Dr. Gonzo

Contested possession R8-14 +8.2 (#1) - tonight +38 Post clearance contested possession R8-14 +6 (#1) - tonight +26 Forward half intercepts R8-14 +26.3 - tonight +38 Points from forward half intercepts R8-14 21.2pts tonight 61pts This was a demolition make no mistake. Really should've been a 15 goal plus win but we let them off the hook with some pretty easy misses. Just ground it away and got our contest and pressure (especially forward half pressure) game back. CARNA [censored] DEMONS!!!!

Only quarter that comes ose is the 3rd vs GWS otherwise that was easily our best quarter for the season. Keep it up Demons, don't let up, put your foot on their throat

Has been fantastic around the contest. Our pressure that quarter! Where has it been. Keep it up boys 2 quarters more of that thanks. GIVE EM HELL DEMONS!!!

Cliff notes?

I don't get the outrage

I picked Freo but only because I don't consider the Saints a realistic option. I'd love to see the Saints win - yeah their long suffering supporters deserve to see some success but really it's just so Carlton have the longest premiership drought.

Covering themselves so they get the "click" from either side of the argument depending on what side of the echo chamber they want their opinions reinforced from.

Zorko ruled out?

No chance in hell Spargo gets dropped. None.

- Reclaim top spot - Beat a genuine contender - Premiership defence is back on Let's [censored] go!

They've been that price down there for years, I'm surprised any opposition supporters bother going.

To be honest the prices aren't what concern me. Food and beverage prices are always exorbitant at these events. Rod Laver is much worse. What I can't stand is the poor quality of the food. Unless you want cold and/or greasy rubbish there aren't too many options.

Don't worry I'm sure they'll do another puff piece on the front page to try and convince the public he is the right man to head the league. Didn't work during the election though, not sure it will work now either.

"Boost the match day" experience I wonder what was meant by that - if it's more US style ra-ra they really do not have their finger on the pulse. If it means getting rid of that in favour of a better experience for the supporters they might be on to something. I fear it's the former.

I just can't believe that Sumich propose offer from Freo. How do they afford it first of all. And secondly they'll need to come up with a suitable trade, we're not accepting two mid-late teen picks for him (unless we've lined up more deals to trade up which really should be on them to do first). I'm not going to speculate, until he decides not to I'll assume he is re-signing with us.

Saints supporters on BF definitely bemoaning their lack of "effort" and "heart" last night. They definitely looked sluggish last night (and last week) as did the Swans in the little I saw of them today. It's clear most club's aiming for finals (top 4 really) are doing this, my concern is more about our injuries to key players rather than the sluggishness. We will rebound later in the season, of that I have no doubt.

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.