Lord Travis

Gotta convert and keep the pressure on.

Good first half. We controlled the game and probably should’ve got a few more goals tbh. The real test is not fading away in the second half as we’ve been doing this year. Time to run our four quarters and kick off the run for another premiership.

Can they shut the [censored] up about Jackson and focus on the game?!

Going well here. We’re cutting off their attacks and rebounding beautifully.

Viney having a brilliant game. Mongrel and class on display.

Great rebound from Hunt and classy goal from Fritta. Nice transition boys!

Can’t sustain it. So frustrating we can rarely make the most of our dominance in play.

Few good efforts from Hunt there. Weid not getting to contests so far.

And another! We’re going hard here. Make the most of the momentum!

Yeah boy?!

Nice transition and perfect kick from Trac. Let’s get going here boys!

Hunt in was a good call by the selection committee. He's almost our best lockdown defender, and our balance has been off since his omission. Freo have poor tall forward options, especially if Lobb is curtailed. Hunt in helps lockdown the smalls like Walters, Schulz, Frederick etc. Freo will get momentum at some point, so Hunt and Hibberd's defending tonight will go a long way to determining the result IMO. Freo were a legit contender at the mid point of the year, but they've fallen away defensively recently. Very similar to us actually. I expect our midfield to fire up tonight and work harder both ways to get back to the Melbourne brand after degenerating into a shoot out last week.

I'm optimistic about tonight. Freo got us at a bad time mid season when TMac was first out. Our backline then battled as May and Petty got injured, and Petracca had a career worst game due to illness. The same result is very unlikely tonight. We showed patches of form last week agains the Dogs, even if we did get overrun. Ramping up to finals starts tonight. Tipping us to get the job done by 20 points.

He does. Reckon Kozzie will sign next year with minimal fuss. He seems very happy and doesn't like media attention. Nothing to see here.

Didn't break the news on the podcast. Pathetic. In all seriousness this is a great signing. Gus is a key cog in our successful culture and leadership. Versatile and good player onfield for sure, but this was a big cultural signing to keep the core together. Go Dees!

That would be a dream. I’d even take a straight swap for Young. Doubt it will happen though as he recently signed an extension until end of 2027.

With what though? Pick 14 from Jackson trade and a future first? Would you accept that for one of the best young key forwards and former pick 2 and 21 years old? We have a poor draft hand to put forward, so unless we're giving them one of our young stars, then there's no hope they'll ever accept and let him go. The only way we can squeeze a King brother or the like out of another club is to snag a top 5 pick and pass it straight on, potentially with more.

It's a reasonable line of thinking and is the likely outcome at this stage I believe. It would leave us with picks 14, 16, 20ish. Unless we packaged them up to get a solitary high pick then they're not great picks IMO. We used picks 3 and 12 (really pick 10 but bumped back after academy bids matched) to get Jackson and Kozzie. Freo used picks 7 and 8 to get Young and Serong. If we'd had 14, 16, 20 in that draft we would've got Miles Bergman, Cooper Stephens, and Sam Philip. Hardly regenerating a list compared to either of those top 10 combos. Picks outside the top 10 are still a very low hit rate, even with all the advancement in recruiting. Not having a go and I agree your line of thinking is the most positive outcome. In my opinion though unless we get top 5-10 picks, we're going to be worse off. We're just trying the make the most of the poor hand we've been dealt and will likely have a net result of a weaker playing list if they're taken to draft. If there were proven key forwards on the market then I'd be trading those picks without a second. Picks at draft are overrated in my view though. Losing Brayshaw, an All Australian level half back in his prime, for a 10% chance at a best 22 player seems like a horrible deal. Take the proven player every time.

This is a midfielder heavy draft. Cadman is the best tall forward and looks the only one likely to be top 10. One scarcity and who's currently down the bottom holding those picks, I dare say he'll go pick 4-5. Unless we can get a top 5 pick, he's not a realistic option for us unfortunately. He looks good to me on limited viewing. Pairing him with JVR one term would be deelightful. I thought the same thing about Hogan and Weideman though 😢

