Skuit

It may be remote, but surely they have pillows in Darwin?

If you look at all the incidents in isolation, they're mostly just the standard or coincidentally-concentrated rather than a result of dirty tactics or an aggressive approach - barring perhaps Lewis on Cripps. Bugg, and the harsh whacks from the MRP have also inflated the total figure of weeks lost to suspension. Hogan, Salem, and Bugg were frustrated responses to niggle (with yes, all going too far through poor individual discipline). Bernie has been doing this crap for two years and his propensity for doing so seems to exist outside of a conscious decision-making process. I'd say it's just as much a result of desire to perform (leading to frustration when it's not smooth-sailing) and our improvement resulting in closer opposition checking than it has to do with an aggressive approach. All of the suspensions have been off the ball rather than squaring someone up in the contest.

We should do no such thing.

He is the white stick.

On Bernie: the club should tape his bloody elbows to his waist and make him run around like a T-rex at training all week.

I'm certain it's to do with his vision and depth perception. Needs corrective lenses. OPSMac.

Woe is Melbourne. AFL corrupt. Protected species. I used to scoff at these comments but I'm now a convert. Bernie deserved a break but I'm sick of the AFL sending messages through our club and conforming to some media narrative. The inequality is there for all to see. After Buggy vs. Sydney, that free in the first minute against Carton was a perfect case-in-point. The umps were clearly on the lookout to assert their authority over Melbourne early on, as if we we'd been branded as some bullying footy team resorting to dirty tactics - why? Because the media says we're undisciplined thugs and the AFL don't like that image.

And Omac is a phonic crumbler. Footsteps and his composure goes to pieces.

The waiting time at Darwin Hospital is atrocious, especially on a Saturday night. And you have to pay for your own parking. Quicker to fly Dean to Melbourne for treatment and save the hassle of searching Goodie's glove-box for coins to feed the meter. Club made the right call.

I was going to suggest that with four goals in the 2000 GF, Paul Barnard could step in as a compromise. But clearly this bloke was pinging as well.

This last part is very presumptuous. Levi 'Uncle' De Veer could very well be his name.

There's an end of 2005 in the brewing here. I would advise getting any scheduled maintenance on pacemakers taken care of in advance.

It's an interesting discussion point Pates. A huge factor in the attraction of sport is not just the athletic prowess but those endeavours in the context of unscripted human drama (the modern focus on off-field and incidental stuff excluded). The emotion conveyed by Kent in those few seconds was enough to shift my perspective of the game entirely, and for me, provide a healthy ego-check through empathy. If Kent gets up again, and were to say kick a huge goal in a grand final, it's these moments that provide the meaning and sport its value.

TBH, people spouting the 'play anywhere anytime or we don't deserve to play finals anyway' line sound like they have no idea about modern football. It is a professional sport. A taxing, contact sport, in an incredibly even competition, and any small competitive advantage can make a difference. Motivation has nothing to do with it. It's about bodies, recovery time and the impacts of flying and travel. No need to whinge (except just to let the AFL know that our spate of exertion injuries coincided with our run of short breaks), but it can't be dismissed as a factor in potentially missing the finals.

I thought this thread was going to be about Crossy's magic-cream.

I'll help you out with some of the stats - 45 to 36 clearances - close to if not our worst deficit for the year. 7 goals to 2 their way from clearances - our lowest return for the year. Not sure our precise midfield tackle stats - but I would hazard a guess it was our poorest for the year. Then you can add the eyes on top of that - they had far, far cleaner clearances. And the most important factor, we were dominated in the centre-clearances when it counted - during the first quarter and consistently after anytime we put on a bit of scoreboard pressure. That equals a smashing.

Didn't someone from Port kick a decent torp against us at Adelaide Oval in 2011? Same flank, perhaps from 55-60m, maybe after the 3qtr siren? Memory fuzzy. Correction: was Travis Boak at qtr-time.

Bernie is now flirting from the wrong side of the line.

Thought ANB was good. Is starting to believe, and was our best link-man through the middle. Lewis had a decent game, more intent to impact. Bernie shut down Sloan. Harmes tried. And the Garlett call is nonsense. We know he lacks touch in heavy conditions, but it's not a matter of show-boating. The loss also wasn't down to a lack of running. Suit up again next week.

Nice tactic to influence the Post Match thread vibe as well by the way. ; )

Injuries impacting our structures and conditions exacerbating a difference in ball-handling class (particularly KPP). We gave it a dip, but - Needed to change up our tactics – the high press and runners behind the ball – to slow down their avenues and even up the contest in our forward line. We didn’t. Plugging our midfield with our half-forward finishers in Petracca and Hannan doesn’t help either. They have classier forwards and defenders – while the conditions exposed our lesser handling-skills. And our personnel advantage in the middle is stuck in the medical room. The Crow mids killed us in the clearances and were very good at sharking Max early. It will be different at the G’ in a tight final with our mid-field and cleanest users back. Also, Adelaide deliberately and subtly encroached on the protected zone all night, to clog our space and counter our play on from the mark. We had to be smarter and run straight into them to draw the 50m and deter the tactic. We will learn from the footage.

I'm a strong supporter of AFL tradition. Like the centre-bounce. The day-time grand final. Not injecting your team full of drugs.

It wouldn't mean that. Both Qantas and Virgin have flights to Darwin nowadays.

With a crowd split 65% - 30% - 5% Adelaide - Neutral - Melbourne (although 15% of that neutral figure will be Melbourne-leaning Power supporters). Figures courtesy of me.

Outside of the Demons, I don't care who wins or loses. But it's great watching 'contenders' get exposed week after week. We seem to have matured and turned the corner in close finishes, and have gained greater confidence in our plan. Now fix the injury count and there aren't too many areas of vulnerability that can be exploited to ultimately overcome our game-style.