titan_uranus

Chicken or egg?

Take a look at Bennell's recent form; especially the Bulldogs game. Doesn't deserve a recall atm, even though Morton's in poor form. MacDonald ahead of him. With Nicholson in the side, we don't need Bennell as a small defender. He needs to improve.

I fell into the trap of thinking we were going to beat Hawthorn at half time in Round 2. That'll be the last time I ever think we're going to beat them until we actually do it. Oh man how I want to beat them...

Just remembered the Round 4 win in 2006 against Sydney. Can't believe I didn't mention that in my earlier post. We were 0-3, we'd lost to Carlton (the wooden spooner of that year; that loss, and the later one to Carlton ruined our top 4 chances that year...still haven't fully gotten over 2006 lol), Sydney were the reigning premier, and we were at the SCG. Had a few injuries, down numbers, had to fight back, and I still remember screaming madly when Bruce kicked the winning goal late in the fourth. Kick started a run of 11 wins from the next 12 games.

Agree. If we work at the stoppages like we did against Port, we're in trouble. There are a lot of things you can't do against Hawthorn, and one of them is get smashed in the clearances. If we let Hodge, Burgoyne, Mitchell, Bateman, Rioli and Savage to get first use and deliver it lace out to their forward line we're screwed. That's where I really hope that Jamar and Martin have good games. The ruck is an area we can definitely own Hawthorn in and that will help our mids to overcome the clear talent and size gap. I'm not too worried about Birchall, his kicking is average under pressure. It's Suckling and Hodge we need to worry about. Those two are brilliant kicks and will pierce our 'forward press' if we're not on 100%. This is definitely the big thing to work on. In the third quarter in Round 2 (honestly, in every game we've played against Hawthorn in the last 4 years) they moved the ball far, far too easily through the middle, so we need to learn from that. As you say, there's a definite balancing act with Hawthorn. If we press too hard up we'll leave too much space out the back for Franklin, Rioli, Shiels etc. to roam free in. But if we hang too far back they'll bring the ball up closer and deliver it with footskills anyway. I'm inclined to keep the press high (i.e. closer to our forward line) and back our defence in to work hard enough to ensure Hawthorn's forwards don't make the most of the space. Tough, obviously, but pressuring their defence is how we're going to win this game so I want to see our forwards/mids really working hard in our forward half to press the ball in and get them under pressure.

I know what you mean, but you're saying our only chance is for a miraclulous, completely out of the blue upset of gigantic proportions. To me, that means we have no chance.

Frawley goes to Franklin without a doubt. In his current form he stands half a chance, too. Nicholson to Rioli I think. Has the pace to keep up with him and has given us good drive off half back. Always good to push Rioli defensively. Shouldn't be overawed if/when Rioli goes into the middle either. McKenzie to run with Mitchell. Big job there, Mitchell is in Brownlow form. You'd hope for Jamar and Martin to win the ruck contest pretty easily, which will give our mids their best shot against a far superior midfield. If we can get enough inside 50s to put their flaky defence under pressure then who knows. But in all likelihood we'll get killed on the rebound and their midfield will dominate the stoppages.

My memory's not extensive, but the games that spring to mind: Elimination Final vs St Kilda, 2006. Epic game, Friday night, first final I'd ever been to, trailing in the third quarter, fighting back hard, beating a team I hated then, and sticking it up the a-hole Saints supporters in the row in front who had been sticking it up us in the first half. Best win I've been to I think. Fremantle in 2008. Coming back from 54 points down is enormous, doesn't matter who the opponent is. Especially when, in 2008, we were abysmal. Brisbane in 2008. Similar to the Freo game. Sydney in 2010. One of the best four-quarter performances we've had in the last 4 years. The last three games in 2005 to push us back into the finals after we'd sat near the top of the ladder and then lost 7 or so in a row. That included beating Geelong in Geelong.

I'm not averse to letting him go. I don't think he's going to come on like we expected or hoped. He might, but I doubt it, and I think we have players to fill gaps in the side that Morton may or may not create if he leaves. In other words, if the trade is good enough, he can go.

