Pates

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!

I share your feelings, 5-6 months ago (when my planning started) I started the process to get myself and my fiancée to Australia so that we could get married here as it appeared it would provide us the best opportunity at a ceremony that matched what we would like. Now I’m 3 weeks out from the date we’re meant to be getting hitched and it seems like so much of our hard work, planning, and stresses will be all undone. We will get married, and we’ll be happy with whatever happens but it just seems like a sick joke that we’ve left the UK and they’re open for business while here there just seems to be no real end in sight. That’s not even mentioning the frustration that I won’t be able to see my team play live in the finals (possibly the big dance).

Can’t agree more. If AZ is available to you, speak to your doctor and get yourself jabbed. To be fair though I think that’s the general feeling now amongst people, isn’t it interesting that as COVID cases have gone up and and up (particularly in NSW) and so has AZ vaccinations, that we aren’t hearing much about any blood clot issues? Could it be that suddenly the media/government aren’t as interested in reporting it so closely?

Might be general soreness 🤔.

You’ve lost all credibility by stating that (not that you really had any). Baker is not even close to Gus as a player, but ultimately you are not listening to what the arguments for him are. He protects critical zones to prevent the opposition from getting easy balls out, the fact we are not easily scored against is in no small part to his running patterns. He has had some higher number days with involvements, last week wasn’t one of them and yeah I’d like to see him get more of the ball. But don’t expect Brayshaw to be going anywhere soon, he is essential to our system and is playing a hugely sacrificial team role to allow Langers to do what he want on the other wing.

Agreed CB, it makes it sound like those guys have done something wrong. But we’ve actually replaced 2 “veterans” and one young bloke for 3 very experienced players (one that you’d also consider a veteran). More accurate title would be “Three star Dees return”. Will be interesting to see how Viney returns, he was not in good form before his suspension so hopefully this time off will have given him a chance to reload. It will also be interesting to see Goody’s moves on Saturday if the dogs get the win. Sounds like we want the win and are almost treating this as a dress rehearsal, but I would have no issue with us resting anyone that might have some soreness.

It’s funny you say that because aside from our really strong system that has shown it to be solid against all the best teams in the competition, our fitness and our lower injury list is something that really sets us apart. Pound for pound I don’t think our players are better or worse than the other top teams, but we’ve had the best access to our best 22 for most of the year and aside from TMac and May, they don’t seem to be carrying too many niggles. It’s certainly reason enough that should Port beat the Dogs on Friday night (I don’t think they will) we should seriously consider resting any players that are carrying niggles.

I’ll join others in saying that if that little corner ends up being the answer to a problems that we’ve had for decades I will be incredibly disappointed. I really hope that it’s the other car park that we are going to have access to and the facilities will be much more sizeable. I’m not going to get up in arms over something that is still only conjecture, but if that does end up being our final “home” the club should very rightfully expect some backlash from fans. Particularly when you hear about the practically ever other club getting incredible (and mammoth) facilities built at the expense of the taxpayers. It’s our bloody turn, we have earned it.

Lose to us if Port win on Friday and by all means you can have your wish.

Wouldn’t be against this. Hehe send him out as an assassin 🤔.

I totally agree, the first time our team is in position to finish top and earn the right to a home final and it’s being taken away from us. I understand a lot in this world is unfair, but it’s just another kick to the groin in a difficult year.

CNN/CNNi very often has pictures from AFL or AFLW as it is a uniquely Australian game and got attention during the pandemic while other sports were halted. I remember seeing a pic of Trac in full flight doing a fend off on there not too long ago.

Betts is definitely a player I've always admired, played fair and played with a skill that basically nobody else had. To score goals from those tight angles a few times people can say it's flukey, but at his best he was doing it just about every week. One of the consistently most intriguing battles was Jetta vs Betts and I don't feel like Eddie got the best of him too many times but occasionally Jetta would have him for 3.5 quarters, but a 10min burst from Eddie would get 3 goals and a few assists. So hearing Betts praise Kozzie at such an early stage is high praise.