Nasher

As @Clint Bizkitwould say, classic Demonland. In the same page of a thread, we have the players being panned for being upbeat in the room, and the players being panned for looking dejected and shattered in the rooms. Well done everyone, give yourself a round of applause, followed by an uppercut.

Probably trying to convince myself just as much as anything. Saves me from having my day ruined by stressing about it tomorrow. I'd rather be confident and wrong than packing it waiting for the impending doom. Weekends are far too short for this s***.

Or we're just a middle of the road side. As I said in a prior post, any team not in the upper echelon of the ladder are there because they drop games. Essendon lost to the eventual wooden spooners only recently. Just on Port, I wouldn't be lording them as the all conquering mental superheroes of the comp. The only team currently in the 8 they've beaten this year are Sydney, and that was during the opening 6 rounds when the Swans thought they were still on holidays. That includes losing to Essendon by 70 and Adelaide by 81. They will wet the bed come finals.

I wasn't at the ground, but I didn't get the impression of players coasting. It was more that they looked immensely under pressure, and many players who fall back to poor 'habits' when under pressure, did. Brayshaw fumbles. T.McDonald shanks. Jones barges and hoofs. At least Bernie refrained from punching anyone. It looked to me more that they fell apart under the pressure - probably because they were well aware of the stakes. It's still mental weakness, but it's a less contemptible version than the accusation that they just didn't GAF I think.

Supporters attitudes do NOT matter. We do NOT influence the outcome, no matter how far ahead of ourselves we may get.

West Coast aren't beating Adelaide. They are as soft and as likely to drop clutch games as we are. Even with the outs, Crows are too good for them. I know falling over the line in a last team standing battle isn't how we all dreamed of it happening during the week, but if that's how it happens, I for one will take it over missing out.

6. Oliver. Feel like he is carrying the midfield a bit at present. Desperately missing Viney. 5. Lewis. One of a few not overawed. Got in the right places a number of times and had a couple of great deft touches. 4. Melksham. Dangerous around goals as always. Looked like he could have been a game changer. 3. Watts. Attacked the ball early. Faded late but a promising return. 2. Neal-Bullen. Consistent effort all game. 1. Petracca for the one quarter blitz. Needs to stop his invisible man trick when we're playing poorly.

It's forum leadership, that's all. I swear like a sailor in person.

Would it be a raving success if we'd won by a point and parked ourself in 7th? You can't let one game define the colour of the whole season. Well, you can, free country! But I won't. I hope nobody interprets this as ambivalence, disinterested or acceptance of a craphouse performance. It's not. I'm bloody spewing. Just being careful not to let my emotions drive me to false conclusions.

We don't deserve finals any more or less than we did before this game. All the teams in the bottom end of the 8 and below are there because they've dropped games. This result is gut wrenching and a total disaster, but let's be careful not to extrapolate that in to the season being a disaster. It hasn't been.

Couldn't stick a tackle. Fumbles galore. I think objectively we were okay for three quarters, but after the game was bloody nearly put out of reach. Gosh that was a deflating performance. I try very hard not to take losses to heart, but by golly I'm going to struggle not to feel filthy for the rest of the weekend.

Woe.

Trac, Hunt, Pedda, Oliver lifted massively. There's a flicker.

Anyone else's metabolism working overtime at present?

RIP Drew. Enjoyed his commentary when he was on TV in the 90s and never understood why he wasn't retained like Sandy, Bruce, Dennis and co through those years where the rights were bouncing around. Heard him more as an ABC Cricket commentator in more recent years and enjoyed his passionate and knowledgeable commentary on that too. Sad day for sport coverage.

They couldn't have toppled us with their percentage anyway, nor can St Kilda. Only team that can knock us out are West Coast.

I don't recall Kent Kingsley destroying us on debut. Kingsley also had two 50 goal seasons. Despite his reputation around here being that of a dud who routinely destroyed us, the guy could clearly play.

It's ridiculous, and happens all the time. It seems like such an easy thing to get right. I don't understand why the umpires don't just wear bright pink or something every week - easy to see and doesn't clash with any teams.

I'd like to see the Bulldogs win just to make Essendon squirm until Sunday arvo. Would be a welcome, albeit brief, distraction from my current nerves.

Is 300 the conservative view?!

Until today I wasn't aware Collingwood had a player named Kirby. Who is he and why are we apparently so afraid of this zero game player?

Don't worry about it mate, it's all water off a duck's back for me, I literally laughed out loud when I read his post. Was nice to chat to you last night!

So much fun. Hopefully I didn't ramble too much!

Haha, you're welcome to it if you want, though that could get a bit confusing to Demonlanders who have been around a bit. I can't even remember the origin of it other than I started using it once when trying to go 'incognito' in other games and forums I was part of and ended up using it for everything. It has no relevance to my real life at all.

When I was a teenager, 16 or 17, I got told by someone in an online game that I sounded like a 12 year old. This will be the first time I've put my voice up for strangers to hear since! I'm hoping for something roughly in between 12 year old and Barry White.