binman

Nice of the blues to make my point so soon by losing a home game against the winless and hapless Crows. But seriously, how many posters actually objectively think that loss is evidence the Blues are not contenders, won't make top 4 and can't win the flag? And the giants were very lucky to win at home against a middle of the road saints. Yes they won, but if the dees won a home game against the Saints in such an unconvincing fashion there would be plenty of DL posters saying it was evidence we are not contenders.

Apply Occam's razor.

Precisely my take.

Yep, sums up the game in a nutshell. Fairly predictable the level of henny penny, sky is falling reactions in this post match thread. I'm sure there was a similar level of angst on the swans Demonland equivalent after they were completely woeful in their loss to a very average tigers outfit. But as objective footy fans, I'm pretty confident few Demonland posters think that very disappointing loss is evidence the swans are no good, won't make top 4, can't win the flag etc etc. Similarly, when one of the other real contenders - giants, Port, blues and cats - inevitably lose a match they are favourites to win, few will argue that's evidence they can't win a flag.

Good call. Tmac was excellent all night

Just got home. Won't be watching no replay tonight. The only positive from that woeful display was it gave me a chance to revisit a sledge from the dim past: 'you're going nowhere lions - a half decent team would have flogged us by 10 goals'

Indeed. I'm most definitely in the Hoyne camp. Hoyne highlighted that, like this time last year our above average accuracy should be factored in to any assessment of how we are travelling. As At the break of Gawn notes Daniel Hoyne highlighted 'we’ve been losing inside 50, clearances, contested possession and we're only a middle of the road side at defending ball movement.' Hoyne's other point was that gives scope for improvement. Which I agree with, particularly with Bowser and Melksham both available in the back half of the season. But Hoyne didn't note that a couple of weeks back, when discussing our changed method, that Dees' fans will have to be patient as we will give up scores on turnover and make mistakes as we adjust to a different method, particularly the transition stuff. That said, I think there is a chance those numbers are not necessarily an indication of problems. I agree with @Binmans PA and others analaysis that we are setting up deep defensively and creating space in front of us to transition more effectively. I dont have any data to support this, but we also seem to be more fluid in terms of defenders rolling off their man and taking different opponents. Lever, may and tmac have been waxing and swapping opponents and zoning off super well. And as has been the case for three years, they are brilliant at ensuring there is a player behind the ball. It's striking how infrequently we give up walk in or out the back goals. But playing deep defensively means part of the method is accepting the need to absorb more deep inside 50s. And when we win it back we are more often starting the transition from closer to the opponents goal, decreasing our chances or successfully scoring from our back half. Perhaps the stats Hoyne notes reflect these factors. And besides, sure we have been accurate, but we have also kept opponents, including two of last year's highest scoring sides to bloody low scores. Our defence has been incredible.

No. But there is no doubt that our run into the finals last year took a physical and psychological toll. Ditto for 2022. Conversely, our run into the 2021 final, even with the drama of the last round win against the cats, was far less taxing.

Even if the pies are back to their best, the last 5 games is a pretty good run home. Four of our last 5 games in Melbourne - with three at the G. Yes, two games against a likely top 4 team (Port and Giants), but both on our home ground. The other 3 games against teams likely to battling to get into the 8.

Agree. I'd also add that we have also struggled their other excellent medium half forwards/mids/utilises in particular mcluggage and McCarty. Defensively it's been our Achilles heel for years. Part of the issue against the lions is we have to send one of our best mid sized defenders to Cameron - and basically play him man on man (ie not much zoning off). But it's also a personnel issue. Nev was brilliant as a small/medium defender in 2018, just about the best. But since then we've struggled in that space. The juddster was brilliant last year and has become our go to player for the opposition's best medium forward. But the lions have four excellent medium forwards to cover. I think Howes was brought in to strengthen our ability to cover such players and thus far had been terrific at doing so. He'sslotted in down back like a 200 gamer and gives us so much more flexibility. So, I'm more confident than I have been for ages that we have the tools to cover the lions' dangerous medium forwards.

I don't get the whole you can't start a debutant as a sub. Particularly now that it is not a medical one. It's a team sport, and it's never been more important that players play their assigned role. If the best thing for the team is for a debutant to start ad sub then so be it. The alternative is what? Selecting them in the starting 22, even though that's not in the best interest of the team? Or not picking them at all, even if Goody has been criticised for playing favourites with selection, with the implication being it comes at the expense of the team I think those criticisms are plain silly. But I understand why people would have an issue with it if he was selectiing favourites, not the best option. Team has to come first. Same argument applies to the selection of a debutant.

