Mel Bourne

Anybody just see that power fan giving Dixon the middle finger on the boundary? Absolutely horrible.

Just noticed that as soon as May was subbed off the trainers immediately began working his lower back area. Perhaps this bodes well.

Thanks for this insightful comment. I’m curious as to whether the risk of a re-tear (should it reveal itself as one) is a risk that May and the club will take.

Can I nominate myself for tenth-in-line medi-sub?

This is, and other bangers of it's nature, are all I'll be listening to in the lead up to the 25th.

Don't actually listen to this please

Agree with this. That's the only change.

Majak Daw in a fairytale story? In a like-for-like scenario, if Joel Smith is unfit, that's a possiblity right? Don't get me wrong, I'm not pushing for that line-up in a GF, but who is the replacement in the hopefully-unlikely scenario that neither player is available? I'm so drunk. Took me ages to type that.

Oh yeah, and to much effect. Taggers not normally that much of a hinderance though.

1. Gawn 2. Trac 3. Salem 4. Langdon 5. Spargo 6. Lever

This is the first round for a while where I haven't seen Clarry automatically embedded in the top six. And fair enough. He was not in his usual (high quality) form tonight. And we still absolutely monstered them. What a good, good sign.

Did anybody get banished to the seconds on the Game Day thread?

Folks, I won’t be attending the game day thread after this, but I just wanted to say thanks for the company, the laughs and the general ride this year. No matter what happens, be proud of our boys. They’ve worked their guts out this year, and given us something to believe in.

Heartening to know there’s another Chilton fan here.

I’m not going to going to lie. I’m an instant nervous [censored] wreck whenever I think about the next two weeks.

You and me both. It’s the field I work in. Or as many of us now put it, worked in.

May, Lever and Fritsch didn’t.

What I meant by that is that there is no "Wisdom Class" at school/training. Wisdom can only be gained through a combination of experience, awareness and knowledge.

Wellll, the whole "football-wisdom" thing was couched within a bigger conversation about who gets selected if it comes down one or the other. Anyway I've learned to trust the selectors these days, and I'm sure they'll make the right choice. And I realise there's no room for sentiment in these things, but I admit I'd hate to see Hunty get sidelined for the finals despite being fit. He made a real effort to take his game to another level this year (despite occasional fades), and I genuinely believe he's in our best 22.

Not sure you get a fair result averaging out 20 games vs 5. Players don't exactly get fresher and fresher out there with each round. "That’s like saying Sam Frost has a wiser head than Hunt because he’s played 129 games." It's really not. Bowey has played five matches. It's a very different comparison.

IIRC, Hunt was also at the end of some ambulance-delivery in that spate of HTBs. I think it's pretty harsh to characterise Hunt's contribution this year by discussing what I'm sure he'd regard as his season's lowest moment without the context of other matches where he's genuinely impressed us all. "Sure, Hunt has most of our players covered for 'run and carry', but not sure what that has got to do with 'football-wisdom'?" I'm not saying it has anything to do with football-wisdom. Merely that it's an aspect to his game he has over Bowey, and needs to be factored in when the decision gets made.

I think it’s important not to be hyperbolic when discussing fairly nuanced stuff like this; he wasn’t caught 4 times in 5 minutes. Bowey was also caught standing still in the opposition goal square against the Cats, in a situation where he had plenty of room and time to evade, which gave them a free kick 10m out (and a goal). Again, I’m not trashing Bowey AT ALL. He’s great. But when I saw that, I saw a young player getting used to the big league (and certainly didn’t begrudge him that) and didn’t see a wise old-soul in the body of a kid. Sorry. I know what you mean when you say that some players don’t seem to develop football-wisdom no matter how many games they play. My point however, was that saying that some have it in spades over their teammates after playing five games is a bit much. And yep, Bowey’s disposal efficiency is in better shape, but he doesn’t have the run and carry that Hunt has. All I’m saying is that the choice is not as clear as some are making out.

Seems a bit of a stretch to say that Bowey, who’s played 5 games, possesses a wiser head than Hunt who’s played 94. I’m really excited by Bowey but his inexperience and lack of wisdom (which is something gained, not learned) has peeked through at times. Specifically his lack of opposition-awareness. He’ll get there and he’ll get there well, but I think it would be a bit remiss to consider him an automatic replacement for Jayden just yet.

People omitting Langdon and Lever is somewhat mystifying. Still, a good sign that we have a real spread of contributors.