Pates

Even if we decide not to bring Brown in I think it sets a bad standard for selection picking Sam. I get he’s going through a rough trot with his confidence but how does it permeate through the entire list if they see players get gifted games on the back of absolutely useless performances. He’s had a month to get his mojo, if he isn’t able to get it by now then he should sent to the magoos to find it. Mitch was next in line so if we want to maintain the structure then bring him in. Otherwise I think it’s a chance to have another go at the smaller forward line.

What’s he been playing mainly at VFL? Ruck/forward? Surely we’re covered in that department. If the game is going to be wet, Melksham for Weid could well come into play. He hasn’t done much in the games he’s played but at least he doesn’t waste it when he gets the ball in hand.

Watching from afar the thing I find bizarre is that they have reduced capacity but then jam people into smaller areas. Surely if reduced capacity is to avoid a spreading event the smarter way to go would be to spread fans and have them in separated areas to promote social distancing.

Every Victorian team should be made to do the trip over a period of 3-4 years. It’s a disgrace that the “big teams” have escaped it for decades. Next up to go down the highway: Pies and Hawks.

That’s not nice to hear, I hope the young bloke is ok. A therapist/sports psychologist would definitely be something I hope he’s having provided to him (or he’s seeking out), most of us if we have a bad day at the office nobody but a few people will give a crap. AFL players have a bad day and they’ve got thousands of people calling for them to be dropped or worse, while they have media analysts inspecting every part of their game in open forums. Easy enough to say but he should be staying away from social media.

The more I think about this game the more I think it needs to be a “statement”. I feel like every contender apart from us have shown the competition what happens when it ALL clicks and how devastating they can be. That’s not to say we haven’t had great wins but I’m talking beating a team into submission and after losing to the pies the players should be seething (and I’d be worries if they weren’t). Looking forward to seeing Jack back in the team, he adds an aggression and hunger that few can match.

Lol that’s meant to read “QB”. Fat fingers! ?

In some ways I’m quite happy with Essendon winning this week. There should be no way in hell that our players take them lightly like they did against the pies. We’re still waiting for the players to put it all together for a 4 quarter effort, I hope they’re angry after the WB loss and bring it against the Dons.

If we are genuine about the two talls format and BBB is to be in the next phase/trial of it then we need to readjust the way we deliver. There are ties to do the long ball but BB is a leading forward, so we need to look at running patterns to create space and look for the pass 30-40m out on the lead. Yze and Stafford should be trying to get a clear understanding about where the midfield is expected to be delivering the ball to the forwards. We were absolutely pantsed at this by the pies. I really believe we can maximise the potential of what we have with BB in the side.

Fine for both incidents but for me this is why they should make 2 reprimanding incidents equal a one week suspension. It kept happening with big name stars like Gary Ablett jnr and Tom Lynch where they’d get fine after fine for small dirty little things but never enough suspension in isolation. But if you keep doing it, it should result in a suspension. I know that they had this with the points system but that system got overly complicated with points and early pleas getting 25% discount. Selwood is a great player but like almost every great player he has a little dirty streak to him. Judd was the same.

Yeah all those guys are good kicks, but Rohan’s shot wasn’t a straight forward kick. BBB I’d being ok with having the shot, possibly Salem. Melksham doesn’t seem to be the dead eye he used to be.

Geelong are coming REALLY good, and you'd argue they are timing it better than us. Round 22 at the cattery is looming big on the horizon, we've got a lot of footy to play until then but that will be a statement game for both clubs if things keep tracking the way they are. Clutch goal from Rohan, I have to be honest in saying I'm not sure we have someone I would be as confidently as Rohan. TMac first pick, Petracca because of his kicking penetration and his love of clutch moments, beyond that....

I can see Jack taking up the mantle again, he's still vice captain and well respected through the club. Other thank Jack it would have to be Lever for me, every time he speaks he speaks like a leader who loves responsibility. He's also a general down back, directing and talking to the other players. The moment that sticks out for me that makes me think he'll be a captain one day for us was when May went down early against the cats, and I'm pretty sure they got a dodgy free kick to get a goal the cats players were baiting us and trying to get a rise out to do something stupid. Jake stepped in and dragged everyone out of it and reset the situation. I think it would stiff on Jack to have him deputise to the next person, but at the end of the day it's peer and coach voted so you make your impact on the park.

I think the unassisted part is a big part of reclaiming our pride, when we were at our worst we were going to the AFL on a regular basis cap in hand and desperate. It was necessary but it was a shocking look, made us look extremely weak but worse than that it made us look like we were useless and a burden on the competition. We’ve copped the worst luck of anyone on the financial side of things regarding COVID, it sucks but I feel like the attitude is, “suck it up and move on”. I think if we can we might try to move one of our MCG games later in the year to Alice. Perhaps negotiate another replacement game with another club.

