Red But Mostly Blue

Lockhart is going from strength to strength. Very clever, the kind of smart footballer we need more of. Creative.

How good was that from Viney? Should have resulted in a goal though. We're in this though. Big time.

Smith, you BEAUTY! Those are the goals we've got to kick!

Yikes, big missed opportunity from Baker there. Enjoying his work tonight otherwise.

It has been great to see TMac playing well. You can see he's starting to find his feet again, and believe. Love it!

Where was this team in the prelim last year? We're still butchering it going forward (although lot less), but wow look at the hunger, the 2nd efforts, the bodies around the ball. That Clarry chain for the goal from Hunt was the best I've seen all year. If we can maintain this for (only) 3 more qtrs, and convert forward chances, we've got a real chance. What a sweet feeling it would be the beat the Eagles over there with our seconds! (no disrespect to the boys out there, I speak only from the perspective of our starting squad).

Thanks! Exciting times ? Before the start of the year I thought I was going to have to manage competing joys of fatherhood and a huge year from the Dees. As it's eventuated, I've had no distractions at all with being a good Dad haha. Let's hope we get things together before the kid is old enough to pick a team (I've already bought his gear).

A tale of 2 teams Last year in the prelim, we were on fire, hungry, and playing with nearly a full team (plus we were feared and favoured, which was no doubt helped by the fact that we had recently beaten the Eagles at the same ground). Then we got belted. This year, we are out of form, still fairly unfit, and having to choose from the most depleted list in the league. It doesn't bode well. Arguably we should lose by more as all the factors that were in our favour in the prelim no longer exist. It really could, and should be ugly. But is it too much to dream? I love an underdog story. Maybe I'm just fatigued (1 month newborn at home), but this is the exact sort of game good teams can win. It's not impossible. Unlikely, sure, but impossible? I've tipped us by 1 point. We CAN do this. Go Dees! ??

Thanks bud, really appreciate it. Tough day.

My grumbles about today's game aside (most certainly exacerbated by having to put the family dog to sleep today - a loyal friend for over 15 years), it was a pretty crazy finish to the game. Doesn't matter who you're playing, it's nuts that we scored twice in 50 seconds, and I'm happy that this finally happened in our favour, rather than against. A pleasant change.

Don't get me wrong, it's great that we won - we didn't give up at the end, 4 points and all. I'm not normally a wet blanket, in fact quite a dry one (?), but even the way in which we won, the dropped mark etc was depressing, and totally reflective of how we have played all year (with no learnings in this space). We'd have been beaten by any other team, and I'm still at a loss as to how a team can fall so quickly. I don't mind losing, but I question the gameplan and the boys' fundamental inability to hit a target, take a mark or make even one smart decision going forward. Lifetime Dee here, I go to many games (during the darker days, as well), never microwave my membership etc, but I'm entitled to a real world opinion. I still hope for the best, and maintain that every year will be our year, but in doing so we need to be honest with where we are, learn and move forward. Go Dees.

I don't care that we won, our season is beyond over. I actually feel for the Suns, I liked what they were doing. We were Neeld/Bailey era bad. Dumb football, poor skills, nobody can take a mark, complete absence of a gameplan. Putrid. Did you see the coaching staff celebrate in the box? How embarrassing. It's like we won the Grand final when all we did is beat a candidate for the wooden spoon. Ugh

We're making the Suns look like genuine threats this year. They mark around the ground (and out muscle us in contests, too!), tackle relentlessly, nail passes, use their opportunities. If I was from up north, this would be a pleasure to watch. But I'm not, and this is hell. How many years did we give Goody again?

It just occurred to me that we are genuinely a bottom 4 team right now, it's just that we've beaten two other bottom 4 teams. I feel sick.

Absolutely, this is something we've desperately missed all year. I want us to be mean, firey, scary sometimes. We got to see some of that aggro today. Hopefully we see it more! We need to be feared, as well as improve our skills and execute the basics. TMac looked like he found a little relief today. He got involved, and it clearly meant a lot to him and Goody. Great to see.

2019 Brownlow Round 7, Melbourne v Hawthorn Harmes, 3 votes Lockhart, 2 votes (maybe contentious, as Gawn was solid, as were Hibbo and Salem, but I loved the kid's workrate and creativity) Umpires, 1 vote.

Agree on all counts. Much like pretty much everyone else, I hope he finds strength from this performance and gains even more confidence for next week. It doesn't matter (as he contributed to a number of goals) but his own goals will soon follow. He's great to watch when he's on song, and changes our dynamic I50 big time.

Totally agree! On the topic of small forwards, I like what Garlett was doing today. He doesn't have much to show for it, but he got himself into good positions, and generally looked dangerous.

Seriously though, that spin from Frost up at half forward was delicious. I kind of wish Lockhart backed himself for the goal, but on balance it was the smarter move. Still, I reckon he would have kicked it.

Absolutely! He looks dangerous whenever he gets near the ball, and when he doesn't have it, he's working for it. Lots to like, big future.

Say what you want about Frosty, but he has heart - and he saved our bacon a few times in that final qtr. Really backed himself in. Harmes had a ripper! More of that, please! Welcome back, Hibbo! Much better! Great to see TMac getting involved, he had some nice moments, hopefully he uses that to work himself back into form. Love what I'm seeing from Lockhart! The kid has guts and backs himself, does interesting things. That diving mark was FANTASTIC. Salem, awesome, smart, balanced stuff out on the wing. Even ANB did some nice things here and there. A lot of second efforts, and that's not something we can say has happened much this year. In all, not always pretty, but there was some fire. Some ticker. Ferocity. Also, please no more OMac!

Harmes has been fantastic. I love Salem on the wing, it's great to have brains out there! Much better from Hibbo, too. It hasn't been pretty, and we're so low on confidence that you can see the jitters every time we get the ball, but geez if we can bring this home, it might give the boys something to think about. Loved seeing a smile on TMacs face, too!

Sloppy, slow and stupid... 3 quarters to go. Sigh.

Yikes! Going for Melbourne might be bad for your health, but at least it builds character. There is literally nowhere for us to go but up from here, so there's that...

Great way of looking at it. At 7 days old he doesn't have tear ducts yet, so it's about as effective as our gameplan right now haha Same here mate