Red But Mostly Blue

We're 4 goals down and have only kicked 2 in an entire half... What I would give for a forward who can take a mark, and kick the goal. Simple. Mark. Goal. For the last 6 weeks or so, all our goals just look so scrappy. Ugly, Ugh

5 scoring shots each, down by 10 points. Sounds about right.

One team is taking its chances, and the other isn't. Story of our last few weeks really. Tough to see us turning it around, our foot skills are atrocious.

I know it's pouring, but we need to convert chances like the miss from Brown. And Bont's goal is EXACTLY WHY. On the upside, the kick TO a leading forward was nice.

As Bevo has made some changes, I hope Goody has also got something up his sleeve. I'd love to remind the Doggies, and everyone else that we're still top dog here (despite being young and misbehaving from time to time, requiring a little bop on the nose with the newspaper).

Agree, I don't see the argument for this necessary toughness, like we need to bully our way to a win. Nope. Our structure, good discipline and selfless play has gotten us to where we are right now. I'd rather a well thought out kick into the 50 than some guy who is odds on to get pinged with the ball.

Could be lid off, but for me, I'll take a peek, then firmly place the lid back on top. I'm optimistic, but I've been burnt enough times to know that I'll only take the lid off when I can cover the pot with a flag.

Completely agree. Easy to go for the reactive, drop players approach. This is the team that has gotten us here, it'll be the team that takes us forward. Shows faith, the boys will respond and repay.

Agree. I'm certainly not laughing. It's the sort of forward lineup, rain or not, that could cause us problems, especially if the boys are as dismissive on the night, and don't work hard to ensure the backline isn't being put under constant unnecessary pressure. And yeah he's rightfully playing around with the mix, something we could with as well. Hopefully Goody is saving some tricks for finals.

I predict my heart rate will go up to dizzying levels, and I'll yell at somebody for getting done HTB after trying to break a tackle, handballing to a 3 on 1, or blindly bombing it into the 50 - but hopefully not too much because we're being smarter. My doc doesn't know i follow the Dees, he'd tell me to stop. Dees by 60. Because I'm loco. Brown will kick 5. We'll be menacing in front of goal. Ruthless. Diabolically accurate.

This is very true! And given Hunt's energy levels on the ground, probably more likely.

Didn't see that, not great - but it's weird because he was so lively, especially early on. To be fair though, if I could have slept through that game, I would have.

Agree, there'd be a sense of regret, it's a great opportunity - but (for me, at least) I'll be happy if we play a hard fought finals series, and give nothing away for free. If we lose, I presume we will have been beaten by a better team on the day. We can learn from that (rather than the lame 'learnings' and lessons when we switch off against spud teams). Obviously, I'd rather win 3 games in the finals (provided we finish in the top 4 haha). In any event, our draw and start don't dictate whether we make a GF, as the stats/W+L record is no longer relevant in the first week of finals. Whilst we have made great inroads this year, our slow starts, poor conversion, switch off mode (particularly against lower teams) means we are still susceptible to teams with more experience/maturity (like the Cats, Doggies and even the Tigers). Having said that, do I think we can win the GF? ABSOLUTELY. We can beat anybody (and have beaten all relevant contenders). But none of that matters, as we need to bring it every week in the finals. The boys must play selfless footy (not just when it suits), and take their chances - because many of the other teams have been here before and will know to take their chances.

2021 - year of the sneaky flag! I like it. Given we are nowhere near our prime, a flag this year would be delicious.

PHEW! Haha Agree with that. The ability to keep that pressure up (much like the Tigers of late and Cats etc) will come with experience. As we get better, the less they will accept the ordinary performances.

Thanks for the positive read. Think I needed it. Was kind of like a free therapy session (it's free, right?). I'm not as rage filled as some after last night, probably more disappointed that we lowered our colours to a current lowly team, who as you put it, pantsed us for so many years. Looking forward to our time in this space, I know it'll come. For now, we've won all our top 8 games, and lost some of the others. Pretty much a reverse of 2018 - a situation I'd much prefer. Looking forward to a thumping performance against the Suns, I know the boys will want to make amends.

Simple truths are the best. Goals win games. Until we learn that, we are exposed to teams like the Cats who are ruthless and take their chances.

I wonder why the #1 team continually has "learnings" playing bottom feeder teams? When will those learnings be implemented? I know we're not yet Cats/Hawks/Tigers of recent years (yet) (we could be, but we need to actually address these things). Do you remember them continually being taught lessons by #17??? I don't. None of the learnings from our shock loss to the Crows were fixed. Hacking the ball forward, poor decision making and terrible goal kicking is just as prevalent as it was then. Are these things actually being looked at? I hate buzz words, because the boys then believe that saying there were "learnings" are part of the process, but they're not if you don't actually do anything about them. Instead of a Gus and Gawny podcast, I'd love if they mic'd up and went to practice goalkicking. I'd listen to that. Or instead of one of the other promotional videos, they show footage of the boys lining up for goal after goal. Practicing skills. Etc.

I hope Goody doesn't try to spin some crap about two halves or just being outplayed by an inspired outfit. We were cocky, fumbly and dumb. What was Goody watching on his tablet? It certainly wasn't the game because I didn't see any meaningful changes. Pure garbage. Goody should just call it what it was and be done with it. It pains me to say I'm actually worried about playing the SUNS next week. They're playing some decent footy.

I can't believe I wasted my Saturday night watching this. Even with lockdown and next to no other options, pretty much anything else would have been preferable. No redeeming points from this game. We'll never earn trust or be feared until we put lower teams away. Again, just for reference the Hawks got smashed by 60+ last week, against FREO. Embarrassing.

A draw would somehow be even more embarrassing.

Jesus.

We're approaching 5 minutes left in the game and we leave two Hawks unmarked 20 metres out from goal?

AvB is such a slow footballer. Not only pace, but he's about 3 steps behind the play. Not fit for our current style. Maybe back in chaos footy days but not anymore.

HOW THE HELL DID HE HAVE CONTROL OF THAT BALL?