Hopeful Demon

Far out. That was without a doubt the most tense game I've ever attended but I'm thrilled that we were finally able to win a really close match. Melksham can take a bow. He has been making a massive difference to our forwardline lately. He must be selected for the finals. I'm probably going to watch the replay of that Pickett goal 10 times.

One of the worst quarters I have ever seen.

I'm not a fan of Collingwood but Geelong are my pet hatred. They caused us so much misery in the Bailey era. Beating them in the 2018 EF and the 2021 PF couldn't have been more satisfying.

Yes Brown! We desperately need the next goal. No time for complacency.

I actually think Gawn has been sensational so far. If he nailed those two set shots, he'd be on track to having one of the best games of his career. We're only going to win if we start being more efficient and stop making Collingwood look dangerous every time the ball enters their forwardline.

I don't know why we can't play the game on our own terms. This fast, attacking style isn't suited to the way we play.

This has been very similar to the bulldogs game. Hoping the result goes our way this time

Was one of our best on Friday. He's become severely underrated by our supporters. He's already kicked 43 goals this year and he will likely end up with well over 50 if we go deep into the finals. Forwards like him don't grow on trees.

You're seriously trolling. What exactly do you mean by "he can't man up?" His defensive work has been impeccable this year. There have been numerous games where he's saved multiple goals with his intercept marking. And your claim that he only performs against "rubbish sides" is just wrong. He was among our best in our win against Brisbane and in our losses to Collingwood and Geelong. He could've easily won the award on the Queen's Birthday. Your contempt for some of the players is simply too much.

Tbh I'd possibly leave Fritsch out of that category. I think he's at about the same level as he was last season. He's currently sitting on 40 goals and this time last year he'd kicked 37. Yes, he has gone missing in some matches but he's been one of our only forwards who can be trusted to kick multiple goals each week. I think that his brilliant finals series has made people forget that he also had many quiet games last season.

As others have said, this is a very tough question. There have been some games which I thoroughly enjoyed. The Brisbane and St Kilda games are the two prime examples. That being said, I still feel as though we are a much better side than what we've shown over the past 8 weeks. We're not playing with the same kind of composure that we saw last year. Whenever teams would challenge us last season, I never actually felt worried because we'd always have the class and fitness to get us over the line. In recent weeks we've been panicking and losing desperation whenever the opposition fights back. I still think we're good enough to finish in the top 4 but we need to get back to our best as soon as possible. If we manage to win two or three of the next four games, we should be a formidable side in September.

That was certainly up there with the most stressful games I have watched. We may have been in front for the vast majority of the game but we never really looked as if we were going to put the opposition away. We made far too many mistakes by foot and too many of our defenders played unaccountable footy. I understand that our season is not over yet but we seriously need to lift if we want to secure a spot in the top 4 and have another crack at the flag. This is the fourth time we've capitulated after being 20+ points up.

Fritsch really does love playing against the bulldogs.

Excellent ending to the quarter. I'm very pleased about the way in which Melksham and Weideman have started. They're going to be hard to drop if they continue to play this way for the rest of the game.

And that's why clearances are important.

Yeah I don't understand the animosity towards Melksham. People might point out that he only got 6 possessions, but his last quarter played a huge role in our win. He could've easily ended with 3 goals if he wasn't so selfless.

A win's a win. That was a very forgettable game but a win was all we needed given that our place in the top 4 was on the line. Our forwardline functioned better than it did last week. Pickett can take a bow. All his hard work finally paid off. It was nice to see Brown work his way into the game in the second half. While Melksham was relatively quiet, he rarely wasted possessions.

This game would be very different without Pickett.

Pickett's been our only forward who's looked dangerous around goal.

Our midfield looks really bare without Oliver.

I'm a big Fritsch fan but he hasn't been playing team football lately.

It's simply embarrassing that some people in this country still think this way.

It's possibly Deedub's new account.

Bedford is passionate. I like him as a player.

Nice to see Oliver nailing set shots.