ProperDee

Light showers at the ‘G as I write.

Plenty of resin on the hands, grab his fend off arm with both and snap it.

I will be flying down from Brisbane for the game. The weather forecast promises a dry ground so I expect our boys to come back hard. If I thought negatively of the Dees after a bad performance the week before, I would have dropped off in the early 70’s. We either support the team or not. Man up and don’t be fence sitters or fair weather fans.

The following players have their supporters for inclusion this week: Hunt, Balic, J. Smith, T. Smith, Hannan, JKH, Stretch, Weideman, Spargo, Johnstone, Tyson and Baker. Some of you blokes need to take a long hard look in the mirror. Based on some posters selection criteria, Daisy Pearce must be close to a call up also.

Not painful? Honestly? Try getting the site of the injury smacked with a wet football or using that hand in a tackle or marking contest and see if it’s not painful.

Yep. Seriously missing an elite key position defender.

He doesn’t need to be the competitions number one ruckman. He only needs to be OUR number one ruckman.

Pretty much spot on Willmoy. Mitchell is overrated insofar as his numbers of possessions -v- their impact on the result of games. There is no doubt he is a ball magnet and I admire his see-ball-get-ball mentality but O’Meara is the class act and with a few games under his belt will be a danger. As another poster inferred, Max and any support ruckmen need to be aware of Mitchell’s location at centre bounces and stoppages (where he gets a lot of his possessions) and make a concerted effort to direct the ball away from him. A hard tag on O’Meara would be my call. Interesting that a friend of mine who is a coaching staff member (not MFC) speculates that Mitchell tends to lose a bit of focus after a bit of early physical attention. Langford did a good job on Dustin Martin and will get the job on Oliver. To counter that somewhat, Petracca and Oliver rotating through the middle via a forward pocket would create massive headaches for Clarkson and worry the hell out of Hawks defenders. None of this will happen on Saturday but it’s fun to guess!

Yep, I read that comment, looked in the mirror and said to myself “you’re not going too bad old fella”.

Watch the replay. Two quite obvious, one borderline. Leoncelli_36' comments on page 2 of this thread indicate he noticed it too.

Regardless of anything else, ANB has got to go. Players putting in the short steps on several occasions during a match are not worthy of being in the team. It wouldn't be condoned in country footy let alone the AFL.

Absolutely. I’m sure some people only look at possession numbers which of course don’t take into account the 1%’s. Salem was very, very good today.

6. Gawn 5. Hogan 4. Salem 3. Lewis 2. Petracca 1. Jones

How is Pierre?

Salem in best 3 FCS!

Brown is a lead-into-acres-of-space-and-mark player. It is essential that we have a player prepared to drop into that hole between the kicker and Brown. He doesn't have to be particularly big but courage is a necessity. Maybe ANB or Bugg?

The incident happened right in front of me. I don’t think Bayley’s neck was the main problem. Let’s just say he might have a couple of bruised Easter eggs today.

After watching closely this evening, I came away thinking Jayden Hunt has lost all confidence in himself. May be just my perception, but also seemed a bit detached from his team mates. I hope he is OK. Other observations...Bugg never best 22. Harmes, not too bad but still trying for mark of the year too often. I often assess our quality by asking myself who from our starting 22 would struggle to get a game at another club. I reckon 5 of them from tonight’s game - Bugg, Wagner, Harmes, ANB and Pedo. Would (say) Stretch, Brayshaw, Frost, Balic and Hannan do any worse?

Arrived at the Gabba. A tad soft underfoot but no rain imminent. High clouds but plenty of blue sky visible. Currently 26 degrees. A breeze, maybe worth a couple of goals favouring the eastern end of the ground.

And being a Queensland game, pineapple donuts must get a mention (although haven’t see one for years).

Weather update from East Brisbane: Despite mentioning in an earlier thread that the weather looked to be OK, there was quite heavy at times overnight rain and that has persisted so far this morning with showers. Further showers predicted. On the plus side, the Gabba drains very well and the warm temperature here will hopefully help the conditions to be good for Saturday evening.

I live 500 metres from the Gabba. It will be mild temperature wise, around 22 degrees by game time but rain not mentioned for W/T/F/S. Humidity dropping off now so should be great conditions for players and a good beer drinking evening for us fans.

Mono got in before me but I too cannot for the life of me see ANB as an AFL standard footballer. Headless chook most of the time. Harmes is not much better. He reminds me of the kid in the backyard wanting every mark to be a speccy and having to blind turn half a dozen opponents before kicking the ball. Big tickets on himself and needs an ability reality check. To suggest dropping Garlett is crazy. He can change the fortunes of a game in one quarter. He is our X factor. I actually thought Wagner and Maynard not too bad. They killed us on the rebound from deep in their defence. We were very slow getting back to support the defenders. I lost count of how many times they ran it up the ground via players who seemingly didn’t have an opponent. Yeah, yeah...I know about the press and how teams get opened up on the rebound but how many times does it need to happen in one game before Plan B is initiated?

Sesamoiditis for Jack.

Tons more but hey, if you say so.