Dappa Dan

Some games you just can't walk away finding positives. The Saints game, Tigers and Hawks games earlier this season as well... I had no problems finding positives from last night. Noone's saying we shouldn't be hurting, but I had as many texts from Cats supporters showing admiration as I did the smug ones. We'll take a HELL of a lot out of last night.

Jesus. Calm down. Probably fair to say Max. But he doesn't spring to mind because he doesn't play 4 quarters in the forward line. He's more useful around the ground, even on the last line of defence in the hot spot. But point taken there. Tmac is certainly in Hogan's class, but I'll take Hogan ahead of TMac. His pack marking form this year hasn't been there at all, but over the journey (he's 2 years younger than TMac) I'm confident he'll be known as better.

I'm with ya.

He sure is. Though, I would argue Hogan is the best pack mark on the list. This year, it seems, he's completely forgotten how to do it. In previous years though, he's been one of the great pack busting big uglies we've had. Something's up with his noggin at the moment, I'm sure of it.

You want to make a case based on 5 minutes? Ok. I'll make the case based on 4 months of football. OMac has played a lot of good footy this year. Frost hasn't. If you wanna blame someone, talk about the coaches who left Omac on him when he was getting done. And to be honest, they were probably looking at round 1 when he last had him... how many goals did he kick that day? 5 minutes of Frost... Please.

To each their own DS. This was the first game I've seen him completely shown up. You could argue Cox got him on QB, but I wouldn't say that personally. Superman couldn't have stopped the Pies midfield that day. There isn't blame to be laid here. The defence on the whole is being outcoached. Omac can only do so much with that kind of silver service. I lay the blame squarely on the feet of the coaches... but since demonlanders need a head to roll that's playing in the side... Hogan should be the one to hang his head in shame.

Classic demonland. Omac has had a great season. Get a grip, you gits.

What a great game. Felt like the final against SAF way back in 2006 or whatever it was. There's no shame in losing a great contest like that at all. I really didn't think we could make finals. Haven't for weeks now... We lost the game, and somehow now I'm more confident we'll make finals than ever. We should all be proud of what was dished up by the red and blue tonight. The greatest game of the year in the greatest game on earth.

Pumped to be a demons supporter tonight. I didn't think that 22 had that kind of game in them. That was Kardinia with an Ablett, a Tomahawk and a couple of Selwoods running around and we put on a classic of the ages. I didn't think we could make finals. After tonight I'm sure we will.

Lever AND Hibberd? Not having as super a year as last year, but second for metres gained at MFC. Huge out and no real replacement. Plenty of defenders but none with his class.

Always entertaining Trac.

Ordinarily I'd agree.... But we've seen Goody flinch at an unchanged side after travelling to the heat before. I'm thinking Bernie being the travelling emergency was a tactic to rest an old body. Lewis out I reckon, and not because of form or elbows.

Yeah, from what I've seen I think they deserve to be considered above us. They're not quite as powerful as they were this time last year as they went towards finals, but they have the quality, and their kids are doing a power of work. We haven't improved much at all... so based off last year's game where they humiliated us, I have them winning comfortably.

I'm loving the Salem attention at the moment. His skill in this 22 is massive.

Run the sums... assuming we beat Dogs and Suns, and lose to Swans and WC... Then we'll basically need to beat two of the other games... Cats, Crows and GWS to make the finals. According to my predictor we'll be playing GWS in the last round to decide 8th and 9th, and our percentage won't help us as they already have a draw. Was a solid win, showing where we're at today, but we've learned nothing really about where we'll end up this year.

Jeez reading this thread... Who knew we'd win by ten goals.

It's about giving the team the best chance to win. Hogan's had 2 bad games in an otherwise All Australian year. He's in the top 3 players in the team. Any talk of dropping him is absurd. I didn't say anything about Petracca. But since you brought him up, he's in a different boat to Hogan.

Yeah. Laughter is the appropriate response. You don't take it seriously. I love the idea also that the couch-coaches in demonland have ignored. Imagine the Saints coaching department looking at the magnets on their boards, and they get the call through that Hogan's been dropped after 2 bad games. They would be doing cartwheels.

True, but surely that has more to do with the outrageously great year that year was, as opposed to how weak subsequent years were. We may never see a better draft than 2001. I have a feeling the high rating may have been because of the KP players available. We all know how the Roughie/Buddy draft worked out for Hawks when they had a go at the only good KP forwards in that period. I'm right into this. As usual in drafting the USA leagues learn all the lessons and we should benefit. For about 5 years (maybe longer in certain circles) the draft has taken on less importance as people look at the NBA and particularly the NFL systems. The draft age is the culprit. NBA get their guys slightly younger than the NFL. NFL you have to have gone through College and most players are taken at 21 when they're more-or-less known entities. As a result of the "sure things" the price of a first rounder has gotten massive. In the most famous case, the Redskins traded their first rounder and the next TWO first rounders (and a second) to move up just 4 selections. And the player they took was delisted within a few seasons. As a consequence of these examples set by leagues with even more pressure on the list managers than the AFL, draft capital has dropped in value. That's why I've been all for us going for guys like Melks and Hibberd with second rounders. They might not have been superstars at the time, but they were known entities that you wouldn't need to put 3-5 years into to find out what they had, like we have with guys like Weideman. Or ten years like Watts. Add to that we have Taylor who turns second and third rounders into key players, and you have yourself a great situation to trade away picks aggressively.

lol @ people calling for Hogan to be dropped.

(when was the last time we snagged a close one) I thought at many times in the last quarter it felt like WC over there last year. In and around the byes. Tough, physical contest. Lots at stake. 5-8 type team. Felt like we couldn't win it in the last quarter and then, somehow, we did... This time we didn't... but I dunno if it was THAT dissimilar. Lots to like in this game, unlike the Tigers, Hawks and Pies games.

In hindsight, maybe. And that's a BIG maybe. Leading into the game we had the #1 scoring offence in the league, but had lost back to back games in the clearances by so much it was ridiculous. Goody's changes had the desired effect. Smashed the clearances, but the forwards who up til then had been dominant, went missing. My point is you can't crack the [censored] at selection when they're picking the in form players, putting out spot fires and doing it effectively. Noone in the league right now would have imagined the demons would score under 90 points against that mob. The selections were fine. We were beaten on the day by a pretty good team playing at home with massive crowd help and umpire bias.

Good post. And you're not wrong there (Petty in please)... but Smith can play. And can play tall as long as he's not expected to for a full 120 minutes. He'll be a good player. Just played out of position the last two games. No offense, but that's daft. JKH has shown nothing and is on the chopping block unfortunately. Spargo likes to go but he's a kid and would have been eaten alive. Garlett hasn't played a meaningful minute in AFL or VFL in months. This was a game for mature bodies. Tyson and Harmes are at least mature. We lost, but it wasn't because of coaching decisions.

Garlett's form in VFL has been below average. It's a tough position to get into this side. For all you know Garlett could have kicked 1 goal and been a passenger in a physical game (like he usually is in physical games). This one's not on the coaches. It's on Garlett for showing nothing when the heat was on earlier this year before he was dropped (and since). If they do ask the media, in the media, and get fined... then they're NOT doing their job. They can send please explains to them behind closed doors. For all we know they've been doing it all year. Worked with Maxie after last year. Umpires were shocking, but I give Goody no points for being an amateur.

I'm with you. He's shown his worth in the weeks before he was hurt. The question is, can he reach enough contests. He's a good player though. Smart.