Dr. Gonzo

You are right every team does it, including us. What I hate is why do the umpires need to be "made aware of it". They umpire games every week, they should be watching tape to pick up on these things just like players watch tape on opposition. The AFL refuses to make umpires full time so they can argue they don't have time to watch tape but this is a perfect example of why they should be made full time professionals. The scragging around contests has been going on for years, it does my head in.

It's not delusional at all, those games both came down to the final minute. Yes the Carlton game could've gone the other way as well but we've improved our structure and ball movement a lot since then. We are clearly thereabouts just need to start clinching these wins. I don't know if you've watched much footy this year but there aren't many good teams around. We are easily a top 8 side and one of a few pushing towards that upper bracket. You might argue that we still have a couple of things to fix before we can make the claim but to call supporters "delusional" for thinking we should be there is under selling what this team is capable of.

We also need to figure out how to protect Max. In the Hawks game they were constantly trying to block him out of marking contests. Last night there were a few occasions early where Max was sat under the ball waiting to take a mark and a Lions player just smashed into him as hard as he could. It was in the context of attempting a mark but it was rough play that was borderline worthy of a free kick. They had made a pretense of going for the mark but their aim was really to smash into Max and hurt him while he was prone.

Rubbish, if we had beaten Geelong and Lions (which we should have) we would be equal 2nd playing for equal 1st this Thursday

He finished 3rd in the Brownlow when Viney was out injured most of the year and he was playing in the square. Petracca also was getting far less midfield minutes. At the moment he is really only depth for us which is a shame. He is trade bait but because of his performance he won't get us much.

If it was dry I reckon he kicks 2 of those tonight. No consolation and he has to learn to play the conditions but he just leaned back on the kicks causing the ball to slide off the side of his boot, especially the first kick I was far more heartened with his attack on the footy and the pack mark he took early in the game. Keep attacking the ball and contest like that and he'll be a long term key forward for us. He played on probably the best defender in the comp and held his own despite missing the goals. It's easy to forgot he has still only played about 35 games. Play him the rest of the season and watch him build confidence going into next year.

Umpires were terrible but we got a few soft frees as well, a couple to Viney and Oliver on the wings spring to mind

We got smashed around the clearances for the first 2 and a half quarters despite Gawn's ruck dominance. The 2nd quarter the ball barely left their forward line. We worked our way back into but missed about 5 easy shots that killed us. In the 3rd Bennell missed from about 5-10m out on a slight angle and Kozzie missed a snap directly in front about 25m out when he had a player free in the goalsquare he could've handballed to. Early in the last Harmes missed a sitter about 40 out straight in front. Weideman also missed 2 or 3 relatively easy shots early. It was a really sloppy game you could tell the rain had been falling for 2-3 days which meant skills were poor all night. But really the clearances and missed opportunities lost us the game. Don't know if that's less than 100 words

Weideman looked good early but his kicking let him down. Dal Santo mentioned he was leaning back on his kicks which kills you in the wet as the ball just slides off the side of your boot. He's been good since returning though, that first mark he took was a ripper. I have confidence in him and think he'll turn it around against Port in a few days.

All of those but especially this

The two frees against Kozzie were ludicrous, the first one in particular was a genuinely great tackle. [censored] nuffies

Melbourne

And Pickett missed a sitter after burning a teammate in the goal square. Langdon also missed a sitter after chopping off a ball meant for Melksham not to mention Harmes and Weid missing sitters They missed a few as well but Jesus those misses absolutely killed us

I agree Oliver was terrible especilla by foot. He lifted late but his early play was horrible.

I am so angry Shot ourselves in the foot Umps were terrible but can't blame the loss on that. We had a bunch of rubbish decisions/non-decisions go against us but we got a number of soft frees as well

Other than a good win against Port they haven't beaten much. Got thrashed by the Cats too

He's played 2 games! You'll never see it if you don't give him a chance

Sunday night games are the worst! Such a long wait for first bounce

Has Hogan been playing? I saw him in a couple of games but then he seems to have disappeared again

I imagine TMac will be back for the Port game rather than asking Jackson to backup after a 4 day break

They already got Heeney, Mills & Blakey for nothing as well as COLA which helped them pinch Buddy. What they can't miss the finals more than one year in succession? May as well just creat divisions/conferences if you want to ensure certain teams have a better chance at finals every year.

2 games for 2 goals vs 5 games for 4 goals?

And Essendon are just a pain in the [censored] to deal with. They'd probably want Brayshaw plus a 2nd rounder

I would bring in Jones but after reading the McGowan article in the fixture thread it sound like Tomlinson in for VDB might be the only change unless Nev pulls up sore (he seemed to hurt his shoulder slightly at the end of last week's game in the contest where Wingard hurt his foot).