3183 Dee

It’s weird, isn’t it? Just an irrational hatred - Jake Stringer front and centre!

Whether you subscribe to the curse or not, there are little pointers along the journey. The weirdest one was when we got pipped for 8th place in 2017 by the Eagles on the slimmest of %. To rub salt into the wounds, the Eagles’ Points For were 1964 and Points Against 1858.

We have turned the corner as a footy club - on and off the field. When I look at our progress this year, it’s no fluke. We have a plan and we’re sticking to it - again - on and off the field. This year has been incredible so far, but the best thing for me, is that we have set ourselves up for years to come. If Norm really has put a curse on this Grand Old club, maybe he has waited to see how long it would take for the club to be deserving of another Premiership. Maybe now he is ready to lift it off.

So many great things about the Jack Watts goal but, for me, the look of exhaustion and relief after he slots it, as he puts that rather infamous QB debut (and the ridiculing by Pies fans throughout his career) finally to rest.

…ANB, Bernardo Vincenzo, Kade Chandler, Steven and Billy Stretch… …Jimmy Toumpas

Make sure you scratch your left leg from time to time and drop in the occasional ‘learnings’ for full effect.

Yep - the more, the merrier, I say. Get the Goodwin-Crows connection going strong this week, to get as many SA neutrals behind us on Sat night.

Magnificent! Thank you! @DeesignerAU

I absolutely love this version of the Grand Old Flag - I think it was played last year vs St Kilda? I’d love to hear it more often at the G. Whilst I’m here, does anyone else think that the Welcome To Country that is played at the G before games is a bit quiet and lost between everything else? I would love our club to be proud of the Welcome To Country and put it out front, rather than it just being treated as a cultural nicety.

Eloquently and thoughtfully written @BoBo

West Coast by 40 ?

Announcement at 11, apparently.

A good point - this was a notable trait of our game in the first half of the season. Good to see it back, hope it stays!

That’s a great bit of info - so in terms of shots on goal it was actually 18.13, of which 5 behinds hit the post. As you say, the stats tell a different story to the score line.

We can be better than all of these teams, for longer, we just need to get our forward line sorted out and perhaps another outside runner (Bowey?)

Same - there obviously was one as he’s been quoted, but can’t find it. Maybe he said something about the umps and the AFL’s censored it ?

It wasn’t so much a comment as to when the game is played, rather a prediction for the game, whenever it takes place. Maybe this should go into the Post Match thread, but I think it’s now becoming obvious that if an opposition squeezes our mids in, they will turn it over, trying to handball to each other in tight. As long as the opposition does not then bomb the ball high into our D50, they can get good looks at goal. Our problem is that we don’t have the forward structure to put scoreboard pressure on the other way. I just think the Doggies are better set up than we are - I’d be delighted to be proven wrong, but on last night’s showing, I think we will be found out.

I think we might be in for a beating, worse luck.

Don’t disagree entirely with this: I think we have done our dash this year. Problem is that we have no plan going forward other than hit and hope - I think this will be our undoing over the next few days. I believe it’s the only thing that’s holding us back at the moment.

It’s coming home…????????

No - not time to panic. As I see it, we are in Year 1 of hopefully a few year stretch at the top end of the ladder. To be sitting top 2 for the season so far is way beyond what I expected for this year and there’s no getting around the fact that we need to ‘learn’ how to be a consistent Top 4 team. The others in contention (Port, Geelong, Brisbane. Bulldogs) have been thereabouts for at least a couple of years now and will be more comfortable with the pressure, comfortable with being ‘the hunted’. For us, it’s a new experience, which we will hopefully also get used to over the next couple of years. We’ve shown on several occasions this year, against quality opposition, that we have the bottle to stay in the contest and tough out wins, as required. However, as many on here have pointed out, we have to fix our forward line. I expect that during pre-season, Goody and co were getting pretty excited about having a fit and firing Weid and Brown combo to round off our team. Obviously, this has not been the case, and I see it as our major potential stumbling block. All the other contenders have their dominant talls and this helps them kick away during games. I suppose in our Sliding Doors moment, it would have been Hogan up top for us now, clunking everything that came near him, but not to be. I’m not sure what the answer is - I would prefer an aggressive tall to be traded in, to compliment our defence and mids, but that’s not going to happen before the end of the season. I don’t know how far the current forward line will take us - here’s hoping deep into finals.

Come on, then! I'll take you all on!

I don't think Mark Wiiliams will get the Collingwood gig: he has said on numerous occasions that he doesn't want a senior gig - that Collingwood position carries a lot more than just running a football team. Yze will likely be snapped up at some point, but hopefully not for a while yet.

I think that's the reward for being on top - everyone will go harder at you. It's great experience for this team.

It was always going to be a tough game - coming off the bye against a red-hot Bombers after a poor performance, but the boys got it done. Agree with what most have said before: we need to work out our forward line: it's what's keeping us from putting the games away earlier.