pitmaster

And now they have Dave Misson so they really are on our track. Good luck to them as long as they don't come up against us finals time.

It was Hunter who got them started in the GF second quarter with two goal assists.

Cannot help but feel some sympathy for Jaegar O'Meara. Once he was flavour of the month, missed two seasons with injury but was still sought after. Too bad his second club was the amazingly ruthless Family Club where the only welcome relatives are the young cousins. Older uncles - like Jaegar - are turfed once they hit 30. O'Meara is a talent and his reward has been to play in one (losing) final in a career of 140-odd games. I was snakey when he went to Hawthorn who at the time had the depth to take a gamble on his rehab. It was a risk we could not afford, but it's all one way with the Hawks in the Clarkson-Mitchell era. So now he is looking at a third club. At least he might see finals again if he lands with Freo. The bigger issue is what it means for the club. This strategy worked out for Clarkson a long time ago but it makes me wonder what it does to internal culture and fan loyalty to have so many respected players discarded seemingly without a moments regret.

Who were the players you would have thought during pre-season that we would have seen more of in 2022...Bedford? Chandler? Laurie? JVR? Turner? the Smiths? And what does your answer say about the potential for improvement in 2023?

Remember when speculation about sponsors occupied multiple pages and threads here, as often we didn't have any? Remember the forlorn, forgotten club hanging out for a lifesaver until a supporter drummed up a certain Russian tech group? Remember Jimmy courting a potential, and not to be named or patronised, sponsor only to have it snatched away at the death? Be grateful those times are past. This I can live with.

Clayton. The bigger question is - will he feel the need to apologise for a "sh$t speech" again, or has he been working on his presentation?

I don't think the issue was that we didn't recruit from other clubs. For mine I'd have liked more senior game time into the young developing players like Chandler, Bowey, Laurie and Turner. It is true of every coach. They have players they trust and those they trust they give extra opportunities to find form and these kids (mostly) haven't been give the opportunity. Petty to move forward and Turner to be the developing third defender with Bowey distributing the ball off half back appeals to me. Obviously JVR is going to come in to senior calculations although like others mentioned it's overdue. Hopefully he stars and we all have to eat our words as the footy department is vindicated by his readiness to compete at the highest level. I'm less keen about Grundy he is not our need but the brains trust knows plenty I don't. Baker has been mentioned here but he has not shown enough to be part of the discussion IMO. It was encouraging to hear Goody talk about changing the game plan. In hindsight we do seem to have been overtaken by several clubs.

This is so mistaken. We routinely did what Geelong did in the first quarter - won contested footy, won clearances, and won inside 50s, but we could not turn it into the sort of domination the Cats had with Hawkins, Stengle, Cameron, Smith all threatening to score. And they did it with Hawkins only 50% effective. Forwards matter and so does efficiency and that's where we have to make up ground.

Very dignified speech from Dane Rampe. Tough job very well done.

Best game I've seen Mason Cox play that wasn't against us.

Woods showing the value of efficiency. Should be almost out of this.

Partial screenshot from the Demonshop. For more about the book see https://www.betweentheflags57.com.au D-lighted with the club picking this up and running with it.

Cannot see enough of Zorko, Berry and McCarthy right now.

First heard of him 30 years ago so he's grounded in SA journalism, and is reputedly a Power fan as overt as Caro is a Tiger fan.

As well, as I indicated above, the lack of will to work others through the group so that by the time the finals came around the idea of the 'unified group' meant the walking wounded remained. (Some of course, like CP5, are simply irreplaceable.)

Probably more reflection of the fact that you can't stand still, and maybe we did. Teams like Collingwood took on our style and outworked it. Remember the two starting players off the back of the square pre-666? You do need to develop changes each year or you're overtaken. There was not much innovation in us this year. We certainly stayed fixated on the same group as well. It's only a guess but I think the lack of new players, or relative novices like Bedford and Bowey being given a chance in the last third of the year cost us in terms of energy and enthusiasm. Goody possibly stuck with the known factors too much. If at the start of the year you'd told me Laurie would not have played a senior game this year, and that Chandler would not resurface I'd have figured long term injury hit them. But no, they just did not get a chance.

JVR looking the goods. Turner good judgement, reads it well. Bowey's skills shining. TMac roaming like a battle cruiser. Casey will take this easing up.

One debutant all year. Makes the best first year player an easy call. But I would have liked to see some freshening up.

Must disagree. I was there and the Sydney noise second half amazed me. Even Robbo had to try to gee uo our mob at 3/4 time.

Agree entirely. We have seen that performance too often

Blues appear overwhelmed. Need to slow the game to get some control.

Baz Luhrmann.

Brilliant!

The problem with being too definitive about the winning margin the Swans need to overtake us is that when dividing the quotient (the answer) varies according to the size of the divisor (bottom number). The Saints' average tally over the last five matches is 70.4 points. Over the last two games against top four aspirants (cats and lions) it is 65.5. For simplicity's sake let's give them 66 points this week which would make the Swans' divisor 1608 (currently Swans' points against of 1542 + 66). If the Swans win by 60 points which is the margin Fox suggested, they romp it in. The calculation is 2105 (points for of 1979 plus the Saints' 66 and plus 60) divided by 1608 = 130.9 which is enough. But if the Saints only score 50 points and lose by 60 the calculation is 2089 divided by 1592 (still a 60 point winning margin for Sydney) and the answer is 131.2 which is even better for Sydney; And this is the really bad news, if the Swans hold the Saints to just 50 points, and win by 51 points, they overtake us with a percentage of 130.6. So Rupert Murdoch's Fox is wrong (again). The calculation is Swans pts against 1542 + 50 = 1592. Swans points for of 1979 plus Saints 50 plus 51 winning margin = 2080. Then divide 2080 by 1592 and we are third. On the other hand if the Saints score 60 points and lose by 51 we stay in second spot with our percentage of 130.4. The Swans would need a nine goal margin to overrun us. SO the key here is that the Saints score as heavily as possible. If the Swans defence holds tight they might overtake us with an eight goal win. I've never been keener on Dean Kent kicking a bag, although I hope we don't have to rely on that.

Between The Flags is now available from the Demon Shop in Brunton Avenue (as well as the usuals like The Avenue Bookstore, Readings, Beaumaris Books, Collins Books in Shepparton, Bookish in Bendigo and Camberwell Market this Sunday.)