The most disturbing thing coming out of all this is the email Rich Demon received which said the club anticipates home games at Etihad in the future. This pisses me off. Why are we getting home games at Etihad? Blind Freddie knows we don't pull crowds anywhere except the MCG. We're a tenant of the MCG. We're a part of the MCC FFS. More than 20% of MCC members are also MFC supporters. And we're on the way up, not down. Yet now, after all these years, we're being sent back to playing home games at Etihad. I don't get it. And I sure as hell don't like it.

The rollercoaster is back in full swing. People actually think we stand a chance against Geelong. In Geelong. Unbelievable.

Frawley's little chance. Ben Reid from Collingwood's had a great season. Josh Gibson is probably up there too. Frawley needs to play like he did yesterday for the rest of the year just to get noticed really.

I think we'll lose them all. Our best chance, IMO, is Carlton. They are over-performing given their side. If we bring even a 25% increase in effort from the Friday night game we'll be in with a shot. But I feel we'll lose it, and the other three too.

I get the point. I think it's a bit odd having us go to Darwin after the bye, not before it. But who cares, it is what it is. Once we're a powerhouse like Collingwood we won't need to worry about these kind of things anymore.

It's pretty simple to me. We should win the last three. Richmond are in a hole, Gold Coast are Gold Coast, and Port are rubbish and it's no long at AAMI. That puts us on 10.5. With results going our way that could in fact be enough. It most likely won't, however (I don't think Fremantle beating Sydney helps us much either). So we'd most likely need another win. Which means we have to win one of the four matches coming up. If we do that, and we do our job in winning the last three, we may well find ourselves in the finals.

We have Hawthorn, Geelong in Geelong, Carlton and West Coast over the next four weeks. We could be 4th on the ladder and we'd still find that a tough month. Richmond have now lost to Port Adelaide and Gold Coast, teams 16 and 17. There is an enormous difference, the likes of which I doubt you can spot.

There are two issues here. One is selling home games. The other is playing in Darwin. I don't like selling home games, and the quicker we get into a position where we don't need to, and thus get to play all 11 home games at the MCG, the better. But until we're that financially stable, I guess it's going to happen. I don't know what the contractual state is between us and Darwin, but if we don't have to anymore, I'd like to see us stop playing up there. I don't like it up there, the players don't like it I don't think (maybe Jurrah and some of the other indigenous players like going back to their home, or something like their home, but on the whole I don't think the players enjoy playing up there). If we have to sell a home game I'd rather it be somewhere less taxing.

It's nice to win in the Darwin conditions, and hold off a side that came hard in the fourth. But we need to look at this game for what it was. Port are awful. The worst side in the comp. Their skills are atrocious. Whilst we looked great in patches, I felt that overall we were pretty average and most other sides in the comp would have either gotten a lot closer or beaten us. Of course, you only need to beat the side that's out there on the park, but I felt that we should have won this game by 40+ points easily. Still, Martin, Petterd, Maric, Jurrah, Green and Watts combined to form a pretty nice forward line, which is a good thing. Frawley dominated in defence too. Sylvia and Moloney had good games through the middle. And in the end, we get 4 points, which is great. I fear for us next week, despite having and 8 day break. Coming back from Darwin, against the Hawks, coming off a bye and probably getting players back.

Not sure about the ins but Morton is in prime position to be an out. Strauss not far behind. Neither of them impacted on the game much at all tonight. Maybe Davey for Morton? Not sure where Bail's at.

6 - Martin 5 - Frawley 4 - Petterd 3 - Sylvia 2 - Moloney 1 - Maric

I love it. They're going nowhere.

Leadership group. Losing the North game after holding a 30+ point lead comes a close second.

Almost there it seems: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/16/sports/football/nfl-and-players-said-to-be-near-a-new-labor-deal.html?_r=1&ref=football

In complete and utter seriousness, I cannot see any reason why we should not win this game, and a failure to do so will be disastrous. Port Adelaide is a rabble. As much can be seen by viewing some of their performances of late. At home, against St Kilda last week, a team that is thereabouts like we are, they were pathetic. Their skills are atrocious and their intensity not much better. If we lose, there will surely be some who will cite the statistics like those presented by Rusty Nails: we're less experienced and younger, it's an interstate trip, they have played there 7 times to our 1, etc. To me, those kind of arguments will hold against most sides. But not Port Adelaide. I cannot begin to imagine what will happen to this site if we lose to Port. But I know I'll be livid if we do.

Oh wow. I didn't think I could hate Etihad more.