Pates

Lol yeah sorry, not meaning to turn this thread upside down. That guy on the horse looked like he was trying to be Mel Gibson from Braveheart!

EDIT: Never mind I think he's holding his phone, they're still absolute wankers.

If those two finals in Tassie aren’t a packed house (to maximum COVID allowances assuming there are some) then they don’t have a chance of getting a team of their own.

Dogs, love the Bombers not winning a final.

There’s only one team that concerns me: Melbourne. To me last night confirmed what we have been afraid of saying, we are the best team this season. At our best I firmly believe we beat anyone else bringing their best. The cats were blisteringly good for 10min, but our players were also way off making mistakes we simply haven’t done all year. We rectified that and then brought the game back on our terms. So I just want us to bring what we have brought all year to the finals, we do that…well…I don’t think I can bring myself to say the words.

This image of Hawkins showing how he realised how much they stuffed up is just brilliant.

I wish I’d seen this live, I reckon I would’ve started tearing up myself. Love the bloke so much.

Well and not long after Tom Hawkins does the same thing to Oliver (harder) and they pay a deliberate out of bounds. You couldn’t make this stuff up.

What about Harmes/Viney doing a negating job on him. Both can be damaging in the other direction. It’s an inter scenario that has developed for us in that we’re now facing one of the form teams of the comp and they will be riding just as high from their last minute jump into the 4. We could’ve instead be playing a dogs team that have fallen into a heap, but equally dangerous. The Lions can be a bloody good team and can hurt you quickly if concentration drops (which it did for us in that 10min 2nd quarter spell). My concern is that when we started losing the centre clearances we looked completely out of it and the Lions have a really good midfield that can win a lot of the ball.

Surprisingly that’s quite complimentary of our team and not one of them mentioned the 50m penalty. Also very happy that they recognise they’re “dad’s army”. Their fall of the cliff will be quite something I think, they might hang in there next year but they have very little coming through.

I’ve gone to bed to try to sleep but I’m still buzzing, heart is pounding! I felt we could come back but that the deficit would prove to be too much, when we got it under three goals so quickly I suddenly believed and interestingly the cats went into their shells big time. The usual names tried pulling them out but the rest were cooked. We had them mentally.

I find it interesting that Tassie are considered an option. Who would actually willingly want to play there? If Tassie are an option than Alice should be as well. But I reckon Adelaide will be the best option, make Brisbane travel and we play AO quite well. Still in disbelief that we’re in this situation. Firstly that we’re top of the ladder at the end of the H&A season, and secondly that finally having achieved this we don’t get our earned advantage.

I actually thought the 50m was pretty clear cut, it was out by 2.5m when he fisted it 12 rows back and the umpire had called the out of bounds. I’ll admit I didn’t see what it was for at the time but when I rewatched it I felt it was very obvious. The deliberate was just so unfathomable, it was a hack kick forward and any footy person would tell you we’d want it kept in. It was just as bad as the Clarry one given earlier in the night. He has nothing to complain about with the umpires, doesn’t stop him though.

What did he say, he couldn’t possibly have complained about the 50m penalty…

First off, I’m in shock and I couldn’t be prouder. Secondly, I couldn’t watch Max’s kick, I had to wait for my parents reaction. Thirdly, **** you cats, sucked in!!!!! I will say this, I think the cats came into that final quarter thinking already ahead to next week and where they might play it. That is their fault, and I bet you the Goody and Max told the players to fight. So proud, not going to sleep tonight. We are top of the ****ing ladder, I of course want us to win the premiership but this is proof that we are the best team this year!

Yep that really gave me a sour taste, he deserved so much better from the players.

The Hawkins/Cameron double vs May/Petty/Lever looms as the match up that will determine the course of the game. If Lever is able to play his interception role we’re good, if not then I would personally like to see Gawn sent back to his defensive coverage role. I actually prefer him there as opposed to forward, Jackson’s form up forward is much better than Max so I see Max as being the main ruck from defence until wing, Jacko wing/HF/F with Brown/TMac chopping in when needed. On Max, he needs to have his catch mits on tonight, he barely took a contested mark last week.

Agreed, I think any time Melbourne has been up and about the fans have been cautiously optimistic about the form (see 9-0 and still fans being hesitant to actually considering us as a good footy club). The backslapping has been down more to players getting ahead of themselves and not focusing on the job at hand, which we’ve experienced with stupid losses to lesser teams. The difference this year is that the club has been able to refocus and get back on the straight and narrow. Not losing twice in a row in a H&A season is unheard of in my time as a Dees fan. I also feel like there’s a big “jobs not done” feeling, whereas I felt that in 2018 when we won those finals the players felt they’d already accomplish something. They had but it meant there was very little fire against West Coast.

I think it’s combination of confidence in the team, lack of rabid cats fans at the ground, and that Geelong’s form has been pretty meh the last couple of weeks.

Definitely not a dead rubber now, need to avoid the away trip to Port. I would also love this to be a statement game as well, I just think back to that game at KP in 2018 where they got the win after the siren. That place just has so many bad memories, it would be great to have a happy memory added this year. FWIW the cats haven’t been in great form of late and I think if we bring our beat we beat them no matter what the venue. Does that happen tonight? Not sure.

I think that is a very alarmist tweet from Kennett (ironically he basically acknowledges that himself) I think the more accurate basis is that it’s expected there will be restrictions in some way, shape or form until New Year. Lockdown vs restrictions are two very different things and I think we will get out of this latest spread but just not in the pace we expected. I know they weren’t the only ones but those dingbats who had their engagement party in St Kilda should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. Laughing about it as well…

Australia did well to contain it as long as they have but I can’t see Sydney getting to COVID zero again, they need to get as many people double jabbed much the same as us in VIC. We’ll get to COVID zero again I think but I really don’t like the look of those numbers.

Actually very reminiscent of 2004 Dees where we limped into finals after hitting top of the ladder. They look shot and could well go out first week if the Lions do the job on the Eagles. Port are an interesting one because not much of what I saw gave me any fear from them, Dogs looked poor and Port just got the job done. I was hoping that Dogs would win to ensure a top 2 finish but now the onus is on us to beat the cats tonight.

Goody and Scott get together and agree to a 60-60 draw, already agree to the ground both teams want to play at? Frustratingly this has now made tomorrow mean something, loser plays Port at home.

Not sure it was month of glory idea, it just kind of turned out that way!