praha

Fritsch the cat! I love how they say it was a throw.

It's identical to last week. That the ground is dewey is irrelevant.

We are so scrappy going forward.

Our forward line efficiency needs to improve.

Martin looks at Gawn the whole time in a contest, no free. Gawn touches Martin: FREE KICK BRISBANE.

It won't matter. Something about this Brisbane team. If you give them a sniff they won't back off.

We go up.to Brisbane on a 6-day break, then come back to Melbourne to play North, who we haven't beaten in a decade, on less than 7 days break, while they'll be 9-days fresh coming off a big win. Standard.

Although there's nothing to suggest that what we've seen so far is different to any basis of qualms last season. I think it's more likely that we'll look back on this thread and say, "here is where it all began" than we are to look back and laugh. Happy to be proven wrong.

2017 was our 2006. You're forgetting that both Richmond and Geelong had played finals in 2005 and 2015 respectively, and missing the following year was a disappointment. If we miss this year, we won't just reload and go again. Goodwin may not survive. There could be a list cleanout. Reality is that if this team can't play finals this year, I highly doubt it's because it's the down year anomaly. It'll be because the team just isn't very good.

We get to park there, but then have to wait 60 minutes for transfer to the terminal. Once the bus arrives, though, it's very smooth, quick and direct. Unfortunately, however, you'll miss your plane. It's perfect for MFC.

Obviously. But you kinda proved my point earlier: we weren't winning contested marks and as such we relied on our small forwards to apply the pressure and kick the goals. They didn't. The next best thing a key forward can do aside from actually mark the ball, is put it at the feet of small forwards. This is literally the role of the small forward. Hogan and Pederson played their roles. in bringing the ball down when they could. Pederson attracts the defense like a bad rash, and is clearly respected by opposition defenders. As is Hogan. The reality is that a pretty essential fundamental of the game was failed on Sunday: why have small forwards at all if not to contest at ground level and pick up the crumbs of a contested marking contest? To suggest that forward line structures are not built around the idea of bringing the ball to ground is extremely naive. If your small forwards aren't competitive, you will lose every game. You key forward could kick 100 goals in a season. It wouldn't matter.

You mean like Mcdonald playing AFLX and Viney playing out the year? At this stage I have zero faith in the club's injury summary.

I am not talking about round 1. 1. The training camp fiasco 2. Trading Watts 3. Injuries to key players 4. Rumours of Goodwin not playing players out of spite 5. That second quarter performance I'm just saying that in past years when we've been in the news for similarly damaging things, we've struggled as a club to weather the storm. We beat Adelaide last year and should have beaten the Premiers. As it stands, getting to within 3 points of a top 4 team from the following year means jack [censored] if you don't at least play finals. I'm just concerned that the wheels will fall off.

The way I see it, we'll either finish top 4, or we'll crash epically and will win 5-8 games. There's no in between. Everything that has happened thus far, if history is any indications, suggests we're in for a long season.

All this talk of "blazing away" is nonsense. Nothing better for a forward than to get the ball in quickly. Our forward setup is based around key forwards bringing the ball down and crumbers picking up the pieces. When we win, ANB, Harmes, Melksham, Garlett tend to all have a contribution. Pederson and Hogan both played their roles. Our small forwards didn't. We went forward, Geelong swept it out, went forward, and scored from a fairly empty forward line. It is as simple as that. That's where we lost it. Throw in poor defensive efforts from our midfielders, and minimal two-way running, and you have the second quarter. If your small forwards aren't pressuring and scoring from contested packs, you'll struggle to win, regardless of your opponent.

The wheels are falling off...

Well we're going in with much the same team as last year. If we're a finals team we win by 5-6 goals minimum.

Can everyone please calm down, and can someone give a tl;dr summary of the interview and statements Jones made? FFS....

Disagree with some here. It was a 1v1, he beat the opponent in a pivotal contest and the umpire gave a soft free. Lewis is an emotional player, and yeah, it turned the tide, but I certainly don't blame him for the loss. At the time Geelong was at like 85% forward 50 efficiency, so they would have likely scored regardless. It was an old fashioned spray for a poor free kick. Mind you, Ablett complained after every single one of the three holding the balls against him, and not a single 50 was paid.

that too.

his rhetoric about the north record I found puzzling. As a club we should be looking to put an end to an embarrassing record. they have pushed us around for a decade and you just know that internally at north they treat it as a badge of honour. imo, dismissing the fact they have dominated us is disrespectful to them. own it, and put the challenge to north to maintain it. don't ignore it and act like it doesn't matter. Geelong dominated the hawks for, what, 7 years after the 2008 GF? You just know that ate at Al Clarkson. There's no way he didn't rev the players up about it. just another lesson for goodwin. i think it's time he stops treating this job as a teaching gig and a "journey". we're at a stage now where we shouldn't be allowing teams like geelong to constantly push us around. it's been 11 years ffs and we've only beaten them once. and as a club, there's been no direct effort to beat into them the way they did on the dreadful day in 2011.

it definitely did not go for that long. it was more like 34 minutes.

not the problem but the lapses for entire quarters also raise questions about leadership.

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