I see the low impact argument, but I'm OK with koz getting a week, not for the bump, but for raising his elbow. Yes he only glanced his head, but I'm in the factor in the risk of injury camp. If his elbow had, say flushed his temple then some real damage could have been done. But I'm not ok with the hypocrisy of the coverage of what was really an incidental incident compared to the can't miss a grand final for a 'football action' vibe that dominated the coverage of Maynard's hit on Gus. And even more frustratingly, there is zero reflection by the media about that blatant hypocrisy. For god's sake one action ended the football career of a bloke in his mid 20s (at all levels - and I presume Gus can no longer play ANY contact sport, eg basketball). And the other caused NO injury, with the player 'hit' going on to be his team's best player, even getting coached votes. And why? Because whilst koz was silly to put his elbow out, it was fleeting and he realised immediately wrong, and pulled it back. That's to say successfully tried to minimise impact. Maynard did the opposite. No thought at at all to minimise the impact on Gus. His instinct was 100% solely to protect himself. The media should be ashamed of the coverage of the Maynard hit. And ashamed about the white noise it is creating painting koz as a sniper with form.

In lots of ways. Being completely nuts being one.

One of tbe most annoying footballers of all time.

Fair comment. I'm the time bandit. I appreciate the feedback and will take on board (genuinely, ie not being facetious).

No you're right -i'm the one mixing things up. Bears merged with the lions in 1996. From wiki: 'At the end of the 1996 season, the AFL helped negotiate a deal with the Fitzroy Football Club administrator whereby the Bears took over Fitzroy's AFL license and as a condition of that deal, on November 1, 1996, Brisbane Bears members voted to change the club's name to the Brisbane Bears-Fitzroy Football Club (BBFFC or Brisbane Lions), who participate in the AFL today. The Bears played in 220 VFL/AFL matches over ten seasons, with 70 wins, 148 losses and 2 draws.' My Fitzroy supporting mate didn't barrack for the Brisbane Lions in their first year, or their second. Was on board by their third season. Good timing too given their success a few years later.

Ta. That's more than I would have guessed in 90 odd minutes of game time.

I suspect DeeBlood is actually dermie. Took umbrage at me calling him a clown and joking about his inability to string words together (a joke i rather embarrassingly mangled).

Really? . I can't recall how he went in his second game, but ny recollection is he was terrific in his first game until he had his jaw broken just before half time. I think he will be a gun. Smart, quick off the mark, competitive and zones off well. And whilst I agree he can play an intercept role now, ultimately i think he will become a key position defender. He's 6.5 in the old and given he is only 22 will fill out in the next few years.

On spotify the sound will be better as Andy cleans it up before loading it up. But I doesn't make any difference to the DL site as such (I assume you mean traffic). I like that it goes out live. Feels old school.

And don't forget to leave a 5 umm review.

Agree. As a dees fan in the 70s and 80s, lions fans were kindred spirits. Ditto saints fans. I played for Beverly Hills junior footy club (Paul roos' team). We wore the Fitzroy jumper and sing the Fitzroy song. One of my best mates was a huge lions fan, and I lived in North Fitzroy and kicked around Fitzroy, for over a decade. The Newry was my local - directly opposite Brunswick oval, the roy boys original home ground. And they had some of my favourite non dees players - roos, pert, Wilson and Quinlan (one of the most consistently excellent kicks I've seen). So I always had a soft spot for the lions. It was wrenching, even as a dees fan, when they folded. Just awful. My mate was in shock, and without being flippant, experienced real grief. And I was beside myself the dees would also disappear. When tne roys folded, he became a dees fan. A fully committed, passionate one too. I saw heaps of games with him. But when they became the Brisbane lions, which they should have done from the get go, after a couple of seasons he felt compelled to support them - . A knowledgeable and clued in footy supporter, who still has a soft spot for the dees.

Great point. I had forgotten how banged up tracc was. He was interviewed on the ground at half time and was struggling to catch his breath (he must he must have just sprinted or something, but still he looked completely knackered). An amazing performance from tracc - BOG and hard at it all hame Credit to Selwyn and his team, but huge props to tracc for being in such good shape. Ditto for maxy, who was also huge. Outof interest, does anyone know aprox how far EPL players would run in a game?

It's umbelievable

Thanks for the feedback. I worry i don't talk enough, so throw in lots of umms to get my word count up. For the same reason i often repeat words, like brilliant, curious and incredible. A heads up. If I'm honest I'm unlikely to fix my speech patterns or affectations by next week. In fact I'm unlikely to fix them full stop. By the by, in the spirit of mutual constructive criticism, you don’t capitalise the word um. And, for future reference, binman is not capitalised either. Cheers