Red But Mostly Blue

It's D Day! The sun is shining!☀️ It's a year on since we were bundled out of the finals at home... ...IT WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN We're such a good side that even our classic/frustrating 1-2 qtr efforts have been enough to see off competitors. Most losses, we have beaten ourselves, or been dudded by ARC. We have dealt with limited/no forwards, so much so that we had to tap into a (seriously good) oldie but a goodie in Melk and a backman to keep us going. Even without them we have found ways to win. We will be propelled by a desire to right last year's (and indeed last week's) wrong. We will be fuelled by Gus. We will continue our quest to add another premiership for this amazing club. Won't be easy, the Blues are travelling well. Just needs buy in from everyone. Heart. And fire from the first bounce. I've had my ups and downs this week since Thurs, but we're here now and it just feels right. Dees by 19 pts.

After all that talk no Scache or Grundy, but I don’t hate the changes. Close to the minimum disruption to a team that did everything but win last week. Tommo is good, adds some height out back to free up Lever. I get the Spargo inclusion, fan of his i50 delivery which was an issue last week. But will we play him with Chandler? Chandler has not been good of late and aside from a very good start to the year, very patchy. Will need to be present this week to earn a spot next week if we get there.

Can't give it to us if they don't catch us 😉

So much truth in this!! 🤣

Yeah agree, surely we didn't draft him just to play in the 2s. He would be a decent matchup for Weitering. Very possible. haha yeah, it's hard to argue in favour of leaving out an AA ruckman who can kick a goal or two Really interested to see which way we'll go!!

Wow there you go, I didn't appreciate it was that low. That only further solidifies my opinion that while I am no Schache fan, he is unlikely to perform worse in the ruck, or goal wise compared to the guy he's replacing from a game we should have won, notwithstanding that minimal output. He may even surprise, you never know. Boggles the mind, still mid 20s, 2m? Taken at #2 in the draft. I'll take a goal or two! With our defence, they will make the difference.

If it ends up being Schache and not Grundy, which is a finely balanced argument, I know Schache cops a lot of heat on here, and rightly so, haven't seen him do much. The reality is that he is in for JVR - who did not do much last week, a quiet game by his standards and no goals. Did well in the ruck, which I think Schache can fairly well match, and I don't think we can go astray with another tall in the forward, in the hope that the ball falls on him. If he gives us 1-2 goals, it's 1-2 more than last week, and will be a big win. I don't love it, but it's fair to say we don't have much other option. Grundy is not a forward, he has told as so, and putting Max forward negates the impact of the best ruck in the comp. We'd be doing them a solid. Let's just get Trac, Fritter and the smalls trapping the ball in the 50 and kicking truly when they get a chance.

So it's looking like INs - JJ, Tommo, Grundy/Schache and a possible sub swap as I don't think Laurie will get more minutes.

Salem up forward is a very good idea. Gets him involved in that last kick, and if it goes south we can defend it, rather than things going south at HB. With a bit of luck, and confidence, he'll rediscover that left foot!

Same! Thanks for the link, was a good listen. Hard to disagree with much of what he said really. Even gave me a little more confidence! When we step back a bit, it's easy to be apprehensive about tomorrow's game, but we should have won last week (even without Gus) - and just need to make some tweaks. JJ will be a perfectly adequate swap and didn't mind the Salem idea, would shake up a few things. Give the Blues something to think about.

With the AFL's confirmation that it won't appeal the Maynard decision, we need to: - Care for Gus. Make sure he is OK. This is #1, for me anyway. - FOCUS ON WINNING OUR GAME AGAINST THE BLUES. No other noise. No fugazi, whatever. Our sole and best form of avenging this BS will be to beat the Blues, the Lions... then ANNIHALATE the Pies. Simple. 3 games. 3 winnable games. Every game is winnable, which is a positive and negative. We can't let our guard down, even for a minute - the other teams are looking to do the exact same thing as us. We need 12 quarters from here. That's it, then the boys can put up their feet, many of them with 2 premiership titles to their name. I know this moment, and probably the last week will have galvanised the group - but I really hope it has not been too much of a distraction. We, by rights, even with a non-existent forward line, should beat the Blues, but it won't be easy. They are buoyed by the momentum of the last few months and the excitement of returning to dreaming of a premiership after 20+ years in the wilderness. We can do this, I just hope we see the right Dees (there have been a few versions of us this year) from the first bounce on Friday.

The AFL has confirmed it won't appeal the decision, which means we: - Care for Gus. Make sure he is OK. This is #1, for me anyway. - Work with the AFL (to the extent they want to, or care) to ensure this never happens again, or at least does not happen again without punishment. - FOCUS ON WINNING OUR GAME AGAINST THE BLUES. No other noise. No fugazi, whatever. Our sole and best form of avenging this BS will be to beat the Blues, the Lions... then ANNIHALATE the Pies. Simple.

Completely agree with you. I should have noted my belief that we’re a better team and will win if we come out executing the basics, taking our chances etc. What I meant by fired up is from the first bounce, like what the pies did to us. We did not wake up until it was too late. If we get a head start on the Blues, we win. Something like this and last year’s disappointment can help with the fuel.

Any potential appeal aside, if we don’t come out and steamroll the Blues (on the scoreboard, of course, because we won’t get any favours at the tribunal) on Friday so we can then have a chance to play the Pies in the GF then we’ll never have enough motivation because even last year’s straight sets exit wasn’t enough to come out breathing fire on Thursday. We have to do this. Only way we get any justice is we make it to the GF and smash the pies. And Gus is there, holding up the cup, and grinning from ear to ear, right at the Collingwood army.

I feel so sorry for Gus. He was totalled by a thug and he’ll get no justice.

Not all heads are sacrosanct 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️😡

THAT DIRTY DOG HAS BEEN CLEARED!!

Robbo is an instinctual di*khead.

While we’re waiting, this is that strange place where satire and (almost) reality meet…

That’s what you and I and a bunch of other normal, reasonable people think, but then again we’re not a rabbid bunch of ignorant, soulless hooligans who think it’s ok to chant their team’s name as a supposedly respected oppo player is concussed, then carried off the ground.

Lots of Pies also not understanding that the biomechanist didn't really help their case. While he said Maynard would not have had any time to react and became an airborne frisbee with legs - it leaves the conclusion, then, that he willingly put himself in a position for which he had no ability to correct, despite the risk of harm to the oncoming Gus (who despite Maynard's Neanderthal grunts indicating he didn't see Gus - which is weird from a guy who admits he was trying to smother a ball leaving Gus' boot)... ... which IS CARELESS

The Pies lemmings are in full force on twitter, saying the biomechanist is 'cooking'. These guys are drongos. Wouldn't have read a damn thing of any educational value in any of their graceless, sad sack lives. abut all of a sudden, an 'expert' fitting into their agenda is 'cooking'. They are all for science now (unless it concerns concussion). Righto.

I don't understand, if Maynard didn't know Gus was 'there' - who was he smothering???

I know it's been mentioned/discussed already, but holy hell the comments on David Zita's Twitter are obscene. The Magpie army have well and truly disgraced themselves. Not that they would know what that means, or likely care. They would probably wear the label as a badge of honour. It's actually pretty deflating stuff to know there are such inconsiderate human beings out there. They're parents, educators, your co-workers etc. Gross.

The thing about witnesses and lawyers, is that ultimately the evidence, no matter if it is/isn't coached, ultimately it still needs to be delivered by the witness. I don't want to be mean, but Maynard is not a very smart man. Counsel would know they're pushing up hill with his testimony. I say the more he talks, the better - let him talk :-)