Swooper1987

In 1995, Carlton went 20 and 2 and won the flag in a canter. Apart from Essendon in 2000, it was the best individual season by a team in many, many years. They dropped two games for the year, consecutively in rounds 8 and 9 to Sydney and St Kilda, who finished 12th and 14th respectively. They lost to Sydney by 72 points and to St Kilda by 56 points ( and only kicked three goals). It happens - good teams lose to inferior teams. It will keep happening because footy is as much mental as physical and no team is on all the time. The best teams are rarely off, but they still have off days. Let's see what the next 9 games hold in store.

Does anyone know the forward half defensive pressure stats up to round 6 and then since then? Brown, then Weidemann came into the side from round 7 and it doesn't look like we have quite the same defensive intent or impact since the introduction of the extra tall. I'd be tempted to drop Weidemann for Viney and bring back Melksham for Sparrow and see how that looks. We got three goals out of Jackson and Gawn today, McDonald and Fritsch should be enough as tall targets.

11-2 a great result. It's a very tough competition. The best sides usually go around 17 or 18 wins in a season max, and that still doesn't guarantee a flag. We are building towards something pretty special and there will be bumps in the road. There are common themes to our two defeats so we have the opportunity to address those chinks in the armour over the break. Most of our better players struggled a bit today, and we were definitely flat but Viney and Brown will be back and I really do think Melksham's creativity is important for us. Well done to the team on a great first 13 rounds. Enjoy the break and come back hard after the spell!

6. Gawn 5 Jackson 4. Salem 3. Jordon 2. May 1. Petracca

Not sure Barassi counts as a Tory (in the UK sense of old style Conservative). More a Hamer Victorian Liberal - socially progressive and economically conservative. He'd have lined up with Turnbull against Abbott. Pro - republic, pro immigration etc Dixon was pretty progressive for his time as well. Also, we've actually produced a Labor MP - Bob Miller MP for Prahran 1979-1985. Played 69 games between 1961-1965. Alan Henderson, the old property steward was a dyed in the wool ALP man too. And well done, Neale. Absolute champion.

Clarkson makes sense. Especially with Wright in charge at Collingwood. Buckley is astute enough to to see the writing on the wall. My guess is the unrest at Collingwood is nothing compared to dealing with Jeff Kennett every day!

He was listed as two-three (which includes the bye) so I'd say not. He's their most valuable asset and has had neck problems in the past. They'll take no chances with him if there is any doubt at all.

And Gawn as Captain is the right decision too.

The second option is the most likely. Very rare for a player in the losing side to get 5. I can understand the disparity between a 5 and 3 for Tracc and a 5 and 2 for Oliver - Oliver had 8 possessions to half time but was brilliant in the second half. Gawn as a 4 and 2 makes sense. Bailey at 4 and 3 is perfectly understandable.

Games polled in: Oliver 10 Petracca 9 Lever 8 McDonald 8 Gawn 7 Salem 7 Pickett 4 Langdon 3 May 2 Harmes 2 Fritsch 1 Viney 1 Jackson 1 Tomlinson 1

Split: Petracca 5/3 Bailey and Oliver - 5/2; 4/3 Gawn - 4/2 McDonald and Hipwood - 1/0

I actually like our chances at the SCG. I think we'll defend that ground really well. We should win clearance fairly convincingly without Grundy to contend with. They do play a really good defensive game but I think they may be one or two runners short against us. Adelaide were the much better side after quarter time and should have won quite comfortably. 2.6 to Walker and even Fogarty missed which almost never happens. As I said before the Adelaide game, every game in this competition is a danger game. On their day anyone can win.

After Round 12 the Age Player of the Year Leader board has three Demons in the top 10: 76 Wines 75 Oliver 69 Walsh 62 Gawn, Laird, Bontempelli, Macrae 55 Parish 53 Petracca, Lyons

I've seen all of those, and the Northey teams of 87-91 (5 finals series in a row and at least the second week in all of them). Northey's teams got the absolute best out of themselves. Had we had a little luck we might have pinched 1990, but that years Bluey winner (Lyon) was injured at training before the semi and we lost that game comfortably. 1994 we were good enough to at least make a GF but lost a lot of unloseable games during the year, finished 7th and made our way to Perth for a prelim against the hottest team in the comp. 1998 were stiff with the finals system. It was an ageing side with Stynes, Lyon and Viney on their last legs but we were therabouts. 2000 was a coaching masterclass from Danners. We weren't the second best side in 2000 but we still made the big dance. Nobody was beating the Dons that year. 2018 we really rode on the back of Gawn's magnificent season, ably supported by Oliver. Gawn won the AFLCA award comfortably that year and was 4th in the Brownlow. He carried us through many games that year. We put some good wins together at the back end of the season, but losing Lever mid year and Hogan late hurt us. We got to about the right spot I think We weren't as good as WCE and Richmond, maybe close to Collingwood but not quite there and better than anyone else in the 8. This season, so far, we are a complete "team". We have three of the best 10 players in the competition, another group who are elite in their positions (Lever, May, Langdon, Salem, Pickett), McDonald and Fritsch who are reliable forwards and another group of strong role players. And we have some depth. Competition for spots is critical. It's our deepest list and by far and away our best chance. We have proven we can best the really good sides, with only Port Adelaide to come from the top 6 teams. If we finish top 2 then we'll be very hard to beat. But as we all know, GF's are hard to make and even harder to win. Time will tell.

Jake Niall has had his go in the Age: https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/comebacks-new-blood-and-demons-galore-in-all-australian-mid-year-team-20210605-p57ye0.html Goodwin coach Gawn (interchange and VC) May (CHB) Oliver (Centre) Petracca (HFF) Pickett (FP) Lever (Interchange)

So Petracca moves forward by 18 votes, Oliver by 13 and Gawn by only 2! Interesting counting system.

agree. At absolute worst he may get a fine but most likely this one will go through to the keeper.

The Age agrees with you: VOTES M Gawn (M) 9 C Petracca (M) 8 C Oliver (M) 7 H Andrews (BL) 7 Z Bailey (BL) 7

6. Gawn - where it all started. 5. Petracca - great last 3 quarters 4. McDonald - turned the game in the second half 3. Oliver - great second half 2. Spargo - terrific link game 1. Jordon - solid all game

Had a real soft spot for the old Lions back in the day. Perhaps it was the Norm and Len Smith connection. Their fans always seemed really decent people, unlike some others. I think they knew their footy too and it looks like that hasn't changed. The Brisbane supporters are relatively small in number but substantially more intelligent than most.

There are two points of difference between the sides: 1. They have more goal kicking options; 2. We have Gawn. I expect they'll come hard at Max, as they did last year. How the team handles that will tell us a lot. I like our defensive match ups on their forwards and our system should hold firm against their style.

Adelaide Oval or Optus for mine. I reckon we'd get a big crowd at either venue.

Agree with most of this but harsh on Gawn. According to the coaches he's the 9th best player in the competition at the halfway mark of the season. That's pretty dominant. In a specialist position, he is absolutely miles ahead of the next best - probably Naitanui, who averages about 70% game time, 14 disposals and 1.4 marks and about 29 hit outs per game v Gawn who averages 19 disposals, 6 marks and 34 hit outs. He's absolutely dominant in his position to the mid point of the year, even allowing for a little lull for a couple of weeks against North and the Swans.

Harley Bennell ran into an open goal and missed. Weid missed a sitter as well. That was one we should have bolted in.

Taken for granted by quite a few is Maxy!