Pates

I hope there were a bunch of our players watching the Roos game for a few reasons. For one I hope it would remind a few that it wasn't that long ago that these wins were what we experienced. I would also hope it reminds players to place value on the wins and don't take them for granted. Finally I would also hope that they get reminded that bad kicking is bad footy, we've missed some very getable chances this year and it has cost us, Richmond lost that off their kicking boots. Great for North, hilarious to watch.

Absolutely, the whole "I just really want to go home" line does tend to fall away when they then say they'll only go to a certain club. I think we're going to struggle to get a gun player out of it unless there is a multi deal with other clubs to satisfy our desires.

I was just thinking the same thing! I also don't get why people are jumping at shadows with Gus, he just called a 100 year old member to wish him a happy birthday. He's the epitome of a "clubman", it's why the only reason I see him leaving is if Jackson stays in order to maximise his final contract. Jackson makes perfect sense, he's got ties and roots in WA. He's also been involved in a premiership with the Dees (crucially involved as well) so in his mind he might well feel that he doesn't owe the club anything as he's provided that service. That said, his body language definitely is of a bloke that enjoys his time with everyone at the club.

I feel like the contract negotiations between Jacko and the club could well be a bit linked to Gus, if Jackson is hinting that he will go then I very much doubt that Gus will go as well. However is Jackson stays, it might be a lot harder to squeeze in Gus under the cap. I feel a lot more confident about Gus than I do Jackson. Prove me wrong Dogga!

This honestly needs to be made a bigger issue but the fact is that the "newsbreakers" and those who like to control the agenda are fans or have investment in the "bigger" Victorian clubs. There is absolutely no reason these days why there shouldn't be a rotation policy for all Victorian clubs to be sent down there. The AFL fixture is the most compromised, inequitable, and unfair draw of any professional code in the world. It's amateurish. Tell it to ANY fan of any code around the world and they would laugh. They are using the fixture to cheat the system. Once the new stand opens up there is no reason why all Victorian teams can't go down there, and the AFL should be forcing the cats to allocate more seats to opposition fans. If nobody snaps the tickets up by a certain time then by all means make it available to all.

You might need the barf bag ready picket, honestly reckon that's the way they'll go. Don't forget he was an absolute liability against the Pies. I'm not gonna say that Weid had a good game against the Crows but he was being asked to be something he's not. If Jayden Hunt is being asked to play on Tom Hawkins we wouldn't expect miracles so we couldn't have ask more than Weid than to give his best go at each ruck contest, which IMO he did.

Is it at all a surprise to anyone that now that our backline is settled again, our forward-line/scoring has improved as well? We set up a lot of our play from behind with May, Lever, Petty, and Gus taking interception marks and starting the chain from there. I'm not saying that we don't have an issue with the forward line; BBB is horribly out of form, Fritta seems to float in and out, and we don't seem to have a settled second tall forward, but we seem to generate a lot of scoring from the midfield and from players that rest/push forward. Trac played as a mid/HFF v Adelaide, Langdon has been much more willing to push forward for goals, while recently Sparrow and JJ have got the confidence to have cracks at goal themselves. If Gawn is the only one coming in I think M Brown makes way as Weid is the better ruckman, if Jackson is ready to return it's a no brainer; Weid comes out as well. If both are being "rushed" in I would have at least one of Weid, Brown, or Tommo as sub.

Completely agree with this, I get the dislike of Weid as he hasn’t come on as we would like but jeez he had to be the number one ruck against guys he’s was giving size and height, and battled as best he could. If it’s just Max back in, M Brown will make way. He didn’t do much wrong but match ups/positions wise it just makes sense. BBB would be the only other potential change, he looked ginger at one stage. Can’t picture any other changes, Bedford was down but he deserves a lengthy run in the seniors. I’d have Tomlinson as the sub, in case Hawkins decides to take out one of our key defenders again.

I really haven't had too much of a close look at our run home until now, boy our "easier" games are very few and far between. To be fair as well, I'm not saying experiment this week is a good idea, in fact I think the Crows have shown themselves more than capable of playing good footy, but if we are going to throw something new into the mix this week might be a week to trial it. When Max comes back we will have to really consider what our forward set up is going to look like. If that means we keep going with the smaller look forward line with Jackson/Gawn rotating, great. But if we want to keep the structure that got us to the promised land last season than Weid is the best option we have. I also think that we have to consider having utility players such as Tomlinson and Hunt as our subs as coverage. At least then is we get another injury to a defender we have that coverage, and likewise if a forward goes down then I would be looking at throwing Petty forward with the sub moving into defence. We also then have the extra small already out there that can play midfield minutes if needed.

Shame we never got to see him out on the G as a full fledged demon but wish him all the best in his next chapter.

Looking at the disposal stats for Weids game on Thursday would be completely unfair to him. He competed hard, and in ruck contests I felt he was at absolute worst 50/50 with his direct opponent. He used his body, did teams things, to me it looked like a much improved version of Weid and certainly something to build on.

While yes the cats are reliant on quite a few ageing players, I think they’ve brought some good young players in this season that are showing some serious zip. I personally think at their best this season they look more dangerous.

