Bring-Back-Powell

I think Geelong are streets ahead of Brisbane.

Its an embarrassment by channel 7. Richo: We should look at moving the bye to the week before the grand final to allow concussed players to not miss out BT: C’mon Richo, we already have enough byes, and you want to introduce another one! Richo: No BT, I’m looking at moving the bye from pre finals to pre grand final. BT : Disagree Richo. We have enough byes! Has BT an early onset of something??

Looks like Brisbane celebrated their grand final last week.

Swap Duursma with Rozee or Butters and we might have a conversation.

Did have a 6 game patch mid season where he kicked 11.3 goals but as others have mentioned, has stalled since his impressive 2020. He's also kicked 26.21 so isn't exactly the dead eye Richard that we're craving.

I would be happy with first three listed getting a regular game with us. Far better than Brisbane's list of Fort, Lester, Prior and Mathieson. Geelong should have more depth across the ground to get the win tonight.

Americans say "could care less" Australians say "couldn't care less" Both have the same sentiment.

Bit of a worry given they had the week off between round 23 and the QF to rest up any lingering issues.

Can only hope the coaching staff go to school on the second half of the year and identify what went wrong. You're right in that our injury list wasn't as horrendous as people make it out to be. We just had a bit of bad luck with in game injuries, (particularly the Freo, Sydney, Pies mid season disaster) but compared to other sides we were going into games with the vast majority of our best 22. I could be pessimistic and predict us to fall down the ladder, but I'll give us the benefit of the doubt after such a fantastic 2021 and a very good first half of 2022.

I'm more disappointed we didn't win a final than actually winning the flag itself because history was always against us in winning a flag. It was the media more than anyone who declared us premiers before we the whips started cracking from round 11 onwards. Since the VFL became the AFL, only 21% (7/32)of premiers have gone back to back. The stat is even worse for the grand final loser who has made amends to win a flag the next year only 15% (5/32) of the time. Refer to sides such as the Dogs, GWS and Adelaide of recent years who have been scarred by a GF loss. The moral of the story is that it's more unlikely than likely for a reigning premier to go back to back so the fact that we didn't win a flag isn't a disaster. It's the way we lost games in a similar manner, team selection, injury management etc... was a bit disappointing. Definitely excited for next year though.

Unless Kozzie says to the club that he’ll refuse to return under any circumstances, he’ll be at the MFC next year. No chance in the universe that the MFC will entertain a trade here, unless Port offer us something stupid like Butters or Rozee in return. However it’s a problem to deal with next year.

Not sure about his accuracy but he's kicked 26 goals in 10 games and had some statistically "off the chart" games in the midfield. Back on topic though...

Sheezel’s going to be an absolute super star IMO. A natural forward that would slot in very nicely into our forward line.

That is a really good point you make regarding the round 23 game last year. Geelong lost some shockers at home (in 2020 and 2021) against the likes of Carlton and GWS in front of no fans, and who knows how the last quarter would've played out in front of 30,000 rabid Geelong fans. And if the AFL granted Pert's request to play our qualifying final at the MCG last year, who knows how that would've played out given we were patchy at the G in the last half of the season. As you pointed out, things happen for a reason, we won the flag. Too bad we couldn't back it up on our home turf.

Probably also goes some way to explaining our 10-0 start to the season. 7 of our first 10 games in VIC with 6 of them at the G, thus a very settled schedule. I think we often play more games at the G in the first half of the year than the second. Next year I’m hoping for a more even spread of MCG games and to have a season (ignoring the Covid years) where we play less than 7 games interstate (despite our perfect record this year) That brutal stretch away from the MCG between round 16 and 20 probably took its toll in the end

Therein lies the problem. He has a degenerative knee issue that has to be maintained and is only going to get worse not better. Can anyone see him fit and firing at the business end of 2024 which is when his contract expires?

I didn't boo Scully in 2012 so i'd be a hypocrite if I then booed LJ. As a collective though, he will most certainly get booed at the MCG, and booed heavily I reckon. Once a player chooses to no longer wear the jumper, it's only natural for supporters to boo him the next season. Even Jack Watts got booed by us in round 1 2019 and he was booted out of our club FCS.

Sydney Brisbane Geelong Anyone else Collingwood

I hope the MFC has done a massive amount of due diligence with Grundy's 2022 injury issues. Last thing we need is for him to be on the side lines next year. The acquisition doesn't 100% make sense as we want Gawn spending way less time next year in the forward line than this year. Can only imagine the club are still keen on the 2 key forward/1 resting ruck model that won us a flag. Thus Gawn more likely to play more minutes than Grundy up forward. So I expect next year's forward line to mostly look like: ANB/Spargo T Mac Pickett Gawn BBB/JVR Fritsch T Mac, BBB and JVR to fight for 2 spots. Is that a forward line to contend for next year's flag? Time will tell.

Do yourself a favour and re-watch the Collingwood V GC game in May 2021. Ripped up that game of football with 11 marks, 4 goals and a Charles brownlow vote.

It will be if all they cough up is pick 14 and Bailey Banfield as a sweetener.

Hunger. The group were so invested last year in producing something special. This year it's over to the Collingwood's, Geelong's and Sydney's of the league who are going that extra mile in the pressure stakes because they want it a bit more than us, and they feel as though their time is now. This is where I admire Richmond, Hawthorn and Brisbane for somehow achieving back to back when they would've had a bunch of hungry clubs chasing them.

From 2002 - 2022 when QBDAY game became a staple in the fixture: We were 6-13-1 and that includes the 2021 SCG game We were 4-2 after 2007. For the record we beat them in 1993, 1996 and 1999, and didn't lose to them in the 1990's.

Looking forward to another afternoon of "COOO-LLLL-IIIII-NNNN-GGGG-WWW-OOOO-DDD' and "'USA - USA - USA- USA"" And Pies supporters inevitably booing Petracca or Oliver when they get awarded the Neale Daniher medal despite same supporters getting offended when Pendlebury got booed on the same stage on Anzac Day. Other than that I love going to Pies v Dees games of late.

I'm sure Jackson made up his mind half way through the season and the club was well aware of it, hence their meetings with Grundy, and I'm sure Freo and Melbourne have been talking trades for months such is the magnitude of this up coming trade. Had Jackson confirmed his intentions in the second half of the season but pledged 100% commitment to the MFC in his final games for the club, he may have had some clear air and been able to play a finals series that consisted of more than two marks. He may have avoided going from premiership hero to a heavily criticised player in the space of 12 months. Hopefully the AFL can become more mature in this space, where players can feel more comfortable in signaling their intentions prior to the season ending. The player and current club will benefit from this IMO.