taking me back to the QF against Carlton in 2000. Would have those, along with the win over Brisbane in 2002 and the win over Geelong last year as my top 5, I think.

Win 9 or more games in a year - broken (last achieved 2006).

6 - Gawn 5 - Viney 4 - Tyson 3 - N Jones 2 - Watts 1 - Oliver

For the second week in a row he played his career best game. Still needs to develop more confidence when we are in offence - the Stretch goal is a perfect example of that. But defensively he has improved this year and with TMac and Frost, they are starting to gel more down there as a unit.

What a win. It's not just beating the ladder-leaders who were undefeated for the last two months. It's the way we played. We played four quarters of exceptional quality, high intensity football that made us look like a proper, established team. A full, 22-man effort today, with unbelievable performances from Gawn, Tyson, Viney, Jones, Watts. I hope those who questioned, before today, whether we have improved in 2016 can now see it. For praha, surely this is the turning of the corner.

The umpiring is horrendous. It feels like every time we get a decent buffer up they get a shocking decision and a goal. It's ruining an otherwise entertaining game. We're playing at a high level with some really good ball movement and, most importantly, intensity at the contest. I hope we can keep it up for 4 quarters. Limit the turnovers and a bit of luck with them not getting goals from frees and we can do this. A lot to like regardless, though.