praha

Gawn injury?

Conditions are very tough. Might be hard to tell on TV but at ground level the city end is impossible because the wind is swirling south west into the southern end. It is freezing. We've controlled play well. Poor last 5 mins but that's to happen.

Lol

Filled up a bit in the last 5-10. Still only around 23k-25k.

Terrible crowd. 20k max.

I'm scared.

Watch the highlights.

Massive.

True although fairly certain Collingwood's pitch is gated.

It's hard to hold players up where they've played in really poor sides. Jones will be remembered but his 3-peat Bluey years will be forgotten if he guides us to a premiership...or doesn't. Not to understate the significance there but there's definitely weight to fans simply forgetting or choosing to forget. I have vague memories of 2008-2009 outside of a few good wins, and individual performance doesn't really stand out. He was a champion of the club though, no doubt. A gentleman and true clubman. Does he still reside in Melbs?

As would I but what I meant to say was that I think we're a better chance for a first up finals win if we finish top 4 if we play GWS away, than if we play Geelong at the MCG. I'd rather finish top 4 and have to play away than finish 5th-8th and play at the MCG. Attending a final isn't really in my sights. It's having the team play finals that I want to see.

Pickett was a Daniher, erm, pick about 6 years earlier, Dee.

I'd rather GWS in Sydney.

Also curious about this. Being an open park I assume that if the club is using the space it has the right to turn people away from watching unless at a distance...but that would be silly. We do have to be the only club though that doesn't have an obvious way to have a "closed" session.

How could they *not* show Charles' goal vs West Coast in 1994?

I don't disagree mate. And Jurrah was acquitted of using the machete so that's something I should have mentioned. I understand the situation is "culturally sensitive" as they say and it might be a matter of wrong place wrong time, maybe there is truth to the argument that people in his family tried to bring him down. Jurrah stood as an important figure in his culture and community and effectively took 1 step forward with his career and being a role model but then took 4 steps back. I am not one to say he shouldn't be given another chance but I'd have thought that for the fear and pain he put those women through, regardless of his rehabilitation, that using him in this capacity is not right. Carey has been heavily scrutinised, and his actions heavily publicised and recorded. We still hold it against him and yeah, his on field performance should be held separate from his private life, but it's still held against him. Jurrah is recognised as a "freak" of the game and there's no question how talented he was. He's respected in that capacity. But I still feel this is a strange oversight that clouds the cause. He stands out among a group of Davey and Jetta and even Wonna. It just makes me feel uneasy. I'm not against him working his way back in and he has paid the price for his actions, but considering his place and apparent standing in his community, I feel there should be greater scrutiny in place here for something that happened so recently. Perhaps subconsciously people are more forgiving considering his culture and background. I don't mean that with malice but it's weird that the club keeps going back to him, almost celebrating him. It's happened a few times in the past few years. I think it's great he's working to help his community but you could argue that his actions are part and parcel of the problem. I haven't seen him come out against domestic violence or anything like that. Just because he's open and part of a reconciliation program doesn't mean all should be forgiven.

30k max imo.

We need two big wins. Aside from the Bulldogs game we haven't really had one. We've had a lot of close games, which are important because we need to know and learn how to win those. But we lost by a combined 80 points vs Sydney and Adelaide and our wins across the 4 win streak and Carlton didn't make that up so we lose percentage gain. If we win one of Port or GWS by say 1-2 goals but then lose to one by a big margin, we can fall under 100%. We need strong big wins, or we need to keep our losing margins down. Imo that's more important at this stage because the likelihood is that we'll win at an absolute maximum 4 games of our remaining 6. We need to pound the likes of North and Brisbane if we really want to cement our chances. Imo those are more so "8 point games". Our percentage isn't as big as it once was. We've lost 10% over the past month and a half despite going 5-2.

I feel exactly the same. Jurrah has demonstrated that he is a very violent individual. You don't just attack someone with machete, or drink and then bash someone. That's a screw loose and it takes a lot to change someone like that. I am very uneasy about him being part of this.

I'd love to come up against them tbh. Let's be honest, finals this year is the first step, we want the pressure that comes with it. We are a chance with a good break and fresh legs with few injuries, and imo the SCG ground will suit our style

Yellow balls have been used since the introduction of night matches in the 80s. What's the problem? Anyway, yes, love the 2:10pm start. Not too early, not too late. And home just in time to watch the replay highlights before the news!

So much this. I'll be disappointed and admittedly probably a little suicidal if we miss finals but it's been a great albeit frustrating at times season. We've been right in it, and if we miss, while everyone will laugh down our "excuses", we can genuinely blame a number of variables for missing. It's one thing to have injuries, but to lose key personalle constantly, and then lose your entire spine from the half back to half forward makes things very tough. We have been absolutely murdered by injuries and yet still find ourselves thereabouts with teams with little to not injuries. Looking at Port's injury list compared to ours, it's infuriating...but it is what it is, to use an old Neeldism. We could be 10th with 3 rounds to go and still be an extremely good chance to make it. Some here say 12 wins won't be enough but the top 10 play each other quite a bit in the final 6 weeks so 12 wins should get it done you'd imagine. Some say our wins against WC and Adelaide made up for our losses to Freo and Hawks (or North) but I still feel those losses will come back to haunt us the most. Win those and we're locked for finals. We didn't though so we now find a good test of character for this team. This week isn't quite a "must win" but it's very important. We need to start performing on the MCG and winning our home games (I think we're like 3-6 in home games this year).

Means nothing if we miss the finals, which are very important for this group going forward. Even if we lose by 100 in the first week, we need the experience of the lead up and pressure of finals football.

Why would you play a CHF out of the goal square?

But winning from rushed and poor possessions isn't the same as winning the clearances and contested ball. I feel your viewing was selective. Stats aren't subjective. We won pivotal stoppages and clearances and went forward more than they did but simply lost it on the rebound. We competed well and fought hard at clearances and around stoppages. It was simply a matter of Adelaide's defense and rebounding being a league above. Not to understate how good they were but we stood up well against a very strong contested ball winning side. They absolutely annihilated us on the rebound out of our F50. That has nothing to do with stoppages or clearances.