Rodney (Balls) Grinter

Saints had their chance to have Trac and took Paddy McCartin instead.

Yeah thought that's what you meant. I did mention that we got Lingers (aka Ed Lingers Langdon)

Agree regarding loosing any liking of Freo after they went on a poaching spree on us. I guess we did get Jeff White from them, but then they have taken the Wiz, Jessy Hogan and Dogger. There have been a few others and we got Linggers, but they seemed quite OK with trading him. While any dislike of Freo might not be on the same level as Collingwood, I'm also quite happy to see them lurk in irrelevance and starved of sucess. We might not have made finals the past 2 seasons, but at least our club has actually won a premiership and we're not Freo. On that note, this clip cracked me up a few times:

I'd actually add a point 3 to the above being executing under pressure. I reacall that in our better seasons gone by (2021 being the prime example) Max and Christian have been able to nail clutch goals from set shots and on the run, but have got progressively worse in the past few seasons. I think it's 80% in the head. When the team and individuals are playing with greater confidence, it just tends to happen as well. I'm sure Lindsay will get better in front of goal as he gets the monkey off his back and more games under his belt.

I think the point has been made regarding goal kicking Vs feild kicking, buy just to reinforce the psychological component and other aspects where goal kicking accuracy isn't a good metric for kicking ability, Xavier Lindsay, who I think most here rate as a more than reliable and capable feild kick, achieved a scoring record of 2 goals 6 behinds this season. My recollection is that like Gawn, many of Lindsay's shots were fairly easy, particularly for a player of his kicking calibre. I noticed this from fairly early on, to the point that personally, I had surprisingly little confidence in him taking shots on goal. Honestly, this is something we need to work on as a team. We could have been at least a 10 - 20 goal better team and win another 3 - 4 games just if Gawn, Lindsay, Tracc and others quite feasibly turn around this aspect of their games.

What's the governance structure of the AFL compared to European football though? I would have thought that the less well off AFL clubs would have enough voting power to curb the worst excesses of the pure wealth generation aspects (I think Ross's criticism of the FS and academies is evidence of this balancing force). That some of the previous power clubs of Essendon, Carlton and even West Coast and Adelaide have undergone some fairly long periods without sucess suggests to me the AFL isn't totally rigged in favour of the wealthy elite of the competition. Still I also totally get where you are comming from with the way the AFL executive operates, splurging millons on a single performance of American rappers etc, while making the game increasingly inaccessible for the average punter. And that Geelong have been able to stay up for so long through being able to repeatedly skim FA away from everyone else without loosing any themselves suggests to me there is something quite rotten going on.

Gold Coast used them for a great confidence building warm-up against a VFL side last week too.

The AFL are having a wet dream with an all Queensland final at the Gabba next week.

Suck on that one Peter Bell

The question also has to be asked I think is how you define fast in footy terms? There are the straight line lopers that could win a 100m race given an expansive open space to run into, but in footy terms, I think having the combination of acceleration off the mark, agility and reasonable top speed pace is the combination that makes you think that the player is pacy. Kossie, Winsor and Chandler would be my top three of our current batch in those respects. Although Chin might have the highest top line speed, I think it's the agility and ability to evade and step around traffic that make Kossie and Windsor more damaging and appear faster around the ground.

I'm not sure if he would be right amongst the quickest of players we've ever had play for the team, but Hibbo was often spoken about as being quick off the mark and super fast over a short distance.

Joel Smith also had a mountain of pace and athletisim. Such a waste of a career. Was one of the few players that could keep up with and even out-pace Charlie Cameron a few years back when Charlie was still in his prime. It's probably not the biggest factor, but I think his loss adds to the drop-off post 2021 / 2023 era. He was emerging as a genuine forward threat and/or could also play an important role in defence. When you stack up that loss on top of Hibbo Gus, Jackson, Hunt, Harmes, Jordan, Trac&Clarry not being at their best, Lever and Salem inconsistent through injury. It all adds up to not having the same depth of mature capable players to keep the side competitive every game and maintain the rage throughout the entirety of a season. This season we've been competitive with the best on occasions throughout the season, but our dips and inconsistencies in form throughout the season have cost us from being a finals grade team.

Collingwood supporters cheering of Maynard is abhorrent, but the irony and hypocrisy of that it would be the right if they bought out the same cheer back strategy for Quanyor. I don't think they did (if they did it wasn't with anything like the same vigor) and I think that's another reflection on the collective character of Collingwood supporters.

"Above that sort of behaviour" please. I'm glad there are still enough Demons supporters willing to keep fighting the good fight and boo that thug years after the event. Shouldn't EVER let him or Collingwood forget that disgraceful act.

I've noticed that too. I missed the first quarter and or is there football history that could justify it, or are they just being a bunch of racists.

OMG the commentators constantly fawning over Daicos is making me sick

That was just the most stupid play of the night from Adelaide. What player (asides from Max) shouldn't back themselves from 10m out on a 45 degree angle

Braysaw / Maynard might have been the difference in a few games too. I hope Rankine I burns Adelaide too, but next game works for me.

I'm not much or a poet, but here it goes I call my masterpiece "I HATE COLLINGWOOD" I Hate Collingwood. I hate Collingwood. I hate Collingwood because. I hate Collingwood because of that Maynard is a dog. I hate Collingwood because Eddy is a [censored] I hate Collingwood because Sidebottom and Pendlebry are old but bloody good. I hate Collingwood because Elliot looks like he wears eye-liner but kicks goals I hate Collingwood because Daicos plays for frees and has the umpires on their knees I hate Collingwood because thier supporters have no teeth or any substance underneath. I hate the rest of them because I hate Collingwood I hate Collingwood I hate Collingwood I just hate these Fkning [censored] Can't think of any more rhyms, but please Crows just get it done and help put the scum that is Collingwood on their way in strait sets. P.S. I think I mainly hate Collingwood because of Maynard, Eddy and the umpires main man Daicos.

I've watched a few Crows games during the season and thought ANB has been just average or below. But tonight he's playing a blinder! What a great time to turn it on against these scum.

My gosh, Max. Glad that he'll forever be etched into the records of the game as the bloody legend of a player we all know he is. Didn't Jimmy say something about thinking he'd be something special. Doing Jimmy proud and give me something proud about to be as a MFC supporter in a fairly ordinary season.

Essendon 🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮 are well up there on my most hated teams list too.

...just a pity the Suns lost to Port last week, their % would have been good enough to knock Collingwood out of the top 4.

Have said it before. I actually think it is money well spent. There's a good grass roots footy participation on the GC, big population growth area, so as a long term investment I think it is worth it.

95 points in the end - close enough 😂