Pates

Love hearing the Port fans boo, they’ve had a bunch of dodgy frees but one goes against them and it’s 😭.

So apparently you’re allowed to flip an opponent at a ruck contest?

Someone explain to me how Spargo could possibly have been HTB. Tackled as soon as he got it, every tackle after that has to be HTB.

One for the W team, first team to crack 100 and current highest score ever. (Did we also beat the record margin that day?) The one I’m most proud of right now: shortest time since last premiership! 😄🏆

If he doesn’t that will tell the major story that the Wied/TMac combo goes around for one more week. If this match was on any other day after Thursday I wouldn’t have an issue picking him, but no training aside from at home, plus flying in on the day leads me to think the better way to go is have him cherry ripe for next round. Nightmare for selectors would be Tom having a big game with Weid playing solidly as well.

Apart from the third quarter I’d agree with you, the worry was that when we lost our structure there really seemed to be a few headless chook moments. Thankfully May brought them all in and steadied the ship, but the Stringer mark inside 50 was something we haven’t seen for a long time. I think that’s the best thing about this team though, when the oppo has the run on and even takes the lead there isn’t panic or blaming. Each line comes together and knows what they need to do to reset.

6 - Gus: he’s criminally underrated by some on here 5 - Clarry: gun, don’t need to say more 4 - Langon: on top of his incredible goal, a typically tireless game 3 - Weid: 4 goals on return with the pressure on, probably should’ve had at least one more with accurate kicking but so happy for him 2 - Bowser: how is such a young player doing such cool things under pressure? 1 - Harmes: not a complete game from him but kicked important goals and had some big moments

Early days but appears to be Sydney and Brisbane, Carlton we’re very lucky to get over the line against the Hawks and it was a very scrappy game. Geelong will continue to be up there purely from the fact they’ve got a massive home ground advantage at KP but I don’t see them having enough young blood to keep the older players fresh for the full season. Any team smacking another team by over 100pts needs to be respected, Lions are a formidable team when up and running.

That is a very fair point. Incredibly, I would almost say that if we were to move forward with a Weid/BBB combo I could actually see Brown moving into the high forward role. His fitness levels are the best he’s seen for years and he was actually pushing quite high up the ground during the finals series last year. Sam’s fitness and tank is definitely something he needs to work on, or at least be tested in. Perhaps simply rotating them between the two roles will be the way to find out if he’s capable of playing the more athletic forward role.

To be fair Tom did nail one from practically the same spot just before it, and Tom’s field kicking has let him down in the past. I’d (strangely) be backing him from that spot over his ability to hit the pass. (Also Clarry is an awful set shot) That all said, I can’t imagine us going in with all three tall forwards and it’s a performance based situation. There can be no argument that Tom’s output has him at the bottom of the pecking order. I’ll be absolutely filthy if Sam gets dropped. TMac for BBB (if permitted to play), Tommo for Lever Trac won’t stop until he physically can’t get out there, wait for a weaker team to give him an extended spell. Chandler for Bedford as the sub. Give Bedford some match practice, Chandler deserves a chance (even if it’s medisub).

Will BBB definitely be available? I’m not entirely sure of what the COVID protocols are if he’s a contact but has negative tests. Absolutely can’t drop Weid. Tommy I would also be reluctant to drop, while I wouldn’t say he’s playing great I wouldn’t say he’s playing bad. Plus he has the flexibility to play back if needed. Great problem to have, but jeez how does it work? I put some of Weids easier misses down to nerves and confidence, hopefully knocking the first game on its head means he can gain some confidence. That one from the boundary line was bloody amazing.

I definitely agree that the men playing the night before negativity impacted the crowd. I know many people would’ve made the call that they could only get to one match for the weekend, so I can’t begrudge that. I also agree that if the guys were interstate it would’ve been a very different story.

Yep definitely lost our heads then, she seemed to play on thinking get it forward and then realised she should ice the game, and then split the different and kicked it straight to a Lions player!

I think there’d be more than a few that were disappointed with that crowd. Free entry, first crack at finals, grand final on the line. I understand it was really miserable weather but I didn’t feel the club and the AFL pumped it up enough. I would’ve hoped for 10k+ in these circumstances. Anyway I’ll go to positive now, what a great achievement for the girls and club. So proud of them, they played like the MFC across the board. We have built a culture and that goes from Casey Mens, to AFLW, to the mens team. So glad a few of the boys were there to watch it. McNamara’s goal could’ve been our best of the weekend were it not for Langdon. Paxman was tireless as always, and Bannan has some serious jets on her. Adelaide are a very good side and as I speak seem to be doing a number on Freo, so hopes of a home GF look extremely unlikely. But either way we are in it, and if we play our best it stacks up. What a great time our club is having. Keep your eye on the red and blue!

