Pates

As always curtailing a forwards influence rests a lot on the midfield and ensuring he doesn’t get good delivery. It’s a cliche but win the midfield and win the game. Something that concerned me a little bit was particularly in the second half GC won a lot more clearances than I would’ve liked. Now it could well have been we were trialing some new set ups against real opponents when the game was done and dusted but we want to be switched on in that department for our final three games. Also would like see us making better use of our forward entries, still seems to bounce out too quickly and easily.

We got the suns in one quarter and just built on it. Losing Smith hurts because it feels like our depth is really being challenged in defence. Have to be happy with a 90+ win, only criticisms are that we took the foot off during the second and third quarters and missed some really simple shots on goal. Still wasteful going into 50. Could’ve won by a lot more. Lets reload for Swans next week, massive game!

Was Garlett trying to get it to AvB? That was a shocking kick.

C’mon Dees get it back over 100. Harmes held and ignored by the umpire.

Me too, they look very similar. Poor bugger, doesn’t look good.

Great mark from Jesse and goal, he created the last goal and deserved reward for effort on that.

Look at the end of the day I’ll take an 80+ win with no injuries. That said I hope Goodwin does give it to them a bit, some bizarrely stupid decision making and a massive ease off of pressure. I swear since the seven commentators gave TMac a big pump up of his set shots he’s been 50/50. Really should’ve snared that one from a great mark. Anyway 20min of footy left to leave the suns a mess for next week.

No doubt we’ve taken our foot off the accelerator.

This is where the senior boys need to rev the younger lads up, make sure they don't get into a mode of penciling this win in. Stranger things have happened. The good news is that aside from the saints we have actually brought a scary level of intensity and skill against weaker sides. Putting possible finals to one side there has to be competition for spots so everyone should be expected to bring it on Sunday or there'll be someone knocking down the door at Casey to replace them.

We took him on with very little risk on our end and gave him a crack in his home town. Some people have the drive and desire to be an AFL footballer, some people don't. Good luck to the bloke.

If Geelong had somehow pinched that one as well I would've spewed. As it is one thing that this match has shown is the last quarter fade outs can happen to any team at any time. Hopefully a few of the boys were watching this because watching it from the outside would be very beneficial to them if/when we get in that situation again. I hope those tears are especially salty for the cats fans.

Yep c'mon tigers, kick on!

This game has such a familiar ring to it. Geelong outplayed in every way, opposition wasteful, they get a sniff and snatch a stupid win.

Richmond still wasteful going forward, very poor kicking into the 50.

Richmond have dominated Geelong, the cats must have some crazy lucky rabbits foot because they are the luckiest club in the world.

We should reward form at VFL level, therefor I see one of Kent of Bugg coming in as they have been on the cusp and few times. Melksham is a big loss though, he’s become the person I would like to have the ball delivering into the 50. Rarely wastes it. Hopefully this is just precautionary.

Could get interesting this round! If we hit our straps vs GC there could be some bags on the way. Jesse’s first half of the year has been a whole lot better than his second half. I don’t know if he’s been carrying something but he’s definitely not as dynamic as he was earlier in the year.

Gus’s signature is huge for our club, although I wasn’t worried he must’ve attracted some big interest and could’ve been forgiven for holding out to get a massive deal from someone else. Just as a side note did anyone else feel like his re-signing got very little coverage compared to Cripps? I get that Cripps is the only top player in a garbage team but Brayshaw has been huge for us his year particularly with Viney not being available for much of the year.

Better to play it safe with them, we rushed Viney last year in a desperate attempt to make the finals and it backfired terribly. Let’s make sure they are good to go regardless of our position. Good to see that Hogan and Petracca have been given the all clear from their niggles over the weekend. Though I think Jesse will be on light duties until the weekend.

His rise is remarkably similar to David Neitz (although still a long way to go before he catches the great man) but the thing that I’m so impressed by with him is his engine. For such a big man he can run so hard for so long. Side note, when he was lining up I think for his first shot on Saturday the commentators were building him up and building him up as a great set shot and I was yelling at the screen telling them to shut up. Of course he shanked it. I see a massive bag for him some time this year.

It’s almost an invisible ability that the top players seem to have. Brayshaw is getting better at it as well. Personally I like having Salem off half back for a bit of class coming out of defence. He has that ability to hit that crucial pass into the centre of the ground that opens teams up.

Defensively Smith actually did a decent job, he rarely got beaten one on one and competed extremely well. But boy when he got the ball me made some blunders, in a defence that features himself, OMac, and Frost those are three guys I do not want to have the ball. The big question is do we have anyone that would still be as competitive one on one but a better ball user? Hogan was crook last week, you’d hope he’ll be over whatever was making him play like he was carrying an extra 100kgof weight. As for the injuries he picked up during the game, the medico’s continued to allow him to play so you can only imagine they were just knocks and bumps. I’d be happy to give him a weeks rest for our final assault on September, but equally you take any team lightly at your peril. Most teams would be given a fair rev up after losing to Carlton.

100% agree, but it will never happen because the broadcasters have too much control. They would lose out massively on viewership/advertising. But yes for the integrity of the competition they should be playing all matches at the same time in the last round.

We're still yet to beat a team in the top 8, I will dream and believe when that happens. Until then.....

Every game is crucial, but ultimately we just have to keep our focus on week to week. We win next week vs GC and it's well and truly laid out in front of us. I'm feeling better in that I think on our day every game in front of us can be a win, but we've been burnt so many times it's hard not to be hesitant about being too optimistic. Treat every match as if we're playing the reigning premiers.