praha

Seems our entire philosophy is around "exposure" to the elite level rather than "easing" in. We haven't really been conservative with anyone over the past two years, Brown excluded at the start of last year. Still, bringing in Salem who has played 10 minutes in the past 8 months, in freezing and potentially wet conditions... I really don't get why we wouldn't have kept Bedford in, especially given he was probably our best small last week, whilst having Salem ease back in via the twos. I really can't help but think we are slowly grinding to the bye here. Internally they must surely be content with a few loses now before a huge drive at the end of the year. Just seems to be like we are "managing" things to the extreme, maximise exposure, accept a few loses, and then we're ready for a huge push. I'm really indifferent about the result for the next two weeks.

I want him to get off. We don't need the opposition to be missing players. Also Buddy at the G on a Saturday night....easily brings in an extra 5k at least. Swans fans in Melbourne haven't got to see much Buddy over the past 5-6 years. People literally go to see him. It will be electric if he's playing.

Crowd was okay. Would have been nice to tick over 30k though. Honestly though the whole Mt Buller joke is actually legit. Our crowds tend to pick up towards the end of the season. We somehow got 38k vs GWS in 2018 in August. Absolutely zero chance we get that in May or June. It's always been like this. I hope we can get 40k+ vs Sydney this Saturday which is definitely doable. No Buddy definitely hurts but should still be a bumper crowd.

I feel the same but also remember how the Bulldogs tore us open for a quarter in round 1 once Salem went down. We quickly adjusted. Today just wasn't our day. But I do sense a few weeks of pain ahead. There were some weird concerning signs this week. Lack of disconnect and awareness. We were pressured for the first time in a while and got absolutely annihilated. I hope it's a wake up call.

This fills me with overcast confidence.

Brown at least competes in the air though and gets the ball to ground level. Weed loses contests that are counteractive to his use as a forward. He only started playing better when he moved up the ground, but then he's kicking it to contests with Spargo as the tall lol

Today was as much about our holes across the ground and how poorly we played, as it was about how utterly awesome Freo were. They were scary good. Looked very Melbourne circa 2021 finals series. They're legit and are still very much a threat. People wrote them off after the last two weeks. Credit where it was due. My main concern today was just the overall disconnect in general play. Hospital handpasses casually to players directly under pressure. Poor aerial contest. Outmarked across the ground. Constant space between Melbourne and Freo players. They pulled off every trick they tried. We had nothing up our sleeve. We were a shadow of our best. But Freo were just awesome.

Adds nothing. Slow and zero pressure. Finished.

you just don't lose games playing the way they did in the third. good on them.

Actually let's add Frederick here too.

Underrating Freo here. They've had a poor 2 weeks but they're a top team. We are extremely flat and they are dominating us in the right places. There's to lose.

Walters a new recipient of the Kent Kingsley Award For Spuds That Play Well Against Us

never seen a team be so dominant in the air. absolutely everything going their way. could get ugly.

What's wrong with May

May okay or what?

Langdon the bigger loss. But TMac is just such a smarter footballer than Weid. I'd force Weid up the ground to counter Lobb, and get Brown to play deeper.

Lobb keeping them in it. They must be tagging Trac. They're taking advantage of no Langdon by zoning defensively just behind the wing, in a straight line. Chopping off everything. Weid needs to [censored] position himself better. Caught flat-footed and behind opponent too often. They're killing us in the air so far.

Yeah it did but everyone just stopped and no one clapped. Was weirdly quiet.

Jesus the indigenous version of the song sure did suck the energy out of the crowr. No one expected it.

Tassie is different to GC. Tasmania is not a growth area in anything. Most people leave in their 20s for more opportunity. The initial interest there is strong but historically teams just don't survive there because the economics can't keep up with the rest of the country. NT would be the same. GC is sustained growth corridor so there's more upside if you commit long term. But Tasmania will have a huge honeymoon period before eventual struggles.

I could handle losing to Brisbane or Freo. Heck even St Kilda as much as I hate them. Even on Grand Final day. But if we lose any final to Carlton, I might just move countries.

North ultimately spends low because it generates low. It will never compete again unless it gets significant AFL backing. And I mean more than just Peter Jackson and Paul Roos level of backing. I mean the type of investment that GC and GWS have received. They won't sustain this way of survival with costs of operations and living increasing but their crowds, growth and on field performance all in decline. Make no mistake they are at the brink here. And like always someone will bail them out. Hate to say it because Melbourne was once there but we were always bigger than we were showing. North couldn't even build a big club out of the Carey era. Says everything. There simply isn't room for them anymore. Sad to say. They should have moved to the GC when they had a chance. That was 13 years ago! And what's changed? They just make up the numbers.

Totally forgot about tickets for QB. Reserved 5 seats in AFL Members, level 4 at the front. Aisle seat as well. Seems only tickets left are Level 1 Open and Level 4 Front. Suspect they'll sell Level 4 back if more tickets reserved. Should be a bumper crowd.

They'll probably get the same crowd as today. North supporters stayed away today. They'll show up a bit more next week.

Both North and Eagles arguably put up their biggest fights of the year against us outside of their wins. If North go into that with their normal plan we win by 180 points. They threw everything at us and it was still almost a 10 goal win. What do you people want?