binman

Confusing answer. Could be read two ways - the MFCSS is permanent or it is permanently in remission (im pretty sure it is the former) You are not a politician are you Andy?

The swans present an interesting challenge defensively with the two mccartin boys. Both are key to their structure, and their intercept marking is key to their defensive system. Melksham has been playing the defensive forward role brilliantly. And almost always goes to their most damaging interceptor (curiously he went to payne against the lions rather than Andrews - it's worth noting payne is taller and heavier than both mccartin boys). So melksham would be perfect on say paddy, who averaged more intercepts than his bro. Adding tmac to a forward line that has bb in it, and max or jack resting forward, would then make sure Tom McCartin would have to be accountable and would limit his ability to intercept. But tmac would also drag his opponent up the ground and out of the back line. That will mess with their defensive structure. They could hand off, but that has risks too - nor least of which being tmac clunking marks at hb or up on the wing It's that part of tmac's game we have missed the most. You only have to watch how hard bb has had to work in the last 3-4 weeks to get a sense of that. So, both tmac and melksham could work. But then a forward has to come out. No idea who though, because nibbler, spargo, fritter and kozzie are all locks. Sparrow could be the unlucky one in that scenario.

Too right. That said I'd be happy if stevic umpired all our matches - does a good job.

Cranky Franky versus faultydet? Now there's a match up I'd pay good money to watch

I don't think that's how it works. As soon as he is in red and blue he'll barely get another free for his career.

Wheely brilliant work wheelo. I am discussing the data tonight. On the above point, I think the fact you have used a ten year sample evens our some of the issues with the potential skewing of data.

Great data. The numbers jags perfectly with my prediction we would be pretty close to our optimal physical readiness for the lions game. Perhaps not fully wound up, which will terrify the other contenders, but close. As you imply, you don't need the numbers - you can see the difference between our fitness levels against the pies and blues (and of course right back o the first pies game) and the lions game with your eyes. I'm mindful some might think this is a stretch, and apologies for posting this again, but i firmly believe our obvious increased zip and energy was flagged by Goody in his presser on the day before the game with these comments: "They feel physically fresh, they feel ready to go, we feel like we have been able to build some cohesion in the way we play in the last four or five weeks."

Exactly. Anything else contradicts what Petty wants and risks causing him further distress. And in terms of a penalty, the damage to Zorko's reputation is penalty enough. Like Carmen headbutting an umpire all those years ago, people won't forget the transgression and the stain will remain forever, no matter what Zorko pursues post football.

'I prefer your disco blue away strip to the traditional darker blue of your home strip" Apparently petty hates the word strip being used instead of jumper. 'Bloody soccer term is strip' he apparently said in response to Zorko's sledge.

On it

And sure as night follows day Robinosn will blab on it about on 360 instead of talking about the actual football match and how brilliant we were What Zorko did or did not say said is absolutely not news worthy in so far as it not racial vilification so is not breach of the related rules. So there is zero justification for going into any detail. Its enough to know Zorko was way out of order and leave it there. But Robinson will want to give it oxygen. For one things it distracts from the complete embarrassment his beloved bombers are, and his part in the latest circus. And it all gets stirred into the click bait pot that masquerades as news at the Hun and on 360. He'll justify doing so by criticizing the AFLPA and/or AFL and demand some sanction. And he and Whatley will have some pathetic back and forth about it, with 'gerry' landing on let it be. The clubs have sorted it between them. And Petty wants privacy. Any chance the Robinson and his cronies can actually respect the wishes of the victim in this sad episode?

Me too

Pigs can fly

He should be canceled because he is [censored] at his job.

Agree. They were by far the best team in 2018

There no doubt about that. In another thread i posted the following in a thread during the week in relation to the criticism of us being too predictable with our kicks into the the pocket coming inside 50: It is worth noting there was a very similar discussion on DL heading into the finals last season. Come the prelim and GF we def went a bit more central with our inside 50 kicks and so moved the risk reward dial towards risk a bit more. That is one of the advantages of predictability. When coming up against us, opposition teams make tweaks to their structures, systems and tactics to counter what we do. If we do the same things all the time they respond accordingly, meaning if we suddenly become unpredictable we can catch them out. As an example, in the GF we got a jump on the dogs, party because we did something a bit different with our inside 50 entries. The dogs suddenly had to organize their defensive structure a bit differently to counter that change. A more recent, and even better, example is how we set up and implemented the set play that resulted in Kozzie's match winning goal. The blues fully expected that we would go down the line with any attacking foray in those last 2 minutes, and set up accordingly. They also put offensive players in down the line spots on their side of centre. We obviously knew they would do so and designed a set up that looked to create an outnumber in the corridor. And so, when Lever didn't even hesitate to go around his body and kicked laterally inboard to the corridor, no doubt much to Voss's shock, we incredibly had a 3 to 1 out number (by the by that kick also highlights the risks involved in being more aggressive in terms of ball movement - we turn that ball over then and the game is over as if we have a 3 to one outnumber in the corridor they had two free players somewhere - one of which being may's opponent McKay). There was another element in that play where we used our predictability to our advantage. By being unpredictable. Normally Hunt would kick that ball into one of the pockets as per our normal, predictable method. Instead he kicked to a spot 20 metres out directly in front of goal, where it was all one on ones - something Voss would be furious about - as their extras were probably protecting the space near the boundary on the members side (players who would have been stationed there expecting Lever was going to kick it towards them). I heard Bartel say he has no doubt that kick by hunt and the preceding one by Lever was a set play drawn up during the week by the coaching staff, noting that it was too far out for the blues to hit through for a point. Those sort of tweaks and taking advantage of suddenly being unpredictable are best left for the finals where they can have maximum impact, not least because opposition coaches suddenly have tactically respond on the fly. The same is true for tactics we might employ to negate, and/or respond to, strategies teams have tried against us during the home and way season. That's to say there is an advantage when goody doesn't respond during the home and away season in that he gets a look at what the other coach might try and in a big final with out showing his hand. An example is the way Geelong looked to take advantage of our kick in to Maxy by having big bodied players like Blicavs front and center at those aerial contests. Goody got criticised for not responding, but if we play the cats in the finals we know Scott might employ that same strategy, and have months to plan and train a response, yet he is only guessing what that response might be. For example, we might suddenly occasional start going short to the pocket (we have been experimenting a bit with in some recent games), and then do what the lions look to do - go long from there so the aerial contest is up near the wing, with perhaps BB and Fritter pushing up ie go over the top of Gawn and the Cats players looking to win the grounds ball.

