Dr. Gonzo

I'm not saying Max has to play aggro but he does have to play smarter I feel.

I disagree, the way we came out against Collingwood showed that our endeavour was wanting. For a team that had a point to prove after 2022 it was extremely disappointing. We have allowed a 3rd rate hack in Cox to bully us for years and it happened again at the very first bounce where he ran straight into Max with his knee. Our endeavour in the Carlton game was much better and we came out breathing fire but we didn't capitalise. I'm not so fussed about the Carlton game to be honest because other than the ignominy of going out in straight sets our dash was done in the QF.

My analysis is that we are too predictable going forward, we just hack it in like banging our heads against a brick wall instead of taking time to be more creative with the footy. Is this coaches or players? A bit of both I think. We do need to change our style, and we didn't. That's where the whinge comes from. Kozzie needs to spend more time in the middle, he has speed and creativity which we sorely lack. The cultural issues need to be knocked on the head. The team seems either too complacent or they have a soft underbelly. They talk a lot about wanting to have a great culture and being ruthless but actions talk and they have floundered when it mattered two years running. Can we turn it around? Yes absolutely. Will we? I think that's yet to be proven especially with teams like Adeliade, GWS, Carlton and I think Freo pushing for a flag over the next couple of years.

Heartbreaking performance for Browns fans. They've been smashed with injuries this year but was hoping for a fairytale Flacco run and a Balt/E AFCCG, not to be. Texans very good and Singletary with a couple of good runs early opened the game up for them. Back to back pick 6s from Flacco and that's the ball game.

So the problem was that we didn't adapt our game style to suit our personnel. 69 inside 50s vs 37 to Collingwood. Besides that we clearly didn't turn up to play in the QF and/or were spooked. We allow ourselves to be bullied (and I'm not talking about the Maynard/Brayshaw incident). That is either down to complacency or a soft underbelly.

As opposed to Collingwoods formidable forward line 🙄 Hill Mihocek Elliott McCreery De Goey J Daicos Kozzie wasn't able to have stints on the ball because the coaches refused to play him there. After his round 1 suspension he spent very little time in the centre other than attending bounces at the start of quarters.

On top of that there seem to be cultural/behavioural issues which have not been managed properly. Oliver, Smith and the smoke around Goodwin, there seems to be leaking from the club to push narratives in the media - the governance seems to have slipped since Jackson was at the club.

Inexcusable.

Excuses. Fact is when push came to shove we were found wanting two years in a row. This team needs a reality check, they are wasting a golden opportunity and seem to be content with 2021. That's a long time ago now and they seem to wilt under the pressure of big, hostile crowds. 2024 will tell a lot about the character of the players, coaches and club as a whole. Another flag with this list is non-negotiable.

Cleveland (1-6) Miami (1-6) Buffalo (13+) Dallas (13+) LA Rams (7-12) Tampa Bay (1-6)

Come to NY Pete!

I've been flat out all week and haven't even seen any results yet (I've just now watched the 6 minute highlights of Buffalo/Miami and that's all I've seen) so this comes as a shock! Thanks for running this comp @Macca a bit of fun during the NFL season! I think initially I had Philly and changed to Seattle at the last minute, who says you should never change a tip! I'll have to make sure I'm back next season to defend my crown 👑

Bucs Seattle Dallas

Was tossing up between Raiders and Falcons, went with Falcons because I think they have more to play for technically still able to take out the NFC South. I guess the Raiders could still pinch a wildcard as well but that seems highly unlikely.

49ers Rams Falcons

If we won it must have been Easter Monday 1990 vs Essendon, was a great game (I was there too) - we didn't beat the Bombers too much in those days (I reckon we would be lucky to have won half a dozen games against them during Sheedy's 27 years tenure) though we did beat them twice in 1990. https://afltables.com/afl/stats/games/1990/051119900416.html

They'll use Goschs when we move to Caulfield and will have state of the art facilities built into the southern stand upgrade - they've already been pushing for medical facilities such as MRI machines etc to be included, you can bet everything they've been asking for will be for Collingwood's benefit. They already basically own the Ponsford stand this will be a continuation of that.

They've already been lobbying to have facilities built into the southern stand upgrade incorporating an upgrade of the section between southern stand and their training centre covering over Richmond station.

Put away the footys in preseason and bring out the chickens!

This is the first game I remember as well, I may have gone to some games in 1987 but can't remember them but 1988 as a 6yo that whole season is etched in my memory. We used to go almost every week missing the odd away games that were too far (Geelong/Footscray).

Bills Packers Seahawks

Those NFL cases stemmed from the NFL deliberately ignoring/undermining studies into CTE. When CTE started to become apparent as a real issue the NFL brushed it off and did nothing to minimise head shots. That has changed now, about 10-15 years too late, but the AFL has been trying to stamp out head high hits (even unintentional) for some time so they probably won't be held to the same level of negligence as the NFL.

The Carlton game was annoying/frustrating to lose but the Pies game was the one that cost us. A KO'd Brayshaw and terrible kicking for goal (eg guys like Fritsch who usually never miss) cost us the game and possibly the flag. Had we scraped past Carlton we wouldn't have beaten Brisbane in the PF anyway.

Barassi suspension

No rule change required, Maynard should have been suspended. AFL let him off on the "big club/big game" defense. It was a deliberate shirtfront.