binman

Forget giving your opponent some credit, he didn't even mention the opponents once. That's just really poor form. Compare his presser to goody's - he was humble in victory and was effusive in his praise for the cats and how good a team.he is. There's no coincidence that in the two post match interviews I've heard from dees players - may and langers - both were similarly complimentary about the cats.

Wing - and im pretty sure for the whole quarter. Not sure about Dempsey, but id say Cameron was on Windsor at times, no vice versa in the sense that Cameron set up at a few center square restarts on the wing. That said Windsor was def part of the combined efforts to shut Cameron down.

Pay that. Excellent comparison Like the cats, Serena has never actually been beaten by an opponent. Both only ever lose it because, 'whilst we are not making excuses we [insert lame excuse here - options include covid, gastro, just had a day off, imply robbed by the umpire, played poorly but still almost won because we are so good and our opponents are not in our league, focus is the finals and schedule].'

You're kidding? Billings is a better field kick than say Windsor ans rivers. Def elite. His field kicking yesterday was sublime.

That's a very strange take A marginal player? I presume by that you mean not quite best 22 and on the edge of being out of the team? Apart from your personal assessment of his game, what evidence would you point to support that opinion? If he was a marginal player wouldn't he be in and out of the side, often an emergency and/or frequently the starting sub or subbed off ? Off the top of my head I can't recall when he was last used as a sub, or taken off and becoming the sub for that matter. When was the last time he was not in our starting 22 and/or dropped? Half way through last season? I'd guess chin has been a best 22 lock for at least the last 22 games we've played. Laurie could be described as 'marginal'. Can't see how Chandler could be considered marginal.

Disagree. Every team that makes top 4 is a contender. Which is not to say that a team outside top can't win in. But the fact remains it is exceedingly rare for teams outside the top 4 to win a flag. And i would contend the game is so demanding now its harder than its ever because of the impact of the extra game.

Yep, fair call. Edited post to calm it down some.

Fascinating game tactically. One thing i didn't realise about the cats until this week was how direct they are. The least number of possessions per goal and the most long kicks, usually opting to kick long to a contest rather than short, and back themselves in to mark, or half the contest and win the ground ball. Goody had another tactical win in that regard. Petty almost played as a quasi mid, following the ball and frequently getting up the ground to impact aerial contests. Disco was a more traditional forward, but also got up the ground to hir aeriel contest. Roo spent a lot of time on the ball, taking 22% of ruck contests (against a season average of 14%) and did a great job of hitting areil contests hard. As they usually do they tried to take maxy away from the ball, but he still had an impact aerialy. We knew coming in the cats would look to kick long to a contest and dominate aerially. So goody reduced the amount of aeriel contests by implementing an uncontested marking plan and made sure we had good representation at any pack mark contest. One measure or the success of the latter tactic was, on a night that was definitely very slippery, that we smashed them in the air, taking a whopping 8 more contested marks (16-8). Well played goody.

Not sure about the uncontested mark stat I'll check. But we used a very similar tactic against the dogs - ie using uncontested marks to control the tempo, frustrate the dog's ability to get into a rhythm and transition the ball from their back half. In that game we had 141 marks (the second most under goody), in this game we had 117 And i suspect a high % were in the first half, as was the case against the Dogs. I think that is part of a strategy to not let those teams settle into how they want the game to look. There is an interesting parallel between the dogs and cats. Both teams are helmed by coaches that like to tactically mess with their opponents in terms of having specific strategies that disrupt opponents game plans and method. But in both games it was us who disrupted their method and refused to let them settle into their preferred method. Scott reckon his players were off at the start. Whilst he is right, the reason they were off is we never allowed them to settle into a rhythm because goody schooled scott (supposedly a tactical genius) tactically. I hope the media point that out, but I won't hold my breath.

I just texted this to a mate who is a big cats fan: 'Scott, who I had warmed to, lost me with his sour, sore loser, press conference - gave us no credit. I suspect there is no love lost between goody and Scott.'

