layzie

Yeah look that's a good point and something I probably didn't notice as closely the first time. Fact is I thought Flynn really had a go but as you say it may not have been against Gawn as often when he was winning his hit outs. I still loved Trac's game but am happy for anyone to give Gawn or May the honours, great problem to have!

Not being able to make it on Sat I'm disappointed to hear that Jesse was booed. I don't pay heaps of attention or hold special love for ex players (Seeing Jeremy Howe's 200th was bittersweet) but I do have a soft spot for Jesse Hogan and like many wish the chips could have just fallen differently for him. The harsh truth is that there is a lot going against him and it's going to be quite a battle to carve out a successful AFL career from here. His mental health, his body, the guy can't string a succession of games together and it's my opinion (would love to be proven wrong) that he has 3 years left in the game tops. I had a similar feeling with Watts at Port that he was probably not going to be an early 30s twilight performer and would give it away and he did. Whatever the future looks like from here on out I genuinely hope it works out for him.

I appreciate your comment BDA and I do agree that we need to strive for a standard of behaviour from players. The one thing I will point out with Rugby Union refs is that there is an avenue for players to ask questions about decisions and why they were made. Only the captain can do this and it's usually a very short explanation but I would hope there is some scope for this in AFL where players can ask the question and learn from decisions.

I'm not going to sit here and pretend I have no idea why this has been made a point of focus. We all know that there needs to be a level of respect for umpires, with a shortage of qualified umpires at all levels of the game we need to stamp out the disrespectful behaviour towards these men and women and make this an attractive option for kids choosing a sport to pursue. However, and this is a big however because it is driving me absolutely nuts at the moment. Is it necessary to teach professional footballers to suck eggs? I get that we're trying to condition new behaviour but do we really have to turn the football field into a classroom from the early 20th century where you get the strap if you look sideways at the teacher? In my opinion players are well within their rights to ask the question behind a decision made, yes the umpire's decision is final but there needs to continue to be dialogue between official and player. I don't know who came up with the theory that raising the arms in surprise is bad and punishable by 50 but it's ridiculous. Players are not robots. They train themselves into the ground then come game time they go into battle and I feel like we're asking them to be perfect in the heat of the moment, get off the grass! If they want to persist with this attitude, then go for it. But that means penalising everything. I've seen A LOT of players with 'arms out' appealing for a deliberate out of bounds and honestly going pretty over the top but nothing happening, ping them for that. I've seen players wait 2 seconds before not throwing the ball perfectly to the recipient of the free kick, ping that. I've seen Jack Reiwoldt joke with the umpire last week that he was going to go the Torp right before he did, ping that (ok bit over the top). It's just becoming a hard game to watch when substantial penalties are given for what the eyeballs are seeing is very little to nothing at all. 50s for dissent, 50s for breaching the stand rule and taking 1 step backwards on the mark. Our game is supposed to be about execution, athleticism and toughness. Right now it feels like mime or charades or whatever.

Don't usually do this but I just wanted to follow this up with reasoning for giving Petracca the 6. I think it's easy to fall into a comfortable pattern with the way he plays now much like Max if he's not absolutely setting the world on fire he's deemed to be serviceable but not spectacular. There's times when you watch a game and it's obvious how well he's playing but then are seemingly quiet patches that aren't as glamourous but when you watch again he's actually had a ton of score involvements in. Like a 'play starter' instead of play maker if that makes sense. 30 touches, 13 cont, 6 inside 50s, 12 score involvements, 2 goals (in reality probably should have been 3). That's a 3 brownlow vote game most days. I like everyone else's votes here there and Max's game was sensational but I also thought Flynn really took it to him especially early on when we were smashed in clearances. You could have made a case for a lot of BOGs but yeah just wanted to add my two cents.

What I would have given to see Tulip play live, seen so much footage and the man seemed to flat on air. Brought his best for the State games and was so widely respected in this league.

Definitely and at a time slot like this as well. Would have loved to be there myself especially with that second half and can't wait to get back to the G, it is a worthwhile question from OP.

I make no apologies for missing the Giants game. Hadn't missed a home game in 3 years before this weekend and have had probably 4 years straight of 100% attendance before that. One of the first real chances to get away after 2 years I spent the weekend down in Dromana.

6. Petracca 5. Gawn 4. May 3. Viney 2. Oliver 1. Pickett

This has gotta be an easy team to coach right now, running hard to the end always doing the team things.

Five alive

Good job boys

I'm back dominating the paint!

Would have been nice to shut them out but who cares

You are looking at a very professional football team.

Work rate extraordinaires

Jack Viney needs to beat 3 and still gets it to the bloody boundary

Let's win the quarter that's all I want

Gotta savour it, 10 goal quarters don't happen often!

Baby you're a perfect 10!

This is your moment Sam!

Got some relief at the Bowser!

Steven May corking them

Pressure dial has cranked up a notch!

Kozzie having a blinder