praha

Still gotta be a very good team in the Hawks.

Put through a request to work night shifts all month so I could be assured I'd be free to go and watch finals. The downside is that, with no one around I've been lingering around Demonland a lot and appears the site has now been blocked. I have to put in a request to IT to have it unblocked lol Gotta prove it's of value to my work. Anyway I'll be on like 2 hours sleep at the game as I was last week. Good times.

Eagles supporters would be (and are going by comments on WA News outlet Facebook pages).

I respect them and don't necessarily hate their current team (or the team that won 4 flags recently). I was too young to remember the 80s and the 96 merger is a distant memory for me, although I remember the merger game. Their fans are a special breed though, cocky as hell and rightfully so. A proud club we should aspire towards. I would love nothing better than to bury them tomorrow.

Hawthorn lost to Brisbane twice and almost crumbled against St Kilda. It happens. Essendon smashed West Coast in Perth.

Literally just then on Fox Footy, they interviewed him and said he is 100% and playing. Unrelated to past injuries.

Melbourne is a good story atm. Neutrals are behind us (so long as their team still isn't in it), and we've come a long way to earn respect. I think MFCSS is fueling this post's particular narrative. We've turned a massive corner and you can't underestimate this team's potential. I heard rumblings last year that in a few matches throughout the year, Melbourne players were cocky and trash talking when they were in front. Then they would lose and among the football fraternity, there was this opinion that Melbourne was an immature team that couldn't handle a bit of pressure. They thought they were better than they are. It has propelled this team and put them in a position where, really, their biggest threat is themselves. The media coverage probably isn't where we want it to be. It's more a "Crap Club Is Now Good Again" narrative rather than "Great Club Is Still Great". It took Richmond a while to break that, and let's not forget a decade ago Hawthorn was the media's darling after Franklin's goal against Adelaide in the 2007 Elimination. We may well lose to Hawthorn this week but it won't be because of the media coverage. I was reading comments on an article in Perth Today about how the Eagles would rather play Hawthorn than Melbourne. The Eagles supporters were mostly in agreeance (aside from the typical "NO ONE CAN BEAT THE EAGLES" post) saying that Melbourne is building a tsunami and you probably don't want to play them atm. You need to dig through the trash and hyperbole and look for the genuine commentary. Where it exists, people like David King, Mark Robbo, people who have generally been very harsh on Melbourne, they are absolutely convinced we will smash anyway in our way this season. I don't believe they're buying into it. They're simply going om facts and the current standard of play. I am confident this team can handle the pressure. This is a team of schoolboy winners and hardnuts, with amazing team chemistry. This sort of team, imo the media coverage propels them even higher.

It'll only take one bad match for people to be calling for his head.

Also a privacy element. Not sure the club can filter through member locations to narrow down the person who lost a scarf....

I had one Silver membership along 7 Full Gold. I was trying other areas even in batches of 2-3 but kept saying not enough tickets. This was at about 9:10.

Only tickets level in AFL Members: Level 4 front (limited availability) Level 4 middle (single seats only) Level 4 back (filling fast)

I got level 4 right at the back.... Had to get tickets for 8 people.

Seems Pies fans on BigFooty having issues as well. It's been "Redirecting you in 10 seconds" since 8:50...

So with the first week of finals and having to queue with fans of 3 other Melbourne teams, I was in and out in under 3 minutes for AFL Members. This morning I have three devices going and am still in queue after 5 minutes. I suspect they have limited the number of active transactions, rather than there actually being more people trying to get tickets.

I have some family firmly in that bracket currently. Scrambling to get them tickets because they couldn't be bothered getting a membership during the season. Pisses me off.

It's not right at all though. We have been in all but 3 games all year and have barely dropped our heads. It's an opinion based on Melbourne of past years.

Mitchell isn't damaging with the ball. You need to hold Bruest and their forward line, and prevent O Meara from getting a run on the outside. Let Mitchell go head to head with our mids I say. He should go to Jaeger.

Mostly the same posters regurgitating the same [censored] over and over again, with the occasional random post trying to compensate for Hawthorn's own inadequacies by constantly bringing up round 4. One even went as far as to suggest a midfield with Burgoyne was intimidating for us...after we just spanked Dangerwoodlett. The occasional Hawks nuffie pipes in with a rational interpretation of the game...but not before jerking over their own forward line. We are "manic", "downhill", and "erratic". Hawthorn is composed, refined and experienced. The game won't be won or lost in the area of experience. This will be a changing of the guard. Either Hawthorn's young players stand up (deer in headlights against the Tigers), or we will smash them. Expecting a similarly low scoring match that could go either way. The lack of respect and blatant disregard for the opponent is rather astonishing on that Hawthorn board. Their arrogance may well have peaked. At least Geelong supporters acknowledged what we could do. Hawthorn fans are like, "Yeah they're okay, but..." I hope we [censored] bury them.

we were crap for a decade, doctor, because we bet the house on the draft and got rid of a core group that held the team together for a decade. we picked up Fritsch and Spargo deep in the draft last year, and both are starting 22 in arguably the best team the club has fielded in over 5 decades. Throw in VB and Hannan as well as smart "mature" aged picks and there is clear proof that high drafts are not the be all and end all. The logic behind trading a key position player in his early 20s and yet to hit his prime just to improve our draft position is utter lunacy. It's on par with the idiocy I see on some of the Facebook supporter groups of people screaming for Petracca and ANB to be dropped (and posted DURING the game mind you). I apologise if that seems like a direct attack on you and others here but it's genuinely how I feel at the moment. Midway through the season I probably thought differently but now that we have turned the corner, we should keep our hand close to our chest rather than throwing it all away in the hope we get a better hand at the draft. Hogan has had his Clive Waterhouse-esque moments this year, but he's a smart player with a huge tank that can find the ball. He would have gone top 3 in any of the past 10 drafts, including this year. That's not an argument to trade him. It's an argument to keep him. Unless a Hogan trade immediately improves us, it's a firm "Yeah nah" from me. And by "improve us immediately" I mean a young, proven winner. A like for like swap is the only possible fair trade, and that's never going to happen.

kennedy is badly underdone. we can hold him and match the eagles' in the contest.

imo eagles the better option here. we match up better with them and the thought of potentially losing to collingwood in the PF is enough to make me want to vomit. I'd bank us to beat the eagles. wouldn't be very confident against Collingwood.

Puopolo ain't no big kick, either. Most small forwards aren't. Garlett could hardly crack 40 himself. Spargo gets the ball in good positions, his hands and vision are great, and for a kid with under 20 games, being the smallest on the ground, with no finals experience, he played like a 50 gamer with a flag under his belt. I see no reason why he should be dumped. And I don't understand the logic behind calls to.

It is funny. The way I see his game/s, his errors fly under the radar because he does so much, so well. He was all over the ground last night and I feel your MFCSS has blinded you because those miskicks were a dime a dozen in the first 10 minutes. Even Oliver fluffed it early on. And Max tapped directly to the Cats about 5 times in the first quarter.

Going into the city tonight so will take a photo myself. Hopefully it's not defecated.

There's some links floating around online and on facebook of the full match.