Demonised

Oh yeah. Last week, f'rinstance, Salem had a good head of steam, crossed fifty, and then looked for a dinky pass. On one of Hunt's few dashes down the ground, same. Bang it home, son!

Interesting. All our players on the list are midfielders. No key position players.

A bit of a surprise packet in this, especially in the second half of this year, seems to be James Harmes. When we're down, he consistently seems to dig in and try to break lines, throwing himself at tackles etc. Not always successfully, probably due to a ceiling on his skill level, but he does have a go. Tried hard on Sunday.

I anticipate another bout of crowd sourced decision making.

It's a sign that we're a team in transition, the way our players so often are caught between team rules and their natural instincts. How often did one of our guys storm past the 50 metre line and then think 'Oh no, that's right, I have to lower my eyes and give it off' instead of just banging it home? More experience, more confidence and they'll get it right.

That's a fair point. Just wondering how our game structures and systems are falling apart because players are going into games while hampered.

Bizarre free kicks paid is one thing, but what's incredibly frustrating is the blatant free kicks NOT paid, all in the name of 'keeping the game moving'. A free kick given quickly and diligent enforcing of the man on the mark will make the game flow better than the stumbling maul it often becomes now.

How many of our players are playing injured? Max? Hogan? Tom Mac, maybe?

One day, after we've won 6 or 7 flags in a decade, I'd like to be that arrogant.

'Before The Flood' is one of the greatest live albums ever. B. Dylan and the Band at the height of their powers.

I worry that we're moving him around too much. Would like to see him given time to settle in a position a little. Given that, he's still had an excellent debut season.

Anyone else startled at Ronny Lerner in The Age giving the Suns' Alex Sexton 8, equal BOG with Oliver? I mean, he was the Suns' best, but really?

Come on, boys. Third quarter is our quarter.

9 goals and Tom Mac missed a sitter ...

It's a rule that you can't kick/punch the ball away from the boundary umpire once it's gone out of bounds. It's rarely paid.

He was looking right into the sun.

We were Grand Finalists that year.

Some things just hurt my eye ...

Shoo in?

Especially under pressure.

While I'm as disappointed as the next man, with a huge effort I'm going to try to put my emotion aside and pose this question. What would this thread have looked like if this had happened 2-3 years ago? Yes, there would have been anger and heartache, and outrage at the way Geelong stars get mollycoddled by umpires, but I reckon there would have been a consistent flavour in the posts, a tinge of 'that was a pretty good effort to get so close'. The fact that this is missing today is a sign of two things: Geelong isn't the side that it was. Neither are we - but in a good way. We're better than we were and we're continuing to improve. These are both good things. Our expectations of our current team are higher, and so our fury at the loss is more pronounced - but it means we're on the rise. This is good, surely?

When did we last win a game by less than a goal? Genuine question.

It's Wagner time.

I accidentally intercepted a briefcase in a complicated false agent/dupe interchange, where three men in overcoats, hats, dark glasses and thick accents bumped into each other, fumbled identical cases and departed in a hurry. In the briefcase I was left with were extensive notes, statistics and analysis of today's match. The conclusion? Dees by 26 points, JKH to kick 2 goals and Melksham to snap out of his mini-slump.

One problem with playing young players is that they can't play their natural game, the one that got them to where they are. They're trying their hardest to follow team rules, to play the role spelled out to them by the coaching staff, to position themselves where they're told ... I think they're second guessing themselves all the time and consequently don't play with confidence. The ones that do are rare beasts indeed.