binman

And koz taken 10 plus centre bounces on multiple occasions this season.

Why dees fans would choose to ignore these obvious facts is beyond me. Acknowledging the impact of starting the season two best 22 players down (gus and smith - so essentially a list of 42 not 44), multiple senoir players having had interrupted preseasons (bb, tmac, McAdams, hunter, salo, oliver, spargo) and in season injury (bowey, Lever, may, salo, melksham,viney,Turner, McAdam, spargo, hunter, hore, Petty, Windsor, Gawn and tracc) doesn't mean you can't still think we are on the wrong path with goody or are no good. It does mean any such argument is more credible. Injury and conditioning are the two the biggest determinants of success. The first had always been the case and the latter is becoming increasingly critical with the shift to the game being about turnoversall but complete. Just look at the swans. World beaters until recently. The premiership favourites have now lost what four of 5 games and just got flogged by 112 poimts. 112 points - by a team we beat. What's changed? Injury.

Mmm. I went and kept a close eye on jeffo. A couple of reallt good tackles and marks. And kicked goals, which is his main job But he seriously needs to work on his defensive smarts, and of more concern, defensive intensity.

And lack of fitness (the two factors being interconnected of course).

That's great, I didn't realise the game was tommorow at whitten oval. I have the day off and it's on my side of town. A bus stop almost outside my house and the bus stops at West Footscray station over the bridge to the ground. Watch the magoos in footscray. Pho in Barkly Street. Then on the train to Marvel. Perfect Friday.

And his long term fans are nodding their heads sagely and saying I told you so.

Gotcha. I guess I was thinking a call up on form would be unlikely because he's been poor at Casey.

Really? I feel like it's something he wouldn't do - that's to say allow emotion to influence selection. I mean he left jordon on the bench in the GF because we didn't have an injury when not a single person would have begrudged him giving him a run.

I had forgotten that. Icke is one of my all time favourite dees, which is pretty remarkable given he played most of his career at another club. A brilliant defender who almost always battled bigger forwards. Consistent and gave his all as a Dee every single week (compare and contrast with, say, Brent Crosswell).

Christ almighty we have had some bad luck this season!

Snap.

It's a bizarre argument anyway. I mean, so what if a noob on a footy forum thinks we should rest players etc and not try and make the 8. It's the very definition of a moot point. It's like me saying this morning I really don't think it should be super foggy this morning. Oh look it's still foggy! The club will do everything in its power to win the remaining games, regardless of our opinions.

Seriously, what on earth are you on about? Did you fail the conclusion protocols or something?

Not a debate? What is it then? All i flippin said is that the club will still be doing everything they can to make finals. You asked if I'd prefer we did, and I said yes. I didn't ask for an explanation as to why you think why my desire for us to make the 8 is flawed. And to be clear that last para was rhetorical so, please, no need for a rebuttal.

No I wasn't. Again, comprehension.

Ok. You asked if I'd prefer we made the finals and I said yes. I didn't realise it was a debate or that somehow i had to justify my position. As for a moot point - it's 100% a moot point whether you or I would prefer we made the finals in terms of the club's decision to keep pushing for finals or not

What is up with people's comprehension? You have managed to miscomprehend the same post twice. Repeat after me: Of course the odds are against. I wasn't arguing otherwise.

Number one for score involvements in the AFL by some margin when he got injured.

Yes, 100%.. I have followed dees for over 50 years. That's a lot of not making finals. Where there's hope and all that

Nor the crows- who are even less likely to make finals

Of course the odds are against. I wasn't arguing otherwise. I was responding to the comment that 2025 starts now. Zero chance that we'll be putting the cue in the rack and not be trying our guts out to make finals until it's mathematically impossible.

My take is we went into the game with focus on contest, pressure and territory. And it worked a treat in the first quarter. The game got away from us when the giants got the ball to the outside - which every team is trying to do to us to exploit our lack of run and sub optimal conditioning. But the giants started paddling a bit too in the last quarter and couldn't spread as well. And the game came back to being more on our terms - territory and pressure.

Bollocks. We are 2 points out of the 8.

I thought so too, and to an extent he us a victom of the high bar he had set himself, but he has def lost a bit of his confidence. Made some average decisions last night and his kicking, which is one wood when on, was off and has been for a while. All that said I think it is often under rated how difficult it is coming back from serious contact injuries. Bowey was terrific in the preseason games and prior to injuring his shoulder in that sickening collision when he put his body on the line. Like langers after coming back from his broken ribs, bowey hasn't looked the same player since coming back from his shoulder.