Bring-Back-Powell

I think it’s fair to say Sydney aren’t a premiership threat despite beating us. Far too inconsistent.

Any intel if Gawn is back next week V's Geelong? We might get away with it tomorrow, but Sam Weideman as our number 1 ruck isn't going to work for more than 1 week you wouldn't think. Does he have the endurance to go 75%-80% in the middle?

I still can't get my ahead around why people think Andrew Brayshaw is an option in return for LJ. Freo absolutely love the guy, he's going to be the future captain and face of the club and is their best player. Freo will say thanks but no thanks and move onto another trade target if Melbourne demand Andrew Brayshaw or nothing. Serong might be a more realistic target, but once again, Freo will be desperate to keep him and clubs approaching their premiership window such as Freo are buyers not sellers. I expect we'll get draft capital in return rather than A grade players and it may involve a third party.

He hasn't missed a game since round 20 2016 when we had that amazing win over the Hawks. Something like 127 consecutive till now. I was surprised that he wasn't in the seniors for 6 weeks in a row in 2016, his first year.

I don't know about others but I was starting to take wins for granted, and this came to a head in the Hawks win as well as the WC/North fortnight. Definitely won't be taking this win for granted given how tight the ladder is and the fact they beat us last year. Hopefully last year's loss will sharpen their attitudes going into Saturday.

I think Collingwood at 10-5 (if they win) are worth serious top 4 consideration. And if that’s the case, there would be other clubs I’d rather play in a qualifying final then the Pies. Dogs are St Kilda are sneaky chances this week despite being underdogs.

If T Mac doesn't make it back in time for finals, I think it will be last Thursday night's team with the slight adjustment: IN - Gawn Out - Bedford to sub. Hunt from sub to nothing. I think Weideman will stay in as the club has been on record as stating that they want two key forwards and a resting ruck in their forward setup. However, the ball is in Weid's court and if he doesn't perform over the next couple of weeks then we'll have no choice but to go smaller i.e. - Bedford. I think everyone else is a lock.

I can handle Jackson playing a year or 2 at North if it means we have to decline Peter Bell's inevitable final offer of a second round draft pick and Ethan Hughes thrown in as a sweetener for LJ. He's going to be horrid to deal with if history is any guide.

Difference is Papley was under contract with Sydney when he wanted out. Sydney held all the power.

Absolutely it does. If he nominates Freo, he will get to Freo one way or another. I honestly can't recall an occasion recently when an out of contract high profile player was not traded to the club of his clearly communicated choice. Would love to hear an example to the contrary.

Which they clearly won't be.

I guess it depends which way you look it at. If you take a short term view and we win back to back flags with LJ playing 2 good grand finals, then you'd say the recruitment was a roaring success, we shake his hand and get some good compensation. If you take a long term view, it's an absolute disaster to lose a pick 3 that the club clearly had a 15 year view of that player being the number one ruck and franchise player of the club, irrespective of what state they're from. I think Taylor and Co. will avoid WA (and even other states) if we ever get a prized pick again (i.e. - top 5)

Tipping Trac's got a 30 possession / 4.0 goal game coming up within the next few weeks. Not too fussed about Clarry. He's a non goal kicking midfielder who's job is to supply the goals more so than kick them himself.

Sydney and Collingwood have caused Goodwin all sorts of problems since he began coaching. We've lost 5 out of 6 against Sydney with our only win being a tight 10 point win over them last year. We've been a debacle against Collingwood since 2017. We've lost 6 out of 8 games against them including missing the finals in round 23 2017 from the loss. We really need to put in a good showing against them in round 21 in the event we meet in finals.

Great point re Seedsman. He was so dominant in our MCG game last year. Walker got May last time with 3 goals. It's very unusual for someone to kick multiple goals on May but Walker did and he also kicked the winning goal.

If you believe in the law of averages, then these three should be dead eye Richard's by finals time given that Trac and ANB bat at about 56% each over their career. Oliver is just under 50% But yes, 9.21 for Trac and 3.12 for ANB is incomprehensibly bad.

Good explanation of the current and future outlook. Sounds like 6-2 (17-5) on the run home will pretty much guarantee a top 2 spot.

I'd back in Lord Nev's knowledge of footy over SWYL any day of the week. BBB was fairly ordinary the other night, but he's slowly improving from the lows of the Freo and Sydney debacles and we certainly don't have any other options at the moment.

Agree with your first point about Mitch Brown. Just doesn't have what it takes anymore to be a regular AFL player. With your last point, in fairness Geelong also have a five day break too. I expect multiple Geelong restings given they have North at home next weekend.

The Walker/Fogarty combo requires some consideration given they kicked 10 between them yesterday. Whilst they were playing nobody yesterday, 10 goals is still 10 goals and both were instrumental when they beat us last year, with Tex kicking the winning goal. We did well against Brisbane's big "3" last week but all three are yet to hit peak form/fitness yet. These Adelaide blokes are at the top of their game. If we were to somehow lose to Adelaide next week, I'd imagine these two lads would've had a big say in the result.

The games in Alice Springs and the maximum temperature could be as low as 15 degrees for mid July. Certainly won’t be more than the low 20’s and shouldn’t be taxing.

They reek of “pointy end of season” unfortunately.

I think it’s more about how good Collingwood are as opposed to GWS not turning up. They’re strangling GWS and making them earn every possession. Pies did this to us too.

Classy comment…

Collingwood to finish top 4 and a genuine chance for a GF spot. They’re fixture on the way home is a joke and they’re quite frankly too hard to play against. They make you earn every possession with their red hot pressure.