Dr. Gonzo

That's not the biggest issue and the AFL is either being extremely ignorant or disingenuous if they think it is. Head in sand stuff.

You don't know player managers do you?

If Jackson tells the club he wants out it won't matter. We will just take the best offer we can get.

Our firm doesn't concern me but our injuries do. I'm very interested to see how we perform after the bye.

I think you'll find it was essendon supporters booing the umpires but whatever

That's true, our defense has been smashed this year. No injuries are ever good but when it is impacting one area of the ground it makes it impossible to cover. Easiest way to cover defensive players is for the kids to step up and not let the ball down there and for the ruckman to drop back into the hole but with Gawn off the ground too that wasn't possible.

I was thinking about the drop in pressure rating today and came to the same conclusion as the posters above. Last year we were focused on sitting high and pressuring our opposition to keep the ball in our forward 50. This gave opposition less space to work in and often led to them coughing it up due to having to dispose of the footy under pressure and in confined space with less space for their teammates to get free as get out options. This year (last few weeks anyway) we seem happier to sit our zone back more and let teams pick their way through to their high half forward. Not sure if this is to counter oppo tactics or to try and preserve energy or if it is unintentional but a byproduct of opponents using quick short passes to work through our zone. Whatever it is I don't like it. Our success has been built on forward half pressure, ANB, Spargo, Kozzie, Langdon, Harmes, Brayshaw harassing opponents to creat forward half turnovers. One of the things I did see yesterday was Melbourne players running forward in waves, it didn't happen often enough and we didn't always finish off our work either but it was the first time this year (probably bar the GWS game) I saw ball movement reminiscent of 2021. I'm waiting with baited breath to see how we set up and perform after the bye. Will we fine-tune our press/zone or will we continue with the structure that's let us down the last few weeks.

I thought you were going to say she apologized for having a crack at our crowd numbers when Richmond only got 21k last week

Difference between last year and this year is we stood up in the big games just before the bye (Dogs and Lions). We need a scalp this year, no better time than Thursday week to reassert ourselves and reclaim top position.

My kids are the same, don't really enjoy going to the games either. The AFL has a massive problem with future generations I think but by the time they realise I reckon it will be too late.

Yeah agree here - Brayshaw to the wing helps with our delivery going forward. Jordon currently is an upgrade on Sparrow in the middle. Rivers back in.

Out: Turner, M Brown, Chandler In: May, Weid, Tomlinson sub

Just had a look and boy have we been dealt a hand with the fixturing this year. A "bye" where we play on a Monday and then a Thursday so really no break at all followed by a 9 day break travelling interstate and then playing the Cats off a 5 day break at KP. I mean seriously who are the nuffies at the AFL creating the fixture? Do they still do the pre-finals bye? I reckon we'll need it this year.

[censored] off clown 🤡

Plenty of times we got first use in the middle and did nothing with it. Fix that up and we win the game.

Remember when we were worried about going into a Grand Final undefeated? Seems a lifetime ago 🤣

Great banner today 👍

The biggest thing I take from that is they had a 17 day break during their bye! We have a 9 day break before being sent all over Australia for a month or so.

Things haven't looked good the last 3 weeks (even the couple before that). But this team and coaches have earnt the benefit of the doubt, I'll wait and see how the next 2 months play out before freaking out and declaring us gone. We lost to the Pies last year in a game that was extremely frustrating and went on to win the flag. We're still 2nd (0.2% off 1st) after 13 games and will be back on top if we beat the Lions in 9 days.

Since when was it legal to run under the ball at the centre bounce, not jump in the air and knee someone straight in the thigh/hip?

They shut the car park now for any game expected to have a crowd bigger than 70k. It was closed against the Dogs and Tigers earlier this year too. They did this after that psycho drove down Bourke St a few years back to protect large crowds from a similar incident at the footy 🙄

I really don't care what footy players do in their spare time as long as they're not hurting anyone and not impacting their performance. Smith will cop it now but supporters would be extremely naive to think their club would be a cleanskin when it comes to narcotics/opiates etc To be honest you'd almost rather players do coke or weed rather than drink booze or eat junk food as far as the impact on their health goes.

What, when you were 30? You must have matured at a different rate because most guys I know knew this by the time they were 20 if not earlier.

Teams have also played a lot of possession footy against us (Essendon, Port, Hawks etc) meaning less opportunity for pressure acts.

Electing to physically assault someone, let alone someone recovering from concussion, let alone your teammate should be the absolute last resort. If you are defending yourself for example. Punching someone in the head because they said some mean things is not on. That's not to excuse May's behaviour but there are other ways to resolve conflicts.