Pates

I’ve noticed that when he is forward (and in rare form) his leads are harder than anyone and his hands are actually quite good. Problem he has had is that he just becomes the invisible man for long periods of the game. But personally I agree that he is best as a forward.

Gotta love the way the AFL have really helped us out this year. ?

Anyone know if Freo will be flying on the day of the game? It’s not an excusing for our pathetic performance last match but there can’t be much doubt that it plays an impact to fitness. The fact they’ve gone in with no changes could actually benefit us. I really do think they’ve taken a management approach to some of our changes for this match. Bringing some pace to the line up perhaps to outrun Freo, of course number one is getting clean hands on the ball and then using the bloody thing well!

Brown the unlucky one but his inclusion is clearly to give Gawn a chop out off the 4 day break. Rest of the changes I’m happy with. Surely this has to be Hunt’s big chance, I was really hoping he would make a place for himself in the team but he just doesn’t seem to do enough. I hope we give Baker a real license to run hard on the opposite wing to Langdon, I’ve been wanting to see him in for a while now. Bedford and Kozzie back together, would love to see these two buzzing at the feet of Weid and Preuss. Off a 4 day break and a poor game I think these changes work. I wonder whether they have reassessed that position earlier in the year about managing these breaks.

I had the misfortune of only being in Australia for the Richmond ANZAC eve loss and the following Hawthorn loss in 2018. Far and away our worst H&A losses for the the year. I can’t tell you the last actual win I have seen, I was in Melbourne to see the pre-season win against Adelaide this year. On that Hawthorn loss in 2018, I believe (I could be wrong) that the club had a bout of gastro go through the playing group. They killed it in the 1st quarter but were completely bereft of energy after that. I’m hoping to be around in Australia next year for the season, watch us return to a bottom 4, 5 wins or less team again. ☹️

I feel like we’re yet to see Goodwin pull an in-game master stroke move. It’s pretty much either plan A works or it doesn’t. That would be my biggest critique of him that he doesn’t seem to have any moves to shuffle things if it isn’t working.

This belief that we can’t be trusted to grit the tough wins and solidify finals spots is nothing new at all. I loved the Rev and we had some great years with him but we were so good at choking at bad moments. It just became what you expected and really we have always found a way to make bottom 4 sides look like their top 4 sides. Zero idea how to rectify it because we really see to have it ingrained in every facet of the club including the fans.

It’s was such schoolyard footy to see us adopting that tactic in the first quarter, kicking randomly long without seeing what options was on then only to watch Sydney go the complete opposite direction of looking for space and targets. Weid had a poor game back his teammates did him no favours.

Well done to Trac, he’s been a definite bright spot this year in amongst inconsistency from many teammates. He can get better, which is scary for the competition. Really hope he celebrates with a win.

Genuinely think they should be docked 2 premiership points for this breach. This season has been such a monumental effort from so many parties to get it going and for these two dingbats to compromise it is a disgrace. I also feel for the fact there will potentially be a club physio, coach, fitness staff who now may have to find another job next year because of these two selfish idiots. The ramifications of their choices are far reaching and could've had bigger consequences. Docking them 2 premiership points brings them back to even points so they have to rely on percentage to achieve a higher spot. As for the AFLPA stopping them being fined such a huge amount, why shouldn't they cop that fine? The breach is their doing and as I mentioned above had potentially huge ramifications on so many people. I think 50/50 with the club is the minimum of what they should be paying.

I've had patience with him and even defended him at times, but yesterday was the final straw for me. He became a liability to the team, so much so that we threw him forward in a vein attempt to mix things up though it looked more like an attempt to hide him. Some of the blame has to go to the selection committee though, in some rare circumstances he can be of limited value as a stopper, but most on here were downright bemused by his selection against Sydney coupled with bringing in Smith. Anyway, I would like to see us shop him around at season's end. I don't think I can stand seeing him in the team anymore.

