binman

You might be right. But i was thinking they might drop him, not for form related reasons, but because we so obviously need a second a tall forward and if Tmac is not ready, Weed is not even in the frame, they don't want to try JVR then Smith is the only other option.

Smith in for melksham is my guess as the only change.

They are nor mutually exclusive.

There's a specific form that needs to be completed when making an apology to you? A touch beauracratic I would have thought.

Better than a Pagan Fagan moment!

I am more concerned we lose this match than i was before round 23. I reckon now that they have won a final they'll view this match, on our home deck and at long odds to win, as a free hit and play more relaxed. And I feel like we are under more pressure.

That makes more sense. To the eye the swans were on top in the post clearance cps - a stat that is one of kpis. Almost as if the Swans focus is on winning those contests as opposed to winning g cps at the stoppage

Ta. I half expected that the pies and swans might have had more post clearance cps. It reinforces in my mind that the swans and pies are both doing something different.

Well done cats.

Does anyone know the post clearance contested possession numbers for our game and the pies cats game?

All good points. I predicted a damp squib for these finals, with the lions tigers game being the only close one. Could not have been more wrong. The pressure the swans and pies brought is almost like a new style. I mean pressure is fundamental to finals footy obviously, but the pressure both teams bring to disrupt exit from stoppages is something different. Curiously both teams had significantly less contested possessions than their opponents - the swans minus 25 and pies minus 21. On our sytem, I can't get my head around why we have changed it so much. I had expected us to go hard and fast against the swans, which we did. We didn't get ant score board seperation in the first half, so cam out and played fast in the third. But we never tried to control the tempo, which is a key part of our system. Well, it used to be. Yes, that was in large part due to the smart way the swans stopped us doing so, for example by tagging langdon and Salem (who we use a lot to control tempo) and denying us time and space. But we also fed into the pace of the game by going for high risk kicks into the corridor. Made more high risk by gawn and may trying them - and giving up three goals in doing so. So weird for us to be play such high risk, high reward footy. And we paid the price we normally make other teams pay. I don't know what the numbers were at games end, but at half time I think I saw on the scoreboard we had scored maybe one goal from turnover and they had scored 4 or 5. Such a perplexing game tactically. Yes, a big part of that was the great tactical work by the swans, but nonetheless we contributed to the tactical weirdness.

It looked terrible live. Poor bugger was in absolute agony. On the slo mo replay tou could almost see it happen. I hate to see players get injured like that.

I reckon maxy was also carrying.g something. I was in the Olympic stand and at one point in, I think, the third, maxy was running directly toward me as the ball headed to the boundar line. His running action was so awkward and said to my mate that he had done his hammy. He obviously hadn't, because he stayed on, but something was not right with his movement.

Sure, but trac gave us zero run

Maybe. But he was heavily limping for ages. I watched him for while with my binos and he can barely move at one point. Surely there's a point at which the coach over rules the player?

Seriously? He was moving like a cripple in the second half. I was gob smacked, and remain so, that Goody didn't bring Smith on for him. I mean, what the point of having a medi sub if you don't use it when needed? We were basically down a player for a big chunk of the match. We really needed the run Smith and energy would have contributed. Totally baffling.

I thought it was gastro?

Agree with all of the baove. But i'd add that the biggest stuff up was lynch bot splitting the center with that kick. I mean that was total gimme.

Jordon must recover quickly from surgery

That is approximately how i think the game will go - i've predicted a 47 point win. No, its not last year. We are better this year. Delusional? Nup. Or if it is, there are a lot of punters who share the delusion, given bookies are only offering for $4.25 for a 40 point plus win. That price is about right i reckon, given we are a far better team and close finals, particularly in the first week of finals, are quite uncommon - in part because once a game is decided (ie one team has an unassailable lead), the losing team often folds in elimination finals as the realization hits they are finished for the year, or in the case of Qualifying finals they conserve energy for their semi. By way of example, the margins in the finals last year were: QF 2 - Dees hammered the lions by 33 QF 1 - Port hammered cats by 43 points EF1 - the dogs smashed the bombers by 49 points (after scores were all but level at half time) EF2 - the one close game, with the giants beating the swans by a point Semi 1 - Cats beat giants by 38 Semi 2 - dogs beat the lions in a thriller by a point PF 1 - Dees [censored] the cats by 73 points PF 2 - dogs smash port by 71 points GF - Dees smash dogs by 74 points So, nine finals with only two close games and seven hidings.

Coach's run

Not goody

I stopped drinking at the beginning of COVID to lose some weight. And haven't picked it back up again, so i'm a bit out of the loop on bars (i've discovered they are not as much fun sober). But i'd recommended the Duke of Wellington on the corner of Flinders and Russell. Back in the day it was owned by Brian 'Whale' Roberts the ex tigers player, and was a classic old school footy pub. It has been completely done up, and now looks super trendy - and seems to be packed all the time. To be honest, I've not been there since its make over, but i've heard it's a pretty cool (youngish) vibe, the food is good and lots of TVs with sport on them. Great spot, particularly if you are coming into the city before gong to the footy. Twenty minute stroll to the ground post drinks. https://dukeofwellington.com.au/

I think it is safe to assume Salem will come in Bowey would be stiff to be dropped, thought arguably not as stiff as JJ was, but he is the logical player to come out.

If Bedford makes zero sense as a sub why has he, as you point out, been a sub in 12 games? I like Smith as a sub because of his athleticism and versatility. Not keen on Dunstan or Tomo as subs as neither are versatile or athletic enough