praha

May having a real mare. We looked real good and now we look just as we have for the past 8 weeks. Amazing how quickly we revert to this.

Two players ignored a free Weid in the F50.

Lever won't be the only one rolling his ankle on this primary school ground

80% of the time Lever and May's kicking is reliable 100% of the time.

The hyper-fixation on Melbourne's performance at the moment is weird. On Fox Footy they were analysing "defensive breakdowns" of when the Bulldogs kicked goals last week. I mean how else do teams ever kick goals if not for some level of defensive breakdown? We're being picked on now.

Freo and WC are going to inadvertently overlook a lot of genuine talent if their entire recruitment strategy is to try and poach West Australians from Victoria. Seriously, [censored] off.

Friday night and a lot of interest in the match means any place with a TV will have it on. I like Transport, The Duke, and Kicks, all in the CBD.

Hey! I'm not susceptible.

Imagine how much the narrative has swayed. We went from Jackson staying, to Jackson going, to Brayshaw staying, to Brayshaw going, to Brayshaw ACTUALLY staying, and now suddenly the media is hinting that Jackson could still stay... We should have learnt after the Dusty fiasco in 2017. No one really knows outside of the player themselves and almost always, anything in the media is mostly planted news tidbits to fuel the negotiation.

He can walk without a trade I thought? We just get compo relative to contract size.

A horses head should do the trick.

I know. Idiots.

I won't lie I use Demonland as a punching bag. When we lose it's comforting to realise I'm not the only bipolar football supporter out there. You should look back at my comments on Grand Final day. I don't have anywhere else to vent like that. My wife's interests are mostly Instagram influencers and buying stuff for our daughter. I need *somewhere* to talk about how bad a season we've had...

Who wouldn't want to play the toughest and most gruelling position on the ground, especially when you're already dominating at AA level across half-back? Duh!

For all this talk about us being terrible, 18th for pressure, yada yads, the bookies and punters still love us. Favourites against Freo in Perth. Comfortable favourites so far against Collingwood. There's still a lot of faith out there for the Dees.

I struggle to find a way to articulate this feeling. I have "enjoyed" it but found it to be mostly uninspiring. As it turns out, being at the top, being hunted, being hated really isn't that fun. Remember when merely making finals was a huge win for us? Now it's top 4 or bust. I do remember at this *exact* moment last year convincing myself we weren't going to finish top 4. The remaining 7-8 weeks are such a blur. This year has felt like a real grind. Every game has seemed *tough*. And the losses have really stung. Especially the Sydney, Collingwood and Bulldogs games. I lost sleep over them. Which sounds weird I know. I don't feel like we've really had any stiring, passionate wins this year. Whereas every single one of our losses seems to have been the opposition's biggest win of the year. That really pisses me off. Teams really love beating us. I thought I'd enjoy being hated but it's made me hate losing even more. I just can't handle the way people carry on when they beat Melbourne. It makes me reallllllly want to burt the living daylights out of Freo and Collingwood. Really put them to the sword. I just thinking objectively across the whole year and the stars just aren't aligning. Weirdly this year has 2020 vibes for me. Not bad, mostly forgettable, frustrating in parts, fun others. The next 4 weeks might change things for me but something seems off. I haven't been able to put my finger on it.

lol Geelong gifted another dream run. Every [censored] year.

They've also lost a few close ones. Wining one or two close ones is fair game. Reality is they consistently hold on and find ways to win. They shouldn't be taken lightly.

If that interview comes off the back of his management meeting the club... they are at loggerheads. How quickly things can change... what a train wreck this season is becoming.

That's a big hit. The way people are talking though you'd think we're getting absolutely spanked every week. 18th for pressure acts and still lead the league in time in front. If they can turn it around, seriously, who beats us? Lots of upside atm but Stokes's comments ring true. Especially when you think of May's comments to Melksham and co., and the way certain players go about it. I hope they can turn it around quickly.

haha I worded it poorly. A win is a win, you're right, it sounds ridiculous. I meant we should win, and if we do I reckon it'll be by 4-5 goals.

This has been the case for a while mate. The "science" is just now better understood by the common man. Loading has been common practice in basketball and baseball in the US where there are extremely long seasons, you often see the best teams separate from the pack after the all-star breaks (equivalent to probably rounds 15-17 in AFL). Risky as you comprimise momentum.

Weird because I told Jackson "Please don't go" and he now appears more likely to leave than he did before the weekend.

In all seriousness if we can't win this week by 4-5 goals then it's time to be genuinely concerned and write off the season. Nothing at all against Freo but they are starting to show their inexperience and the season is falling away from them -- we are miles ahead of them and should win comfortably. Win this week and only one more win should net us top 4.

Martin didn't re-sign with the Tigers until 1 September in 2017.