Maldonboy38

After the ridiculous feeding frenzy that was the media/commentary on our club, THAT is what leadership looks like. Brutal, tough, inspiring, uncompromising. I 'dips me lid' to Viney, ANB, Gawn, Lever for showing commitment and pride to our jumper and club. Even more so, I am loving the spirit and grunt shown by our large group of your fellas. Turner, Tholstrup, McVee etc... A real strong group of younger players reminding me of early days under Neal Daniher. But it was against a very, very disinterested Gold Coast.

My goodness, what a snooze fest. The old aerial ping pong between the arcs with midfielders doing all the work, backed up by the commentary being about pressure and tackles because nothing else is happening. 2 ordinary forward lines. Sydney's run and bust game has almost totally disappeared.

OPTIMISM I am not sure about our current window closing or being closed. I see more than a second window is already opening. No way did I see our 22 having one or all of McVee, Tholstrup, AMW, Turner, Howes, Windsor or K Brown in it this season. I agree that our list management strategy was a fail, but our development program (formerly the weakest part of our football department) has once again produced great fruit. I hope Verral has a huge preseason because I see him being a very good AFL ruckman who can step in to emerge behind Max. Jefferson will be primed and ready to go. Really looking forward to seeing him beside JVR, Fritsch and Turner. Good health & preseason for Trac and Clarry. Our draft strategy usually lands us with 2 draft positions inside top 20. PESSIMISM Kicking skills / decision making under pressure. Remains our achilles heel and I can't see it changing unless we change players, philosophy , and skills training personnel. Max, May TMac getting older. Schache, McAdam, Billings & Hore remain on our list and might have to stay on there due to last year's list management decisions.

The saying "everything rises and falls on leadership" is so true of Max. He has influenced the entire club and supporter base and has a massive profile (in a psychological sense). When he does step down, it will be a monumental change of leadership and will ripple trough the club. There will be a void is his wake for some time. I can't see Trac as our Skipper. Great player with leadership traits - yes, but not as Club Captain. Lever looks a standout, but I would have Rivers. This is pure blind opinion because Rivers has done little publicly to show lots of leadership capacity. His footy is maturing, and when he has spoken on media, he is articulate and has a good understanding of the broader game.

Sydney's stoppage and clearance awareness looks to be way off. So many Pies players running through a contest unmanned or unmarked. But maybe even more telling is the form of Heeny, Gulden and Warner: fumbling, missing targets by foot, and little zip. They were breath-taking only 6 weeks ago.

Big game player, strong and fair, quiet and humble, rarely beaten, and amazing game awareness. Among all the accolades, I reckon there is not enough mention of his field kicking. Hitting ridiculous targets on the run with low penetrating 60m passes. The sound of the ball striking his foot - wow. What a gun.

Port, Brisbane, Freo and Bulldogs have the form going into finals. And Port remain fragile and their form can disappear very quickly. I can't see genuine finals aspirants among any of the others striving to finish in the top 8. I continue to believe that Brisbane will not win a GF with Zorko in the team, and with Hipwood as a main forward target. Daniher is playing outstanding footy when he is away from goals, but if they expect him to be a main forward force, the finals will find him out. Looks like Freo v Bulldogs to me.

I know Tiges v Roos is a battle for the wooden spoon, but it is a very entertaining game. Lots of run and carry, high marks, great goals, and the occasional bit of argy-bargy. Some serious young talent in both teams.

Rivers has been excellent once he moved into the midfield. Viney has had some plodding games, but he has also had a heap of good ones, and is one player who has rarely lost his intensity.

Our best football has been great, but very rare this year, and rarely for more than 2.5 quarters a game. And we have played some really bad footy during most games and had runs of goals kicked against us. And we have seen little of the gut running defensive smothering of other teams that kept us in many games over the past 3 years. With the exception of Viney who has been superb for most of this year, our midfield has lacked intensity and often lost contested possession count. All of this on display tonight versus the Dogs. But I don't feel like wrist-slashing. Both the Dogs and Swans have shown they can have up years, followed by a dip, and then reset and find a way to rise again. I reckon we can do the same. Losing Gus permanently, then Trac has been a massive blow. Gawn, May and Lever have missed fair chunks. Petty, Oliver, Melksham all had a hugely interrupted pre-season. Blooded a heap of young talent, all of whom have shown glimpses of being AFL ready. Sad that we see no finals this year.

Jaded, that has just become my quote of the year. Absolute gold. And so, so true.

Apart from losing contested possession, we are leaving 1 or 2 Dogs players 2 handballs wide of the contest, and then missing most tackles when they press through. Or they go around us. Lever - you have a player, defend him every so often. May & TMac - doing a power of work. Bont is a star.

Not confident, but I am hoping we give it a good shake. Bont & Darcy worry me - the rest we cover or match. We really need a big one from Fritsch, and for Petty to convert his contested marking into scoring.

Holding the ball against Cripps again! What is this madness?

Well I'll be hornswaggled! The ump just paid a holding the ball against Cripps. I thought that was against the fabric of the game! Surely the Blues will send a "please explain" to the AFL umpiring department.

I've got an idea. Just play the game of football. Lionel Ritchie, Robbie Williams & Kiss were all fine, but I wouldn't have missed them one bit. I just want to watch the game that decides the premiers. Who cares a tinkers cuss if there is no vacuous, ponced-up pop sensation with limited talent but over hyped self exposure galumphing across a sporting arena?

I know it is much better for us for the Blues to win, but I can't barrack for them. I just can't. Their insufferable supporters are in full voice tonight, Cripps is a great player but is throwing it AGAIN, and the crowd noise is definitely influencing the umpires. Can't wait for the Olympic coverage to get into full swing ...

He looks likely to have a very good AFL career. Power, very very good basic skills, and loves the physical stuff. I'm not a huge fan of his posturing and trash talking but love his confidence so I accept them all as a single package. His game awareness and positioning has improved out of sight over this season and I see him in the midfield long term. To have him and other younger players re-signing shows how much they want to hang around. Goodwin might be a boring media performer, but the players clearly love playing for him.

The standout was the lack of intensity and effort. It was almost team-wide, but Lever, Kossie and Fritsch were on another planet. Mentally unfocused, almost vague, so much jogging, no defensive positioning, watching the play without impacting or tackling, etc... But what got under my nose was we made little response to Freo's spread from stoppages. I could not count the amount of times they handballed forward away from a stoppage, outnumbering us 5-2, with little intensity or response from the players. And yet somehow, when they went into F50, they had spare players over the back. This can only be defensive intent and today, we had little.

Every team has shown its worst at times this season. The difference is who produces good form now. Pies & Bummers being exposed, Port not really competitive against good teams. Cats, Freo, Dogs & Dees all looking similar, however the Cats looking worse than poor tonight. Giving away 28 scoring shots on a night of foul weather. Hawkins gone, and Cats with no real defensive structure once Stewart is neutralised.

I can't remember the last time I clapped Hawthorn, but I am loving Ginnivan sticking it up the Pies. Hawks small forwards tearing the Pies to pieces.

Absolutely persisting down with rain. Hard to watch, but even in these conditions Casey often second to the ball.

Wow, some super dumb football by Casey three plays in a row. So frustrating considering how hard the backline are working to get the ball up the field.

Backline doing well, everywhere else is as sloppy and disorganised as you could ever see.

2 howling umpire errors. Dragging it in then sling tackle - both a total misread of the piece of play.