Demonised

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.

It will be claimed that it was our skill error that resulted in the Saints' goal, but at the game you could see the utter confusion and uncertainty when the whistle blew - no confidence in any decision these days - and then whether we were allowed to play on or not. It was officiating chaos.

This.

Spread, spread, spread, spread, spread, spread, spread. They did and we didn't.

And that's one of the more amusing auto-censor moments I've seen.

Since Lever was injured, our back line hasn't been functioning as well as it could. Whatever changes are made must address this.

Agreed. That's why I had the proviso 'provided there is will from those in charge'.

With respect, it can change, provided there is will from those in charge. 1. Acknowledge that the phenomenon of parochial crowds is real. There is plenty of good, academic evidence to support this. 2. Train the umpires to resist crowd-based decision making through extensive and rigorous simulation programs. Those who fail get relegated to minor leagues.

For those with a historical perspective, we do have a Demon double Brownlow medallist - the extraordinary Ivor Warne-Smith. Surely he'd have a hand on third place.

Grundy constantly grabbed, manhandled and dragged Max down, and none of the umpires were fussed by it.

Brayshaw rarely seemed to be in for the centre bounces. After starring the last couple of weeks in this role, I found that strange.

I am Gawn!

'Still Woewodin!"