Sorry, but that's a complete load of bollocks. 5-2 not good enough when 2 of those games were against Port and crows at Adelaide oval, the latter off a five day break? And one was against the swans at the scg, which is worth 2 goals to them given how well they play there (particularly defensively) and in slippery conditions? I mean on the same ground yesterday, in much the same conditions, the much vaunted orange tsunami turned into a wavelet and they got smashed. So 5-2 with 3 difficult interstate games and a horrendous schedule is not good enough? On brererton, I'd love to ask his view on the giants given they have already lost to two contenders - not good enough? Or his views on the blues who were 5-2 before the round - not good enough? And now 5-3 - gone? Port were also 5-2 before the round- not good enough? Now 5 -3 - gone? What about the cats derm? They have only beaten ONE team in the 8 - the blues (who just got beaten by the pies for the same reason the cats beat them - they are suspect defensively this season). The cat's other 6 wins are against teams outside the 8, including the winless roos and hapless hawks. Cats not good enough derm?

Bliss. Just started watching the replay. First derm gem: 5-2 is not good enough. Go redleggers.

100% Tbe best he has kicked the ball in any game I have seen him play. A weapon.

I'm on my home. Ill watch the replay and have a laugh at breteton. It's embarrassing for the sport that bloke is paid to analyse it.

A mate, a big dees fan, watched the game at home just texted me and said good thing I watched live because derm would have broken my brain if I had watch it on the box. They kicked themselves our of the game? We were 12 points up on xscore at half time. And I suspect halfway through the third the xscore would have been minimum plus 25 with Windsor's miss, kozzies miss and nibblas shocker. Those 3 goals get kicked 80% of the time minimum (which is how they arrive at xscore). Thank God we won that game because WE would have been rightly bemoaning gifting them the game. We dominated the first half of the third and should have got out to a match winning lead.

Great call. I have heard 3 media people call Scott the best tactician in the game this week. And many people, including some dees fans, think goody wouldnt know a tactical innovation if it knocked on his door and introduced itself. And what is even more surreal tonight wont change those people's mind. Strange looking game structurally.

Question: Where does fritters goal rank in the great Demon goals?

Repeat after me Jaded. Don't go on the game day thread once the game starts. Don't go on the game day thread once the game starts.

What a funny coincidence. I was literally just scrolling down to post we achieved our 6-2 goal. I'm calling it. Top 4 lock.

Big pump up.

We gave the Cats the old UNO reality check reverse card.

Go you good things.

Continue to fail against contenders in the home and away season? Continue? We have lost to grand total of one game to a contender this season. The swans. Most rate port as a contender. I don't but we beat them on their home deck in one of the performances of the season. You are giving the giants a pass even though they have lost to TWO contenders but not extending the same logic to us? You are making my point that many dees fans apply a different set of rules to us than other teams in terms of assessing our chances of winning the flag.

Sure. Regularly being the key word. The giants have now been beaten by two contenders - the blues and the swans. Is that regularly? They haven't played another contender yet, unless you count the pies in OR. Which most wouldn't. So, really they have beaten noone. Yet they were flag favorites and everyone was gushing over them. Is anyone serious discounting them after being smashed today? But I agree the next two games are important. But not because we have to prove we are contenders. Because both are against teams who we are competing against for a top 4 slot. Classic 8 points game.

@WheeloRatings thanks for the heads up. Much appreciated. I know you couldn't get the post clearance possessions last year. Any chance of being able to get hold of them this year? Its a critical stat that i cant find anywhere. For any posters who have not checked out wheelos site, as molly would say, do yourself a favour. Brilliant site. And really easy and intuitive to use to compare a whole range of data. One of the functions I love is comparing players. It's much better for that than footy wire, a site I really like too, because unlike footy wire you can choose mutiple players and customise your stats fields for specific things of interest. The team list function is great too because you can look at big range of data points about players on a teams overall lists. Like the player ratings for the last 20 matches I used to compare our list with the giants (which by the meant i knew that in wehr the giants were playing their 25th rated player over that period). I use the site on the podcast to check data live when things come up. So easy to find things quickly once you are familiar with it - which doesn't take long. Props and thanks to @WheeloRatings. The site and the data he puts in the stats file thread directly informs how i see and understand the game and how we performance.