Maldonboy38

I know Toby Greene should not have warded off with a high hand, but gee I hate how soft that Swans player went down.

My great grandfather Jack Morgans was an MCC member, and secretary of the MCC bowling club. When the old member's stand was still in place, I went through the history archives once and found info about him. He also played footy and cricket at Norwood, winning the cricket batting average trophy for 1895/1896. I was brought up with one eye on Norwood and how they hated Port Adelaide as much as we hate the Filth. The Norwood / Melbourne connection is very strong going back many generations, but it doesn't feel as strong as it used to be.

Morning footy news check - done. A few comments while reading through Demonland - check. 2 hours of meditative relaxing via mowing, weeding, sweeping - check. Cheese platter purchased for tonight's game - check (yep, we decided to do it to shove it right up all the "to-the-snow-in-September" trolls) My dearly departed dad was a mad Swannies man, so I sit down to watch them take on gws - AND IT DOESN'T START UNTIL 3.30PM!! I hate all the pre-game drivel. So with coffee in hand, Demonland up and active, I now have to listen to Cameron Ling for an hour! At least Daisy is good to listen to.

Our defence will stifle their forwards: I reckon they will struggle to kick double figure goals. It might be a 50/50 split through the midfield. One player having a blinder might be the difference (Trac, Zorko etc...) Our forwards as a unit on paper actually don't look frightening, but it is very difficult to cover the vast variety. I reckon they have no-one who can run with and cover Luke Jackson. Final score something like Dees 10 14 74 Lions 8 8 56 Stuff me, I need a whisky already!

Fantasia is good but not that good. The 2nd effort by the Cats players once the ball hit the ground was woeful.

Geelong's powerful forwards are being bled dry by the lack of effort, intensity and effort from their midfield.

Boak - class, grunt and leadership. Brilliant.

Port are looking so good because he Cats cannot create a stoppage and get their chip and chip game going. Getting annihilated in the midfield.

"Excuse me, is that Mrs Geelong? I'm sorry but I think my Dees boys broke your children".

Official complaint re umpiring coming up, I reckon. Just so bad. Serious favouritism or bad misses. And unless Geelong get free ball, and chip 15m kicks, they crumble.

The umps being sucked in by Geelong playing for free kicks. Allir is brilliant and the Cats are playing him poorly. Once Port get it past half forward thy look dangerous.

Port to win by 20 points tonight, coming from behind. GWS to beat an injury-hit Swans by 10 points. Bombers to beat the Dogs by 18 points (even though I REALLY don't want them to) Dees by 24 over the Lions.

This bloke is a seriously good footballer, has leadership qualities, and plays well in big moments or big games. We would be mad not to at least talk to him. However, we don't desperately need his type so I wouldn't make his acquisition a high priority. His age is an issue considering the age of some of our current forwards. Lots of speculation about injuries. Is this a Dan Hannebury to the Saints or a Stevie J to GWS? If he is the right player you have to take the risk to find out.

As much as I passionately despise Carlton, this has to go down as the cherry on the cake of a decade-long era of atrocious governance decisions. Take the Blues jumper out of it (because it makes me want to celebrate their suffering) , and remove emotions, I see it like this: One of the reasons for sacking him is unclear gameplan. Could not disagree more. Their game plan looks similar to Essendon's, but their skills and decision making with ball in hand were atrocious. List has some genuine strengths and some genuine holes. Horrendous year for injuries. Most of their forward line was out at one time or another. Player development (like the Dees for many years up until recently) is their biggest issue. Most of their leaders and star recruits seriously under-performing. Cripps, Saad, Williams etc... Not sure about internally, but from outside Cripps looks a fail as skipper. There is no sense that the players are devoted to him, or are actively following him. A large number (8 - 10) of the players spoke to board members not supporting their coach. It looks like Cripps was one of them. . This in particular shows things are not right. I thought Teague was doing a good job, but like Goodwin, Buckley, Hardwick, needs exactly the right people around him to help him turn his coach ideals into wins. Stuff me I hate the Blues.

I was born 6 months AFTER the '64 flag, into a family (on my Mum's side) who had passionately supported the Dees for 3 generations before I came along. I have seen some great things: Gary Hardeman at CHB The late and great Robbie Flower The 2nd coming of Ronald Dale The Ox and the Wizard Jurrah But I have never seen a flag. The waiting continues.

Probably the most accurate 40-player squad in quite a few years, they didn't get too much wrong. I am actually surprised Fritsch made the squad. Only big error is Travis Boak. I maintain that Gawn and Darcy were both better ruckmen over the 23 rounds than NicNat.

I just can't do the NicNat love. Don't get me wrong, he is a freakish talent, and I respect his strengths, but he rarely impacts full games and can't play for longer than 5 mins without exhaustion. Gawn and Sean Darcy from Freo for me.

All commentators can be annoying at times, but Dwayne Russell is the only one I can't listen to. Horrendous Dees-hater, and has strong bias in most games he calls. His comments re Jackson just go to show how stupid some people are. Does everyone remember Tom Hawkins first 3 seasons? And what about James Frawley's first 2 years - he was hopeless.

He really surprised me last night. His marking was a standout feature, while his effort and grunt are already proven. His kicking has penetration but is about 10 degrees off the mark when he kicks long. Him or Jordon - either will work against the Lions.

I actually think Chris Scott is a great coach, and it would be brilliant to play under him. He goes into bat for his players, tries to find ways to speak positively in press conferences, and actually answers questions with an answer related to the question. He is a bit odd, but you have to be a bit mental to be an AFL coach. And I am a bit surprised to see those responses from Cat supporters - they seem to genuinely rate our players. The 2 main things coming from Moorabool St are spot on 1) Their ruck set up is a mess considering how well they are placed in the top 4 for the finals 2) ageing list.

Now that my heart rate is below 160 bpm, have typed effusively into Demonland, have marched around my house with arms in the air as if I kicked the winning goal, and the family have gone to bed - I have 2 confessions to make: 1. At 3/4 time I said to my oldest son (21 yo) that the 2021 Dees can kick 6 goals to 0 in a quarter but I couldn't see it happening. 2. I couldn't watch Max kick for goal. I just couldn't. Sitting here at my laptop right now, I feel really good, and can't wait for the finals to start. P.S. - is it wrong that I would like to see a picture of Selwood's face after Max kicked the goal?

Hibbo or Jordon for Joel Smith

6. Oliver 5. Lever 4. Gawn 3. Viney 2. Picket 1. Langdon

As I said last week: MFC keeping the cardiac ward at the Alfred Hospital well stocked for the last 150 years. Love being Minor Premiers, beating Geelong like that, and Maxy, We are better than most people think, and better even than most of us think. It's a good feeling tonight.

If Smith plays on Rohan, I can't see that going well. I simply don't get the Smith love. Rohan is a smart footballer with very very good skills. The only positive is that Rohan often goes missing in big games and finals, so Smith might actually not have much to do.