rpfc

Surely we can’t wear our retro gear with the Bullies lighter blue. Indigenous get up should do.

Robbo kicked 69 in 2005 and didn't get AA. Phil Matera kicked 7 goals less and got in around 4 talls and Riccuitto was shoehorned into the forward line...smh.

Very happy we aren’t getting ‘cute’ and resting players. We are 2 weeks from a bye FCS. Spargo can have a rest then and we can manage Jordan and Bernie over the latter half of the year

I was also behind the Coll cheer squad at the punt road end. So satisfying. When Robbo went up the speccy and Jeff went on top of him - it was beautiful.

I think it was defensive workrate of the forwards. We had 15 to 8 FWD 50 tackles on the weekend and Hawthorn smashed us 20 to 7. Ball spends so much time in our forward half that when it gets out of there - the other team is so up the ground and out of position we get the ball back and we certainly punish that inevitable turnover.

Best time for him to come in and play a role. Would have been ideal for Weids but Smith is taking his chances at the minute.

She does a great interview but I hope she wants to move into the commentary box. She would be best served providing special comments than calling the game; she knows more about footy than those that retired 20 years ago... That shouldn’t surprise anyone though - she is still playing footy and gets much of the same guidance that the other side of the club gets.

No, I’m Spartacus.

The impressiveness of it comes from the fact they are 18 and 21 respectively - this is not a couple of role players plucked from State leagues. They are expansive, skilful talents.

Yeah, well, you forgot to point out that he had 791 metres gained - 350m more than the next Demon.

You neglected to mention he had 32 uncontested possies - the best average 21...

For those that questioned the beginning of the Hogan era - this is what we saw: a bloke who could go up the ground for 14kms, set up goals with his footy IQ, and make men look like boys one out in front of goals. He is terrifying.

Robert Harvey must be dead because his reincarnation wears number 10 for the Dees.

I have no doubt that we can win of course but with such a soft month of footy - I have seen smarter and more mature footy teams than ours take a quarter to understand they need to lift a gear... How quickly do they get out of that gear? Will we stall? Will the transmission fall out? (That happened to my 1988 Volvo 240 GL...)

He hasn’t taken to being a mid like Brayshaw has so I judge him on a curve that is probably unfair. He is an excellent kick.

Yes, he has effectively replaced that side of what Watts brought to the table - frankly, when someone who isn't Fritsch, Brayshaw, Melksham or Hogan kick the ball into the forward line, you quickly remember what we lack...

Facepalm. You saying this leads to the obligatory... ...and the allusion that if he does play it will be because he is indigenous... Garlett has been stiff and if he breaks in to play in this huge game it will be because the MC think he is the best option for one of the best teams in the league.

As I have bored people with before: we are not big enough to eat each other alive from past ills. 23 years of irrelevance, the near merger, the bubbling debt, the non-tanking verdict, the Neeld choice - they make up a rich tapestry of failure that we have all endured in the past and have stuck by the club. If you are a Demon at heart you are welcome inside the house in my view. And you can certainly query why a player isn’t selected...

Oh @skuit, you are a man/woman after my own heart... love these KPIs you have mentioned. What is the UPs situation - we are 10th but with 217 a game and that is definitely in the region of diminishing returns, especially considering we get it forward so often. Really hope we take this aggressiveness to the Hawks and not go back into our shells, they would prefer us in our shells; they want to prepare behind the footy and switch and snap the rubber band. Clarkson is an excellent coach but he has more and more also rans in that team and we need to expose their best players to our best players and I don't think they will cope.

Lewis does go to ground too much in contests but I never imagined he would have to do as much as he is currently doing. Last week he had the most intercept possies (Hibberd? Lever? Where are you?) this week he gets 20 (!) uncontested possies (ANB, Melksham, Harmes? 10, 10 and 9...). Lewis is being asked (or just does it like the leader he is) to do more than he should be because our next tier mids-link players are not travelling that well tbh. Our midfield depth is so overrated...

It just takes sacrifice @Lucifer's Hero - Hibberd and Lever have to develop an understanding that at a particular contest, one is beating a bloke and the other is killing the contest. They both are looking for contests to kill and it is putting stress on the others. Good players figure it out and they are the best talents we have had in the backline in a generation really. And I don’t want to paint the NM as some sort of failure either - it may be the beginning of it working: Lever-Hibberd (or Levberd as the kids call them) had 19 intercept possies between them, up from 10 last week, and that is with the team getting 10 less against NM (69) than against BL (79).

Going from playing on the third defender to the second is a shift and he is struggling. I do hope we help him and that back 6 allow him to stay closer to the spots he needs to be to cut off footy and help Oscar. And Hibberd and he need to work on how they pay together.

I love that they are putting Lewis through the middle a little more this year - his impact is his decision making into the forward line. At the minute, he is one of the few that seem to hit a target in there. We don’t have many passengers but our mid tier players need to do more, especially for those of you with the ‘let’s drop Lewis’ fever dream you have from time to time. He ain’t going anywhere when he has to do so much. 60+ Inside 50s again... Ummm, we really didn’t make the most of the advantage, much like the Geelong game. We still don’t have a discernible structure and that is to be expected with our CHF out. It just frustrates me when I see Hogan running into THE spot ‘competing’ in the air with his teammates from all directions...

Coached 2s in AFL Canberra. But that is immaterial to the bolded - if the same players keep on doing the opposite of what they are instructed then either the players don't listen, can't institute it and/or it should be abandoned because they are being asked to play a style they can't execute. They better we get the more I would want to isolate our best players and leaving Hogan to battle 2 extra defenders doesn't support that. Something to look out for this week: North will love it if we 'just kick the bloody thing' this week considering our forward line and how we overload the defensive side of the contest...

I think his demeanour is fine, my main issue is with our loyalty to this overloading behind the contest AND then we panic kick to the forward line where our players are not. It is fuel to the fire when teams get a run on. We just give it to them on their HB line. I think we need to read the game better and make it a one-on-one contest when teams have the momentum against us. I honestly think we can win against most teams in an arm wrestle.