Maldonboy38

Lots of fumbling, handling errors and dropped marks. Frustrating. TMac, Kozzie and Fritsch looking good. Some unfortunate casual, carefree stuff from Petracca. Oliver is a star. We have also got some terrible free kicks given to to us - that 50m is a disgrace to our game. Please, please, please do NOT play Dunstan again. I would rather see a young kid have a crack and make mistakes than a mature player show us what poor VFL football looks like. Goldy and Xerri doing a really good job nullifying Max. North having a red hot go and finally showing what system they are trying to play.

To-do list: Parkrun - check. Got a good time for an older bloke so smugly bragging about it to family Voting - check. Had a good chat to a local independent candidate who has no chance of winning but is giving it a crack which I admire greatly. Minestrone soup - in the slow cooker Clean out the carport gutters, and desludge the bathroom u-bends - TBC after lunch Then plonk in front of the footy and hopefully: Ben Brown to kick 10, while smiling and enjoying himself. Gawn, Petracca and Oliver to take a back seat while Sparrow and Jackson tear the Roos apart. Pickett and Spargo to cause havoc. Postgame, get onto Demonland and enjoy gloating about being the best team in the league Watch whatever game is in TV, knowing neither of the teams is as good as us. Yes, more gloating.

Gold right there.

It is clear that the Blues don't play four quarters but neither do we. Each week we play 1 poor quarter at least. The difference is the Blues get out in front with great footy, but then collapse and get overrun. We can give up 8 goals in a row, still find a way to reset, and swamp our opposition late with our fitness and grunt. Now I hate the Blues with an incoherent, deep passion so my views on them are always biased, but there is something about them still that makes me hold back from being a believer in their top 4 aspirations, and maybe they will struggle to make 7th or 8th. Their mids are very good but if they lose contested possession count, what is their plan B? Forwards are strong but Dees and Tigers will squeeze so hard defensively that they will look a lot less dangerous. Weitering is a star, love watching him, but he is surrounded by some serious B graders and B- players. Sydney should have won that. They needed to convert those chances in the last quarter. Their inability to kick vital goals when they have locked it into their forward half has been an issue for them for 18 months now, and is unresolved. And that Logan McDonald - wow! Scary good.

As bad as the Swans have looked, and Carlton on a roll, it is only 25 points the difference. It doesn't look likely for a Swans win but Longmire is a very good coach.

I simply hate Carlton. Seeing them playing well makes me want to puke. Swans looking mediocre at best.

Not a huge fan of the inclusion of Melksham, but Goodwin has been consistent in trying to get people to important milestones. The difficulty I have with the selection of Melksham is that it is not like for like. Harmes is great old fashioned footballer - a whole lot more skilful than many give him credit for, he runs all day, is a very good mark and kick, runs both ways, and can tag/stop if the team needs it. Melksham is a creative half forward with a wide awareness and a beautiful kick, but hasn't got the grunt of Harmes.

He is all elbows, knees, angles and awkwardness. There is little smooth or fluent about him to attract people to notice and admire him. These attributes work in his favour as opposition players have to find a way around his marking the ball at its highest point, and his natural body movement putting people off balance. I LOVE his long straight runup, and I am bewildered many other young forwards don't attempt the same. He runs in a straight line towards his target, and kicks it in that line, while being at a slow running pace. Having said all that, he makes our forward 50 effectiveness 30% better just by being there. I rate him very highly and still cannot believe the stupidity of North to treat him the way they did, and then let him go the way they did.

I will never forget the first contest in the 2021 GF -Viney breathing fire absolutely flattens McCrae. I was out of my seat. Brilliant.

Actually, I am getting tired of the lack of love the media and others are giving Jack Viney. He has been super this year. Even against the Eagles, when the game was stuck in a boring holding pattern for 2 quarters I believe it was Viney getting angry and physical around the stoppages that changed the flow of the game. For me it is three things: He is LOVING both footy and the club. He doesn't have to shoulder the weekly pushback of underperforming teammates His kicking has improved out of sight (actually I wish Petracca's kicking would improve as much) He is kicking goals.

OUT: Harmes (inj) Chandler (susp) IN: Bedford, Laurie or Woewodin.

6. Viney 5. Brayshaw 4. Jordon 3. Pickett 2. Petracca 1. Oliver

Quarters 1 and 4 were great to watch. Quarters 3 and 4 were a gut-wrenching plodding. But I will take the 9-0, great percentage and 74 point win.

