titan_uranus

Agree. I suppose it's possible pundits think Sydney's opening fortnight has been soft and perhaps that losing to Brisbane is no major issue. Whilst both of those are true, all markers point to a Sydney win. They are a better side. They will be closer to their best 22. They have the wood over us. It's being played at the MCG, where we play them worse (I'd be more confident if this was at the SCG). IMO, a win this Sunday will be huge for our season.

So this week the following streaks died: 47 consecutive rounds in the top 4 (but at least we have made it to 48 consecutive rounds in the top 8, thanks to West Coast) 32 consecutive games where we had led by at least 9 points at some stage of the match (last time we didn't lead in a game by at least 9 points was Round 19 2021 when we lost to the Dogs) 12 consecutive wins interstate (last loss was Round 10 2021 when we lost to Adelaide)

He didn’t “replace” Gawn. He was subbed in but it’s not like we asked him to play ruck. He played 3.5 quarters in his preferred forward role. He had no influence. It’s a minor spot in the 23 but if there are others at Casey in form it’s hard to justify Melksham getting another game ahead of them.

At Round 10 last year were were 10-0 with a percentage of 161.7%. We were two games and 18% clear of the next best side at the time, which was Brisbane, and we were 33.4% in front of the side with the third best percentage, which was Fremantle. We looked, and were, "scary good" last year. Again, it's March.

Hopefully after last night we do a bit less "banking" of wins and we treat each game as it comes. We should be stark outsiders to beat Sydney next week, then we're on the road back-to-back, including on a six-day break into the Gather Round (although so are Essendon) before ANZAC Eve. We're also on another six-day break from Hawthorn into the road trip to Port Adelaide.

I think Hibberd coming in for Harmes is a good idea. Whether it's Rivers or Brayshaw who push up the ground more, I like it more than swapping Harmes for say Dunstan.

If it's a medial, it'll be, what, 4-8 weeks? We're still looking at a minimum of a month of no Gawn. Our next eight: Sydney, West Coast (away), Essendon (Gather Round), Richmond, North Melbourne, Gold Coast (away), Hawthorn, Port Adelaide (away). If it goes beyond 8 weeks, the next three leading into the bye are all at the G: Fremantle, Carlton, Collingwood

Let Collingwood be flag favourite. It's March. Remember what the media was saying about us in March-May last year? About how we were unbeatable and we were going to break winning streak records and we were miles in front of the rest of the competition etc? I don't want us to fall too far off the pace but we're also one year removed from a stark reminder that the side who wins the flag isn't always the side in peak form in March.

So JVR doing enough in the ruck to take Gawn's spot? Or TMac's spot?

Goodwin in his presser said we didn't handle the conditions well, but also mentioned that the centre square is on a cricket pitch which we don't often play on. We haven't played on the Gabba this early in a season since 2018, when we beat Brisbane, but they were a bottom 4 side that year. Since then, the earliest we've played on it was Round 15 2019 (June), with all our other games July or August. I have zero idea whether playing on it 4 months after the cricket season makes any difference as compared to playing on it weeks after cricket, but it sounds like Goodwin thinks it might have. If it did, I have no idea how, but anyway. I'm not using this as any sort of excuse, by the way. We knew about this fixture since December.

Trying to piece everything together, it seems the physical tests done on the night were negative but there remains concern it's an ACL so they are waiting on the scans, which suggests to me the concerns come from his symptoms (e.g. he's reporting some sort of instability or pain which would tell a doctor/physio it's an ACL and not something else), or perhaps because he heard the dreaded "pop" or something. It just seems like there is some reason to think it's an ACL but the tests were negative which means they have to wait on the scans.

We can infer it - if it was positive they would have said so. I imagine if it was positive they wouldn’t have said all the stuff about “we don’t know”.

Where did 8 say anything about expecting perfection or even that I thought Grundy was poor? I’m just concerned he doesn’t have the aerobic fitness to cover as much ground as he’ll have to without Gawn. Round 14 2020 vs St Kilda, we kicked 8.4. But that was a COVID short game. Last full length game was Round 3 2019, we kicked 18.4 v Essendon.

MFC when Viney plays since Round 1 2020: 35-1-18 Is there really a trend here?

No Gawn, no Pickett, no May, no Salem, Petty injured in the second half, Viney not fully fit, Fritsch not fully fit, TMac doesn't look fully fit, and I'm not convinced Grundy's aerobic capacity is sufficient to be covering as much ground as he now has to as the number 1 ruck. Injuries and fitness derailed us last year and they're having a say already this year.

It came off in part because Brisbane stopped. Lever was trying to play like that all night but it became easier after the restart.

Gee, he (and we) would want to hope so.

I have no doubt part of it was the conditions. It's no excuse but we were fumbly AF and they were clean. So many times Trac was the first to the ball after a Grundy hit out but he couldn't collect it. Then Neale or McCluggage or Ashcroft would collect it and clear it.

Whilst it's not like Laurie was dominant by any stretch last week, I'm disappointed Viney looked so underdone tonight. If he wasn't right, he shouldn't have played.

It must have been over -30 before the resumption, too. Truly shocking. Hopefully we rebound from that midfield disaster like Brisbane did tonight after they were annihilated by Port last week. -28 clearances against Sydney = solid 5+ goal loss.

Whilst Melksham was awful and TMac not much better, this game wasn't lost by the forward line. We gave them no chance with our abysmal clearance work. Any dominance we have over other sides in the competition doesn't exist if we don't at least break even in the middle. Being thrashed as we were at every single stoppage in the first half is far more significant than our forward line.

After 1/4 time but prior to the lights going out Lions 8.5 to 6.3. I agree though, they kicked 4 goals in 7 minutes in that first quarter period where we were a bit stunned with Gawn going off, Grundy was on the bench for half of it, and we were obliterated in the centre clearances. Had to play catch up footy from there and were still 2 goals behind before the lights went out. I don't get what you mean by this. If the game can continue, it has to. Percentage matters (and don't forget how beholden the AFL is to betting agencies who take bets on margins and goals kicked and disposals and all that stuff).