Bring-Back-Powell

Sydney and Collingwood are our absolute bogey sides. Would be hard to stomach if either of those side do the business on us in the finals.

Would be as good as it gets IMO. Sydney (2016) and Collingwood (2019) have beaten Geelong at the G in finals. Further to that Sydney have beaten Geelong this year and in 2021. They also only lost to them by 6 points in 2020 when both sides were opposite ends of the ladder. Perhaps Sydney have the wood over Geelong?

Lever also said the 6 day break will work against him.

Lever’s concerned the 6 day break won’t be enough time to get up next week. In - Oliver, Petty Out - Lever, Bedford (not Melksham)

If we go 2-3 (and the two wins are against WB and Carlton) it would see us having a record against the other top 6 teams (Geel, Bris, Fre, Syd, Pies) of 1 win/7 losses. You couldn't just expect us to flick on a switch and run the table in the finals with that kind of record. 3-2 needs to be the minimum goal and it would be great if two of those three were against Freo, Brisbane or Collingwood as we'll no doubt be facing at least one of those sides in September Anything more and we'll be top 2 and in pole position for a home MCG prelim. Probably Saturday twilight if we're the second ranked side.

With regards to Collingwood, the average percentage for a grand finalist since 2012 is 134%. (MFC's percentage in 2021 was 130%) Collingwood are currently 106% so they would be defying absolute football logic if they make the GF this year.

I'd imagine if he has another major indiscretion, the club will consider sacking him. There was was a lot of negative PR he put the club through.

There is something in that. In 2018 Geelong played Freo and GC in round 22 and 23 at Geelong, and absolutely flogged both of those bottom dwellers. We had a hard 3 last weeks in 2018 and then had that magnificent finals win over Geelong at the G..

I think we can go as bad as 3-2 (16-6) and still finish second-fourth due to our great percentage. It's a pity that out of Brisbane, Fremantle, Sydney and Collingwood, only Sydney and Collingwood play each other. You would've loved more of these sides taking wins away from each other. I can see a scenario where all of those sides (and Melbourne) finish 16-6 and then percentage deciding top 2, top 4 and elimination sudden death. We need to have a couple of big percentage boosting wins on the run home and avoid any blow out losses if/when we do lose.

In - Oliver, Petty Out - Tomlinson, Bedford. I feel sorry for Tomlinson who played easily one of his best games for the club, and a dramatic improvement from the Sydney game. They would have to move Petty (who incidentally kicked 3 goals against WB in 2019) forward for Tommo to retain his spot. Or he needs Lever not to come up. Bedford has had 7 kicks in the last 3 games of footy. That's clearly not AFL standard and unfortunately has to provide more involvement if he want to stay in the side. With regards to Josh Bruce, they say the second game back after a long lay off is the game they really struggle in. However, given he had 3 possessions and 1 mark for the game, perhaps the first game was his struggle game.

I'm bullish on Collingwood's chances this year as they have a great blend of attacking flair, defensively sound and play with a ton of spirit. However, you'd have to wonder how sustainable all these close losses are in terms of their chances in September. The law of averages will suggest they'll start losing some close ones in the late rounds and finals.

Surely Collingwood’s winning streak ends next week against a resurgent Essendon?

With no recognised ruck for Port, I’m expecting Luke Jackson to step up massively today and put in an imposing career best performance. I also expect us to come out fresh and firing off our equal longest break for the year.

Jake Melksham will have a 3 goal 18 possession game and be a key contributor towards a much needed win tomorrow. If Goodwin didn’t believe Melk would have a positive impact on the game, he wouldn’t have got selected.

You really have a thing against umpires it would appear.

Yes - they’re a chance for the flag. You disagree?

Pies could do some damage in the finals. Unlike Carlton and Freo, Collingwood have plenty of veterans that played in the 18, 19 and 20 finals series. They’re not as young as the media make them out to be. I get it that they’re just scraping over the line against mediocrity but I wouldn’t rule them out in winning the flag. I’d say Geelong would beat them in a final though.

I hope Collingwood go in as favourites when we play them in round 21. We might actually take them seriously this time around.

I wish our pressure and tackling was as manic as what Collingwood’s has been for most of this year.

Pies are going to be equal on wins with us by tonight.

No sucking people in mate. Only passing on what I heard on the radio. Prior to the WC V Melbourne game in round 9, Gossage absolutely confirmed on SEN that Brayshaw dearly wants to live near his WA based grand parents and will be a key consideration in his decision. Gossage also mentioned that Gus’s daughter (One of the Frawley daughters) would be most hesitant to move to WA which could help us.

Wants to be close to his grand parents who live in WA, according to Tim Gossage.

He’s a mistake riddled commentator. Channel 7 need to reconsider their premier number 1 caller (Friday night / GF) We were spoilt with the technically brilliant Bruce and Dennis of the 2012-2016 era.

Excellent summary. Without T Mac our forward line doesn’t function as well, the evidence is overwhelming and the losses are starting to stack up. Fritta has only kicked 6 goals in the last 4 games which suggest he’s struggling without T Mac as the opposition have the Luxury of putting a serious defender on him.

Neither set of supporters will be going home overly happy tonight.