Dee*ceiving

With our poor finishing I think we'd be unwise not to at least have a look at Melksham. He's our best finisher and field kick. Give him eagles and crows, see what he can bring us. Harmes out Melksham in

Hopefully this is step one of an AFL plan to hub all teams in Vic, and maybe Tas

Not sure what's better, a night in GC and play at Metricon day later than scheduled or Sit around in a plane for 8 hours flying north then south but getting to sleep in our own beds and play at Marvel a day later than scheduled

Silver lining, maybe a week off now is a better timed freshen up for us than in 4 weeks time?

Agree, this makes the most sense. Vic Govt has proven they will at least work with the AFL

Pure speculation, but are we too confident at the stoppage? Do we treat a D50 stoppage the same as a stoppage anywhere else on the ground in that we back ourselves to win the ball and be positioned to move it forward with attacking intent under the comfort that if we don't win it our defensive structure will win it back? Maybe to simplistic but to my eyes we don't do enough to cover the dangerous players at D50 stoppages and you'd think the strategy would be different for various parts of the ground

Jackson and Jordon must go out. For mine, Melksham must come in, purely for his finishing. Our finishing is deplorable and he's the only bloke on the shelf with a leg that can make half chances 6 points. The second in is tougher, I am not convinced it should be a tall. Maybe on a dry deck up north, if so I'd be thinking M Brown. He will do the basics well, run to the right areas and likely kick straight if given a chance within reason. Elsewise Sparrow is a good option. Has done well enough with limited opportunity. Jones, I am afraid, is way to slow for a fast deck and lacks depth in his kicks now. Won't make a difference I feel. Harmes, ANB I wouldn't be against leaving them out but they might be worth another shot only because the options beyond those two are limited and with little to no exposed form.

Agree, missed the boat on this. In fairness I suspect the lack of a VFL competition for several weeks to assess form made it 'safer' to stick with the same 22 week in week out, but we are paying for it now. We needed to inject some older heads, Melksham, Jones, M Brown and a few of the youngsters, Sparrow, Bowey, Bedford, Lockhart strategically through the middle part of the season.

What's most frustrating is not losing a game like that it's burning points against the crows, giants, pies and Hawks

We were In it all night. Midfield matched the dogs, Gawn dominant. We were wasteful in attack, again, they were not. We missed several gettable shots, they did not. We failed to take our difficult chances, they did not. We got a rough ride from the umpires, they did not. Game over...

Agree, freed up Tommy with a less qualified defender. Came up the ground at the right time and was effective enough when the ball hit the ground. He even turned well. His gather, turn and kick to a team mate inside 50 from close to the boundary was class.

Convinced me binman...great work

They do this in the hope you'll reinvest, some if not all of your winnings and get it back that way. The liablity mustn't have been to big for them. Can't imagine there were tens of thousands laid on the dees at 17 or 23-1.

IMV, the reason Stringer spent so much time in the midfield was because Essendon's coaching staff felt he was unlikely to beat Hibberd inside 50....but could break loose with strength and speed in the middle. Which he did a few times. Luckliy for us greedily and wastefully for the most part.

Couldn't agree more

Nice point... Greene's leadership has been terrific and unexpected in a depleted team. Fritsch has been mostly good finishing solid work further up the ground but Green brings greater value overall for mine

Good question. Did a great job on JJ, but a question mark whether good enough for Cameron. I'd also think Cameron to be to agile for Hibberd but maybe his size and strength levels it out a bit with some help from his mates.

Brown unfortunately is just horribly out of form. The VFL on pause doesn't help much, but an 'in form' Brown, in about 2 months time, would be a greate outcome

2 clutch goals

There's no question now, every player has fully bought into their role. And, the coach has grown into his.

Agree Deemania. 3+ goals from the Weed and we'll get over the line tonight. Goose egg and we're likely toast

Only ANB and Fritsch had very minimal impact out of the playing group last night for mine.

Logic being, Fritsch hasn't hit the scoreboard when he's had his chances and plays close to goal. I feel T Mac is more likely to impact the scoreboard with the added support of Weid and Jackson

Out Fritsch, Jetta In T McDonald, Rivers Harmes and Brayshaw can lift, enough grunt and to turn the corner and we don't want to make too many changes. Lean on the depth as/when needed.

Agree, he looked wobbly walking down the race to the rooms. I reckon i saw him lean on the wall for a brief moment to steady himself. That was after the knee to the head, i was surprised he came back on after that, doubly so after the shoulder/elbow (from McStay?) sometime later. Has struggled this year Jet but could be forgiven the stinker in this one following those hits. Agree. Harmes was fumbly all night. Looked out of sorts. Likewise Hannan. He's been pretty clean with his hands this yeay but not last night. 2 strengths i saw from Brisbane though that looked more polished than the other teams we have played so far: 1. They are very slick moving the ball with speed through the middle of the ground by hand or foot. Often have a release man to hit and they fumbled far less than us 2. They were right on our hammers defensively at all times. We did well to move the ball offensively a number of times considering how little space we had to work. The definitely controlled the clearances by ensuring they quickly enveloped the first to possess the ball