Swooper1987

No McKay means the backline stays unchanged. I'd expect Silvagni might come in and Motlop will replace Martin. Those Carlton smalls are their biggest weapon. Need to pay Acres some respect as well. He's a very decent footballer. Hunter probably plays his wing. Langdon really struggled on Sidebottom. I'd go something like this: McVee May Hibberd Salem Lever Rivers Langdon Oliver Hunter Neal-Bullen Petracca Chandler Pickett McDonald Fritsch Gawn Viney Sparrow Grundy Jordon Bowey Smith Spargo sub Whilst Grundy was pretty poor last time we played Carlton, the conditions weren't great for big men. Weather is supposed to be completely different come Friday night and good big men stand up in September. Pittonet and De Koning are a better pairing than the Collingwood spud rucks. Gives us midfield rotation not dissimilar to when Oliver was out. I reckon we have them covered.

No McKay, no Martin. Tomlinson no chance now. Need to plan for the small forwards. That's the danger. And not spend all night bombing it to Weitering.

Agree. Take the 1 week and be grateful.

We aren't making a heap of changes. We played three quarters and nearly won the game. Likely that Grundy or Brown come in for JVR and Jordon or Harmes for Gus and the one who misses out will take Laurie's sub spot. It is possible if we play Carlton that Tomlinson might come in for McKay, in which case Hibbo or Salem comes out.

Fritsch is fine. He just missed a sitter. He kicked 5 straight last week - three after he came back on from his foot interlude. Kozzy is Kozzy - take the good with the bad. Tracc needs more time forward and that is where the Brayshaw KO hurt us the most. Sparrow, Oliver and Viney need to make sure that happens next week. Clearly Jordon or Harmes will return for Gus. JVR is in strife but in reality he was largely a non-event tonight anyway. Options are Smith, Fritsch, TMac and the smalls or Grundy/Gawn combo, or Brown if the knee holds up this week. There are possibilities there.

We'll be right. I reckon we still win the whole thing. +22 on expected score tonight. In every way but the most important we won tonight. We won't go out in straight sets - we'll take whichever of Carlton or Sydney win tomorrow comfortably. And from there an interstate prelim holds no fears. As recently as 2020 the side that lost the qualifying final won the flag. Happened in 2015 as well. Even the great Brisbane side of 2003 did it that way too. On tonight's game, we were fantastic for three quarters. We played a prime mover down and our accuracy was horrible. Gawn played a game for the ages. Most of the others can (and will) play better. Stay optimistic, the best is still to come. And it'll be a flag won the hard way and they are always the most cherished!

6. Gawn - easily the best player on the ground. I still believe he'll lead this team to the 2023 flag. 5. Sparrow - this guy is a true warrior. His second half was excellent and he stepped up in Brayshaw's absence 4. May - controlled the back half along with... 3. Bowey - a really good rebound game. 2. Petracca - a frustrating game I thought. Lacked intensity early but came rattling home. 1. Oliver - just on weight of numbers. I'm not sure why he has reintroduced the 2017 circle work back into his game. Needs to drive hard forward.

It all comes down to duty of care - he showed none and head high plus high impact makes everything else redundant. That's 2 weeks and that's all he needs to finish his season.

the silver lining to the Oliver injury.

Massive kudos to Smith for how he took that. He went right up in my estimation after that. He would've fitted in perfectly in the 1980's. Win 'em and wear 'em.

N55 - happy days

The Tigers never had more than 2 selected in any of their flag years. 2017 Rance and Martin, 2019 Grimes and Houli and 2020 only Martin. The AA team is not always a good indicator of who is the best team in club land.

He was great. Right man at the right time

He's an excellent footballer. When the game was at it's hottest he looked very comfortable. Great skills under pressure and a great footy brain.

Ryan Clarke in for Papley. Looks like Oliver will have more company.

Fantastic news. He's doing a great job.

McCartin - very bloody lucky

He was moved off Oliver in the last and on to Rivers. And as to winning, he cleaned up Daicos and Liberatore before he went off and they won both of those. Face it, like everything there is a time and a place for a good tagger.

Clearly there is because Oliver was largely an irrelevant factor in the game for probably the first time in his career. Nobody else has managed to achieve that.

A good win against a team that has improved markedly over the season. Mitchell is an outstanding young coach. Hawthorn have some excellent players and as maddening as it is, they will become a very good team quite quickly. We did what we needed to do. Our defence, in particular Lever, Rivers and McVee were outstanding. No great influence from Petracca and Oliver and nothing at all from Pickett only enhances the win. I wish Goodwin had let the Maginess question go through to the keeper. His response was churlish. The game has a place for everyone and taggers have been around for a long time. Oliver was beaten, accept it and be better next time. Nicks' presser last night was the template for class under pressure.

Bombers have been lame ducks for a while now. Scraped over the line against two of the worst sides in VFL/AFL history. Their form is putrid. Collingwood would need another 6 of their best dozen out to lose to these guys next week. Hard to judge the Giants when they are playing witches hats, but I do hope they belt Carlton next week.

Here it is:

He's become a very important player. Our most improved and top half dozen in the Bluey I'd say. I always feel confident when he's near the ball - that he'll win it if it's in dispute and that he'll use it well when he get possession. Fast becoming my favourite player.

A superstar. The best ruck of his generation with a record comparable to the greatest of all time. The most influential Demon of my time supporting this club.

Listening to the First Crack crew it's all down to Gawn. A crazy stat relating to his rating points. Above 13.7 and basically we don't lose. Less than that and we are basically 50/50. Another stat relating to his score involvements. If he has 5 or more a game we basically don't lose. Only once this year he had less than 5 and we won - that was against Collingwood.