Nasher

That was the moment where I thought we were going to win. My 15 year old daughter, who doesn’t normally care for footy at all, had tuned in because of my carrying on. She saw that collision and laughed and said “what the heck?”, to which I replied, “that’s the sort of thing players do when they think they’re about to lose.”

Yep. “Whoops”.

Goodwin mentions us all the time in his pressers. I think the current group get what it’s about. Players and coaches come and go, but the supporters are the ones that are here through all the peaks and troughs. Christian Petracca was in high school when we were getting pummeled by 30 goals in Geelong. Kozi Pickett and Luke Jackson weren’t born yet when Troy Simmonds got shirtfronted by Michael Long and teenage Brad Green got punched in the throat by Dean Wallis while being held by the current Richmond coach. They don’t have any of those memories. We have all of them. And we place our trust in the group to make positive memories for us, because we have absolutely no power to affect the outcome. We’re totally at their mercy. The team and coach say they can’t wait to be playing in front of crowds again. If this group goes all the way, they’ll be cemented in our hearts, and they know it. They’re aware of why they’re there. They’re doing it for us.

I’ve still got PTSD flashbacks from Jimmy Toumpas fumbling in the defensive goal square to enable a Leigh Montagna open goal. Ergh. Mistakes happen. Glad it was the other suckers ruing theirs last night.

What made it all the more staggering was that a clearly more deliberate one wasn’t paid against Selwood about 20 seconds earlier. That’s the joy of rules that require the umpire to read the players’ minds. Doesn’t matter though. No free against Brayshaw -> no shanked kick by Guthrie -> no needless punch in to the stands -> no 50 to Lever -> no Gawn mark with 10s to go. All the decisions, good and bad, got us to arguably our favourite MFC moment of all time for those of us too young to see ‘64. Well umpired, umpires!

Just watched the last two minutes again (possibly a couple of times). Gawn signalled to Lever, “put it there”. The kick from Lever was an absolute ripper. Couldn’t have put it more in the right spot.

Hopefully the Dockers get up over St Kilda today. Then we can watch Essendon play for their spot. Their fans will be sweating bullets. Just a pity they’re playing Collingwood who are absolutely no good - hopefully the pies decide to play out of their skin to deny their arch rivals a finals berth. If St Kilda win, Pies and Bombers is a dead rubber.

Hmm. I’m a little bit worried I might have done permanent damage to my larynx last night. Speaking this morning hurts. Oh well, add it to the list of valiant casualties to the greater good, along with @picket fence’s laptop.

Anyone got a link to the Trac interview?

My daughter did video mine and it’s now on Facebook getting all the lols. My arse crack is visible in one. Don’t even care. I’m hoarse.

I love this club and I love all you bastards. Holy cow. I am absolutely reeling. That was just the best.

Yep. I reckon selection was bold. I think it would have been “safe” to keep Melksham and Hibberd and drop Sparrow and Smith - in fact it’s what I suggested in the changes thread. Goody is all in, hopefully the team is too.

I just want to finish on top. I know it’s meaningless, it’s not the goal, rah rah. I just think it’s a nice little nod for consistently being the best team across the season. Then we can move on to working towards the bigger and better prize.

Winner finishes top and play Bulldogs or Brisbane at “home”, loser finishes third and goes to Adelaide to meet Port. Massive, massive stakes here, but I reckon we’re up for it. Can’t wait til tonight.

Name them. I’ll buy a ticket with them and report back.

Doesn’t Viney have another week? Edit: nope.

Out: Smith, Jordon, Sparrow In: May, McDonald, Viney

Loved that. Wasn’t pretty, but ticked all the boxes IMO. Kicked goals against the run of play in the first, weathered the challenge in the third and buried them when they put up the white flag in the last. Very content with that performance. Did what we had to. Bring on the minor premiership battle next week.

Pretty confusing stat, certainly not helped by the misuse of the word “lost” where they really mean “missed”. I thought it meant “lost” as the opposite of “won”, which was pretty darn confusing initially.

If it wasn’t captured on video it would be hard to prosecute this. At face value though it looks identical to what Viney was hanged for.

Absolutely love this. Adam Tomlinson Back Running

Brien O’Reilly?

@Pollyannahas been sitting on that one for about 10 years 😂

This is arguing about which player keeps the spot warm for the few we’ve got out. And this week it’ll probably be neither of them.

Let’s not be too harsh on Sam Blease. Not his fault he was drafted in to a basket case. Don’t think any of the kids of that era stood much chance, honestly. But yes, Bowey did make me think back to Blease. Probably just the red hair though. Blease was a bit bigger and had a fair bit more toe from memory. Love that turn out of traffic though. Great agility, burst of speed, and the guts to try it in the first place.