binman

Settle down A parasite? Sheesh.

Letting the ball go over the line is being kind. That was right below me. He had time and more than enough space to collect the ball and take on the tackler. If he had done so and beaten the tackler he had the option of a handball to Oliver or a kick down the line. A throw in gave us nothing. But he didn't want to get tackled. And Oliver called him on it. Late in last weeks game against the tigers he pulled up from a contest. He seems to be picking his contests, which leaders don't do.

Not sure I agree. Melk could have made thar distance. He did off one step on his left in the semi (albeit not over a bloke on the mark). As others have said he pulled the wrong rein with his pulled kick. Had to either go for a goal, which may well not have got there but could have been punched through, either by us or them. Or to the forward pocket for a point or boundary line throw in. A stoppage gives us a chance to lock it and even score. A point ensures we can't lose the match and allows us time to flood back far enough to force the short kick to the pocket and then into their back 50 if required (as happened). The worst result was kicking it straight to their ruck man.

Snap. Just saw the giph and thought exactly the same thing. The forwards didn't mark it but were able to bring it ground, which is a harder task when bombed high and/or to the defender's advantage

Good post with a number of good points. On where he is at I'd add to the point about his young age for a kpd, he like his brother and others had post season surgery and an interrupted pre season. As you say when not playing well ite seems to be a beacon for crtisism. But even when playing well some, including commentators, only seem to note his mistakes. I agree with the crtisisms of him not moving towards the ball twice in rhe last quarter and being outmarked as a result. But to suggest he nearly cost us the game is ridiculous. What nearly cost us that game - one we should have won by 5 goals - was our appalling handball and kicking skills all game. But particularly in rhe first half. Hore, Fritter, Lewis , gawn and Oliver made multiple howlers that cost both goals and chances at goal. It was a joke. Capped off by traccs shot on goal Jeffy for all his improved work cost us a sure goal with his selfishness (though it was great that he made up for that later) and don't get me started about harmed and his two identical 50s. Omac did not miss a target by hand or foot. 100% de in a team that at half time was going at a woeful 52%. And before anyone says that his kicks were all easy crosses remember several were high risk 40 metre arrows that picked out teammates and set up forward attacks (besides half our team can't make those easy 30 metre crosses). Another positive is that he took a couple of good contested marks (the second one at an important time), something he rightly has been knocked for for not doing. So all in all an improved game from omac. But i'm sure, with petty among our best in the vfl that if goody thinks omac is the liability some think he is then he will drop him. We'll see Thursday night.

They are having an off year for precisely the same reason we are: injuries and interrupted pre seasons. 4-5 of their best 22 out (and 3 of their best four) on sat night and dusty clearly not fully fit or carrying an injury. Any team would struggle wirh that scenario (and we are even worse off with 7-8 of our best out and multiple players not fit) Compare to the pies and cats. Hardly any key injuries and flying.

Well I for one was confident before the win (and am on record as such)

If we win 10 more games our percentage will be fine. And besides the comp is so even in that midddle group that 11 wins might be enough. I still think many simply don't get that the issue isn't game plan, drinking bathwater, pert, issues between the coach and Macca, goody ability ad coach etc etc. The key issue is our lack of fitness and way too many players out. Simple Fix that and winning 10 of 15 games is more than possible.

It's all about building fitness across the board and getting key players back. Exhibit A is hibbo. Clearly looked fitter and had better movement than previous games. And had a much improved game as a result. Exhibit B. Tmac. Still clearly hampered. But getting there. Three more weeks and I suspect he'll be over what ever the issue is (toe) and fitness will be where it should be at. I reckon 12 games will be enough to make the 8 this year. Which means we need to win 10 of 15. If we can get to 12 games and have six wins we will need 6 from our last 10. Doable as by then we shoild have may, lever, jetts, viney and hannan back in the team. Season is far from.over and talk of putting the cue in the rack and focusing on 2020 is poppy [censored]

Huh? HE WAS MAKING A JOKE.

No. Forward for sure. I think you're a bit rattled dl. Don't stress. We'll win. 23 points

Dazzler's confidence you would work it out was misplaced. He was making a joke about it being a pity preuss wasn't in to run through Scully. Sheesh.

Agree rusty. Hopefully goody has them in a good headspace and they play with a little more freedom and a bit more relaxed. They seem to have been afraid of taking risks and trying too hard if that makes sense. Tight. Also they're almost as slow us so won't hurt us in the spread like the bombers, saints and tigers did.

