binman

Agree. An issue for the cats against us is that their controlled ball movement plays into our hands on two fronts. One, it allows us to set our defensive zone up - and in doing so making it hard for the Cats to transition from the back half, and therefore hard to create one on one opportunities for their forwards. And two, it is a model that is susceptible to the sort of intensity we bring, as we push right up on them up and every possession becomes a turnover risk. And if it is turned over it is often in our half. Their best chance of beating us is really fast ball movement because that is their best shot of isolating their forwards and scoring enough to beat us. In a funny way, their burst of goals in round 23 is the blueprint - not so much how they generated those inside 50 entries (because they are unlikely to get so many clean centre square clearances again), but more the speed of ball movement and engineering one on ones. They definitely looked to move the ball quicker from HB against the giants. Tuohy was a big factor as he looked to run and carry at every opportunity. So you'd think they will try to do so against us. Maybe. I say maybe, because playing fast creates a catch 22 for them as we are at our most dangerous when there is speed on the ball. Play fast and if we create a back half turnover we move it super quick down the ground against a defence that has not had time to get back and set up their zone. This play is our most potent offensive weapon. In much the same way soccer teams that don't have the firepower of an opponent often play, the Cats might decide their best bet is to take as much time out of the clock as possible and try and win a low scoring dirge.

At the risk of having a circular argument, I'm not 'adding in extra players'. YOU were comparing Brown, Tmac and Fritter and Hawkins, Cameron and Rohan- not me I was talking about our talls in our forward line v theirs because that is who King was referring to. He was pointing out Ratugolea added to Cameron, Rohan and Hawkins and that was a forward line the dees would 'die for', implying it is far superior to ours. Which is bollocks. Which is the point I was making. Our forward line has had four talls most of the season, assuming you count fritter, which I do as he is a marking target, not a crumber. The current iteration - Jackson, Brown, Tmac and Fritter - is a good group of tall forwards. The cats tall forwards in Ratugolea Cameron, Rohan and Hawkins is also a good group. But do you really think it is one that goody would 'die for'. Quite the contrary. Bringing Ratugolea in at this late stage is evidence the cats don't believe the others can do the job in finals. And probably an admission they need a player like Jackson who can do solid minutes as an around the ground ruckman (not a bull who only takes inside 50 stoppages - that by the by we negated last time by simply using Max more often at ruck contests inside their 50). Hawkins is one dimensional and really can only play out of the square. He has limited impact if not kicking goals. Which would not be a good fit for our game plan. Our forwards have to be able to run up and down the ground all day - particularly tmac, Jackson and Brown. And good zones beat the old school wrestle gorillas. Cameron would slot into our side and game plan perfectly, and keep say tmac out. But Fritter has rohan covered in every respect. And Jackson is so far ahead of Ratugolea its not even a discussion. So all things considered king's assertion they have a forward line we would die for is bollocks. If you agree with King then that's OK. Each to their own

You forgot to include Jackson's 15 goals. So 130 to 116. 14 goal difference over a season. Bugger all. And none of their talls can provide a decent on ball ruck option.

I didn't say we had a better forward line. My point was that their forward line is not one we would 'die for', which is literally what he said. But on the topic of their forward line, Rohan has a dismal finals record and if Hawkins is not kicking goals he offers little else because unlike tmac and Brown he struggles getting up and down the ground and impacting outside 50.

The other thing King said that burnt my bacon was the cats had a forward line that the dees would 'die for' (in reference to their talls) Seriously WTF is he talking about? Fritter is arguably the best medium forward in the game atm (I'm not counting Cameron). Brown is hitting his straps and is kicking goals and taking marks. Tmac has been down the ladt couple, but has been a star for us this year. Jackson is starting to clunk his marks and is an incredibly tough match up. And gawn can push forward, as can tracc. Look at our first final. We had 15 odd marks inside 50. And whilst he was talking about talls, we have kozzie. And tbey have......

Agree. With daisy my favourite media analyst. By a big margin too. And he has a really good skill of countering king's arguments without it becoming a dead end conflict. And he can articulate his points clearly.

It's funny you say that AF. I just watched it an hour or so ago too. And was also thinking King is a peanut too. Though for a different reason. He got cut off fortunately, but he started to say talk about how evenly matched we were based on our last game. Do you take the cats in the first half or the dees in rhe second he asked. Peanut. Montagna, to his credit, responded indirectly to that comment a bit later by noting the dees were actually in top for most of that game and that rhe cats got their first half goals in a 5 minute burst. The cats kicked 2 bloody goals in the second half. Surely that is alarm bells. Not for king it seems, who after that game was lauding their 'star power'.

