Swooper1987

Daw is a very ordinary footballer. He is not a ruckman, not a key forward and not a key defender. He won't be on the list next season and if we have to play him this season then all is lost.

Taking Melbourne and its formline out of the equation, top spot is overrated in terms of winning the flag. The compromised fixture has enabled some interesting minor premiers over the last few years. The fact that of Richmond's three flags, none were won from top spot;the mighty Brisbane Lions team won three in a row never finishing better than second, the Hawks in 2015 were third going into finals etc etc. What is important is top 4. If we finish 4th and play the Bulldogs at the G - no harm done. If we finish third and get Brisbane away, it becomes somewhat harder, but still not impossible. From outside the top 4 it gets very difficult. 4 wins in a row against excellent sides. There's a reason why only the one team has managed to do it, and they were incredibly lucky. I think 16 wins will get top 4 - we need 4 out of 7. Those behind us need 5 out of 7.

Wouldn'tbe surprised to see three ins with the short turnaround. Likely to see Brown and Melksham, with Vanders a chance.

Definitely not pretenders. This is a tough competition. On any day any side can beat anyone else. We are one of about half a dozen really capable teams - Geelong, Bulldogs, Brisbane, Port and the Swans are in that group with us. Then you have Richmond, WCE and GWS who on their day are also very capable but not as reliable as the top 6. This season could well be like 2016. The dogs won 15 games, finished 7th after a bit of a lull in the back end of the year but put it together for finals. I think our game stacks up and the results prove it. We have lost three games by a combined total of 27 points. That's an average of 9 points per game losing margin. We could easily be 15-0. As long as we win 4 more, we'll be top 4 and a real chance. Interstate travel doesn't bother us. We are still right in this.

Yep, would agree with that, although Weid has hit the scoreboard tonight. I think they (Macca and Weid) are both lead up half forwards.

You are possibly, no probably ,right about our delivery. The truth is that won't change in the next two months, which makes Brown redundant. He can't really offer anything than a straight hard lead, which the mids will invariably miss. Perhaps he brings the odd ball to ground but I'd prefer Weidemann to have more impact given the way our side move the ball. I know it sounds counter intuitive based on Weid's recent output.

Just got home - lasted the first half. It's bloody freezing at Casey Fields. On the first half Brown is no chance. Didn't get near it. Weidemann was solid - took some nice grabs. Vandenberg playing well but he's more of the same really. I think Weid offers us more versatility. Brown does nothing when he doesn't have the ball and gets it so rarely that his impact with it is negligible.

We just looked unbalanced right from the start. When my son saw Harmes and Viney lining up inside forward 50 at the first bounce he said "this won't go well". And he was spot on. It's like our selectors are picking the All-Australian team - load up as many mids as possible and jam them in wherever. The fact that the guys in the centre square were in no danger of getting anywhere near a clearance didn't help either. Even when we did get first hands on it, which was surprisingly quite regularly, we managed to fumble or look for something that wasn't there. The team first approach was sadly missing today for Oliver and Harmes in particular and Viney looked like a guy who hadn't played in a very long time. Gawn is spending too long off the ball - at this stage Jackson is good for about 5 minutes per quarter. If Goody wants him on ball play him as a mid and get Tracc or Oliver forward for longer stints. If we are any chance of winning the flag this year we are going to need Tracc to up his scoreboard impact. He's our most dangerous forward and he's not playing enough time in dangerous spots. He's not a great clearance player so put him where he can do some real damage, maybe 60-40 forward.

Concur - maybe flip Max and TMac but the right 6. Lever probably a little stiff. The worst performance from our collective midfield that I've seen this season and why is Gawn spending so much time out of the ruck? We need him in there more than 50% of the time. It may have been worth playing both in the centre square and moving Oliver forward given how poor he was today.

And they were unbelievably accurate 11.2 to 15.12. 13 shots to 27. Insane accuracy from them. Greene was incredible. Hopefully Hibberd is a better match up for him.

It's a good side for the opposition we are playing. Brown more likely for the following week I think.

Knicked a calf at training on Wednesday.

Max usually polls Brownlow votes against Mummy. He can't keep up with Maxy. I think Max always enjoys the challenge of dodging Mummy's elbows and knees.

Geelong built a dynasty on three drafts. Hopefully this sets us up for many years.

Yep, the noise of affirmation - except they were only affirming their own stupidity. Some of their players even got sucked into thinking they were hard done by. Heppell is a great captain though. On a few occasions he told his side to refocus and get on with it. There are some dills in that team.

A great player, a wonderful athlete. He was such a professional. A brilliant intercept defender in 1987, moved forward in 1988 and kicked lots of goals in our run to the GF. In 1994 he played a great season at fullback. 150 of the most dynamic and energetic games you'd hope to see. A great player in a very good era.

VFA was a different beast altogether. Went and saw a bit of footy at Shepley Oval as a young fella in the 70's and 80's. That was a better education than anything I learned in school.

Your brother is a smart guy! The old ladies there were the worst - copped the full brunt of their umbrellas plenty of times in the 80's.

Agree. The man is having a helluva of a year, as both player and leader. His last quarter in particular on Saturday night was an epic. He steps it up when needed. He got 32 hitouts with Jackson playing 45% of game time in the ruck. Against Draper who the week before was second best on ground. He is an amazing player.

That's right

My email just arrived

Not surprised there was such a large spread. Brayshaw and Gawn were excellent but not widely lauded - neither appeared in the media best players lists yet from my view at the ground they were both instrumental in the win. May was an obvious choice for best on. Lever was effective and probably played a game better than 4 votes but that's how it goes. I thought it was only an average Oliver game and Petracca's goals were the difference in the end despite his 42% disposal efficiency. Heppell and Merrett were the Bomber standouts. Heppell is a terrific player and a very good leader.

I am pleased to see Gawn receiving some accolades for the way he played on Saturday night. https://www.afl.com.au/video/639149/winning-like-a-car-out-of-control-a-21yo-treating-rivals-like-schoolboys?videoId=639149&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1624845343001 Go to around the 6 minute mark and Lloyd and Barrett are effusive in their praise for the big fellas game. At the ground I thought he was excellent but none of the main media outlets had him in the best. I love Lloyd's comparison of Gawn to Naitanui.

He would indeed, but they are different players playing different roles. Let's hope they work it out.

The three goals is more a reference point to break even. He does nothing defensively so I was speculating. If the oppo score three or four because he doesn't defend (the main reason he was dropped in the first place and the reason why North let him go) then how does he hold his place? By the way - he kicked more than 60 goals three seasons in a row before last year. That's three a game average. If our aim is to split an aerial contest (i.e reduce intercept marks) there are other ways to do that that happen further up the field. Brown is less likely to get outmarked than a couple of our other forwards but is any use when he doesn't get a mark or free? All just grist for the mill.