I actually thought his ruck craft was the best I’ve ever seen, he genuinely looked like he was doing better than breaking even. Now that obviously also looks better when you have a psychopathic Viney smashing through and winning clearances but I thought he battled hard all game and as you said did team first acts. I really hope we don’t rush Gawn in; firstly this is a great opportunity for Weid to gain some confidence with a body of work. I also think this is a fantastic time for us to trial some plan B scenarios should the big fella be unavailable at the pointy end. And finally, the poor guy has been carrying such a heavy load of responsibility particularly during our slump, he needs time. I was disappointed Weid didn’t get the goals from his chances, but if he works hard and persists with what he did on Thursday the opportunities will come.

This side isn’t the case, Alice Springs is actually mild and no humidity. I don’t mind us having one game in Alice every year, we’ve played there enough now that we are more familiar with the ground than any club in the AFL. My only annoyance is playing Port Adelaide there means we will likely not have the crowd support. Would much rather we play one of the likes of GC, GWS or even a Victorian side. As for not needing the cash, we sadly kinda still do. Our crowd numbers haven’t been great, we aren’t completely out of the woods. It’s also actually good that we are connecting to First Nations communities.

I usually try to avoid father/son comparisons but jeez that would be epic to see Jack vs Todd in his prime. The universe would probably implode such would be the impact of them coming up against each other! Jack took the dropping of the captaincy like an absolute champ and now that he has it back (if only temporarily) he has gone to beast mode x10.

I’ve never really known AFL teams or players to game this, in fact if anything players resist getting onto the stretcher when they should to seem more macho. Total contrast to soccer, particularly European and international games, where they blatantly and disgracefully use it to slow momentum and waste time. I will never forget an Aussie match against Iraq where they used the stretcher what felt like every 5 minutes. The ref did nothing. Really glad AFL isn’t like that.

Petracca looked good on Thursday night but I would be interested to know if there’s anything being done about his kicking for goal. His goal drought extended this week and there’s no doubt he’s getting enough looks at the big sticks to say he should be doing better. That one on 3 quarter time in particular he should be nailing every time. In fairness to him he’s not alone, Nibbler and Oliver both missed very straight forward chances in the third. I’m not expecting our team to do what we did in the Grand Final (hell that was one out of the blocks), but it is frustrating seeing very getable chances going to waste. EDIT throw BBB into the group wasting opportunities.

Understand what you’re trying to get at @Harrisonrules and I think there was a bit of that when we got to 10-0. There was talk of “who’s going to beat us” and even dumber chatter from media people (didn’t see any on here) of us going undefeated. When we lost those three in a row there was definitely this feeling of us being back to the pack and the aura surrounding us being this really hunted prey seemed to disappear, suddenly we were a wounded animal. As the reigning premiers we will always be the hunted, every team will be itching to get us as a scalp. But I do also think that since our 3 losses there has been a wake up call, and on Thursday night we were playing like a team with something to prove.

I like what I’m hearing from van Rooyen, how good is it that we’re not desperate to throw someone in and instead allow him to develop at a natural pace. Will only make him hungrier to force his way into the team. Casey look like an absolute force this season. Quick question on AMW, I was excited by us picking him up, where will he potentially fit into the team in the future? Absolutely no reason to rush him though. EDIT would love to see Chandler back in the team if later in the season, even if it’s a rotation to release some tired legs. He was really stiff to be suspended for 2 weeks but it looks like he’s taken it in his stride.

That’s the beauty and the beast of a difficult run home, it’s not only a chance to get form on good teams but a chance to take further ground on them. On the same token, losing to them had the same affect in the reverse. I feel like we need to have a similar mindset to last season and put aside the fact the we’re the hunted. We tick things off, fist thing we win 2-3 more we play finals for sure.

100% agree with this, there’s been a lot of resistance to this sort of action but at the end of the day it’s not the victim’s team on the night that gets the benefits of a player being out a player, it’s the infringing team that gets the benefits by taking that player out of the game. I’d be very comfortable with a system of a green, yellow, and red card. Green sends the player off for 5 “in play” minutes, yellow is 10, and red is out of the game. I could also see a system where the umpire is able to send the player off but there is someone reviewing the decision to decide if it’s too harsh or not harsh enough or even missed completely. That way if the umpires misses something the player can still be put out of the game for a period. I know it’s a movement that makes it look more like soccer and hockey, but it’s completely wrong that Geelong got to benefit from a dangerous and really thuggish act.

I know he played out the game but could there be a concern for Petracca? He didn’t look great in the immediate aftermath of the collision. I would be trying to avoid rushing Gawn back in as much as possible, he was massive for the finals and lead up last season. I also thought Weid worked really hard and earned his place in the team for next week.

West Coast looked A LOT better against Geelong, I’m not saying their going to be winning on the regular but like a large portion of bottom teams they aren’t as they seem. They’ve had COVID rip through their club (poor management and attitudes perhaps) as well as a number of injuries to compound it. They have a lot of premiership players in their team, so when things get going they are capable of playing decent footy. Love seeing the bombers lose!

Interesting, watching the telly it looked and sounded like we had a far higher spread of support.

Yep, BOG for me without a doubt. Oliver was in everything but it was Viney starting it at every contest, he was almost scary in the way he attacked the ball.