Rivers of Belief my friend

That was a great night. So good to have some belief again and watch the Dees play consistent, high quality footy. A long, long way to go, but will enjoy this unfamiliar feeling. That run from Hunt that ended with the Nibbler goal was incredible. And how good was Lever. Salem and Trac epic. Fingers crossed we can keep this effort and hunger going.

I hear you. But I think you’re completely discounting the huge psychological impact. Imagine Dusty playing his 250th and Jonesy being denied his 300th in the same game. Morale killer. Jonesy absolutely plays this week.

It’s a shame that the recovery time for each team is so different heading into a marquee game like this. Richmond played on Thursday and we played late Sunday. We saw last year the difference an extra day can make in leg fatigue. This is 4 days difference. It would have been nice to see the Dees up against the Tiges with a similar recovery time, just to see what the difference is between the teams at this point. I’m not saying we’ll definitely lose, not by any stretch, but it’s a tall ask.

6. Gawn 5. Lever 4. TMac 3. Oliver 2. Pickett 1. Langdon

6. Oliver 5. Salem 4. Tomlinson 3. Petracca 2. Pickett 1. Gawn

Yeah right. That surprises me tbh. Maybe butchered is the wrong word then. Indecisive early, but definitely got better. Maybe too many short, go nowhere handballs etc. a bit rusty, and as someone else said, maybe trialling a new clearance approach...

6. May 5. Lever 4. Tmac 3. Petracca 2. Jordon 1. Spargo Thought Clarry got better and as usual racked up the possessions, but boy he butchered a lot. Spargo - obv a fan - but he is the link man. Sees the plays and executes - good defensive pressure too. Will get more consistent.

Thanks, Nev.

This will be a break out game for me, I just feel it in my finely honed bones.

Actually, to fess up, she booked them...that's a worry...

True...public apology to MFC.

Got tix, but my wife and I are on opposite wings. Couldn't work out how to get two at a time (drop down only gave 1 as an option - 1 per barcode, even though we had both ready to go). So that's pretty crap. I mean, very glad to be going, but not a great user exp. which seems typical of MFC on their platforms. Or I could have missed something, I suppose...

Agree this would be a great, useful stat.

Yep - just words. I get that the feelings are probably real, but using them to motivate and then perform is a different story. (And that those feelings sustain them throughout the season, come what may...)

That's what I was wondering...what were the main differences between Dees v Richmond and v Dogs? And what concerns were the same? I didn't see either game unfortunately, just some highlights. Having read all the reports here - thank you everyone, much appreciated, even though wrist-slitting material at times - I get the strong impression it's most of the usual faults that were visible - but in both games? I concede that I may have been wrong about young Spargo - but not yet...not yet...

Preach, binman. And back to the original thread, inclusive practices / actions really aren’t that hard. Just a *tiny* bit of thought in planning. Other than the venue fail, why didn’t they invite a couple of higher profile female players to guest speak? If you start from a place of including others, it’s no drama at all. And most of the time ends up being a better gig anyway!

Wow. Not a great look, to put it mildly.

Welcome to the club, Earl. Go Spargs!!

Is it possible we would have Brown, TMac and Weid all on our list?

I don’t want to get all biblical here, but is there a risk that his power will be lost if he loses his hair?

Ok, bold prediction: I reckon young Spargo will be one of our undisputed best players by the tail end of next season/first half of 2022. Barring injury, of course.

I think the new rules are: - 4 points for a regular win - 8 points for a 'season defining' win (these can happen more than once, of course) - 2 points for a draw - 1 point for a loss but 'they looked bad winning against us' (and are generally unworthy filth)

Re: Brayshaw in the middle, absolutely. I reckon Harmes is struggling a bit - can we put him back to a full-time tagger? Rotate him through the bench more? And keep Brayshaw, Oliver, Viney, Sparrow on the ball for the longest periods? Hmm...

Well, lots said here of course. My particular take is that they just don't often stand up to intense pressure. When things are going well - 'downhill skiing' - the can look great; free-flowing football, their own intense tackling and pressure, confidence play. But Port are the top team and put on immense pressure - perceived and real, and here's the thing: our players clearly haven't embedded their skills enough, because it all comes apart and they revert to old, instinctive ways (hand-balling to someone under pressure, bombing out of the centre/into 50, over-committing too many players to the contest, no-one well-positioned at ground level etc.) Some of this is certainly lack of skill and natural awareness/footy brain, but I'm confident most of the players have enough skill to embed these habits deeper. Of course, the rest is a mental fortitude problem. Again, they sometimes show grit, but without the above skills, momentum is quickly taken away and doubt sets in, then effort lags. Although, the lack of effort I saw last night at times was hard to believe. In summary: back to fundamentals. Drill, drill, drill. Built trust in each other. Do the endless 1 percenters. Never take anything for granted. My fear is that even if they get a run on over the next few games, they'll go back to a "we're awesome" mindset again and then hit another brick wall and cop a beating.

I agree, but when we're pulling it off we do look great. Maybe an adjustment? To have better awareness of when to go hard/play on, and when to take a slightly more conservative option?