P-man

Was legit my favourite player for a while there. Will always have a soft spot for him. I’ve said a few times, he brought a swagger to our side when we were completely devoid of it. He got in opposition faces. He did the mercurial when no one else was even remotely capable. He was more than just a footnote. He will be remembered. By me at least. Cheers Jeffy. And thanks.

Roos slammed the idea of an external review of a football club, going so far as to say that you should just fire the coach and CEO if you feel there is a requirement for a third party review. He went on to say a review of operations is the weekly, monthly and yearly job of those inside the club, and they are the ones who should be tasked with conducting any review. I’ll side with Roosy on this one.

His famed kicking went down the gurgler in the back end of the year. Repeatedly missed easy targets. Overall though I think the season was a step forward for him. Which we can’t say about too many. All the individual positives have been mentioned. I’ll put in another mention for Lockhart. I really like what I see in the kid. If his body holds up he has a long AFL career ahead of him.

Roos left Gawn out of his 22. Brown said it was justified because the team finished 17th...so uh, yeah, okay. I’m not liking the rhetoric around Max. It will be outrageous if he misses out on selection. He’s had an All Australian year, comfortably.

Aside from the obvious in having (touch wood) an uninterrupted pre season and players being ready to hit the ground running, what are you clinging to when looking towards 2020 with any optimism? There is the old adage of “we couldn’t possibly be as bad”. But the fact is, we could be. For me, I keep returning to the first three quarters against West Coast, in particular the middle two quarters where we had all but total control of the game. We were scoring from chains starting in our defensive 50. We were winning clearances and scoring from forward half stoppages. We were taking contested marks, winning contested possession, tackling inside 50 and dominating inside 50s. It is that last measure that was a continuation of a theme particularly in the early part of the season; dominating the inside 50 count but not capitalising upon it. We generated 25 shots from 62 inside 50s (40%) and scored 9 goals. That obviously isn’t good enough. But the other indicators were all very positive. Of course ee fell apart in the final quarter which was the more accurate representation of the year we have had. But in terms of looking forward, it’s hard not to take heart from performing in that fashion for the bulk of the game against the reigning premier and likely Grand Finalist for this year. Is it fool’s gold? Am I being desperate? Maybe. But we all need a life raft at this stage. What’s yours?

I’m going to look at the upside because what the hell. Surely this will serve as a huge lesson for the players to be diligent and professional in how they conduct and prepare themselves in the off season. Surely the extent of the embarrassment they have brought upon themselves and the club will make them want to avoid it next year at all costs. Surely this would be the ultimate motivation for a professional athlete. Surely. SURELY.

I can’t help but laugh that the “After the siren” address to the fans this week is just snippets from the post match presser. I mean I get that it’s awkward and uncomfortable to stare down the barrel of the camera week after week to try and provide hope to the fans after the latest inept performance for which you are largely responsible. I’m sure Goodwin regrets ever agreeing to do it. But surely the very LEAST you can do under these circumstances is to see it through to the end. Two weeks to go and they’ve decided a few edits from the post match presser will do. This club is just laughably pissweak.

You could see it on their faces when they ran out onto the ground. Petracca looked utterly disinterested.

“Another tough night tonight guys. There are parts of our game that are slowly coming together but there’s still lots to improve upon. We’re frustrated. You’re frustrated. But we are working really, really hard, and we’ll be doing everything we can to get a win for you to finish the season.”

I’d be happy to see the back of him in the off season tbh.

What on earth has happened to Brayshaw?

That smattering of applause.to our first goal of the game says everything about the year we’ve had.

I agreed at the start of the year to go to the game at Manuka tonight with a Hawks mate. If I don’t make it back, I love you all.

This. He looks well and truly ready for a media gig. I’d be surprised to see him go round another year, be it here or up north.

Robbo reckons Saints are leading the race at this point. I’m pretty desensitised to the utter shitfulness of this club. That being said. If this crap season means Hill overlooks us as a designation to instead go to [censored] St Kilda,....I will be displeased. Hill is exactly the player we are crying out for.

He’s still a nervous wreck in pressers. The nervous stroking of the leg or the arm while he listens to the question is stock standard. He’ll never be a media pro. Maybe we don’t need him to be.

They are starting to have a Whiteboard Wednesday feel to them. He must rue the day he ever agreed to do it.. I imagine the first order of business in season 2020 will be no more “After the siren” videos.

It’s so clearly orchestrated just to even up the tally after shameful bias all night. It’s cheating, basically.

“Free kick to Richmond, uh, Melbourne sorry..” lol

This is a joke now. The umpiring is just so frustrating.

Watch the umps now blow the whistle in our favour for frees that have absolutely no bearing on the game just to even up the tally. Happens every week.

Deadset need to check these maggots’ pockets for a Tiger membership,

Love Harmes’ game so far.

That was really poor defending.