Even if that's the case and Harry was embarrassed, what on earth did Brown mean by 'his part in it'. That 100% implies Harry somehow contributed to the incident and shared the blame to some extent. Now, that may not be what Brown meant, but he is not some yob down the pub, he is paid to convey information to a big audience, and its incumbent on him to speak in a way that can't be misconstrued.

The tigers in 2018 is an even better example.

That was my take when I heard it live. If thar is what he meant, Still a silly thing to say, as Brown was projecting his own potential response onto petty, who had zero to be embarrassed about

Exactly. Look at most of the goals in the first half, and in particular the first quarter. I actually really liked the camera angels last night actually as they had lots of down the ground and high shots that enabled you to see the incredible spread by every single dees player on the ground. Incredible running. Almost all the goals were a function of our up and down the ground gut running in waves. A great example was the one involving Langers tapping the ball to kozzie. Watch where those two players started their run from defence. Both had direct opponents who simply could not go with Kozzie or Langers - basically running 100 odd metres at top speed. And there were multiple other options all running down the ground. And am i right in thinking that goal stared with Brown marking 20 metres out form their goal? That swarm running is key to our offence and is the reason why we can generate free players inside our 50 metre arc - particularly against the lions who simply do not have the leg speed to go with us. That sort of all team wave running is only possible to the level we showed last night when we are near or at optimnal fitness.

Thanks. I was texting with a mate at half time. He was hoping for us to keep attacking and pile on the goals. I replied we were more likely to try and shut the game down and maintain their lead, as keeping their score down was the key to maximising our percentage boost. Goody will have been annoyed with the two late goals, but they did brilliant to limit the lions scoring in the second half, particularly given the lions never threw in the towel and continued to get inside 50s.

Spot on. I have a 19 year old sun. He is a full on gamer and often plays late into the night. Listening talking to his teamates and opponents (he plays a team strategy game called rust), he is often so aggressive and frankly unpleasant. I get that's part of the gaming culture but my son is not normally like that. It's like going gback in time to my youth - aggressive young blokes everywhere. [censored] like Brown are part of the problem.

This one million percent. I'm so proud of the staff and the players. That's real toughness.

The seven commentary was woeful last night. Only Daisy could hold her head high. Two many examples to recount them all, but two stood out. One was the general downplaying of the Lions form. They played high level football and brought the heat. Neale was sublime at times and some of their midfield work was exceptional. We were just levels above. The second was the pathetic misrepresentation of who was the aggressor and initiator of all the argy bargy. The lions, led by Zorko, clearly came out with a specific plan to physically go after us. It was as clear as day. Never have i felt more that i was watching a completeley differnt game than the commentators. And seriously, Hodge as a special commentator? Give me break. He adds absolutely nothing and is so wrong, so often. One second he is saying the lions have to attack and go thtough the corridor, the very next second, after we get yet another goal from a turnover, he is saying that is what happens when go through the corridor against the dees. And for Christ's sake , hodge is paid to do specials comments and he is totally clueless at round 23 that Brown has been brilliant with his bananas all season? Brown added that string to his bow in the preseason as demonstrated in the practice match against the roos. Yes i know that because i'm a dees tragic, but he is paid to know such stuff, and if not what exactly is his role? Just pathetic. And the fox trio of ex footballers were juts as bad. Brown was simply viewing the game as an upset fan and completely underrated the lions' game. Their numbers were impressive. After about 10 minutes of the first quarter we were 11 up in contested ball. By the end of the quarter it was only plus 5. And it oscillated in the 5-10 range for the rest of the match. They came out super red hot at the start of the second and third quarters. They had more inside 50s and matched us for forward half percentage - which one of our key metrics. But the most frustrating thing was the faux tough guy narrative. I get what they mean in that isn't actually being 'tough' sniping players and being way over the top with your aggression - physical and verbal. But it downplayed how out of order the lions were. It wasn't faux toughness - it was a full on pathetic assault. Ask Langdon, BB or Hunt, who got smashed multiple time as did any number of players (including maxy of course) if it was faux. i was so proud of how we channeled our energy into the footy. We won that game in the in the first 15 minutes by doing so, and did brilliantly to hold off their surges though the game.

That was so, so bizarre. I had a mate who went. A super passionate dees fan who makes Andylook optimistic. I was speaking to him as he arrived and was saying what a a hole Zorko was, that he would look to stir up stuff and was a woeful captain. He has form. Every single match. I watched the replay last night's I started watching from the first bounce live, so missed this- but on the replay as the lions run out of the stand I'm sure they had a pair of boxing gloves hanging above them sd they ran onto the fortunate. Several players hit them on the easy through. I'm assuming they had some theme, maybe something like Rocky or whatever. Pathetic. And completely ineffective