Pates

I try not to think too far ahead but having said that we have a tricky run home. Bulldogs at MCG, then WC in Perth, Adelaide at home, and Geelong at KP. Adelaide is the only one you’d bank as a likely win and it’s sandwiched in a tough run. We have to really do what we can to be cherry ripe for this run hone to have momentum into finals. 2018 showed how important that is.

Of the two incidents, clearly the more dangerous. But probably not because....you know...it’s Sydney.

As others have said were beyond putrid for years but didn’t get it, I think a lot of that was to do with the whole tanking saga and it looking bad from an AFL PR point of view. But the AFL are known for making things up as they go. I could picture the AFL being very ruthless here and seeing the opportunity to shift them to Tassie, they make any additional picks based on relocating them. I’ve heard a lot of Tasmanian people say they don’t want them though!

The Eagles have had a long reputation for poor culture when it comes to drugs, the question they have to ask themselves is Willie someone they want hanging around and potentially influencing a fresh 18yo recruit. I’m another that thinks marijuana should be decriminalised but for now it’s illegal and it’s on the banned WADA list. Does he want to play AFL footy or smoke weed? He’s gotta make that choice.

Petracca drives me nuts with his set shot routine, he seemed to have fixed it last year but he’s missed some very getable goals. I just don’t know why he has to constantly spin the ball (Gawn does it to). Love TMac’s, simple and straight.

Spot on Jaded. The “defending their honour” starts with guys being dips#!ts and feeling like the can make derogatory comments based on what a woman wears or looks like. Rioli is within his right to call a bloke out on it, but the smart thing to do sometimes is to get out of the situation and notify someone in authority to remove the sleaze.

Totally agree, I just watched the first half finally and aside from a couple of clangers he did a really serviceable job doing what we would probably expect from Viney. Really can't work out where people are coming from with their harsh critique of him. Going on from that my thoughts from the first half were that we were clearly the better team but botched some really golden opportunities and interestingly it was some favourites that made some of the errors. I'm talking Kozzie, Fritta (who had possibly one of his worst games), and even Spargo (who I know was good in the second half). We really should have been 20+ points in front and the Swans were only just holding on. Brown looked good and more confident than his first match against Kangas. TMac was in everything, for me BOG for the first half. Petracca got plenty of opportunities but couldn't seem to finish it off. Hickey had Gawn's measure and seemed to beat Dogga in the ruck, but Doggo was more better at ground level. May barely gave Franklin an inch (how he got fined for that "eblow" is beyond me). Petty similar to his first half against the Hawks was nervous, I'm still very much on edge if he has the ball. Salem on the other hand might just be the coolest cucumber to ever play for the Dees. Getting onto the second half re-watch now.

How about we wait for the facts to come out before making any assumptions about who was at fault. While I would never advocate male on male violence, isn’t that essentially what we do when the players get into a bit of a melee on the field? And wouldn’t we expect them to “fly the flag” if one of their mates get unfairly knocked out? Why would it then be a surprise if they were to defend their partners from harassment if out and about?

Bit surprised that we weren't thrown into that article with the Essendon clash. I'm 99% sure they have never worn a clash strip against us but we (seemingly always being the away team) are always forced to wear our alternative. The best (or worst) alternative top fail we had was the pink lady match where we wore pink, the ball was pink, and the umpires were pink. I think it was against the doggies and twice we hand-balled straight to the umpire! The way the big clubs have been allowed to protect their strip has been embarrassing for the AFL, there should have been a very simple directive: create a strip that meets the required criteria or be forced to wear a generic AFL away strip (and make it bright, luminous green).

So in terms of the when I think there would need to be certain boxes ticked. Firstly obviously finals mathematically sewn up, I would say round 14-15 at the earliest for that. Secondly we would have to have really strong form from the players coming through to take their spot, great example is that if TMac was developing an issue somewhere I feel we won't lose a lot by bringing Weid in. Thirdly it has to be against a lowly opponent that is hopefully decimated by injury, a lowly team that actually still has a decent look at it's best 22 can bring it. Round 18-22 would be the earliest I can think of but we actually have a tough run home so perhaps if all the stars align a lesser team in amongst there could work. I personally think it's a dangerous game to play, and silly of King to be suggesting it now.

Not even half way through the year, and there is plenty more footy to come. One week at a time and keep banking the 4 points, if players are carrying an injury (I think Trac might be a chance at having this week off) then give someone else a crack. I remember North started a year with 9 wins and scraped into finals.

