binman

It's the Hogan shuffle

I wouldn't employ him. He knows nothing.

Chief you would be well across the two opposing tactical approaches of the dees and WC - Kaos and Control (apologies for using the same gag twice)

If you have an adult P2 bar code you are not using would you be willing to give to me (for reasons i dated previously on this thread)?

Hey bungalow. I'm on that flight. Happy to share a cab. Makes sense and was also going to put it out there. But I am going to go to my hotel first. Then walk to ground a bit later. My hotel is in the city so on the way to ground.

Blimey, that's good. I was just curious. I paid 1050 return on Tigerair. Out early sat morning back late sunday morning. As i was buying my tickets on Friday night the price was 520 there and 238 back. As i was about to buy the ticket i hesitated to check in with myself that going was the right thing. About 10 seconds later i decided of course i wanted to go. And before my eyes the 238 disappeared and replaced by 520. Ouch. Moral of the story. Don't hesitate. (Actually hesitating and thinking through decisions is not such a bad idea, particularly when they involve thousands of dollars. I wish i had done it more often throughout my life!).

How much are the jetstar tickets?

I appreciate the issue people have with lending bar codes to non members - and lending bar codes in general. But i want to run this up the flag pole anyway. I'm a priority 2. I have really good mate who is priority 3. He has been a life long dees fans and despite living in Sydney for the best part of 25 years has maintained his membership for almost all those years, only missing one a few years back which has scuppered his priority 2. In his lifetime (he is 50) he has not missed ONE demons final game. Including going to the last West Coast final over there. In the last few weeks he has come down for the Swans and GWS games and both finals. He and i are going across to Perth for the prelim. My mate has organised all the finals tix for me (and a group of my friends) so far, which given how much hassle it has involved is above and beyond. Should we make the GF i really want to go with him. Also as a priority 3 he is very unlikely to get a ticket and i would hate for him him to miss out (or more likely have to pay ridiculous price to a scalper or the like, which he would end up doing). That is a long winded way to say in the very unlikely event someone has priority 2 bar code they are not using and prepared to share i would be eternally grateful.

Agree on all points. The other thing he has benefited from is the synergy of the backline, which after a pretty long period of flux has been really settled in the last 7-8 weeks. No coincidence in that time teams have averaged only aprox 70 points against us. Synergy is critical for defensive units.

Remember that tablet set up in front of the bench i mentioned on the podcast. Maybe instead of key statistics and messages and tactical information it could show a feed of the sporting globe? (by the by i said on the podast that i assumed most clubs would have something similar. Perhaps they do but i have looked for it at our games, on the replays and other televised matches and have not seen any other examples).

Pretty comprehensive list. Loved them all. Also really loved: The beautifully weighted kick from Hannan to TMac to set up the first goal. They were playing an extra defender and had three set up directly in front of TMac, Not one even touched him, let alone a big spoil attempt The beautifully weighted kick from Trac to TMac to set up a goal in the last quarter. Again defenders set up in front of Tmac and trac got it over the top of the screen Good kicking is good football

.........choice of there theme song?

My thoughts exactly.

A 200 game player for the dees and a mutiple premiership winning defender.

Hello mark.

Apologies for lateness. My best is fighting harada at morpehitville. Race 2 no 1.

I think this a really good point. We didnt play our best footy against either cats or hawks. Against cats perfomances even accross the board but we didnt take chances. Against hawks (as reflected in joeboy's analysis) performance was less even. But we took our chances at goal. But our field kicking was terrible. If we put it all together we can win. A big factor will be how key players pull up. There will be some very sore players, not least maxy, viney, brayshaw and oliver. They were smashing maxy and oliver and there were some huge aeriel collisions, particularly in the second.

Im going. Wasn't going to before last night. Couldn't not after last night.

Said something similar straight after the game. His pressure was first class and the reason he is in ahead of Jeffy.

Not bad JB. Agree with most. Tyson was good in the last. Lucky for him or else he might have gone out. Melk sat on Sicily according to Goody in the presser so whilst he was quite he did his job as Sicily didn't hurt us. Fritter made a few bad errors but jeez he has good hands and reads the ball beautifully. Great move putting him down back. Omac - aka Dr Cool - played a super committed game. Got pole axed big time at one point in the second q and wobbled up to fight another contest. Ahe is a really nice kick. Fritter, Omac, Salem, Hibberd and Jetts are all good reliable kicks which is super important coming out from our back half. The back six and maxy saved us in the second quarter with their fantastic desperation.

I was supremely confident last week. Before and during the match. Not once did i think we would lose it Confident again but not as confident. Well more nervous perhaps. Hawks a better side than the Cats - but not better than us. The talk has been about this being won or lost in the midfield but i think the game will be won or lost on our gut defensive running to minimise uncontested marks and when they do get them stopping chains of them and holding them up. I have no doubt we will bring the heat and tackling. When we have lost this year it has been because we haven't spread and run defensively well enough. Bring the gut running and we win. The problem for the hawks game is that it is hard to execute under pressure - and compared to a few years ago they have too many average skilled players who miss targets when the heat is on. Conversely for our ballistic game the benefit of that model is that pressure is not a skill issue it is an intent issue. We will have the intent. So our game will hold up. A couple of thoughts about the game. I predict Trac will have his breakout game. He is marked hard, in large part because of his obvious talent and draft position but also because of 'Hollywood'style and brashness. But his numbers are actually really good and he is often involved with crucial assists. No more crucial than the smart kick to TMac for our first, critical, goal against the Cats and the brilliant intercept (pure basketball!) and handball t Jones that set up the sealer. I suspect he suffers from nerves pretty badly - he is an emotional guy. Last week s game will have done him the world of good. I think he will turn it on tonight and be a huge headache for the Hawks defence. The other thought is VDB reminds me a lot Dipper in his hey day. A big, strong winger who runs in straight lines and sets the tone with his ferocity, hunt and tackling. i'm expecting another big game from him tonight.

Did you say orifice? Uncomfortable

The grace darling in Collingwood is the go. Goid pub. Half price pints of coopers 5-7. Good outside area. 20 min walk to ground

Yes, an important point. Given that history it is interesting that we are such short priced favorites as i suspect almost every side listed above that lost the first week would have been favorites in those games. I think the anomaly this year is that Hawks were a tad lucky to be have finished top 4 and we probably should have finished top 4 and the points difference between us was small (and we had much better percentage). Most years the top 4 usually are a fair bit better than the 5-8. We certainly have been in better form in the last six weeks. And i think we are a more talented side. The other variable is the bye between the end of the home and away and the finals. Not sure of the impact but it may level things out a bit in terms of resting weary players or getting them back from injury - Tyson But of course the same is the case for the higher finishing team.

He has already notched up 60 games. Not many key position players have played that many games at such a young age. 60 of a possible 68 games is impressive.