Bring-Back-Powell

Clearly we hope Richmond V Melbourne ain’t a wet day in round 20.

Higgins, Battle and Hill are handy outs. Higgins is the sort of player that will either kick 5.0 or 0.5.

We need to go 3-5 to play finals and hope Essendon and Fremantle fall off the cliff.

One of the key reasons we've fallen behind these two clubs.

I wouldn't say no. The bloke is a circus, but when you only consider his footballing ability, he's a terrific goal kicker and has a very neat 54.27 to his name.

I thought we were ordinary at Docklands last year. Just went against North and blew a 5 goal lead against the Dogs.

Brisbane by 78.

Can't recall who said this to be honest. However I'd contend that he's usually been pretty honest with his selection and player positional expectations for the week ahead. That's why I always looked forward to his pressers. Not so much anymore.

It's a little frustrating that we're leaving out a player that can kick the clutch goal on the big stage (Anzac eve, KBDAY). Clearly the coaches are of the opinion that a lovely set shot here and there isn't enough at the moment to justify his spot in the side. I can't envisage Joel Smith kicking a clutch set shot from 45 with minutes left to win the game on Saturday night. I predict this will be Smith's last AFL game of the year and JVR will come in to replace him for Brisbane if his plays another cracker in the VFL.

Woey senior was on the radio on SEN this morning. Was askes the same question. His answer: in 2022 he was predominantly a winger, this year he's had more exposure inside and at half forward.

Really enjoyed his cameo against Richmond in the AFL practice match at Casey. Just looked like one of those players that looked comfortable at this level and like McVee should be able to hit the ground running. Hopefully the boys will be energised and excited by a debutant as they're grinding through the months of June and July which are the hardest for motivation, so they say.

Posters refer to Goodwin as being one of the more honest and transparent coaches in the AFL via press conferences. I think he's been anything but this year. Your Petty example is a prime one and he was adamant May would play in rounds 1 and 2. Not to mention his weekly updates on Clarry.

I have them beating Carlton, Sydney, Brisbane, West Coast (all at home) and Hawthorn at the MCG I have them losing to Collingwood (away), Geelong (away) and Port at home. 12-11 with a 10th place finish. They could easily lose to Brisbane but I still have them finishing 10th on my ladder predictor regardless of that result. At the start of the year we would've happily taken a 10th place finish for Freo.

Freo need to go 6-2 to make finals.

Do you mean we're covering Oliver from a statistical point of view? Or we're covering Oliver from a win/loss point of view? If the former I'd agree. If the latter I'd disagree as we're 2-3 without him and dropped extremely winnable games to mediocre sides in GWS and Freo.

Jackovich's arrival probably wasn't the best for Bennett's AFL career. Done by early 1993. Onto bigger and better things in the NFL.

Our accuracy at the start of the season was unsustainable. And there was a game we were lucky to win this year against Richmond where we shot the lights out while Richmond fell apart in the last quarter. I'd like to think this 5 week patch is also a compete outlier and our woes will turn around shortly. There's going to be a game soon where we'll be a tidy 11.2.68 at half time. GWS have been lucky. In 3 of their wins this year they have been outscored by the opposition which suggests to me that their record of 7-8 is a little flattering.

Well we somehow kicked 17 goals without him in round 1 with BBB, Pickett, Spargo and Gawn combining for 12 goals. These fellas are all going to have to step up in his absence and Trac will need to be a 50/50 mid-forward when Clarry returns and kick his 1 to 2 a week without fail.

Hopefully Fritta is back for the finals assuming we make it. The pre finals bye will aid his recovery time if it's a 6-8 weeker.

If things go south and we miss the top 4, then I hope we can somehow cling to 5th. Dogs would be the most likely to replace us as the 4th place side as their draw isn't particularly difficult. If we win our first final and the Dogs presumably lose their first final to Collingwood or Port on the road, then we'd play the Dogs in week 2 at the MCG feeling good about our prospects. That final would not be at Marvel despite the Dogs being the higher ranked team. Finishing 6th - 7th would probably see us playing Brisbane at the GABBA in week 2 (if we progress) assuming the Lions can't get the job done on the road in week 1 finals. No thanks.

How the ladder would look if the losing team with more scoring shots actually won in this years games so far. For example we lost to Freo and GWS with more scoring shots but beat Richmond with less: Brisbane 12-3 Port 12-3 Collingwood 11-4 Melbourne 10-5 Adelaide 10-5 Sydney 9-6 W Bulldogs 9-6 St Kilda 8-7 ---------------- Essendon 8-7 Carlton 7-7-1 Geelong 7-8 Fremantle 7-8 Richmond 6-8-1 GC 5-10 GWS 4-11 Hawthorn 4-11 North 2-14 West Coast 1-15 Clubs highlighted in bold would have big swings in fortune.

Trac's the key offender in this department but how many of our players miss snaps from close range (the in play ones rather than set shots) Any of Trac, Sparrow, Fritta and ANB couldn't nail a snap under pressure. The Sparrow one was from about 8 metres out. Kick of any these and we're singing the song last night. And Melksham failing to convert his elementary set shot snap on the boundary was infuriating, a shot that he'd usually eat for breakfast.

Any idea how many votes Viney is on? Seems to poll every week and yet isn't on the leader board. Would have at least 19 alone in the Collingwood and GWS games alone. Sneaky All Aust 40 squad this year?

3.12 and who knows how many complete misses from the Hawthorn game onwards. He started the season in reasonable fashion with 9.7 after round 7. Hard to believe he once kicked 26.6 in one of his earlier seasons (2017). Imagine the player he'd be if he went at 80% this year. He'd already have Charlie in his pocket in the absence of Oliver. With that being said, I hope he plays more minutes up forward with Clarry back next week. Under the roof, he'll snag a couple next week from 4 or 5 opportunities. As a club, I'll be horrified if we dish up another 7.18 / 6.19 type of score in perfect conditions next week.

Wouldn’t be the end of the world finishing 5th or 6th. Play a home MCG final week 1 against a good-average opponent as opposed to a Collingwood or Port away in week 1. Consecutive straight set exits will be pretty devastating if we’re not up to finals footy again.