Great reward for hard work and effort, well done JJ!

Poor Sam has become the face of Casey now ?.

Just another one to add to the nerves: our starts haven’t been great this year and they could get a sniff if they’re on early. Cripps is a damn good footballer, and he’s had days out against us before. Would love to see Harmes go back to his tagging roots to nullify his impact.

Yep Oliver is the last person in our team I’d like to have a set shot. I’d take Nibbler, Petty, and Max over him any day of the week. From 40m or less I’d gladly take Salem, but of our forwards TMac has got his radar back, and Benny Brown has always been elite at set shots (even if it takes forever for him to kick it).

I’m pretty much referring to the likelihood of injuries/drops in form forcing potential shifts for players. Jordon’s having a great year, but he might tire in the second half or drop form. BBB I’m not entirely convinced by his first couple of game that he’ll have the longevity for the season. ANB is a role player (and doing a decent job thus far) but he could have another player usurp his spot by seasons end. Melksham continues to get games for not amazing output, the hammer might fall towards the end of the season. The club has a lot of faith in Petty, but who knows if he’ll definitely succeed. There’s a lot of footy to go.

That Max Gawn tackle in the 3rd quarter was baffling that it wasn’t paid, the player was given plenty of opportunity and in no way disposed of it cleanly. For a big ruckman to make such an awesome tackle and it go unrewarded must be frustrating to Max. To be fair the umps missed some big calls on Sydney’s side as well.

Whenever we’re doing well he always sounds down or disappointed, maybe he does it for everyone except for the tigers.

This is cringey me even writing this but the way channel seven train and develop their commentary team is for them to be “story tellers”. One of the (many) things that annoy me about them is that they always feel they need to fill the air with commentary, such as when TMac was lining up for his goal in the final quarter Luke Darcy couldn’t help but dribble on about his journey and how big a kick this was in the game....yadda yadda yadda. After he kicked it he also said, “that could be the sealer” with 7min 30sec of match time left ?. It’s honestly excruciating to listen to and for me it takes away from the game. There are some insufferable Fox Footy commentators but at least they just focus on the game.

Not sure who said it, but they suggested Tom go back....to Casey regardless of performance against North to get Weid in. He’s in close to career best form, and his resurgence is an absolute credit to his character.

That’s been my thought as well, we are yet to put in a 4 quarter display and we still have lapses where you start to think the old Melbourne is coming back. What we are doing is finding a way through to the other side to get the win. I’m quite happy for us to keep having flaws in our game that we can fix throughout the year. We’re still learning!

Jeez the second year player had an off night, stop the presses!! Was bound to happen and I’m not surprised it was against the Swans. They have a knack of putting certain players off their game, still had to important involvements even if he wasn’t his electric self.

Brayshaw was very poor (from what I saw in the second half) and was off last week as well. But aside from that I think he’s owned the second wing role quite well, Langdon is our playmaker winger whereas Brayshaw is the winger that slots into positions to provide the extra number. I totally agree that his disposal v Swans was disgusting (and costly at times) but he’s a cog in the engine. I’m backing him to get back to his early season form.

I think there will be some sore bodies this week and while Trac is a unit he is human. I think he might be given a week to recover from his nasty corkie. Sparrow has to be first in line to come in, he was BOG for me in the VFL last week. Our midfield depth gets tested if Trac is given a week to recover. Aside from that, no change.

The debate over TMac to defence has to end now. Petty wasn’t amazing but Gawn gave him praise in the post match interview with Fox Footy, they seem to think he can do the job. But Tom’s form up front is just too good, and we don’t know what we’d get from Weid. It was an ugly game, actually very reminiscent of the Cairns game last year but the difference is we were up for a scrap and just did what we needed to do. It’s not going to go down as a classic but getting a tight win as well shows some metal. Stood up to the challenge when it mattered. Shout out to Spargypants for that big goal, summed it up very quickly and executed brilliantly. Tommy stood tall, been a while since we’ve seen a Melbourne take a pack mark like that. May showed why he should be AA, Buddy who? Jackson continues to amazing me. That said tip of the cap to Hickey in the ruck, seems to always play well against Melbourne. I haven’t seen the first half yet so I’ve got that to look forward to, but interested to know the consensus on Brown’s game. Looked very slow at the end. He kicked 3 goals so how much more do you ask for from a FF? Anyway, 8-0 is just....mind blowing! ?