praha

We went into the game as hot favourites, against a team that lost by 100 the week before to a team Melbourne smashed. Melbourne loses. Despite this, it has two players in the AFL's team of the week. Only Melbourne could disappoint everyone and yet still somehow shine.

It didn't help that we were garbage at the time, though. I remember seeing groups of Chinese students at our games in 2008, 2009.

Watts needs to have a blinder.

I've come to the realisation that we're just not very good (yet). I don't think it's bad or negative to acknowledge that. I don't think St Kilda has more talent but I do believe they are a better *team*. Good teams play finals, bad teams lose games they should win. Thinking about finals now is just silly. Now it's all about Goodwin developing his coaching, guys like Oliver, Petracca, Hogan, Viney, Tyson, Salem, Hunt, Wagner, Frost, Brayshaw, etc. getting more games in together, and now how to get over the line together. Our plans have now shifted away from finals and are now once again plastered on development. Harsh reality unfortunately. I said before the season that missing finals would be a failure but not surprising. What I am worried about is that, not just with Melbourne but with all teams in this situation, the wheels can fall off very easily. We're banking on a very young core to win us games, and it's scary. I *believe* we'll go on a 4-5 game winning streak tear, but I don't know for sure that we will, and I'm not overly confident. Sorry, guys, but thinking finals now is silly. It's going to be "one week at a time" for a while. Let's reevaluate after Queen's Birthday. That's 11 games in. IMO if we haven't won 5 games by out 12th game (Round 13), then finals won't happen. Just like last year, we've dropped games in the first half of the year that will ultimately prove to cost us at the end of the year. We win the games we've lost this year, and we're 2/3 of the way towards a finals appearance.

It's not the same thing and you know it.

....they smashed Hawthorn by 100% on a ground Hawthorn doesn't lose on.

Bit rough. His goals were important ones that kept us in the fight, which is important to note because every time we've been close this year, he's played his role and was either the beacon of composure down back, or stood up and kicked a goal/s when we needed some scoreboard pressure. He delivered yesterday and kept us within a goal of a win.

So basically....2010 lol

I can already see what will happen next week. One of a few things: 1. Adelaide will get a 25-30 point lead early, we'll peg it back but ultimately lose by 15-20 2. We'll jump Adelaide, get out to a strong 3-4 goal lead but them crumble and lose by 1 point 3. Adelaide will pump us (unlikely imo) We need 3-4 players to have the best game of their careers in order to win this weekend. Lose and we are 3-5 with finals looking increasingly unlikely.

Hogan's a physical player. He wants the contest and demands it, and would rather win the ball from a set position then lead into space and risk having the ball exposed by loose defenders. Those up the ground simply don't back in their teammates enough, and overuse the ball in the hope of creating space and hitting a clear teammate. They played 30 minutes of amazing football where they back each other in. That third quarter alone should have been enough to set up the match but it wasn't to be. The forward line is not so much the issue. We're kicking big scores. Our two-way running, poor defensive accountability and inability to be damaging with possession is what kills us.

He's important but wouldn't put down the losses exclusively to missing him. We were awful against Carlton with him in the side and probably should have lost it. We destroyed Hawthorn around the clearances yesterday. Gawn or no Gawn, playing bad team footy loses you games.

In 2014, a year we finished with 4 wins and equal last, we were in front in the last quarter of 12 games but only won 4 of them. We are "competitive" for half the year.

this is a very weird team. We Have inefficient players across the ground and lack forward cohesion yet still manage winnable scores. We don't have a ruckman but our clearance factor is impressive. We dominate possession but arent effective enough. We green tick some boxes but get a big red stamp in others. We are actually getting a lot of the ball despite no dedicated ruckman. I see things changing for us in a very positive way but I've been immensely disappointed by our leaders. We're on the right track but occasionally find ourselves on the wrong one. Not sure if we'll play finals but I'm still confident we'll go on a tear at some point this season and win 4-5 in a row.

TIME?

Time.left?

Very disappointing. Very very disappointing. Our excuse for Cats and Tigers was rotations. Thru are a man down and out running us.

If we don't win this it'll be the most disappointing of the Year They are a man down.

Can ya'all update with time?

Hannan across half forward has been magical. Wins everything.

How much left this quarter?

Being the better team and still allowing the opposition to equal or score more than you won't win games. We need to win this quarter by 3-4 goals

Hannan has been good today

30 seconds.

Langford is the highest rated AFL Fantasy player at half time with 77. Let that sink in.

Despite being the better team with more of the ball for that quarter, we were outscored by a point there. Hawks should have had 6 for the quarter but stuffed up 3. We are getting smashed in the air so we kick it long and high to a contest. Makes sense. Their transition out of defense makes us look slow and disinterested. Mcdonalds have been bad but the pressure their teammates up the ground force upon them is disgraceful. Hawks have runners in groups of 3 or 4. As has been the case against every team this year. We want to get a clear possession every time we have the ball, so we handpass for space in the hope we can. This means we give up the first option, which half of the time is a long kick forward. We don't back our forwards in enough and this leads to overuse and bad football. Our leaders have let us down with terrible, selfish football. Jones is turning into Vince 2.0. I fear the game is moving beyond him. He seems to struggle to gauge opposition speed and gaps, and turns it over way too much. They have too many x factors, that make it tough for us to counter a fast attack forward for them. They are smashing us at the hitouts but we're giving them a lesson in the clearances. Problem is that we overuse the ball leading to a stoppage or turnover. Hawthorn needs to win one clearance to go forward. It takes us 3-4 tries. Our tackle inefficiency is a major indictment on our finals credentials. We are missing simple tackles and being brushed aside. Overall, Hawthorn is bullying us without leaving 2nd gear. We have had all the ball. We win all the pointless contest but lose the important ones. Will be tough to see Hawthorn drop this one. Unfortunately, looking at our second half of the Year and the competition we have for the top 8, losing today puts us at an outside chance to make finals imo. Going into adelaide 3-4 and then leaving 3-5 would be the worst possible scenario.