Chook

Jackson! And actually led to a goal.

Lions goals all coming from ground balls. Exactly as I knew they would.

Rivers isn’t handling the finals pressure early. Very surprising.

Terrible mistake from finals first timer Rivers there. Brisbane killing us in clearances and contested possessions. Great passage to get the quick response.

That’s what I am worried about. When the ball hits the ground in our backline we’re vulnerable.

Perfect start. Goal in 33 seconds.

Gawn has the absolute eye of the tiger. Expect massive things from him.

Gawny leads the players onto the ground, then turns around and high fives every single one of them as they run past him, a massive smile on his face. What a fantastic leader.

A free for the throat fend when he had a free kick and a player was charging him is fine. A heavy fine or a week for the umpire contact is appropriate too, because the action was not.

Shows how important top 4 is.

Love Green's reaction on the siren. He's a polarising figure for sure. I happen to reckon he's awesome.

GWS have stopped. Hope the Swans can get over the line, because the Giants scare me way more than them.

Yeah, I'd suspend him for a week for directly bashing into an umpire, but to say he's a "disgrace to the game" is really poor. He and players like him elevate the game of Australian football.

My gut says Jones. My head says Jordon.

He's a rare talent that the game should not demonise. He's had a hard life, and it's messed him up. More support for the champions of the game please.

Love you Hogan!

He's just a man. He has no power to cause the calamities that have befallen Melbourne over the years. Only the Footy Gods have that power.

I hope so. He has become a sidekick to Oliver over the past 12 weeks. Time to just reassert your dominance my man.

I always thought of the "Curse of Norm Smith" as the curse placed upon Melbourne by the Footy Gods for what was done to Norm, not the curse of Norm for what was done to him.

Long way to go, but it's a Melbourne vs Port or GWS vs Port grand final for me.

I much prefer this GWS outfit than the Swans, but I think Melbourne match up better on the Swans, so c'mon Swannies.

Max Gawn kicks the winning goal after the siren vs the Cats to win the Minor Premiership for the first time in 57 years, Round 23 2021 Jeff White nails the winning goal vs the Dogs to put Melbourne into the finals, Round 21 2005 Jack Watts kicks the winner vs Collingwood to bury his demons against the old enemy, Round 12 2017 Nathan Carroll turns the tide vs the Saints, Elimination Final 2006 Nathan Jones caps the night of nights vs Geelong in Melbourne's first final in 12 years, Elimination Final 2018 HONOURABLE MENTION: Tom McDonald you genius (TMac kicks the winner vs West Coast in Perth, to give the dees a sniff of finals for the first time in 11 years), Melbourne vs West Coast Round 14 2017

My worry for this game is what happens when the ball hits the deck in our backline. Cameron can take leading marks, but he is also deadly with the ball in dispute. Zac Bailey kicked 4 against us I think all from crumbs or stoppages. We can’t let that happen. Our defenders cannot be dropping their marks like they have in the past. Clean that up and we go a long way towards holding Brisbane to a score we can beat. Obviously the midfield battle will be key as well. Oliver will be like a man possessed, but we have to set up to limit Brisbane’s quality exits from the centre as well. I also predict Harmes to be involved in a lot of handball chains along the wing into our forward line particularly as the game goes on and Brisbane starts to fatigue and get slower. That’s where we’ll get them offensively IMO. EDIT: Typos

Just getting all the bad luck out of the way early so there’s nothing left but good luck come gametime. Smart.

Judd or Ablett? Perhaps Carey?