Rab D Nesbitt

Happy to avoid the Sunday graveyard slot. Or Sunday in general.

I had to sit in the Southern Stand after our ticketing email from the club came through late. Couldn't see anything for the sun in my eyes until it dipped just under the roof of the MCC with 10 minutes left.

No but anyone wishing to panic even more feel free to use my share.

Hi Hell Bent. I think you're probably right about Hunt as if we're still playing a team oriented game at that point his instructions would have been to break that line and draw an oncoming defender to create space for one of our forwards to lead into. It's a shame he didn't chip that one effort to Maxy but there you go. I don't think H's issues were such a big factor in the last as the game was being played more in our forward half by then and that's where we ultimately lost it. The competition between Tommo and him for that spot over summer is going to be interesting.

Thanks 58er, I think I will.

I'm glad I left opening this thread until this morning and had at least one coffee behind me. Yesterday wasn't on Hunt, Petty or Viney. We've lost three games by a combined total of 27 points by one, two & three straight kicks. Despite not getting out of second gear for most of two of them and switching off with 5 minutes left in the other. What needs to be fixed can be fixed and with the players we currently have. They've been doing things right for a lot of the year. Even for someone without a footy background it was pretty clear at the game that we weren't defending as a team for the whole of the first half. Straighter kicking for goal and an all team defence in that first quarter sees us build a sizeable enough gap on the scoreboard to keep GWS at arms reach for the rest of the game. Losing the midfield battle isn't critical to our game but we still have to be able to cause the opposition problems in all areas of the ground for at least some periods to take the burden off our back six and leading forwards or just to be less predictable. Winning just a few more of those centre clearances and moving the ball low and at speed to a leading forward. Yes, with a little more accuracy we definitely could have won with our smaller forward line yesterday. That said we have Ben Brown on our books for the next four years and he's not going to spent that time down at Casey so we have to work out a way to keep a high pressure defensive game with him as our main forward target and probably do it now. Straight away he takes the best opposition defender away from Tom and Fritta. He leads well, has a telescopic arm reach and above all is a consistently accurate kick for goal. Let the opposition worry about him being in our side, not us. I think a lot of sides wish they had the problems we have right now and the same list to work with. It's really important we don't squander all of our hard work though so need to finish top four and ideally miss a trip to Brisbane in the process if we can. If we can do that somehow then we're as good a chance to win a flag this year as any of the other top sides.

Morning all. With a forecast more hebridean than antipodean today I'll be looking for a spot near the fireplace at Dr Morse in Abbotsford for my eggs benny. Maybe a cheeky pint at Range Brewing next door before the short commute to the 'G. As for the game I'm expecting a really close one so we'll need to be switched on from the get go. Enjoy your day everyone.

In regards to the conversation about which Victorian clubs play down in Geelong and why, I think it has more to do with whether the game would attract a bigger crowd and financial return if it were moved away from Kardinia Park to the MCG. As a guess this might be 65,000 for example. It's probably why Carlton have started to play games down there again recently as their notional home ground at Docklands has a capacity not much bigger than KP (and where Geelong would still make less money even if it were at capacity) and they would need to draw at least 65,000 if it were played at the MCG to make it worth moving. I think if both us and the cats could regularly attract those sort of attendance numbers in our home games against them you'll start to see that we play down less often and some other schmuck will end up taking our place.

Open top bus on Cavill Street tomorrow has been moved to Swan Street.

Probably on the same plane as us though so if we're hanging around for hours before the game with nothing to do then so will they.

I'm guessing Steward Dew's nickname is mountain.

It's turned into a very funny thread tonight and we haven't even heard Hardwick's presser yet.

Is Stewie Dew's media conference in Cinemascope or is he actually that size?

David King - "Richmond, thanks for the memories" ?

Gold Coast. ? How Embarrassment.

How many microphones have the placed next to those 12 Suns fans behind the goals?

Marvel will be happy that their name can be seen on those seats nobody are sitting in on the far side wing.

Agreed. To be honest I'm starting to feel a bit uncomfortable about potting the English on this thread as like most things it's complicated and I genuinely love all of the friends I've made from living there. I just hope someone can knock them out before the final though!

Hi again Daisycutter, Thanks for the googled cut and paste job. You didn't need to send it though as it's not really any different to what I said in my last post. Scotland as a nation had no say in the empire because we had no government. Tom Devine is a fantastic Scottish historian who I remember hearing talk at the time of our last referendum.

Hi Mazer. The thing is that so many of the population south of the border are now conditioned to believe that foreigners are stealing their jobs, europeans are stealing their freedoms and the other home nations are subsidy junkies that they haven't noticed that the English elites, who despise the working and middle class, are literally selling the ground they walk on and the institutions they cherish (NHS) so much and they're not going to realise it until it's all gone.

Where's Ben ?

Again, yes on an individual level. Plenty of Scots were slave owners for example. Others became wealthy industrialists. It was still a concept driven by the English crown / government, initially to find trading routes to compete with the likes of Spain. These days most of us that are from the other home nations know that the term British is only ever used when it's expedient for England to use it. Usually in sports where England don't have anyone that's any good at that particular time. It's why Tim Henman and Damon Hill are English but Andy Murray and David Coulthard are British. It was only a couple of years ago when commentating for the BBC that Sue Barker said on live tv that Andy and Jamie Murray had just sent ENGLAND into the Davis Cup final after winning their doubles match.

Hi Daisycutter. No doubt there were plenty of Scots, Welsh & Irish individuals only too happy to take part in proceedings and reap the benefits for their own gain BUT the empire was entirely an English driven concept as none of the other nations have had any form of home government since the act of union in 1707 when we were all swallowed up by Westminster and the English crown. Football is a wonderful game, particularly at the lower levels and the term soccer should only be used when speaking about the game in the US.

Hi Skuit. An ex GF of mine is from Eindhoven so I have a big soft spot for the dutchies and PSV. I'm familiar with the hooligan element over there as well. Being a Scot there are a hundred reasons why I won't support our southern neighbours in international football. Some political, some historical, some media related. Having lived in England for a number of years though it has always puzzled me why so many genuinely lovely, funny and welcoming individuals turn into such a grotesque collective every two years for the Euros or World Cup. It's the only time I wished I was somewhere else and brexit unfortunately has only emboldened them. I think that there has been a deliberate attempt by both the media and political class over many years to airbrush the deeds and consequences of the English empire to the effect that it was at worst benign. As a result their people have been fed a deluded sense of place and entitlement in the world that the tories used to their benefit to get elected back in 2010 and continues today with their union jackery flag waving nationalism.