Rab D Nesbitt

OK peeps. Let's get this over with. I trust we're all sufficiently fortified enough to endure the next couple of hours. If not then you've only yourself to blame.

Likewise. It's been a depressing rainy day so this will be the cherry on the top no doubt.

Hi DD. Fraserburgh, or as we say in our local dialect, The Broch. Like a lot of small coastal towns it's seen better days but the beach is a cracker with a big sand dune the locals call Tiger Hill.

Nice one PF. The town at the tip of that big point a little to the right of Speyside is where I grew up.

Possibly. Or there's only so much mileage you can get out of Ed Langdon and Arnott's Shapes.

I'm in if we talk anything but footy. Unless it's just as an ice breaker. Seriously though, plenty of quality watering holes to choose from post covid depending on what part of town you intend descending on. Anything that doesn't have a big CUB sign out front is usually a good start.

Has there been a club media ban this week ? No podcast from Gawny or Talking Points interview from Benny G. Haven't noticed any radio interviews either.

Don't they have a ghost writer ?

Just watched a little bit of the current match. Cats playing their keepings off game but the Tigers are all over them when they miss a target. Not that I'm expecting GC to cause an upset against Collingwood but tonight's result will make it highly unlikely that Port Adelaide drop out of the top 2 places even with a loss to them in the last game which could be a problem for us if it comes down to that result.

Let's not forget that Tom tore the meniscus in one of his knees late last year, in the same game he kicked 6 in three quarters in the wet against Carlton. It was bad enough to require surgery apparently and end his season prematurely. If he's carrying just a little more weight than usual then the combination of the two could be causing him some issues.

Hi Sue. Yeah, it's a fair point you make. I think that the same mantra was being used publicly throughout the season in various pressers and not just pre season but that in itself doesn't mean that any concerns about Cairns couldn't have been raised privately with the AFL. Maybe they were. Personally I had concerns about the fact we had to shoehorn 3 games in over such a short time span and such a large geographical area. It doesn't take too much to uncover our shortcomings as a team unfortunately and that wouldn't have helped for sure.

Saying we'd play anyone anywhere at any time and there'd be no excuses for our season left little room for any u-turns when it came to the Cairns situation. At least publicly. It also wasn't the AFL's decision to have us fly in and out of Alice Springs on the same day. We all know the reasons whey we did but if we'd stayed in Maroochydore and played in Brisbane or the Gold Coast we could have flown up a day or two before the first of those games like Sydney did.

Northorn. I like it. I especially like that the president of one of those sides wants teams that can't pay their way relegated to a lower tier of the game. That same team may finish 17th and receive zero income from the Tasmanian government this year. Imagine it though. At the Camberwell Town Hall you'd have the sight of Don Scott tearing a velcro skid mark and wee stain from a North Melbourne guernsey.

I'd have no problems with this as long as we don't get stiffed on where and how often we have to travel interstate again. Perhaps an interim move towards a 34 game home and away season where everyone plays each other twice. Brisbane and GC should get no home games to help even things up from this year. Hawthorn & North could have so many games down in Tasmania that they may as well move down there permanently.

Best bet is for the dogs to lose one and we win both. That should see us earn a flight across the Nullarbor for a date with WC.

True. Far better he sign with an underperforming nonentity that would treat his return like the second coming of christ.

The only synergy between him and Collingwood is the regularity that both manage to create headlines off the field. I think he would crumble under the expectations of the magpie army.

Hi there Pates. Yeah. Definitely not a fan of the more is better argument. I guess my post was about the juxtaposition (and frustration) of following a mediocre team within a competition that actively rewards mediocrity. At the end of the day someone mediocre will finish in 8th place. What makes another mediocre side more worthy of that place than us and who gets to decide that ? I remember being fascinated by the concept of a finals knockout system at the end of a home and away season when I first moved over here. Elimination finals, qualifying finals, preliminary finals baffled me at first. Surely if you finish top then you win! I then came to really embrace how unique the final five system was to what is a unique game. Then we entered an era where everyone has to be seen as a winner and five expanded to six and now eight which appears to have more to do with eliminating dead rubbers at the bottom end of the ladder (and money) at the expense of some integrity at the top end.

The whole debate about whether we deserve to play finals is a bit of a moot point because by having a final 8 the AFL are rewarding mediocrity. By finishing 8th we will have proven to be the best infuriatingly mediocre team over a 17 game season and therefore worthy of a place in the current finals system.

What odds the crows overtaking us in a 22 game season.

Now that the AFL have caved in to West Coast's plea for the Thursday night game hope they don't get a home final. Unless it's against Collingwood of course.

I'll be making the most of my 3 month Kayo trial and watching the NFL which commences this weekend. Go Packers!

Well that's another 2 hours I'll never get back.

I feel like I’m watching a 2nd division VFA game. Our season looks to be over.

We can debate whether or not we'd just be making up the numbers this year but our club should be one that can at least be trusted to play finals every year. There is only one way to gain experience as a finals side and that is to play in finals. I really hope our guys leave nothing out on the ground in these last three games to make it possible.