After the Saints match I said Goody deserved praise for the way the gameplay worked, this match the players looked lost everywhere around the ground. Going forward we had no system despite the amount of opportunities we had. It was very reminiscent of 2019. Big fail on Goodwin today. I think that’s our season cooked, I can see us finishing on 9 wins which will have us miss out by the draw Collingwood had with Richmond. No way do I see us beating GWS with that pathetic effort today and now we have to back it up with a short break vs Freo. Wasted year. Time to move on Oscar, he can’t continue to get games and be completely out of his depth. His selection this game was downright baffling considering we brought in Smith as well. I didn’t mind sending him forward as something different but looked at sea there as well so he has go. No time for them to lament this poor performance though, Freo in 4 days could end our season officially.

Guess they made their choice. They want an early finish to the year.

This is our worst half for the year. Disgusting play on all aspects, can’t give a pass mark to anyone but Max who was starting to give us first use finally towards the end of the quarter. Jones made a big error last week that almost cost us, this week he had three golden chances to make amends and he stuffed them all. What the hell was he thinking playing on from that set shot???? I’ve been a defender of Oscars for a while at times but I can’t defend him now. Spud. He shouldn’t be playing anyway, I didn’t understand the decision to keep him in the team. Meanwhile a team that has been crap all year, we are making them look like premiership contenders.

If by chance we were to get a "home" final I would love it to be played in Alice Springs. I get that we don't always have the larger supporter base there but imagine us sending a final their way, surely they would really love us for that and it would be down to our marketing team to get the word out there to show support for us. Otherwise I would like us to choose Adelaide Oval, we just really seem to play it well.

I really thought Hunt had the tools to be a top player, he just looks lost every time he’s out there.

Good question, that was definitely out of the blue. We definitely still have our reputation of wilting if a team brings the heat.

Could depend on how the game goes, this is not me getting ahead of myself but more a scenario should it play out this way: if we do happen to get a big lead in the last quarter I would definitely look at playing those two in the ruck as much as possible and give Max either a rest on the bench or forward.

Would prefer this score line than them getting thumped as that might’ve called for a response against us. Will also give the players a reminder that any team can bring it on their day.

Thanks for your extremely valuable contribution, I’m not surprised you need a nap after really straining yourself on it.

I’m not a huge fan of Smith but he did actually play a decent role on Reiwoldt. I’m ok with him getting a shot at it.

I worry that we’re going too tall in defence, I would’ve brought in either Lockhart or Nev for Oscar. Comfortable with the outs though. AvB has been playing poorly for a while now and Hannan was the obvious one to make way for Fritta. Managing Pickett this a good move, hopefully a rest will have him right for Freo. Nibbler back after his suspension, it’s an interesting thing to think that if they hadn’t allowed suspended players to play in the scratch matches then he wouldn’t have got this chance. Hope he does his role and tackles well, this time perhaps in a way that won’t give him a suspension. Harmes named in the forward line, we’ve been calling for this change for a while. Hopefully it gives him confidence.

I think it’s too late to happen for this year but if I were I would start looking at a return to the defence next year. Problem is does that put him back in the same issue of being behind others? Hearing Clarkson get upset about the draft being compromised this year is absolutely music to my ears. As many have said our recruiting and subsequent development did us no favours but the compromise GC/GWS drafts set teams like us back. So I hope the Hawks have years down the bottom for their arrogance at nabbing players that had broken bodies and past it in the hopes of maintaining their top 8 status. I hate the cats but they at least have the intelligence to invest in some good draftees. (They can be next on the drop off though!)

I’m with you on no excuses. That should be printed on the wall of our changing rooms wherever we play. But barring us losing the rest of our games badly Goodwin will be coaching us next year so you should probably just get used to that thought. Every game is winnable, and yeah other teams have had it softer for travel but we have had a close to full strength list to choose from every week. Missing finals from this position would be embarrassing.

Pretty much spot on for my changes, no match up for Oscar so he goes out. Jetta instead of Lockhart is a chance, he was given a positive mention after the scratch match. After a stirring win like that I think they’ll try not to ring in too many changes.