Gawndy the Great

On ya woey.

Yeah i saw this as well. I think the main difference is the number of bottom 4 teams we have played vs others. Getting both North and Hawthorn twice is the main reason. I think most top 8 teams have only played one bottom 4 team twice, whereas Cats have only played them each once.

Yeah I though about that. He should have gone for the mark. If he did he would have either got a free kick for being held or got frontal contact.

Expected to be much better.. he has been hampered for nearly two years now. At some point you need to call a spade a spade. Unfortunately I think the game is moving past him due to a body not able to keep up with the demands of AFL. I’m aware it’s a harsh assessment and I hope he proves me wrong but at this rate he’ll be spending time in the VFL next year.

Just shows how little Salem and Bowey have been doing this year.

There goes top 2.

Not sure on Bowey - he is just going...barely. Frankly i have been disappointed with Salem and Bowey the most this year. Salem has at least an excuse in injury and thyroid. They need to find some spark in their game to more speed on the ball. Watson with speed and skill could really change things up there. It all depends on game plan of course, but if we really want to isolate our forwards and minimize turnover, it all starts in D50 with good, athletic players with skill. It is why Collingwood's average forward line looks so good.

Im hearing Harmes is on circa 500K pa. If we were to move him on for scraps (3rd rounder) and traded Grundy out who is on reportedly 600-650K pa. Surely we could put a decent contract in front of a needed player? Then there is additional cap that maybe freed up by a retiring BBB or a departing Tommo. I doubt TMac will retire and probably need him for depth - if he does somehow get back to '18 or even '21 form it probably can make the 22. Expecting we get 2-3 players from the draft including Brown's son so they'll be on minimum wage. Still leaves a potential treasure chest even if Grundy did stay.

We do need better decision makers and ball users. So i reckon you could start him off half back in his career. I can definitely see a need McKerchin in our team, but im just suspect of Duursma - whose spot does he take in our current 22? Is it someone like Sparrow?

Watson for me is x-factor and ill love him in our team with one of picks if he is still there. He has largely been deployed in the forward line, but i wonder if he has ever had a run through the middle and could he entrench himself as an outside player?

It was definitely mind boggling, and i was disgusted like many on here, but we are carrying on like he would have converted. Whether he could have found a target 20m closer (would have been called on no doubt) remains to be seen. To me the bigger howler was the non-goal call. Its gets my heart rate up every time i hear it on the radio or see the replay on TV - i just cannot move past how bad that decision was. I just hope in the whole scheme of things it becomes irrelevant. I would hate if that becomes a defining part of our season. We wont know of course until all things are done.

He has clearly been the most improved. I expect him to be top 5 in the BNF.

But there is already a break after round 24. Unless you have someone with minor injuries you have to play them to get better form.

I call BS because like everyone other normal human, he is watching his left arm given thats what a normal human is drawn to look at. There is absolutely no way his eyes can follow the footy from that proximity to his right wrist. This IMO is the goal umpire trying to defend his guess.

And it should be said, that failure to convert in a period of domination is actually contrary to the definition of domination. The fact that we basically defended staunchly was a massive failure of their forward line. Or in leymans terms for Q1: Their mids better than ours Our defence better than their forwards.

The touch rule should be changed in the rulebook to be better aligned to the available technology. For example a touched behind is where there is an observable deviation in ball flight (by goal umpire or ARC) or observable movement of the player's fingers who is making contact with the ball. So that way a micro touch is still counted as a goal and we are not left here wondering how to better adjudicate. Ultimately you work within the available limitations of our game.

Also to add, we win on expected score. So if Carlton were generally playing better all over the ground for longer, then it would most likely come through the stats and expected score convincingly i.e. > 10 pts. Its not an exact science but it does tell you the story. In this case it was +2 pts to Melbourne, but that alone doesnt mean we should have won, it just means that Carlton were not as dominant as some have proposed. The other factor is games decided < 2 goals either way are almost always very very even contests and its 1 or 2 moments in the entire game that decides the final score. This game was even statistically on all fronts. Its just unfortunate that the moment that decided this game was in the hands of umpires, which is what infuriates everyone, because it looks more like a goal than it does a point. If Trac had been tackled before he kicked or kicked Out-of-Bounds, then you take the loss and move on. But to have a goal taken away from us, which from every perspective and process should have been granted and to hear the Blues talk about luck and gloat like they had stolen the win and for the impact of the result to cost the Dees a likely 2nd spot is salt in the wound. I applauded the way the Demons played (considering it was wet) and that's coming from a devout pessimist. Look at my previous posts and you will see that i shredded the Dees mid-year given the games we were dropping and the way we were playing. But the Blues were a respectable opposition and could not have played any better with the players they had out. On paper we are probably the better side, but we are not too far off our best as well. As others have said, Carlton would have beaten any of the other 16 sides by 4+ goals with that performance.

And this is why Norf shouldnt be afforded a priority pick. Hawthorn have been [censored] for 5 minutes and already are showing signs of progress in their rebuild. It is not just about the players. You need to breed the right environment with club admin and footy dept and Norf were rotten to the core. Get the investment and assistance here otherwise you'll just burn through plenty of good players. GCS is another example of a team that should be making a PF with the talent they have in the that club. They have already been at the lower rungs for multiple years cleaning up the top end of the draft pool.

WCW is saying he is a possibility for the Swans game. He needs the run in his legs to get match fitness. Trac has to stay in the forward line 70/30. Now that Oliver is back we can revert back to the previous midfield setup with Oliver, Viney and Sparrow/Kozzy/Trac. He is not defensively accountable in the middle and is exploited byopposition coaches.

If these stats are right, what are we worried about? Nobody is dropping 800K on this bloke. It would be different if he showed signs that would warrant 800K, but he hasn't. They would be extremely negligent in their duties to do so. Instead why wouldn't you make a play for Nick Haynes an AA KPD for a 2 or 3 year deal? Yes its a 1.2M pay packet, but you'd ask for GWS 1st pick to take on the salary dump and you'd get a quality defender and a top 10ish draft pick. Or there is a play for Tomlinson probably for a early 3rd round draft pick. Better player than McKay and significantly cheaper too.

It’s actually news to me a just how bad they are. I have my theories but I’ll get banned for sharing them. Let them lap it up for now, I know what I’ll be doing the moment they are knocked out of finals. It is now my sole purpose in life. Spoke to an ex Blues player and he thinks it was a goal. When I asked him what the chatter was in the rooms he just looked at me and smiled.

Exactly. I think what you'll find is that the goal umpire must use some standard verbiage prepared by the AFL when making a soft call, which makes the goal umpire sound more convincing when they really don't know and are just guessing.

Both of the suggest process improvements here would go a long way to providing more consistent outcomes. Pity its too little too late and knowing our luck, will be in place when we find ourselves in Carltons position in a future grand final 5 points up with 10 seconds to go.... uggh anxiety meltdown.

I expect Pies to win on Friday night and keep our chances of 2nd spot alive. I have a feeling that Freo will beat Port as well. Amazingly #3 is more statistically likely to a win a GF that #4. Although i dont think we have really had this much of an even top 4 in the time that those stats were taken.

I agree with this in theory. We know there are two Suns sides, it depends on which ones turns up. With Carlton now becoming some crazy people's flag favorites, i hope the spooky Stephen King gets them going to try and knock off a contender on an 8 game winning streak. But there is also an equal chance that the boys are already in post season break / holiday planning mode and will roll over. Hopefully Dimma is confirmed during the week and word circles back to the playing group, that some will be playing for the careers or risk being traded to WC or North Melbourne.