Rab D Nesbitt

One disappointing thing about a shortened season is that we don't get to see Adelaide go 0-22 to farewell Tex Walker.

They took 29 players to Adelaide. Would Preuss even have been one of them ?

Based on that list I'd say there are only two dead certs to play finals (based on reaching 10 wins) and they are Port Adelaide and Brisbane with Richmond also being likely. WC could be considered likely too but will be travelling back to Queensland to play many of those games where their form is questionable. Looking at St Kilda's run home I don't think you could say with any certainty that they'd definitely win any of them. If we make the big assumption that we'll beat North tomorrow then I think it's imperative we win as many of the games against our main competitors for a place in the 8 along the way.

Hi Wunders. Yeah, all fair points you make there. I keep tearing the medial ligaments and meniscus in both knees as well. My goalkeeping days are behind me now unfortunately.

A lot will depend on who needs to be managed through injury and soreness for Sunday. As T-Mac seems to be the latest player to be taking heat from the fan base, if we go with Tommo at CHB again I wonder whether he could take his place on the wing? We did it a fair bit back in 2018 when he was having trouble getting into a game. Sometimes even starting him there if I remember correctly, albeit mostly on the right wing where Langdon tends to play. The forward line clearly works better when we're not building a game plan around him as our main target but in such a compressed season there's still likely to be a role for him to play I think. Just a thought.

I felt for most of the night that if we could get a 4 goal break on them we'd be fine but it would have been good to have done that a little earlier in the game. Tracca has found it a little hard to break tackles these last couple of weeks. I wonder if we can reinvent T-Mac in another role as he'll find it difficult to get back in the side as things look right now. Weid seems to have come into his own a little now that he is the senior tall in the forward line. Injuries aside you'd think Nev might struggle to get back into the 22 now.

Bernie should stick to selling houses.

Dee's financing. Who is Dee and what do her finances have to do with us ? Anyway, I think Glenn Bartlett mentioned this (or it may have been Perty) on a recent interview somewhere. $1 million raised by Xmas will see us in the rarified air of being an unassisted club. Makes me feel all fuzzy and warm inside.

I'm quite liking the midweek game thing. I can pretend it's an away game in the Champions League (or more likely for us an Intertoto Cup game for a place in the first qualifying round of the Europa League). Ideally we'd like to win by a similar margin to the one we lost by against Port to get us over 100% again as well as the 4 points. I'm a little concerned that in dropping Oscar we might be messing with the only part of the team that's being relatively good and stable up to this point but we'll know the answer to that and other things in a few hours I guess.

I'm a little surprised that Oscar lost his place as the back six have worked well together overall. I think Jonesy trained with the forwards all summer and if they really have earmarked him for a half back flank role this week I'd have preferred it to be Rivers instead. Still so many inside mids in the 22.

You're welcome DJ. There would still be some finer points to iron out I'm sure but it would be a great advertisement for the NT and no tennis court to tempt Bucks within 1,200km.

After the two games in Adelaide we could commandeer The Ghan up to Alice and play Collingwood, Fremantle and Essendon. The first two can fly in from Perth together and the Bombers can get the same train down from Darwin. If Gold Coast are also penciled in to play in the top end against someone they could get the same train down and play Collingwood. Essendon and the Pies could each be based at one of the drug and alcohol free communities in the area to keep them out of trouble.

You'd think Vanders would be a straight swap for Jones. T-Mac would make way for Harley, trading height for mobility and speed up front. I wonder if it might also be a good week to rest Clarry and bring Gus inside for this game and replace young Sparrow with Tomlinson on the wing.

At this stage of his life he'd probably prefer something a little less challenging, like finding a two state solution to the Israel / Palestine problem.

Geez. Last night was up there with some of the most disappointing games we've played over the years. To me it felt like one of those season defining losses that makes it hard to come back from and made me wonder if the next nine weeks will now take on the look of a slowly deflating balloon. Christ I hope not.

In a microcosm of what's playing out around the country a very small group of selfish and gormless individuals are jeopardising the efforts and sacrifices being made by the greater population. The AFL did a lot of sabre rattling about the consequences of breaking the rules put in place to safeguard this years competition which have turned out to be little more than a damp squib in reality. I don't expect this case will play out any differently.

I wonder by this reverting to our home game it means they are still hopeful of shoehorning in North home games in Tassie at the [censored] end of the season. Also, as the designated home side now why can’t we nominate to play in Qld ? Particularly if the AFL are making us return there between both SA games !

Listening to some of the recordings from that time makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Brings it all back.

Didn’t do them any good in the long run considering they no longer exist. They were a club that operated on a shoestring but consistently punched above their weight.

Unless anyone is too sore to get up for Thursday I'd be looking at minimal changes for this one. Harley seems to be playing within himself right now (understandably) so perhaps it's an opportunity to bring in Nibbler for his pressure acts and good engine as a replacement for this week. I still think a side needs 10 wins to be guaranteed of a place in the final eight and not have to rely on percentage tipping them in. There's also that drawn game that makes things messy. This makes the Port game a high stakes clash in that sense so I'm expecting us to go with our strongest side. If our best isn't good enough then we could still go 6 - 3 in our last nine games and make sure we totally rinse Adelaide, North, Freo and Sydney to get our % up. Collingwood aside all the other games are just potential banana skins at worst based on our most recent form. Lots to play for yet.

Trac made a mighty effort to break through the Brisbane line to give us that opportunity and I feel if we'd just been able to corral them into their own half in that final minute of play we may well have had one more bite of the cherry. Still, it was our really poor kicking in front of goal that cost us this one TC.

Well that was frustrating. They were a lot cleaner when the ball hit the turf until we started to click in the last quarter and really started to smash into the contests. Fritta not handing the ball back really stuffed us at the end after Trac did so well to set up that one final chance. All those missed sitters in front of goal really cost us too. Viney was fantastic again and his kicking to a target has improved out of sight.

Geez. Even the umpires couldn't get North over the line. What a bog ordinary outfit they are.

It's the pre and post game rituals I miss. Stomping Ground at opening time for mussels, frites and a pint of something really dark. Tamura sake and jazz bar on Gertrude St if it's a later game on a Saturday. They have a lovely sweet potato amber ale. After the game it's over to The Tippler on Wellington Parade until the crowds have gone. The scarf doesn't go on until I head to the ground.

I guess they don't want to lose that physical presence from the team. I thought they may have gone with T-Mac and moved him between the forward line and the wing like we did quite a bit back in 2018. It looks like nobody will be gifted a game this season.