Webber

Haha, that Hird goal was 4 Casey players going up to spoil, only for it to come off for the crumb. Dumb dumb footy. Most of our Dees brigade look a serious class above. Like the look of all the newbies, no exceptions. Bedford is very very quick, and good. Needs an AFL gig, poor kid. Love that Nathan Jones, no. 2. Is he on our list?

He’s a monster kick though and pretty good with set shots, was well in range, so playing on seemed a bit low percentage to me. Otherwise, you’re right of course. Dare I say the same for Dogga’s brain fade.

Not based on the last 2 games. So much is fickle about this game, any team can be on the rollercoaster downslide at any moment. If we rediscover the form, and become more offensively dangerous, of course we can. No doubting we’re in the best position of any team currently to do it, and that’s a huge credit to the team, but past achievements count for nothing when it matters most.

Hope so, but we can only speculate. If not the case, best we can hope for is that we’re just having the inevitable form slump. Otherwise, it’s a worry.

Not sure I agree about the extra tall issue, because too often tonight we were kicking to horrible height disadvantages in the forward fifty. We just ‘looked’ short up front. Luke Jackson, for all his impressive work and star quality, doesn’t yet have the forward craft to be an effective second tall. The worry, as you say, is that BBB or the Weid do nothing for stopping easier exits, and I agree, too often tonight they had the ball outside our attacking fifty before we applied effective pressure. Where that’s gone since the Bulldogs game, who knows?

Was at the game. None of the comments here dissing the Essendon supporters is unfair. They are/were ABSOLUTELY FERAL! I knew this about them going in (there’s a reason I never got taken to Windy Hill as a boy), but somehow forgot….COVID memory weirdness maybe. No doubt the most bizarrely aggressive/aggrieved/irrational supporter group going around…..still! Good that we won, ugly and all that, but we’re simply going nowhere in finals if the current attacking/goal scoring dysfunction isn’t sorted. At the moment, our defence alone is what’s winning us games, and that’s not going to be enough at the pointy end, I don’t care how good it is. The reason we’re not having any ‘big’ wins, is because we just don’t have the scoring capability to put teams to the sword. Add to this that our disposal efficiency/skill level has dropped away noticeably (includes set shot inaccuracy and distance issues), and we need to find better, sharper, fresher form in general. The good thing is we’re still on top and have 8 more games to do so. Without it however, we’re not getting anywhere near the silverware. Steven May and Gus Brayshaw best on by some margin for mine.

Clearly we know what you think, but what’s the answer to the question?

Yeah, not sure if you’re not getting the point deliberately, or just don’t get it. I have no doubt Weideman will be dropped, or that his form means he deserves to be. I dare say he’d agree. The point is that you’ve personally judged him as being a failure in his chosen career. If you met him, would you say that to his face? I sincerely hope the answer is no. If it isn’t, well…..

This sort of stuff is unacceptable. Have a bit of a think about it, and tell us all if you really think making that kind of personal judgement about a footballer at the highest level, who is undeniably valued by his peers but who you DON’T know, is either fair or justified. Just garbage.

It’s hard not to be too reactive about this game, but in the cold hard light of day, that game was very instructive. We talk about culture a lot, and how it underpins the best teams, the premiership teams. I really hate to say it, but with all their board problems, list disasters, resigning coach and media hammering about them being a shambles, from 16th on the ladder against the ‘supposed’ premiership favourites, Collingwood have shown that they have something we don’t. At least at the moment. These are the games you win, for obvious ladder position reasons, but to show we ARE the real deal when outside distractions and expectation loads up. We kicked 9 goals. Based on today, in respect purely to premiership chances, we might just be pretenders. And I hate to say it even more, but it’s a very familiar tag and the reason this team don’t deserve our trust. Yet! They won’t have mine for the rest of the year. So much yet to earn.

Attitude and intent is everything in footy, other things being basically equal. We’ve been exposed today, when we knew they’d be playing with a full tank of it. Not up to it sadly….

This IS the pies grand final. Can’t see them dropping it from being in front.

Has he kicked a set shot this season?

Biggest difference between these two teams is desire. They have it, we’ve left it behind. Find it again and we bring it back. Don’t and we lose easy. Simples. The most disappointing thing is we MUST have known what they’d bring, and why. .

Standard Dees first quarter for 2021. It ain’t gonna work when it gets to the pointy end, not sure why they come out like this week after week (Dogs game excepted).

Haha, didn’t know there was a word for it. It’s gonna be useful as a way to describe all the amateur authorities on Covid too I reckon. But you’re never going to win this one CBF, as the many “I respect anyone’s right to ….but I DO have a problem with……” responses you’re provoking attest. That kind of inherent inability to see self-contradiction is sadly all too human, as is the fact that when progress happens, they won’t even see their own attitudes shifting positively with it.

Loving Demonland right now, particularly the considered analysis that isn’t so tainted by negativity. Game day thread is a shocker when things aren’t going well, but it’s so predictable as to be almost cute, like an irrational anger-frustration release valve. What gets me most, and I’ll never understand it, is the attacks on individual players, particularly when they’re personal, as if a skewed kick, an errant handball or a missed tackle reflects a personality or integrity defect in that player. It always makes me wonder if posters ever imagine how they’d react to reading or hearing such insults about themselves. And as we’ve now learnt, it can and does have an effect on players mental health. I remember a few years ago learning that Tom McDonald avoids ALL non-internal assessments or commentary on his football, thinking how smart that was, and then imagining how his haters (and he had lots of them as we all know) would use even that to criticise him. The dedication and work someone has to put in to play AFL football, regardless of their innate talent, is something I suspect none (or few) on here would understand. Gripe over…..GO DEMONLAND, and GO YOU MIGHTY REDLEGS!!!!

I live in the heart of Collingwood, and there’s a LOT of old-school, cheap-as ‘DEMONS’ beanies being worn on bearded noggins around here right now (maybe they’re escapees from west of Smith St). Otherwise, as it culturally now stands, Collingwood is one big fabulous melting pot…..can even have a kick down at Victoria park without needing a police escort.

But that would mean we have to wait for all players to mature before we start potting them! Nuh, can’t be right.

Wow!

Watch his interview from a couple of weeks back on MFC website/app....he’s a serious, thinking man’s footballer. Will always be looking to get the best from himself.

Yep, truly a dumping ground for raw and often poisonous mania - mostly anger, but equal amounts frustration, disappointment, blame-laying and bewilderment, with the occasional drop of hope and calm. Serves a purpose I guess, but wowee, it’s revealing of the human (dare I say Dees supporter) condition.

That Spargo and Nibbler are making the ‘whipping boy’ brigade look like the mugs they’ve always been brings joy to my heart. They are serious, professional footballers dedicated to playing to their potential in a team that understands the value of such an attitude. Never deserved the garbage so many dish up to them, and last night was the perfect vindication of that. Considering his size, the number of times Spargo not only halves contests he shouldn’t, but does the deft tap, the block, the tackle, and creates opportunity for others, not to mention his vision and ball use, is just special. And yet, just watch the knockers come back when he has a quiet one. ANB just goes and goes, always has, and for someone who has no flash and no tricks, to have found an extra skill level 6 years into his career should impress everyone. And yet......

And this time stats are the truth......58% game time, 19 disposals, 4 marks, 5 tackles, 1 very crunch goal. That’s a lot better than ‘fairly quiet’.

No thinking needed, like the Dees, and his housemate JJ, he’s the real deal.