bing181

Yes, repeat of the Stretch situation. Unfortunately. Looking good for next year though.

Was thinking Hogan to kick 8. Due for a big one.

Woah ... this is just delusional.

With a team that was MUCH more experienced than ours. Even then Ablett had 120+ games, and alongside him they had the likes of Scarlett, Ottens, Mooney, Corey, Ling, Chapman, Harley, Milburn all of whom were 150+ gamers (or close to), not to mention players such as Enright, Johnson, Bartel and Kelly (amongst others) who were 100+. We have nothing like that experience.

Yes, got that part, but it goes further than that, it's experience across all positions that counts. Look at that last length-of-the-ground play from Geelong on Saturday: Ablett (315) to Stewart (38) to Menzel (67) to Hawkins (226) to Duncan (174) to Tuohy (162).

Those stats should be pinned to the top of every forum on Demonland. Though you missed out Gawn (91), Hogan (68), Lever (67), Oscar Mac (54) etc.

We're 2 seasons away from being the side that many on here think we are.

Worth noting. Once again. Even Gawn doesn't have many more than that.

Not half as woeful as this little contribution from you. Pathetic.

School of hard knocks.

It seems so, but he needs another couple of weeks apparently. Maybe Kent next cab off the rank, though not sure where he's at on the comeback trail.

Pass me the violins.

Therein lies the rub, especially with Viney and Stretch out.

Was interesting to see the runner go out and pull him off in the last couple of minutes. They clearly wanted calmer heads out there.

We lost clearances 44 35, and stoppages 31 20. Hard to win when that's going on. I accept that Lever and Hibberd are big omissions, but Viney out is really hurting us.

Last 2 minutes makes edifying vision - though easy to say in hindsight. Frost's great (almost) intercept, which he then bombs into no-man's-land for a turnover. O Mac's great intercept mark, which he managed to get perfectly to Petracca. Who then bombed forward when the name of the game is possession/run the clock down? JKH's easy miss that would have spared us the previous 10 pages of discussion. Then everyone's hero, Frost, ball-watching and leaving Hawkins unattended in the middle of the ground ... and the rest, as they say, is history.

Also down to experience.

To go down to Geelong and lose by less than a goal - can't fault the effort. Suspect that JKH has played his last game in a Melbourne jumper, and we really, really missed Viney, felt like we were one mid down all game.

Can't fault the intent or application. Just feel we don't have enough class on the field, really missing Lever, Hibberd, Viney and on the basis of what he'd done of late, even Stretch. Let's see.

Don't feel confident about this one - or even the next few for that matter: Lever, Viney, Hibberd out, a step too far.

Fair enough then ...

Actually, on the basis of what's been reported, we have zero evidence that running out a foot injury is risky - because we're ignoring all the occasions when running it out works. We're only hearing about when it (perhaps) doesn't. As Tom Mac said re his own foot/toe issues, as a footballer, you're constantly having problems with feet and toes: you get stood on, you get knocks, you're doing a lot of running, and it's not called *foot* ball for nothing. Once again, we're only hearing about when these develop into something more serious, while ignoring the majority of times when they don't. Every player on our list would be nursing/carrying some kind of niggle, including foot/toes.

Based (only) on the stats, perhaps his confidence has taken a bit of a hit ... Learning curve.

Weideman for Hannan. Apart from anything else, lets us leave Tom McD up forward the whole match as Weideman would cover for Gawn. Tyson for Viney seems obvious, perhaps they wanted more pace against the Dogs, but do we need more grunt against Geelong?

Pinch hitting in the ruck for starters. Would enable us to leave Tom Mac forward the whole game, and ensure that even when either Tom or Hogan are resting, we still have 2 talls up forward.