Pates

100%. We coughed up some absolutely stock standard chances, the good thing about that is that it gives Goodwin something to talk to the players about. He should be filthy that they wasted those golden opportunities, Brown should have a bag we’re it not for some poor final kicks. Viney, it’s hard not to love his determination, but an armchair tap down from Gawn and he decides to take on the entire GC midfield. First option Jack! Head on the black now, if he doesn’t have a good second half I’d be bringing in either Jordon or Melksham for him. Can’t have both him and Harmes trying to fend off every bloody player.

But of course overall very good ?.

Lost our heads in the last few minutes. Vinny keeps doing too much. Fritta absolutely shocking. TMac great intercept but why handball 15m? Kozzie, shocking kick.

C’mon Dees, foot to the throat.

Well that was a rare gift from the umps then. LJ took an eternity.

Clarry kicking straight from a set shot, incredible.

Big goal at the end of the quarter from Jackson, should do his confidence a world a good.

Sparrow ?‍♂️

Good finish from Suns there, but that was Viney’s goal. Awful from him all round.

That’s got nothing to do with the draft. That was the free agency system that made sure lower ranked clubs got properly compensated for their loss of important players to them. That wasn’t thievery, that was based on what Hawthorn were paying him.

This is a massive job from the AFL to get this organised in very quick time so credit to the on that. In terms of who benefits from all this I think we have to say we’ve got the better end of the stick. The players get to be in their own beds tonight and follow normal pre-game routine whereas the Suns would’ve had to pack in a hurry not knowing when they will be back. We also play Marvel quite well usually and this could be a good opportunity for our forwards to regain a little form. Would’ve loved WA to come out at the same time locking out everyone who’s been to QLD (us included) forcing them to play the game in Vic but obviously that’s not going to happen.

Is this a good preparation? Absolutely not. But is it better that the boys will have a good nights sleep and be able to play on a track they know a little more than GC? Absolutely. More proof that we need to adapt to the changing situations at every turn.

That Matilda’s win has got to be one of the gutsiest performances by an Australian team I’ve seen. The game ebbed and flowed, it was exciting almost throughout with both teams attacking. That penalty was ridiculously soft (isn’t VAR there to stop that bull****?), but what a response and the Aussie public need to get behind them right now. EDIT also how refreshing to see two teams in a knock out actually playing attacking football as opposed to being afraid to concede.

Great to see the bulldogs benefit from an academy player while we get shafted the very next year. It’s like the word “fair” is a swear word at the AFL.

Lol i hope this means the hawks have YEARS down the bottom end of the table!

Exactly my thoughts, everyone completely wrote off the Pies and their trip to Adelaide earlier this year. As I said in my earlier post, the club/players can look at this with “woe is us, we’re up against it” or they can say to each other “no excuses, leave it all out there and the get the win”. Fact is if we’re wanting to do more than make up the numbers in the finals than our players need to show that they aren’t the Melbourne of old and get the 4 points this week. I genuinely had thought the club, players, and even fans had shaken the Melbourne of old mentality. Sadly doesn’t look to be the case.

My guess sadly is that it will be fly up on the day, which means a stupidly early start. These sorts of situations can be seen as obstacles thrown up that suck or challenges that can galvanise the group. It’s bloody well time the players stuck their heads in and got the job done, we’ve had our slump, it sucks but move on and get the [censored]ing win. I love Max but his leadership has been found wanting in the last month, him, Jack, and the other leaders at the club need to be the ones to pull us out of this funk. You can’t expect the kids to do it. Oh and thank you @Lord Nev, you basically said everything I needed to say re: Jackson/Weid.

I think it’s because the alternative is to bring Weid in, and I think that would be seen as a backward step. We needed to drop some players though, been coasting and hoping that it will change for too long now.

Surprised that Hibbo got the chop, he’s a cool head to have back there usually. Still, good luck to Bowey! We’ve been found out in the small defender department lately so this is the young lads chance to make a place for himself in a team heading towards finals. Sparrow for Jordon is a good shout.

Glad to hear that it was all bulls***, would be nice if reporters actually reported news rather than starting rumours.

This will completely throw away any chance of Dees fans getting to see them play live in Melbourne before the start of finals. I know crowds are going to be a slow burn anyway but hardly a fan friendly decision. I totally get the reasons behind it, the club has taken a tough hit on our bank accounts but it still isn’t a great look for a club that’s pushing for premiership contention.

Why Darwin? We’ve made plenty of inroads in making Alice Springs our “home away from home”, and it’s much less draining. Not happy at all with this run home, if this is a club choice then it could well scuttle our season. Only thing that could making it work a LITTLE BIT better is if somehow our GC game gets shifted to the G or Etihad.

I think that’s it, most people cop the “bad days” with umpiring with the caveat that it swings about where one week you might get done over and the next week you’ll get a decent ride. It appears that the dogs aren’t getting that swing back and that’s where it’s a bit mystifying. Interestingly we were close to the top when we were in form though, so it definitely points that for us we are much more likely to be getting free kicks when we are at the top of our game (first to the ball, high pressure, better kicks creating marking infringements).

We wouldn’t be able to do our usual routine, the players would be away from their families and basically in quarantine. It’s also the fact of going to the draining conditions of Darwin and onto the pretty fast track and warm conditions of Perth, I could really see it having issues for us.

I’d hate us to be whiners like Scott but if we did a flyflo situation into Darwin and back that up with Perth that will completely destroy the players bodies coming to the end of the season. I hope the club is pushing for a Victorian game or at worst game on the Gold Coast.