Nasher

No out of form player ever looks like they’re enjoying it.

Dropping a player to give them confidence seems upside down doesn’t it? It’s one of the great footy fan Furphys I reckon. Anyway, two reasons I wouldn’t drop him. 1) even half going, he’s still better than the next best Casey player. Would anyone genuinely prefer JKH or C.Wagner in the side? 2) because it’s AFL confidence he needs. So goes back to the VFL and gets 40 touches. So what? He knows full well the AFL NQRs and part timers making up the VFL aren’t a patch on the players he’d be up against in the big time. I think we just need to calm down and sit tight. Keep working with him, coaching him and tuning him, and it’ll come.

The commonly used term “second year blues” is one that covers a whole of season temporary form slump, so it must happen a lot if it has its own name. Obviously it’s not Gus’ second year, although it is the year after his first very good one. I think it’s confidence and that’s it. He needs a game where the cards fall his way and it will reset his mindset. We saw it happen almost overnight with TMac. No doubt Brayshaw will do his knee or get concussed on the day he finds his though, given 2019 luck.

I ignore umpiring mistakes normally as it’s a hard game to umpire and I know I’m going to be one-eyed like every other footy fan in the country, but this made me rage. An umpire of 200+ games experience calling this garbage. Far out. I did like “that’s ruck craft, big boy” though. Hopefully the umpires get some coaching on this rule during the week.

He’s out of form. That last kick just summed up how he’s going really. I’m a long way from worried though. Form slumps happen. He’s a very good player and will bounce back.

Well it was. I enjoy the slogs as much as I enjoy the free flowing, high skills ones. Sorrynotsorry.

Gripping game - a real arm wrestle. Low skills but super tightly contested. Never really felt like we might win, but never felt like they were going to skip away either. Loved Petty as a temporary forward - it’s definitely an option to continue to explore for the rest of the year. Development year, so what better time? Goodwin rolled the dice moving May forward and it nearly worked. He is such a beast. I’m a huge fan. Preuss has ten thumbs. He actually reminds me of pre-breakout Gawn. He WILL be a useful tandem with Gawn, but isn’t yet. Also Gawn was no good when not in the ruck. All in all, just another loss really.

The umpiring isn’t affecting the result but it sure is affecting the watchability of this game, which I reckon is otherwise an enthralling contest if not the most skilled game ever. Even a few of the frees paid to us made me laugh out loud. Enjoying Petty forward experiment-by-necessity. Not quite ready to call him a swingman yet, but he’s contested well and looks like he might do until we get actual forwards back.

Why let pesky facts get in the way of a good rant?

Have paid no attention to Footscray this year at all. Had literally never heard of Naughton before last week.

If Jetta comes in, it will be in the expectation that he is fit and has enough k’s in the legs. I still don’t understand why people automatically conclude “rushing back” when the club doesn’t apply conservatism upon conservatism upon conservatism.

I took it to mean they’re in. Lever played in the VFL and only had a minor injury to start with so there’s no way he’s not ready. Jetta was mentioned in the same breath, so I’m interpreting him to be in similar condition. In: Gawn, Lever, Jetta Out: TMac, Hore, Petty (whether injured or not - team balance)

Fair enough, I’m not across the ins and outs of what they’re allowed to offer odds on. Was just going on the assumption that if they had the opportunity to do something unscrupulous they probably would.

See, you say you can separate out long-term disappointment from enjoying the moment, then go on to list all the long-term disappointments that sour short term enjoyment for you. And your last two paragraphs are just a laugh really. You seem to think I’m unaware that this hasn’t been a good year. I’m aware. I can’t wait for it to be over. I look to each coming game with a trepidation that was pleasantly absent last year. I can only bloody hope we will be able to turn it around. Still enjoyed Sunday’s game.

Chasing the coin doesn’t seem like it would be part of Oliver’s makeup, but who knows. It’s not like he won’t get a nice payday here anyway, As far as the topic heading goes, it probably goes without saying, there’s no way the club would entertain a trade unless its hand was forced.

We received 2 priority picks (Trengove, Blease). It’s hardly worth crowing about. It also shows the value of it really. If your team’s that bad, the PP is no certainty to help by any means. Storm in a teacup IMO.

Massacred and manicured. He chopped all their toes off and painted the nails.

I didn’t see the segment and could be totally wrong but I thought it was Wilson who said we over-celebrated and Judd was in our corner.

I can separate the bitter disappointment of the season from small, in the moment wins. In my brain it’s possible for both to be true. Fairo if Steve, Jaded, Bub and others can’t.

Pretty sure the OP is joking guys.

Gambling companies aren’t going to let mere technicalities like mathematic impossibility stop them from taking money from suckers.

Was probably lucky not to be 50.

I think whether a victory feels hollow or enjoyable depends entirely on where you calibrate your expectations. I get accused of being a happy clapper on here, but at the commencement of the last quarter I went severely pessimistic and set my expectations very low. I watched on TV, and the first thing they showed us on return from the break was TMac sitting in the dugout with Hore and Petty with ice strapped on the knee. It may not have been as obvious from the ground that he was out. With one on the bench and our goal kicker out, despite the margin I was fully expecting us to get overrun. It would take an immense effort to win, I was thinking. The fact that it’s rubbish old Carlton is irrelevant, the margin in AFL is too small to not be impacted by this type of handicap. Even when we managed to lurch forward, it looked slow and listless. Skills went out the window. These are all things that are 100% predictable when you’re so down on legs, to expect anything more is just unreasonable and unrealistic. So you might understand that when I had emotionally prepared myself for the worst, my happiness went through the roof when it didn’t happen. They showed the effort that I thought it would take. I was pleased that they did. It was always going to be hard, but they did it. Yay! There were a few players who put in Herculean efforts. Sorry for being easily pleased. I’d say I’d prefer to feel bitter and twisted about a W in the column as some are, but that would be a total lie. Like everyone else, I’m totally shat at how this season has gone. It’s been a total and utter waste. From a totality point of view, the season has been a train wreck. I’m not going to allow that to deprive myself of individual moments of joy though. Nice things can happen in a crap situation. I’m going to enjoy them when they do.

Has clearly been passed by Preuss. That, or I forgot.

Out: Petty, Hore, T.McDonald (all inj.), Lewis (susp.) In: Lever, J.Wagner, T.Smith, Kennedy-Harris I guess having a few weeks in a row where the team got better instead of worse was too much to ask, although obviously Lever in is a huge positive. I’m just assuming the MRP will be heavy handed on Lewis, but if not, he keeps JKH out. Edit: Forgot all about Gawn. Oh well, choose at random any one of the three NQRs I’ve named ‘in’ - probably Tim Smith as I’d like to keep Preuss in for the time being.