layzie

Agree, will head down the peninsula and go fishing Despite not having fished in 15 years.

I didn't watch the show so I didn't hear the tones or manner in which he said it, I'm really just going off what people are saying and I do think that sometimes bad things happen in finals and you have to keep your focus on the job. I do think however that it was a grueling week and could understand if it took a lot out of them. We don't know exactly what the leaders said and Ralphy has obviously put his mayonnaise on it.

The Giants seem to have everything in sync right now especially their midfield. We shouldn't be overly surprised considering there's still plenty of good talent in there and guys who have played together a long time and know each other's game. This has been Josh Kelly's best season for a while in my view and Coniglio who really fell off the cliff as captain is back to playing some really good footy. I also can't get enough of watching Tom Green, that's the player you want first if you're picking your side, game on the line with the clearance there to be won that's the guy. I don't seek out former Melbourne players and actively cheer for their success but watching Jesse Hogan and the way he's going about it is bringing me a joy that I don't feel often in this scenario. He's moving well, taking some ripper contested marks and he seems to have got his set shot routine down nicely. Working beautifully with Bedford, Daniels and Greene when he gets down there. Backline is ultra solid and it just shows how much they missed Sam Taylor during the season. Buckley and Himmelberg as well who hold their own in one on ones. Hopefully Briggs gets up but apart from that I think the Dubs have a bit to offer in this prelim. If they start well and take their chances early they will be pushing the Pies all the way.

I said it before the game that it would either bind us together or weigh heavily and either way I'd understand. I don't think Lyon is off the mark, maybe the timing wasn't great as it was still raw but when is the timing ever right?

Didn't mind him, sad to see it go this way but best of luck.

I guess we just stink?

Duxy shouldn't be ashamed of that vision. It spoke volumes and was what we were all feeling at the time.

Great article from George and sums up a lot of what we're thinking. What is frustrating me when it comes to people backing our gameplan is looking at these last two games in isolation, then looking at the missed scoring chances and exclaiming that if the kicking were better it would be perfect. It's not that simple and a lot of the people saying this know that. The gameplan does stack up for the most part, two top 4 finishes and few losses bigger than 12 points backs that up. But for me it isn't a case of converting a couple more chances, for me it's starting to look more like what got us here won't get us there. We did it against the Swans in 22, long ball after long ball and it was easy to setup defensively for. Same thing against the Pies and this game. The season and what we do during it is great but it's a dress rehearsal for these big time games. If the accuracy issue wasn't bad enough we then hear about injuries and missing two players from our best 22 is enough to totally derail us. We hear people saying losing Gus hurt us badly in our structure and yes it did. Injuries played a part believe me but guess what? Many teams lose players in finals that way, very rarely does it ever go to script. You have to deal with whatever is thrown at you. We can say whatever we'd like and make all kinds of excuses but at the end of the day we had 160 mins of football to prepare for as best we can and make our statement. Whatever happened in it was always 'enter at your own risk'. I don't see any other way this can be seen as a failed campaign after bowing out the same way last year.

*Queues up video player*

It would have been like us offering Ben Kennedy for Jake Lever.

I’m happy to see that so many of you got the chance to meet the great man, you’ll cherish those moments forever. I would have loved the chance to meet him. I was however fortunate to meet Carlton legend Adrian Gallagher on the eve of this season and had a really good chat about the influence that Ron had on his career and life. Gags was not only coached by Barass in successful sides but also in business with him later on at fine establishments like the Cherry Tree, The Mountain View and the Royston. The one thing I really took out of my chat with Gags was that while Barass gave a lot of sprays to players, he would a) Always give you a chance to have your say and b) Moved on from it very quickly afterwards. He never held grudges. Players like Gallagher, Tiger Crosswell, Crackers Keenan seemed to have love-hate relationships with Barass but followed him to his other clubs. It speaks volumes.

I was at ground level of this view and going off the consistency to pay holds and pushes in the game I'd written this one down as a free. They totally whiffed that one I thought.

Here's a positive: Selwyn Griffith. After the struggle to fill Burgo's shoes in 2022 (From what we could see anyway) I thought he really stepped up to the plate this year. We were back to covering the MCG well and for most of the season we finished games very, very strongly as opposed to last season. Whatever he's doing, he's got the balance right and I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do in 24 with some new faces and hopefully a healthy list. Go Selwyn!

It's been hard to bring this subject up without someone pointing out that we've won the ultimate success but I think there is merit to it. 4 finals in a row on the MCG, 3 of them with horrible inaccuracy in front of goal that cost us in the end. Instead of putting this down to just bad luck and hoping for it to be different next time if would be good to drill down into this and find out why this is happening. Great teams are mentally sound when it counts and they don't kick 17 behinds in finals too often. You could look at things like execution under pressure in the last few minutes as well but I'm not as critical on the Viney and McVee mistakes because that is largely fatigue factor and we've seen those guys stand up time and time again this year. We should have never been in that spot in the first place.

100% I love how in the absence of sniko or heat sensors or whatever they use that we've all just accepted that a finger moving is definitive proof of touching the ball just like a non-moving finger means that there was no touch. Fingers move quite easily, I can hold out my hand right now and move fingers easily without a ball touching it at super speed. I would be practicing to flap all fingers frantically when reaching to touch. It might look silly but they're only going frame by frame so I'd say it plants enough seed of doubt. I'd also be doing exactly what Marchbank did in Rd 22 and plead with the goal umpire the second you whiff it and put the seed of doubt in his/her head too. You won't be branded too much of a cheat because no-one can really tell anyway. Yes there is sarcasm in this post but sportsmanship is dead and the rules and technology are there to be gamed. Who cares how you win just win! 🙃

I dunno. I have been critical in the last 48 hours with aspects of our game but I don't feel like potting individual premiership player's playing styles. I love Kozzie's hunger for a goal and I love Spargo's selflessness to look for someone in a better position. You may well be correct in your assessment for Kozzie going forward but I didn't mind his game on Fri.

This. We are destined for a Grand Final week tribunal headline, destined.

Really great work Joeboy.

Honestly I would have preferred for him to kick the cover off it into the space in the 50 and worse case scenario if it dribbled OOB for deliberate we could have set ourselves defensively while it was still bouncing.

I've warmed to the idea of getting a key defender, not a key forward. Someone who can intercept and play the third tall while we swing Petty forward. Steven May will be 32 by the time next season rolls around, it would be nice if we got someone who could eventually take his place too.

I have no idea but this is my guess: At some point they probably decided to review all goals in the finals whether they were on the screen or not, they've done it behind the scenes and then decided it needed to be pulled back. I didn't like it at the time but I haven't dared to watch it again to tell if it was the right decision or not. A lot of people told me it was.

The Ronald Dale Barassi cup is a no brainer to me if they were going to name it. He's the Vince Lombardi and Tom Brady of our sport all rolled into one.

It's a slight concern isn't it!

Sometimes the cool light of day starts on the following Monday when all the water cooler convos come home to roost.

That's right. So I guess what I'm asking is at when is it acceptable to say the above and when does it become a counter-intuitive exercise? We talked a lot last year about how much Tom McDonald meant to our structure but when we had him back this year he was suddenly useless in a lot of people's eyes. Had Melksham been injured last year I don't think many people would have batted an eye lid. Teams deal with injuries and we've dealt with ours very well.