Them not being professional, and thus paid as a professional, is an interesting debate. Will they get decisions right more often? I’m not sure they would, as I think one the biggest issues they face is the AFL rules committee tinkering with interpretations every bloody year. Will it change the scrutiny of the decisions they make? Likely yes, in a way that the media will harp on them being “professional umpires, and these mistakes shouldn’t happen”. Look at the FIFA World Cup, referees still get heavily criticised for the decisions they make but they are meant to be THE BEST IN THE WORLD. I’m not saying they shouldn’t go professional, but I don’t see it necessarily changing a whole lot.

With someone of Darren’s quality sometimes it’s not just the message but the person delivering the message. Two people might say the exact same thing but if one of them is Darren the player might listen a lot more.

I wasn’t angry about the Pendles out of bounds being changed, it was the right decision. The only major decision that was a momentum killer was just after TMac (who’s been a dead eye all year) missed his easy set shot it went up the other end and the Pies forward was paid the mark when May VERY CLEARLY got first hands to it. Changed the complexion of the game. Other than that I don’t feel we had a hell of a lot to complain about. Was just a dirty day all round.

This is what is frustrating fans I think. We feel like we’re pulling out all the excuses that we used to for Watts. But Jack showed 10x more than what Sam has in his first 50 games. Clubs and supporters need to have patience but at some stage the patience has to be rewarded. @Lord Nev made the point that other statistics were down such as tackling, efficiency etc, and that is very fair, but what got me to the point that Sam has to be dropped is that there was almost no competing in aerial contests. That is a non-negotiable as a tall forward, he wasn’t alone in his poor efforts but he was the worst. What’s interesting is that we have recruited BBB over the off-season as someone who is clearly a lead up forward, and Sam also seems to be best as a lead up forward. So why then do our players continue to just look for where the pack is forming and go straight towards it? Spargo and Melksham are the only two players that will regularly look to put the ball into space to force the forwards to lead at.

Oh absolutely, and to clarify just because I'd be ok with him getting a 2 year contract doesn't mean I think he should keep his spot. I think the FD has mostly got our selections right this year but it was interesting listening to the DeeBrief where they spoke about forward line mix and I am starting to wonder whether the best mix is to have one of BBB or Weid in the team at all. Both have been extremely disappointing this season (albeit with interrupted pre-seasons). Sam should not (nor do I expect him to) keep his spot.

Strange as it sounds if he were willing to sign low, and have his contract heavily weighted on performance I wouldn't be against offering him a 2-3 year contract. Only to look at it as the fact that he has age on his side and his value right now must be low. I'm sure he could probably get better coin at other clubs but if he sees that we are going to be challenging and he thinks he has what it takes then back himself to get better and earn a place in the team. This match was one of the worst performances I've seen from a Dees player, BUT a certain Spargypants also had an absolute shocker against West Coast and many people on here said he should never pull on a Dees guernsey again. Write players off at your peril.

There's almost no substitute for sustained pressure. I would imagine our pressure rating peaked in the 3rd quarter and it wouldn't have really hit our season average. Pressure means that midfielders aren't able to spot up leads and execute their kicks properly, the Pies mids were given an embarrassing amount of time and space, especially when you consider how small the SCG is. In all of our big scalp wins the opposition were barely able to allowed to have the ball for a split second before getting swamped, it's actually really frustrating to see us drop that intensity against "lesser" teams. We have been made to pay against Adelaide and the Pies, we didn't respect the opposition and brought only 50% of what we've brought for the crunch games. I'm starting to wonder if we will see a 4 quarter effort at all this year.

This week wasn’t lost at selection, it was lost between the ears of the players. If Viney is good to go he comes in for Sparrow. When is VFL starting up again? I really want a body of form to be able to bring BBB in. I kinda lean towards bringing Mitch Brown in as a mid forward, plus he always seems to pull out good games against the bombers.

I hate saying this, he may well become a decent footballer but it’s very possible it won’t be with us. There are occasions that for whatever reason a player can’t seem to find his mojo at one club but change of scenery and change of message brings something new to them. I’m not writing him off but [censored] me he can’t stay in the team after that disgraceful performance.

It definitely was, it’s an absolute cliche but our success has been built on playing for each other. There was none of that today, it was a lot of players trying to do too much on their own rather than give the ball off to teammates in better positions, and it was coming from a lot of our “stars”. Hell even when Langdon kicked that goal at the end to take us inside two kicks with 3 and a half to go there was absolutely no players getting around him or revving each other up. We looked beaten but the siren hadn’t gone.

My guess is that if the game is at say half capacity and the members get first crack at tickets you may well be right that they would gain little financially. We are easily taking the biggest financial hit from all the clubs with bad luck regarding crowds/COVID this season (so far).