binman

I really rate jj, but i reckon he gets lost a bit when resting forward. Just doesn't look comfortable as a half forward. Which isnt a problem if he is a full time mid. But he cant be a full time mid if/when koz gets decent midfield minutes because he had to go forward to cover koz - or at least he did today (i guess he could also go to the wing to cover bench time for langers and hunter). When clarry comes back in it may well be at jj's expense, and I'm starting to think he might struggle to cement a spot in the starting 22 this season.

Yes. But agree, he was huge today and is a genuine a grader. And is a big out going forward I really rate the Crows. I think they and the cats are the only teams outside the top 4 with any chance of winning the flag. I just think Port will struggle to come up after last week, a game they would have targeted. And the showdown will be a target game for the crows. That said one less day won't help their cause.

Which is why I think we we will go back to our set up of spargo and nibbler as high half forwards and kozz and chin traditional small forwards (with koz doing bursts in ball). By the by, better to think of nibbler and spargs as wingers not forwards I reckon - less confusing because neither are reallt forwards as such, particularly nibbker - you just have to look at his heat map to get what I mean.

Woey.

Exactly. I think they will beat Port next week, and so also think the 18 point line is well overs.

There were at least 6 or 7 games in the first half of the season where Chandler, Kozzy, Nibbler and Spargs all played - and there would have been more if not for Kozzie's suspension. Not sure why it is suddenly a problem. Woey is not best 22 and will make way for Spargo in the next 2, 3 games tops. And the band will be back together.

Agree. But we are not fully wound up yet, and haven't got our best 22 in yet. Spargs to come back in the next game or two, chin to play closer to goal, brodie back and of course clarry and fritter back too We are two games and percentage clear of 5th, so top 4 is a lock - which really is massive this far put. Premierships are won in September not July. And we are in great shape, poor inside 50 pressure notwithstanding (it's worth noting it was good in the first 9 games, so no reason to think it won't be moving forward).

Reallt great call. I went with a friend who is out from Germany for the world cup, and we were talking about how taking advantage of momentum is critical in both sports. As is stopping the opposition's momentum when they have it. It was all going their way when they levelled the scores, and there was heaps of time on the clock. Brilliant to stave them off and whilst it never felt we really got the momentum back, we stopped theirs.

Kozzie was great, chin worked hard and that love that he took his chances. But he needs to play close to goals (which i expect he will once spargs comes back in), not high half forward. Why? Because with kozzie up around the ball or at half forward, we don't apply enough pressure inside our 50. If we had lost that game It would have been because our pressure inside our 50 was appalling. I think it was 13 tackles inside 50, to our paltry one. It was 10-1 at half time I think. That's not good enough. They won in it back in their front half, and we let them waltz it out of ours.

Weather will clear nicely by game time. Expect a perfect Melbourne winter's day, blue skys and hardly a breath of wind. Only a mll od rain has faen so ground might be a touch slippery, but not sodden.

Betting odds are interesting. Two weeks ago we were fourth favourite, behind the pies, Port and lions. We are now outright second favourite @ 5.50, behind the pies @ 2.75.

Hate to see that. He is star. So good, and his loss is huge on terms of the lions chances of winning the flag because apart from being a gun, his leg speed is critical.

From the article, in regard to our yo yo form in the last 8 weeks: 'That’s not the record of a serious premiership threat, particularly when compared to the Magpies' Dies Pierek's memory not go back two seasons? Given his cycling analogy, you might think he might have pointed to our 2021 season, and 2022 for that matter, and pondered whether our efforts to peak at exactly the right time is a feature not a bug. At least ponder if trying to peak at the right time is goody's modus operandi? After a dominant first half of the 2021 the season, we had the almost identical run of yo yo wins and losses in the same block of games and we were more than a 'premiership threat'. We won the flag in 2021 on the back of winning our last four home and away games and then playing what many called the most dominant finals ever. The pattern was almost exactly the same last year - the difference being how tough our last few games were in terms of the opponents we faced and the intense, finals like pressure of those game because of the stakes. When it came time for the final summit, we were gassed. The flag was won by a team copying our approach, who were able to win games in the middle part of the season (aided by their massive home ground advantage). And maybe pierek might have looked a bit further back for a historical guide to test his hypothesis that a dominant home and away season equals being a serious premiership threat. The last time a team was as dominant as the pies are this year in terms of the win loss ratio was the tigers in 2018. The 2018 tigers were even more dominant than the the pies this year, as evidenced by their much higher percentage. They entered the 2018 finals series at a prohibitive 1.70 to win the flag. And didn't even make the grand final, let alone win it, getting bundled out in the prelim against, you guessed it Jon - the pies. In the wash up of that season, hardwick pondered if they had been up too long. That would have been something pirek might have at least touched on in his article. Stretching the cycling analogy, winning the Giro d'talia (the McClelland Trophy) is nice. But the goal is to win the Tour de France (the flag). History suggests winning both is possible (dees say hi), but very rarely happens.

The pies are a fantastic team . We beat them and were clearly the better team on the day. The lions flogged them. We just beat the lions. Port are a fantastic team. They beat us in very similar wet, tough conditions at Adelaide oval. But it was the mirror image of that game last night - like Port we lost a game by the slimmest of margins that we should have won, and would have if we kicked accurately. If you rate the pies and Port, on OBJECTIVE form, it is logically inconsistent not to also rate the dees. Great game last night. But I saw nothing that changed my view the pies have vulnerabilities and that we are very well placed to exploit them. And nothing to dint my confidence that we will win the flag.

Yep. Project get Reid. We would have some forward line in five years, with JVR, who will he be a best by then, Jefferson hitting his straps and Reid on the rise. The Eagles need to inject mutiple first round picks to jump start their development. And even if the talk about Reid telling the Eagles he doesn't want to play there is bollocks there's always the risk of a country boy wanting to come back home to Victoria.

Except he sounded more grumpy than laconic. Reads laconic, didn't sound it.

I'm glad we didn't. What help is that sort of game for development and/or plsyers pushing their case for senior selection

Sharing forward duties with brodie for 2 or 3 games wont do much harm to the airplane's progress.

You'd have to think that of the players on the extended bench melk rivers and jj are locks. And surely chandler comes in for spargs. Smith as sub Hibbo and brodie cool their jets at cold Coburg.

That's not true. He played the dees at least twice when he played for the roos.

It's funny you should say that. I was just thinking today I might have to rethink that. Like Grumpy goody.

PETTY'S BACK

That could be an animation of goody in today's presser. He said brodie would be playing VFL. I might go watch him as Coburg is not as far as old Casey town

Go redlegs

Petty (injured) and spargo (ommited) out .