Pates

A real arm wrestle here, both teams are setting up well defensively (credit to Goody for that). This is going to be down to who takes their chances. Petracca’s goals have been huge but if we’re getting more from him as a forward/mid then Brayshaw and Clarry need to step up. Clarry in particular. Gus seemed to be getting more of it that quarter but not damaging enough. Haven't seen Enough of Pickett and Spargo, they need to provide more forward pressure. Hannan has been poor. Oscar, I’ve been a defender of his but I don’t think I can cop him anymore. Interestingly that last centre bounce we clearly got the tap but Clarry and Gus got in each other’s way. Is that bad communication or set up?

Bulls*** he could’ve put two hands up but chose to go the one hander and ducked his head. Clarry went with zero conviction, like much of what he has done today.

Listening to Jordie Lewis on fox footy they were talking about the important Saints ball winners and he said, “Melbourne don’t have a tagger if an opposition player gets off the leash” I just thought, “actually we do but he has been played in the wrong position and dropped for form”. Harmes as a tagger IS A WEAPON. But we have botched his development and turned him into a useless half back player.

That squibbed mark early on in the second quarter was costly, put two hands up and take the contact if it comes. Jones’s late kick was disgusting but that kick was a beauty and should’ve set us up for a shot on goal.

We were actually holding firm quite well against their pressure but those last two goals, I don’t know how Goodwin didn’t do a Clarkson and punch his first through the wall. Jones’s turnover could prove to be a massive turning point in the game and that centre clearance from the restart was troubling. Just two tackles for the quarter (and I’m pretty sure one happened in the first 5 seconds of the quarter) that is really worrying. The really annoying thing is our structure was actually holding up well and we weren’t giving them easy entries, even the first of the last three goals came through a bit of luck of the bounce and an unlucky free kick against Viney. But from that moment Jones released that god awful kick all our hard work had been undone. On the other side we controlled the ball well and had some golden chances going inside 50 but botched the final kick. Our third quarters haven’t been good and the Saints will be going in with their tails up.

Opposition fans seeing what we’ve been seeing all year Harmes played out of position. I really would’ve liked to see Goodwin switch him up with midfield/forward minutes before dropping him.

I’ve tipped the Saints tonight, so we’re a decent chance.

It’s nice to have one draft year where the top picks we took have turned into players while the team with number one got no return. It’s taken a little longer than we would like but Trac is starting to use the gifts he has, he looks so much better when he takes on the FIGJAM mentality. That’s not to say he should be selfish but last week against the doggies he had the old look of not being sure. Hopefully Christian can REALY make them regret not taking him today. For Paddy, I think the Saints were desperate for a forward to take over from Reiwoldt.

He’s been pretty lethal in the past, sadly lethal to us though. ?

Bennell has completely fallen off the map, is it possible they’re basically calling this year done for him and getting him ready to take on 2021 with more in the tank? I’ve liked seeing him in the side as he adds some skill and magic, I would personally have him in over the likes of Spargo and JWag.

50+ goals in a season where we made finals is not top enough for you? EDIT: missing first 5 games through injury as well

I thought there were swearing filters on this site, what a disgusting thing to read. Next you’ll be saying “Go Blues!” against the pies this week! ?

I’m a fan of us going after Daniher, I think him and Weid would make a potent combo of forwards but do we have the coin available to get him?

Pies could well drop out with their injury list, they’re our chance. Dogs are better than what people have them credit for and are setting themselves up nicely for a tilt.

Agreed but when the club released the article about his move into defence I think the collective belief of demonland was that this would be to his detriment. We had a player in Harmes, this move seems to have killed his confidence and he doesn’t look sure of himself. Asking the question about Wagners inclusion, what is his position? I know he kicked goals in the scratch match last week but is that how we’re going to play him? For me I’ve had him in the list of NQR’s for some time and was really hoping I wouldn’t see him in the senior team all year.

Wasn’t expecting 6 changes, I sort of wonder if the selection committee started falling down a rabbit hole of sorts when changes started. Gawn was obviously going to be a walk up start when available and sadly for Preuss it makes sense he makes way. Jones in for Sparrow just makes sense, I really would love Jones to pull out a classic performance (maybe get one over his little bro). But after that as I said the domino’s started falling. TMac has had chance after chance and done very little, it’s sad to see him go from one of the competitions top forwards to what he is now in the space for 18-24 months. Brown deserves this opportunity. Fritta out is a big call but I’m ok with it, he had been doing very little lately particularly when the game is there to be won. This could be the kick up the bum he needs. Harmes probably deserves it as well but I think he’s been horribly mismanaged. I would’ve preferred to see a positional change that puts him in the forward line, potentially taking AvB’s role. Happy seeing Rivers back in, less thrilled about seeing OMac (though I’m a fan) and Wagner. I’ve tipped the Saints and these changes don’t fill be with confidence. Like so many other matches it’s going to be down to our midfield working harder than the opposition and taking our chances when they come. I’ve been feeling Weid has a big bag in him this year (he should had a couple already), if it happens this game it could be the making of him.

I might be in the minority here but Fritsch has been annoying me lately and to be honest I feel his recent goals have been a lot of junk time goals. It is a little concerning that they drop TMac as well which will surely drop our goal kicking potential. I could see us playing Brown as well as Preuss, Max does a lot of backline sweeper roles and we could play Preuss predominantly as our off-the-bench ruckman. Brown can move into a combination of Fritta/2nd tall, and we really need Melksham and AvB to do some positive this week. If it’s true Harmes is being dropped I’m disappointed in Goodwin and Co. He has shown himself to be a good footy player when used properly. If a positional shift were to happen I’d much prefer seeing him in the forward line playing as an offensive tagger on the dangerous opposing HBF.

This time the role is a little reversed as they are the ones higher on the ladder and probably been playing the better footy across the board. I think it’s times we got one back on them.

That actually isn't a bad point, because it points to both sides of the argument. It says the club holds itself on the results but it's also challenging the supporter base to buy in.

Wow when I left the score check I saw the Hawks up at half time by 36 points. I still would've preferred Essendon to lose but I have to love those Hawks fans having to endure some serious pain! I can't see Essendon making finals with their run home, but it could possibly still end up that our round 18 game is the finals tie-breaker.

I think that was his back wasn’t it? Copped a knee to the spine and initial thoughts were it’s just bruising and then it turned out to be a lot more severe.

When I saw the fixture had us playing Dogs and Saints back to back I said to myself we needed to get a win out of one of those two games. I just don’t see us being able to win the last four on the trot to make the finals. It requires a level of concentration and focus I just don’t think our squad has. Beat the Saints and I think that leads us into finals. I hate the Hawks and Bombers, but I’m quite happy to see Hawthorn winning.

I think every clear minded Dees fan would agree with that, ANB’s “force” on the tackle is higher. I couldn’t understand why the MRO handed it onto the tribunal. I would’ve accepted three weeks for Nibbler IF a tackle like Dahlhaus got one week. The ONLY reason why the tackles are different, aside from a little more force from ANB, was that the Adelaide player braced himself for the contact with the ground with for Dahlhaus’s tackle, whereas with Nibbler the player didn’t, he was more focused on trying to get rid of the ball. Also I have said this before but I’m pretty sure Nibbler’s “victim” has battled concussion issues this year, so the Adelaide medical report really suck the boots into him which weighted his suspension unfairly.

I think Weid will, I have more confidence in him kicking a proper bag this year over Fritta.

Weid as well, both should’ve had bags of 3-4+ this year were it not for bafflingly bad kicking.