Just a side praise of Brayshaw. Pre-match I was keeping an eye on Weiderman and Brayshaw was almost always with him, he was pumping him up, giving him hugs and keeping him chipper. Then after the game he game he was full of praise for Sam when being interviewed. Gus is the perfect example of a clubman, so much love for the bloke.

This is a last minute call out to Dees fans on the fence about going today. Please get there, the girls have had a great year and deserve to have a big Dees crowd for them.

Always a great result beating Essendon, no matter the score line you just want the win! First off, the Bombers brought some heat. They had been smashed in the centre first couple of weeks, and hadn’t brought a lot of pressure, but they brought all of that. In years gone by we would’ve wilted, or even been scared. But this group ups the ante when other teams bring pressure. They go to level 3, we go the level 4, they go level 5, we go level 6. There just always seems to be an extra gear that we can go to. My thoughts on the players: Gus was BOG for me, very harsh on my next player but IMO Gus played such a massive role for us last night. 20 marks for a midfielder is insane and he used it really well ALL NIGHT. Clarry second BOG, on a night where Trac is quiet you simply can’t imagine Clarry not having a big one. He was a midfield machine, clearance and after clearance, and while he wasn’t as clean with his kicking as Gus he was just so crucial at the important moments. Wied….ah Weid!!!! How good was that!? First game back in the team for ages, let’s also be honest he hasn’t had great form of late in practice matches and VFL (to be fair it annoyed me they didn’t give him one full pre-season match at FF). I don’t know any Melbourne fan who would’ve back him in to have 7 shots at 4.3. How amazing would it be if it’s clicked for him? Honourable mentions for Smith, Jackson, Bowser (what a gem!), and Viney (for his first half). I also have to say Langdon’s goal was absolutely ludicrous, his reaction reminded me of Akermanis when he couldn’t believe his goal had gone through. Call it reward for tireless effort. I would say we’re going at about 70% at the moment and putting on the burners when needed. While ideally I would love us to be putting teams away earlier, this has a very familiar feeling to last season. Just keep banking the 4 points and doing what needs to be done.

Massive night for Weid and TMac, throwing ourselves back in time to 2018 when TMac was killing it and Weid looked like a future AA. Not expecting him to star, just want him to play his role. Good luck Sam, take your chance!

What I love about Spargo is when he kicks a goal he’s just like, “yeah cool, I’ll take that”. But when a teammate kicks a goal he really gets around them. Such a team first, selfless player. I’ll be the first to admit that I thought he would struggle to find his place in the team at the start of 2020, but towards the end of the season I could just start to see what the club saw in him. 2021 he showed he’s a vital cog in our machine, love the bloke!

I would almost prefer hearing them say, we hope Jake will be fine in a couple of weeks but we won’t be considering him for selection for at least 4 weeks to play things conservative. Just rule him out for a while and then if he gets back sooner it’s better.

Trac must be on 6 votes, easily BOG round one and two.

100% was worth getting and I personally think his on-field output was more than worth it, combined with the leadership and experience he brought to the club. He was able to bring across all his wisdom, I also vaguely remember that the year he came to us we had a really solid win/loss record with his playing (ie the games he wasn’t playing we were a much weaker team). I’m also pretty sure he was immense in the Cats and Hawks finals matches in 2018 (no one played ok vs WC).

Bit of a shame we aren’t playing later that evening, what an epic day of footy that could’ve been for Dees fans!!!

There’s been some pretty hard criticism on the bombers in the last couple of weeks, particularly in the perception of them not going hard enough. I would be shocked if they didn’t put in a massive game against us, coming up against the reigning premiers they’ll have a point to prove.

I’ve been working on the broadcast for AFLW all season, and both sadly and happily will be working on this game as well. The team has been in a clear upper echelon of the competition so I’m hoping they bring that on the day. There’s a part of me that wishes it was at Casey for the fact it’s a fortress of ours, MCG is a neutral venue. The Lions are a very good team as well but hopefully Harris pulls out a massive game against her old club. It’s free entry so everyone get there, they are a part of us and they’ll be counting on loud Dees fans that missed out on last years mens premiership to help them get over the line and into the Granny!