Engorged Onion

Nah, I wouldn't sweat it. They wont be. The emotion of playing for someone might be at the start of the game for around 30-45 seconds... the adrenal response. And then...normal. service. resumes. You see it all the time in the first few minutes of Grand Finals... the stress response, scrappy football etc etc... Player's cannot keep telling themselves throughout a match 'I've got to do it for Buckley, I've got to do it for Buckley', its exhausting and useless as you're not on task. If we lose, its ostensibly because we lost it due to a lack of pressure or adherence to structure. If we lose, we lose on our terms, not because Collingwood have won.

ooze? or oo-zay when you say it in your head @daisycutter

Step One: Hover over someone's name and click Ignore User Step Two: Follow prompts Step Three: Exhale gleefully.

The beauty of the block button @kev martin is that you can still engage in a thread whilst not having to engage with others. Anyway, I like talking about the process of talking to one another.... and this youtube clip is the strongest evidence yet for the 'block button... use it as whimsically as you like :)

I'm pretty slow mate @Lord Nev, what do you mean by that?

And Jake Niall's version (Perhaps the thread could be renamed to ' The Media's All Australian Teams'

It's a forum - and as forum - people can vent as much as they want, whether it is accurate or ill-informed. Just block them. Also, the frustration is all about the anxiety the person is feeling about the potential to lose and the impact on their mood. I've blocked circa 20 people - many who now have been removed from the site - seems to be a correlation between heightened responses that are posted, and the persons propensity to goad others...

Perhaps genetics and natural evolution - was 18 when he joined, is now 21 (boy to man) ?

Have you not been checking the Sam Weideman thread?

Why do they need a new forward and kicking coach? What metrics are they not hitting effectively enough from your perspective?

@Ham My take on Sam, is that his development hasn't stalled, he has had numerous injuries over the course of numerous years and this has impacted on his continuity. Also, neither am I expecting him to be a big dog so to speak (Hawkins Kennedy, Lynch) in his role in the forward line. Just on Stafford as coach, why would a professional club employ someone in a role if they're not fit for the purpose, and then continue on the knowledge that that person is not fit for purpose? What's your take on Stafford and what he brings to the table?

@Skuit, we've had the kill mentality in 11 of our games... the pressure is not as overt as scoreboard pressure (but 4 goals up with 8min to go is pretty good).... I believe McCartney called some of the midfielders 'glass munchers' - this now seems to apply to to the rest of the team and how they absorb pressure and re-distribute it.

I was searching for your stats on an earlier post re: scores against us top 8 vs bottom 8 - could you re submit with this please :) An underrated post...

No effort? WTF?

This is so fantastic, I was not aware that it had been commented on publicly previously? A little tear in my eye...

Hello Brisbane midfield, just a little reminder that 'tasty tasty Chomper' is coming for ya....

Mmmm, a vulnerable post. My father died of MND 5 years ago last Thursday, just as I became a father (and he had his first grandchild), and had a relationship with Neale, through Daniher's Drive . Previously because of my unwillingess to attend to the G for The Big Freeze, I've headed to Alice to honour the old bloke and watch a match live around the date of his death. In a somewhat hilarious course of fate, it's taken me around 5 years to have the courage to head to the 'G' to celebrate the life of my father, and honour the work that Neale and the entire community that facilitates Fight MND have committed to do. I've often envisaged myself sitting at the ground, sobbing, overwhelmed with the occasion, and most likely heading to the Bullring to have copious amounts of pints throughout a game. This year, I felt as though I've worked through a lot of my unresolved grief, to a space of being joyous about turning up to the G, and marking his absence, by taking my 5 year old up to the ground to watch the Wiz go down the slide and have yet another generation support the red and blue and mark it with a solid [censored] win against the Pies. Anyway, best laid plans and all of that... I'll be putting my days outing cost (train ticket, plus beer, plus food, plus gate, plus more beer) into a MND donation tin/online somewhere instead.

Yeah... I disagree with you on this one Rusty. To be honest, I can't recall our last win on a Friday night and then what the subsequent media saturation was like, but I'd imagine it's already had a day to be dissected in many other outlets elsewhere, hence Channel 9, or wherever you get your consumption of football from have made a call that it's out of the 24hour news cycle. However, I would be surprised if on AFL360 there isn't a bit of a dissection from Gerard. I also disaagree about an 'anti' Melbourne bias. I think things fall the way of larger clubs, and sometimes (or lots really) towards the home ground advantage, but that's not anti Melbourne, that's just favourtism (implicit?) towards the bigger clubs. But mate, we see what we want to see.

Genuinely curious... I just assumed there was apathy... What's the hate about Rusty? How is it evidenced throughout the AFL community?

Ah, well I get the push then... I was just thinking as cold as it could be made for them... but having googled....

Brilliantly put @Watson11

Tasvegas??

My vibe was the wanted to exit via Brayshaw's side, whereby he halved/won many contests. Just on the notion that Ed runs harder... it's not much more than Brayshaw weekly (about 1km (250m a quarter)...but like Hunt, it's the flowing locks that you eyeball.... though he does get forward for a snag or 2....

Can you give a time stamp @McQueen? He'll be fine* *If the AFL see him as in genuine Brownlow contention and thus now protected.

Bulldogs did everything to go to the opposite wing. Consequently Angus did a brilliant job under siege most of the night.... not from a stats perspective, but from guarding space, blocking contests. Actually, there were 2 moments for me when the ball was dumped kicked from a Dogs defender to just beyond our 50m arc and I knew that Gus would be there to intercept... and I just grinned at myself at the sense of comfort that even I as a spectator knew the system was working...