Pates

Jeez I’ve lost a fair amount of respect for him with those comments as you say Essendon came out that day not to play fair but to bully, dominate, and hurt us. For him to bring up the Grand Final like that is pretty low.

That would make a mountain of sense, but I also guarantee the big name players would massively opposite it. One of the things the MRP used to have which I really agreed with was the reprimand system essentially meaning if you continue cheap shots then you get fined. Under that old system, Tom Lynch would be out for a week for repeated low grade offences. So too would Burgoyne have been suspended for repeated dangerous tackles. To me that just makes sense. I remembered thinking the same thing when Ablett got away with his cheap shots last year.

Anyone else loving seeing #nofreekickhawthorn!? The Pies game definitely squared the ledger a lot, we got one of the best rides I’ve seen from the umpires that night.

If Preuss and Gawn are both unavailable then it’ll be TMac main ruck with Tommo chopping out.

There are players that just like playing against us and Bruce has been that in the past, having said that the defensive structure is working at the moment so I think you back Tomlinson in. Maybe instead of one of their cutting us to shreds it’ll be one of our big lads getting a bag.

We’d have to win every game from here and that is not us, at least not from what I have seen. I’m enjoying the individual wins we’ve had and looking no further than the dogs. Lose that and we’re back to scrapping in the middle pack. Personally I can see us finishing around 6th if we continue our good form, perhaps with part of an eye on 2021.

Hopefully there were learnings from the Port game that can get us over the line, even if we have to scrap it.

Good call, throughout that coverage they brought up the “taps to advantage” and Gawn was killing it, as you pointed out our players had the fumbles that night and Brisbane hunted the first receiver causing a spillage and from there they just worked harder and smarter to get the ball out. It’s one of the reasons that while I’m obviously not happy about Gawn being out I think the club should be relishing the chance to have our players hunt the ball much the same way Brisbane did. We did it a few times against the pies but mostly they got first use, I think an English v Preuss battle with the midfield both teams have will be a really interesting contest. The way we are pushing at the moment I’d rather us get our skipper right than rush him back in.

I’m just waiting for him to kick a bag. At least two-three times this year he’s had the chance to kick 4 or more, and again against the Lions he could’ve won the game for us off his own boot, so his inaccuracies have cost him I’d say another 6 goals to his tally which would put him at the top of our tally. I’ve really like his game since he came in, he just needs to put it into a more rounded performance with accurate kicking and he could get himself a big bag. I also think that if he did that it would do huge things for his confidence.

Perhaps we get some games into him and try to push his value up. Until we got Jacko I had no issue about have Preuss in the background as a back up ruck but he’d be considered behind Jackson now in the heir to throne of ruckman at our club. How many years does he have left on his contract? Against Grundy he was clearly outclassed but he battled well and did some good things. It’ll be good to see him go against ruckmen that are more in his standard.

So we got through our horror start to the year (fixture wise) and we’re now in the patch of games where we should be considered either favourites or 50/50. I meant to write this before the pies but in a lot of ways our finals almost begin now. We can’t really afford to lose 2 more games for the year, so almost every game is considered an 8 pointer. Massive game for both clubs next week.

If this year was the experiment to work out how a midweek block of games was possible they’ve probably found out the 4 day breaks are maybe just too much for the athletic rigours of AFL. I didn’t think Tom was as awful as what some have said, maybe we give Brown a chance in his place but I wouldn’t be rushing to mess with the mix. I was worried about the functionality of the forward line as previous occasions it’s looked like Tom and Weid got in each other’s way, but they seemed to have more defined space and there is connectivity between forwards and mids. With the calls to drop Tommo, again maybe I can see where it’s coming from but the team defence was held up as a reason for our upward trajectory so again I wouldn’t want to mess with it. I think trialling Tommo in defence is worth it, he’s got the size and athleticism, seems to have a good footy brain, it’s just his kicking that is a real worry at times.

Not to nit pick but that wasn’t after the siren. Much like Big Max vs Cats in the 2018 it was essentially the last kick of the game.

I just really don’t know what Taberner was thinking, I mean there must’ve been enough communication to know there wasn’t much time left. It just seemed like such a weak option especially as it would’ve resulted in a throw in still in a close enough spot for Carlton to get a clearance and a mark inside from it. I’d be filthy if I was a Freo fan.

Exactly what I was thinking, the old “I don’t want to offend anyone but...” [insert offensive comment]. What this shows is that Collingwood with the players they currently have out are a bottom 10 team. We can only beat who we’ve played and we should’ve got at least one win against either the Cats or Lions but choked.

I missed out on the tip (I changed at the last minute) but having seen the closing moments of the Freo v Carlton game I can always be comforted by whatever is going on with Melbourne that Freo exist. The way they managed to stuff up the last 10-15 seconds epitomises that club. They had everything on a platter, but Taberner bizarrely gave the umpire every reason to pay the deliberate, and then the younger Brayshaw did a moronic bump after the Blues player had kicked it to give away the down the field free kick. But Newnes, wow cool as a cucumber finish. Had no right to kick that after the siren. I hate Carlton and love to see the lose, but seeing Fremantle be the architects of their own destruction is hilarious to watch. EDIT in very Carlton style they managed to pull one over the umpire by having Newnes take the kick as well. (And Brayshaw was probably a little stiff, going for the smother and momentum carried him into the Blues player)

I missed out on seeing the first so it’s been interesting to watch, I thought Lever was poor from what I’d seen of the game but his first quarter was very good. After that though he looked really shaky around the ball, I don’t know what shook his confidence but he looked fine and then turned to poo.

I wouldn’t say he looks cooked, he’s played some good footy in patches but I agree that he hasn’t given big numbers so fitness is still an issue. I think he has more to his story for the year but I wouldn’t be rushing him back in.

I think he tries too hard not to seem biased and goes a little the other way, which can be a little frustrating to listen to.

I thought Tom did enough to keep his spot, if anything seems to be closer to what he was. But you’re right on his marking, almost seems to be swatting at the ball rather than having strong arms ready for contact. If there’s still doubt on Gawn then persist with Preuss, I still think our midfield need to improve at hunting the ball when our taps aren’t working to advantage. For me I thought Fritch was one of our poorest players when the contest was on, he seems to be becoming a bit of a junk time specialist. I wouldn’t say no to dropping him for Hannan. We could well be looking at no changes if Gawn still needs time.

We got a great ride from the umps tonight, that was probably the worst decision of them all. Dead set taking out the legs from Viney, then best part was he got one go his way that was taking out the legs that despite the commentary clearly being bizarrely geared towards the Pies on that was just as clear as the other. Ah poor Bucks......actually stuff him!!!

Those two stupid acts deserve an absolute scolding and he is very lucky he’s survived the chop on the back of them. For an impact player he isn’t making enough of an impact.

I’m ok with Preuss coming in but I was equally keen for them to keep Tom as the main ruckman and bring in Brown as the second tall forward. My reason being that Grundy will likely win most taps regardless of who we have in there, with Tom at least we might have someone to run him off his feet. It’s entirely possibly they might choose to do that during certain stages of the game and use Preuss as a tall target (hopefully he’s learned how to clunk some marks). The Pies have brought some serious quality in, fingers crossed they may be a little underdone and won’t have the usual impact. I want Viney to go hard for Pendles and tackle/smash him with authority, legally of course ?.

Don’t understand Rivers getting dropped, looked good to me.

I could be wrong but I think the club probably sees “dumping him” or leaving him behind in Melbourne as a bad move for his mental health and at the end of the day he is a contracted player so no harm in helping him rehab with the unlikely chance of him getting fully rehabilitated being something in the background.