Adam The God

I've said it before but he was a poor sport when they lost to Geelong in that QF or it might have been the loss to Sydney. He was interviewed on the ground post game and immediately complained about the umpires.

Equally, this could be classed as backing in their system to get the job done. Would you have said we were arrogant not to tag Butters earlier in the year? I wouldn't. I'd say we backed our system. McRae said in his post presser, they tried to shift Daicos deep to throw the tag, but it didn't work, and then they just ended up going with it as their coaching team felt it was throwing off their own game too much, trying to engine space for Daicos. But that to me tells me they're either unsure of their own weaknesses, or he's playing games there with his answer.

Some nice MFCSS already building in this thread, just to offset the over confidence.

Post taper is optimum and then fitness fades progressively from there. We've got three straight years of evidence on how we approach player management. There's a possibility that Collingwood are managing loads, but why would you want to enter the finals with a string of losses? Historically, the premiers enter the finals series on a run of victories. The only outlier is the Bulldogs.

I'm not sure that was the case. He was pushed out the door and didn't want to go at all.

My point was more that like The Australian newspaper did for years in politics, the Fox commentary (and 7), sets the tone for the AFL media narrative for the following week. But you're right, it's irrelevant what they say.

I agree with all of this Binners except that Port looked fatigued. They looked dynamic playing on the counter and dynamic from stoppages to me, but whenever they were winning the territory battle, it was harder for them to score because a) they had less space in their forward half and b) they only had Marshall as a legitimate tall target (Lord doesn’t count). This is a problem we've seen with us this year at times (and other teams), that when we're winning territory we have no space to work back into when we generate re-entries. Upon reflection, Geelong will likely struggle even against a struggling Collingwood, but with finals on the line it should hopefully be a bruising encounter.

They're not loading. You can't load and then taper in time for finals... They're suffering from a similar experience to us in 2022. They've been the hunted most of the year, they've been repeatedly tested, and now sides have worked them out.

The commentary on the AFL website has the reason for Collingwood's demise yesterday being they didn't treat Hawthorn with respect. Nothing of sides being able to implement the same blueprint to beat them. No wonder McRae was twitchy in his post presser. 😉

Even with a close loss, Fox set the tone vis a vis Port after the game, by (probably rightly) discussing their injury list and outs. They maintained that they weren't worried by Port's form slump and they just needed to get healthy again (Brad Johnson). They've lost 4 games in a row, mounting injuries and are 3 weeks out from finals. Get real, they're in big trouble.

Which was also 2021...

Geelong are playing for their finals spot, to defend their premiership. (they'll likely be 9th at the end of this round) They've got Brisbane in Melbourne, desperately playing for top 2 to secure a home final at the Gabba. And they've got Essendon, who themselves have North and the Giants away. On current form, the Giants win that but that's still a huge game in Round 24.

You're definitely an odd poster mate. It's like you've stepped out of a cave in the last 10-15 weeks and realised we're a really good team, with a really good coach, but before that we fluked a flag and then somehow managed to finish 2nd last year.

IMV, he probably won't make it at the MFC, but we'll see.

I reckon top spot is on too. Macrae looked lost for words in his presser today. I knew sides would start to seriously tag Daicos in the back end of the year, and that Collingwood are all or nothing, without nuance to their game, or a plan B. Blue print continues to be clog them up at half back, choke them in the corridor and they have few answers.

Laurie is a half forward to be fair and hasn't had a shot quite yet.

Fair enough mate. I'll back JT in. Has he had a miss with a mid?

Minor premiership is not over yet either. Collingwood doing their usual thing and [censored] the bed. You beauty, but they're so exciting to watch, aren't they?

Petty did reasonably well as a forward in 2019 too...

Simpson would have been [censored] himself in the final quarter. When our initial correspondence occurred, Essendon were leading easily. Essendon are a hopeless, irrelevant football club, living off past triumphs. 😉

Agreed, but who do you think is lobbying the government to prevent robust framework? It's the bookies. So they're not angels here. The government should ban lobbying money, but that's a bigger conversation and problem.

So you wouldn't go after Reid, mate? And if you would, what would you be prepared to part with?

The Freo or Adelaide games are the only chance, but they'll want pick 1, so no chance really.

Surely, the commentator should have said "put that on a showreel already"? Not a stamp. A stamp? Who uses stamps anymore, ya nuffas.

We got unlucky with injury too... and clearly they've learnt from it. Look how many more personnel changes we've had this year in comparison to last. Look at the amount of experimentation we've done with playing different personnel combinations. Chalk and cheese.