Agree. Our game is built for big grounds. One because we spread and run in waves in transition. But the key benefit is the comparative advantage we have. We have the best defensive web/zone and move across the ground to stop the switch and transition better than any other club. Small grounds, eg Kardinia Park, reduces that advantage. Would not surprise me if they look to switch a bit more and spread early doors, as they did against the lions, to make the cats have to run .

Exactly. The club has lost a lot of money this year with no crowds. It would love some more membership revenue

If that is his real name? Comedy gold adonski. If that is your real name....

Exactly. Stop transmission? No, not completely. Reduce transmission? Yes. Which is one the reasons why it is so important to get Vax rates up in Sydney and Melbourne And why it is so important we now suppress the spread. And why misinformed views suggesting vaccines do nothing to stop the spread are so dangerous

Once again, this is simply wrong. And it is really dangerous misinformation, not to mention unhelpful.

I'll bet you Damien Barret agrees with Alanis Morissette's definition of irony. Don't let the sliding door hit you on the way out Damo.

That is just plain wrong. Please save yourself the effort of replying, arguing or asking me to explain why. Do some reading of the basic facts. There is reams of useful, accurate information out there. For Pete's sake, how people could not understand the basics about this disease and the response to it this far into the pandemic just blows my mind. But it certainly explains a lot of about peoples choices, their behavior and the situation we are in.

The footy gods are all powerful. But not above some mischief making, as Eddie 'my old mate (insert some rich blokes name here)' McGuire recently found out.

I'm Gary Lyon. And so's my wife.

Do you you know what will hurt more than not being able to go to the g to see tge dees play a GF? Not making it to one this year. Ir we di make it, of course it is upsetting not to be able to go. All those hundreds of matches sitting at the top of the ponsford, and miss this one. But there it is I'm thrilled for fans like you psd, mcquuen, et, chook in Perth and all the other WA fans. It really is awesome for you all. And great reward for sticking fat with dees in eagle town. In rhe lead up to the prelim you will all be able to fly tge red and blue with pride I hope you all can get tickets for tge prelim and gf, if we make it (a stress that I won't have to bother with, which is a small mercy) And leaving aside the disappointment of the gf not being at the g, obtus oval is a great option. It will be a fantastic event. And us vics will get our chance next year and beyond. And those chances will mean so much more because if missing out this year We are a seriously good unit, with the perfect list age and talent wise to be a force for the next five years. Compare us to the Eagles and cats. They are super reliant on blokes 30 and over. Our most senior players cant even get a game. Go redlegs

Agree. Port have come into form a the right time, and have most, if not all, of their best 22 back. And they get the advantage of the home finals. The dogs have been off their tucker of late but got the contest part of their game back on track last week. If they get get back to their best they are a huge chance as their best is best is a better than than Ports best reckon. And Beveridge loves the us against them narrative, so might well thrive in front of the Port ferals fans

I'm a Smith fan, but he struggles one on one against natural forwards who read the ball in flight and use their body well. A player like Fritter would give him a bath. Cameron is one of the bets in the business, one on one, so it was always going to be tough ask for Smith. However, to balance the critique of his performance against Cameron it is important to note that he kept him to one possession and a point in the second quarter when we won the game. And significantly Goody kept Smith on him all game. So must have been pretty happy with with the defensive set up across the board. For me it depends on matchups. he is perfect for Geelong as they run with three talls and only Hawkins is really stay at home forward, so Smith can stay with Rohan and Cameron running. All that said, if Hunt is ready to go for the finals i'd bring him in a flash, with Smith the unlucky out.

Not at all sue. To be honest, I find the narrative of the AFL as a Machiavellian puppet master all a bit silly.

For those criticising the AFL, the tribunal is independent. The AFL asked for six weeks

Given he pleaded not guilty and the afl.asked for 6, 3 weeks is a joke. The afl should appeal

That's exactly what I thought. Stupid beyond words given he can't deny contact. Will deservedly add 2 weeks to his penalty, impacting the start of their 2022 season. What are they thinking?

I'm taking it one week at time. So no comment until Friday 7:51 pm

Didn't take you for an anti vaxxer jaded