I second that. In some ways Dec land feels like an honorary Demonland poster and part of the somewhat dysfunctional Demonland family. Kudos to you too Drunkn. I really admire how you've gone about posting about your brother's journey. Always even handed and sanguine about the occasional barb he has received from some posters. I feel for Smith, like his namesake, he can't take a trick with injury. But I actually think Kielty's height and reach makes him a better fit for us. I also suspect he, like another poster has suggested, will take the step up to AFL in his stride and I reckon the level will suit him. Huge opportunity to cement a spot.

One more reason to go to the game

For those who think the dees will get smashed you might want to consider having a punt on the hawks if you are so inclined. They are only 1.72 to win and only have 4.5 point start. That is pretty even. And to be honest the betting markets about the most objective measure of a teams chances of success. Plenty of people obviously think the dees are in with a good chance of winning this game. I'm one

Good call bing. Friiter has to go forward and plat high half forard. We need him kicking inside 50 and kicking a couple himself. Has struggled down back and forward his best postion IMO. And yes TMAc back up forward. I hope the 10 days has meant T'Mac's foot is all good and he finds something close to his best. We need him up and about.

I'm now even more confident with omac back. Relax, we've got this.

I have the same condition - the Pollyanna syndrome

I'm on top of two tipping vcomps one of ewhich is quite big and has been running for 15 odd years. I have won it once, years ago, but struuggled ever since - in part because i always pick the dees. I want to win. Have been mulling over the dees game and have landed on picking us. Go dees. We'll win by 23 points.

Good post Yung Blood. To your list of key players i'd Weed. Clearly struggling with fitness and injury and is critical to our structure. Viney was also struggling before his injury. Completely agree on the confidence front too. They look afraid of making mistake and not playing instinctively. On the last point having reduced pre seasons sessions and multiple players in rehab would make it super hard to build the team synergy and complete knowledge of team structures that supports instinctive football. This synergy is critical for all clubs, particularly in terms of defending, but in some ways even more so for us given we employ an aggressive zone defense and our game plan relies on lots of quick, no look handballs to get the ball to a free player. When Goody talks about connection to a large extent synergy is what he is talking about.

Not yet OD. The back to back saints and tigers losses left my confidence reserves on empty but i'm feeling a tad more positive now. Season not done and dusted yet. I think we will win the next two games and get to 3 and 5. By then we should be close to the necessary fitness levels and will have some players close to returning and Preuss and Viney should be back in. Time to hang tough. We're dees fans - it should be second nature.

I might well have missed it but i don't recall a single post from a poster writing that they plan to put another poster on ignore because they they don't agree with their opinion. Happy to be corrected with any such examples. A pet hate of mine is posters writing factually incorrect comments, either because of comprehension issues (not so bad, after all you can't get too annoyed if someone is not that sharp), deliberately misconstruing other's comments (worse) or plain untruths to push an agenda (even worse). Not suggesting you fall into one of those categories Smokey as as i noted perhaps i missed the multiple posts where posters have talked about putting people 'on ignore because they don't agree with their opinion' (your post say people so i assume you have more than one example).

Don't usually listen to Whately as i'm at work but was driving and caught that. I was really surprised Riewoldt (who i usually don't like but found quite interesting today) didn't mention the fitness and injury issue or for that matter neither did Whately as apparently he said just yesterday that it was THE reason for our form. All the things Riewoldt mentioned - not getting back, structures etc (and factors he didn't mention like skill execution) - are no doubt issues but i see more as symptoms of having a crap pre season. The difficult pre season obviously impact not just fitness levels but also the opportunity to practice skills and at an individual level and systems, strategies, plays etc at the team level. They also discussed the fact that WC and the dees both had full contact, mouth guards in, training sessions this week, which was interesting. Riewoldt noted that such sessions were rare in season (as most sessions in season are about recovery,the game are what build fitness and there is big risk of injury) and that they represent one of the few opportunities coaches have to influence the mind set of the team on the track. A break glass in emergency sort of thing (my words). I hadn't really considered that the games build fitness (which is a bit stupid i know given how taxing games are) and this gives me some hope that, injuries notwithstanding, we might be getting closer to an appropriate level of fitness.

Finaly a footy pundit gets it. He is 100% right. Well 90%. The injuries to Smith, preeuss, kk and may (and now viney) have made things even more difficult. Perfect storm. Footy culture is that you never blame injury and fitness. Soldier out, soldier in, gives a player a chance yada yada yada.Goody's comments about no excuses is yet one more example of this culture. And the media and fans generally buy into this silly narrative. Instead they fixate on furphys such as game plan and stupid rumours of ructions to try and make sense of the poor form. Blind freddy can see we are not fit enough, key players are carrying injuries in games and that a third of our best players are out injured.