Bring-Back-Powell

Yes, you can only by recent results but for some reason GWS (and Freo) have troubled us here and there over the last 3 years. The bad news for them is their magical run of form is going to end at some stage, as it has for Port.

Imagine if St Kilda didn’t take Billings the pick before Bont in 2013 Imagine if St Kilda didn’t take McCartin the pick before Petracca in 2014. Peak mid 2010’s St Kilda drafting.

I think we broke them last week.

I can only imagine the players are in fantastic nick, relatively speaking for August. You wouldn't imagine Goodwin and company would be that stupid to allow history to repeat.

Tommo once again dropped...

Take your point, particularly your last one in regards to Adelaide possibly beating Brisbane on a 6 day break coming back from Perth. However, I'd much rather Brisbane lose this week irrespective of Freo's draft pick standing. I really don't want us to get into the scenario where a random Charlie Cameron goal in the last quarter of round 24 knocks us out of the top 2 on percentage. Best to keep it simple and maintain a 1 game buffer on them if at all possible rather than scoreboard watching for the last 3 weeks.

I get the humour in your post, but we need to get a game clear of the Lions for insurance purposes, not just percentage.

Assume the ride is out of commission this weekend? People surely want Freo to win so we can go ahead of Brisbane on the ladder....right?

Not sure if mentioned but Fritta bagged 6 Frankfurts against North in Hobart, 2021.

Echoing the above concerns about not bringing in Grundy against 2 professional rucks in Goldy and Xerri. I'm not saying we're going to lose this game in the slightest, but the last time we played 1 ruckman vs the oppo's 2 ruckman was against Essendon which coincided with clearly our worst performance of the year. Having said that: 1) Port and Brisbane only play 1 ruck and Collingwood might elect to play with just the one if they don't want to continue with Cox. There's bigger fish to fry than a round 20 game in Hobart V North and worrying about 2 rucks. 2) It will be an absolute media circus if we bring in Grundy for one game just to face off with a 29 gamer in Xerri, only to once again drop him.

Haven't beaten North in the month of August, in a non pandemic/lockdown year, since 2006.

I’m not sure it’s highly likely Freo beat Brisbane but I hope you’re right. If Brisbane are serious about winning a flag this year, they’re beating the fourth worst team in the league this weekend.

Maybe the pre finals bye will be everyone's rest. I cannot remember seeing the word rested or managed next to a player's name under Goodwin.

You can get a Foxtel sport package for $56 per month and you don't have to worry about dodgy delays and krappy internet. How much more is that than Kayo?

If they choose to wait for yet another round of footy and release it next week, and Sydney gets done this weekend, then that puts them down to about 12th spot on the ladder and unlikely to make the finals. Therefore a non marquee timeslot such as Saturday 4:35 or Sunday 1:10pm would be more likely for round 24. If Sydney beat GWS, then they could be in the top 8, and therefore a rd 24 Saturday night game could well be on the cards. With that being said, the fixture could get released tomorrow for all we know. Last year it got released 26 July.

Hopefully round 24 is not Saturday afternoon. Driving up to Sydney on Saturday morning with the expectation the game will be Saturday twilight, Saturday night or Sunday. Saturday arvo is usually reserved for dud games such as Nth/GC or Hawks/Freo. Therefore I don't expect our game will be on the Saturday arvo given Sydney are well and truly in the hunt.

When does the round 24 fixture times finally get announced? The game is on this month and still no news... I'm sure posters are planning their trips to Sydney and it would be handy to know when the game is on, and to organise tickets.

Prefer Collingwood over Brisbane if we don’t finish top 2. Brisbane don’t lose at the GABBA.

Must be a pretty bad calf injury given that Sydney are still in the hunt for finals.

Hopefully they organise a lap of honour and all the ceremonial stuff for their next SCG game against GC rather than our game.

Not against this.

Grundy’s served his purpose by keeping Gawn fresh and firing at the business end of the year. I think it’s more than fair that we grant him a trade so he can seek the number 1 ruck role elsewhere next year.

In the pre game thread I hoped Petty would kick 2 goals and take 4 contested marks. Will have to watch the replay to assess whether he met expectations.

Hopefully we’ll be saying the same thing at 6pm tonight. We can still finish second and lose a game provided: 1) We make a mess of North and catch Brisbane on percentage by seasons end, provided they lose to Collingwood at Marvel. 2) Port go 2-2 for the rest of the year. They would need a serious reversal in recent form to go any better than that. Port losing last night actually increases the danger zone of us finishing 3rd and playing Brisbane in Brisbane. No thanks.

That 2019 was a home game (was thinking we never play Richmond in an away game that isn’t Anzac Eve) but goes to show we hardly ever play Richmond twice in a season because of Anzac eve, and very unusual to play them this late in the season. Hoping for a good professional win and Petty answers some questions up forward.