Vipercrunch

We were banged up coming into finals last year, and then performed poorly right across the ground (but most obviously in front of goals) in both finals and yet still expected scores had us ahead by 3 goals in both games. The pessimists somehow see finishing in the top 4 for the third year straight as the annomaly and the scoreboard result of the two finals as the norm. Bizarre. Top 4 for me unless we are crueled by injuries. Our best is still the best.

My 21 year old son says exactly the same thing about GWS. Their socials have a huge following. Melbourne needs to do so much better.

The veil of negativity was only temporarily misplaced after September 2021. It's back with a vengence.

I'm firmly in the camp refusing to draw any conclusions from that game. Who knows what the coaches wanted to see out there? People are bemoaning that we couldn't stop their 10 goal run, but did we even try? Was it more important that we stopped that run on, or more important that we kept experimenting with setups, structures and ball mvement? The second quarter centre square combos looked very unusual to me. The outcome of preseason games, both good or bad, has and will never be a reliable indicator of what happens in the real season.

2023 was an opportunity blown. I used to say it was a choke but that was obviously triggering for some. Expected scores are absolutely no comfort at all, but it does show we are not the basket case some in the media (and many around here) think we are. Like in the lead up to every season, we need to improve to stay in the contest, but we also shouldn't be throwing the baby out with the bath water. We were a damn good team last season, possibly the best in it, but we blew it.

I can forgive that because it was clearly written by a junior, inexperieced reporter. It lacked the usual sensationlism FoxFooty usually goes with.

Looks like TMac may have lost a bet over the chrissy break...

Hindsight is 20:20, but Lobb should have been our choice last year instead of Grundy. A second pure ruck (who we now all know can't play forward) made no sense for us, and a forward ruck made even less sense for the Bulldogs. I would have backed us to get far more out of Lobb than the Bullgods did, and even there he still had some good games. I expect its now 12 months too late for him to be a signifacant recruit for us though.

They were every bit as good live as I hoped. My only concern over the first 4 weeks had been the form of Libby Birch and she started to show some signs later in the game that she was finding some confidence, so it was a win all round for me. My girls enjoyed it too 😀😀

I've been waiting for us to play Geelong in Geelong since Geelong came into the competetion. Casey may as well be on the other side of the planet from here. I'll be there with my three girls, hoping for another impressive display.

There is nothing wrong with attempting to smother. It is his decision to turn, brace and lean his weight and momentum into Gus' head with his shoulder. There is no way on this earth you can tell me he had to do that and no way on earth he would have done that if it had been Nick Daicos there instead of Gus during match practice at training.

Maynard acted with the instinct of the self confessed white-line-fever player that he is. His instinct would of had him acting very, very differently if it had been Nick Daicos there in an intraclub game.

I 100% get that. I used to watch every game I could. Now, I very rarely watch anything other than our game.

Ask anyone trying to defend how Maynard positioned his body to make contact if Maynard would have done exactly the same thing if it had been Nick Daicos there in an intraclub game instead of Angus Brayshaw in a final.

Maybe not all season, but in games when we have been humming, we are far less fumbly, make far better decisions and are far more accurate in front of goal.

Anyone who says its purely a footy act needs to be sure in their own mind that Maynard would have turned, braced and leant his body weight and momentum into Brayshaws head if it had been a teamate there instead of Brayshaw. The only answer is of course not.

I guess it depend on your definition of choke. Failing to execute skills you have generally executed all season at a high level because of finals pressure is a choke for mine.

That was a choke. No other way to describe it. Absolute stage fright.

The question no one from the media who have been critisicising us for picking up Grundy have tried to answer is who would have rucked for us when Gawn was injured earleir this season? If Grundy leaves, the club will need to answer that question. Will Verrell or Farris-White be able to fill in at AFL for a short period (or longer) if Gawn is injured again next year? It doesnt look like it to me, so I think we need another experineced ruckman on the list next season. As unpopular he is around here, in hindsight, perhaps we should have chased Rory Lobb instead of Grundy.

I'm not taking any significance at all from the KB game. At 11-1 at the time, Collingwood would have been in a very demanding training phase, potentially even training harder than us who were 3 wins behind them (8-4). This is now the real deal and it's got every chance of being an epic final.

5 goals for the team in the 2.5 quarters before his injury is hardly evidence of that.

Umpiring is embarrassing. I’ve watched more footy this weekend than I have for a while and I had actually begun to hope the umpiring had turned the corner. That was an illusion obviously.

It is so hard to believe, but each week the quality of umpiring just gets worse. I can barely watch games involving my team; there’s no chance I’m going to watch much games as a neutral. It’s quite depressing.

Can someone please, please tell these umpires to BLOW THE [censored] WHISTLE!!!

This game.