I can't accept that the final 8 is settled. With Port and the Bulldogs still capable on any given day, Richmond capable of both collapsing AND finding form, a lot of variables remain. And I remain unconvinced about the Blues. It might just be my absolute hatred of anything Carlton, but I see them finishing about 10th.

There is a genuine risk we could lose players like Bedford, Tomlinson, Daw, Laurie etc... if we are not careful. They all look easily AFL standard each week and should be playing somewhere, maybe in a team that is developing or rebuilding. Dunstan and Weideman are curious to me - why they both chose to come/stay at the Dees when they are genuine starters in other teams.

1. Heeney ... daylight ... 2. Curnow 3. Khamis 4. Tom Greene 5. Shai Bolton 6. Max King

I hate umpire abuse. Here in the BFNL 3 years ago, we had a past player and long time club member barred from the ground for 2 weeks by the club for umpire abuse and foul language. It was a great move by the club. It is a lot better than it has ever been and other people in the crowd are beginning to clamp down on the idiots. May I say, it is actually parents in the U16 and U18 competition that are the worst. Parents can be vile at times about perceived injustices to their little Johnny or Jenny. But I hate the new rule. It should be held in place for abuse and/or physical remonstrations that make the umpire feel disrespected or unsafe. But asking the umpire "what was that for?" with your arms extended is a rational, reasonable response to either a) a carp umpiring decision or b) not knowing what the free kick was paid for or who to give the ball to. I thought de Goey's response was excellent. He began to let off steam, caught himself, and swallowed it. The umpire should have actually said "well done". And the Khamis one is a howler for the simple fact a blatantly obvious free kick was missed.

You know how for some reason you love watching a certain player, even though they are at another club? For example I love both Heeney and Kennedy from the Swans, Pendlebury at the Pies, and in the past enjoyed Quinlan from Fitzroy, Dempsey, Glendinning, Peter Matera, etc... Khamis at the Bulldogs is just wonderful to watch. Star in the making. He has a magnificent leap, marks the ball at the highest point and his 2nd efforts are aggressive. Love seeing great young players emerge.

Interesting what he said about Bowey, how he has become a stoppage specialist at such a young age. The more I think about it, the more I see how accurate this is. May is the classic example of not needing a position or a title to be a leader. I love his straight talking, and bare faced honesty about himself but most of all I love the aggressive way he plays. he wants to be physically intimidating in every contest he enters. He could play in any era and be outstanding.

Can we have more interviews with TMac, please. Courteous, intelligent, articulate and actually answers the question without the mind-numbing references to 4 points and "the boys". I really enjoyed his comments about his journey to 200 games, and the ways the team still want to improve.

I would love to say Norma Smith but it was all hearsay because my Demons-mad mum never shut up about him! But as for seeing with my own eyes: 1. Goodwin. Have a look at the way we play. Brilliant. And after 57 years, he led us home. 2. Northey. The fire and momentum lit up the players, the club and the supporters. I will never forget the 87 - 91 ride. Every player on the list playing near their best, and the coach was a firebrand. 3. Daniher. A bit good year/bad year but the skill of his teams was breathtaking. And he LOVED the club. 4. Balme. I still rate the 1994 team as the best 22 we have produced, player by player. He lacked enthusiasm at times, but he got so close. 5. I have to choose between Skilton, Bailey and Roos but probably have to choose Skilton for getting us SO close in '76 with an average list.

A lot can be said about Mark Neeld - good, middling and bad. I remember he was shocked at how unfit we were, and he knew he needed to be brutal in his expectation of training standards etc... Most of us were thrilled at his tough stance when he started. Put simply, he couldn't communicate. Not his vision, plans, or expectations. Simply, he was not a senior coach. The video footage from the rooms showed players not listening, the game plan showed a complete lack of clarity and a whole heap of confusion, and his press conferences gave us nothing. Noble speaks well at press conferences, the players appear to respect him and listen to him. but I have to admit that the way the Roos are currently playing does remind me of our confusion under Neeld (with similar low scoring and low percentage).

Some holes appearing in the Swans game. Really struggling to score, and too easy for opposition to rebound out of their forward 50. They need a couple of small defensive forwards to help keep the ball down their end. I think Casboult has been outstanding for the Suns. His kicking might still not be great, but he keeps on presenting and is such a good mark.

Witts is a really good ruckman - some of his work is so good to watch. And although Buddy will do some miraculous stuff and may be even help win a game or two, a larger % of his work each week is becoming a liability.

Howe and Moore have been torn apart by Richmond. Their usual intercept marking has been taken out of the game leaving their defence all at sea. But this game has been lost in Collingwood's forward 50. They can rarely hit their targets.