Considering we went 10-0 and are still second on the ladder, I haven't enjoyed this season anywhere near as much as I should've. Hope and expectation have made it very frustrating watching games. We don't play an attractive brand of football, so winning is what you watch and hang your hat on. 2018 was different because we played an exciting attacked brand, the current brand not so much. It matters for naught then if you win, as that's the goal. When you watch and see them sputter along past bottom teams, you get frustrated because you know the team is capable of so much more. Reality is beating a bottom four team by 4-5 goals is fine, but it doesn't feel that way at the time. Then losing just sucks. We've been through enough of that for a lifetime, and when it happens against middle of the road teams you should beat without breaking a sweat, it sucks. Despite being second on the ladder, we're now underperforming and potentially wasting an opportunity. We've seen what we're capable of last season and for parts of this season, so it's frustrating to underperform. I don't think we'll see a repeat of last season in my lifetime. Our finals series and grand final performance were the most dominant by any team I can recall. I enjoyed it and I accept I won't see it again, let alone again live at the MCG. I was hoping for a dynasty where we win a few, but that seems less likely now. This year looks to be slipping away, and next year we'll potentially have lost gun players and become a weaker outfit. It sort of feels like a waste. No team can always be up and win every single match, but when you're in the emotion of a match and losing to a team like Collingwood then it feels [censored]. The Jackson and Brayshaw contract situations have left a sour taste in my mouth. I should be enjoying being second on the ladder, not constant speculation about the futures of our stars. If players won't commit together and stay now, then when will they ever? Whether you think it or not, it has effected the team onfield too. If you don't trust your mate, you don't go hard for him. The selflessness that got us to the prize last year is gone, and it's in part to those two IMO. So no, I haven't enjoyed this season much due to expectation and reality of underperformance. Call me entitled or whatever you want, but that's just my take and I hope like hell we get our [censored] together for September so I can enjoy it to the fullest again!

Yeah that interview was deflating. Talked about position on field being a factor in decision. He also used to language that suggested past tense when speaking about the club, implying mentally that he’s made the decision consciously or not to move on. I definitely thought he was staying and Jackson was going. After hearing the interview today, talk about position and the subtle language change, it now seems like both are leaving. What a crap result that would be!

It's an interesting one with Weid as he's clearly a bit of a whipping boy and posters on here are still having a go. While he didn't impact the game across four quarters, none of our players really did. A bit of perspective on his output might re-align expectations. He kicked 3 goals, and if he replicated his game on the weekend every week he'd win the Coleman. I'm not saying he's a superstar or had a brilliant game, but his output was decent in the scheme of things and he shouldn't be singled out from the Bulldogs match. He had a few team mates far more deserving of such focused criticism (Jackson, Harmes, Spargo to name a few).

Whenever Gus and Gawn get time to do it, usually Thursday or mid-late week.

Zero tackles inside 50 was the result of two things. The first is actually a positive, we were very very efficient last night when going inside 50 until late in the game. Our efficiency is what kept us ahead for most of the match, as we weren’t winning key stats. Every time we went inside 50 we were scoring. The Dogs were nearly +20 inside 50s, yet behind on the scoreboard due to our efficiency. Hard to lay a tackle when you’re scoring so well. The second is a negative, and it’s our smalls pushing further up the ground and becoming ineffective. Guys like Spargo and Nibbler were all the way up into defense at times, which meant they’re not laying tackles inside 50 or creating scoring opportunities. Kozzie was just plain ineffective last night. The balance of our gamestyle is off at present. We’re struggling to defend as well as we have previously, yet have players pushed further up the ground getting caught in no man’s land. The coaches need to address our structures and shape as we’re coming apart when under pressure. IMO Brayshaw back to defensive wing role would help. As good as he’s been down back, the team was better balanced when we had another defender like Hunt to lock down on smaller types. Gus when playing wing covered the corridor really well and teams would actively avoid going up the middle or his wing as he would intercept. In essence his presence forced them to one side of the ground and enabled us to setup behind play to counter that. Back on Weid, he did his bit last night and was not one of the problems or reasons we lost. 3 goals and a presence most of the night. Decent game from Weid.

It seems the following are the likely outcomes after the four remaining matches Win 4 - finish 1st or 2nd Win 3 - finish 1st or 2nd Win 2 - finish 4th to 6th Win 1 - finish 7th or 8th Win 0 - finish 7th to 9th After starting the season 10-0, anything less than top four would be a poor result. It’s very difficult to win the flag from outside the top four, you’d need to be in ripping form and if we finished outside top four we’d be in anything but good form. All our remaining matches are against teams that will play finals and could finish top four. Our record against top eight teams last year was brilliant. This year it’s abysmal. We’ll need to find form quickly or season 2022 is over. You’d have to consider it a waste considering where we were mid year and the fact we may lose some good players over the offseason and our list might get weaker in the short term from here. Fire up Dees please!?!