deejammin'

I think today’s VFL game will be very important. I’m yet to see Fullerton be convincing at VFL level, hopefully he puts his best foot forward. Verral has played some excellent games as a ruck forward but he goes missing. Today is huge if Gawny doesn’t get up. Selection may we’ll depend on it, I’d be surprised if Goody and Gawny aren’t there today watching the rucks like a hawk.

Huh? My point is it’s easy to get caught up the emotions of how it happened with MFCSS and the recent loss to Brisbane and the North debacle on all of our minds but ultimately they never really got close. They didn’t even win the last quarter. Not sure what your Biden reference is. I speak in complete sentences. Although if I could run the best program on student debt relief and lowering health care costs in US history alongside a healthy job market and strong economic growth I would.

Near capitulation?! Pull the other one! We kicked 5 in the last, they kicked 5 in the last, to overcome our lead they needed to beat us by 3 goals in the last. They didn’t, enjoy a super win.

Excellent win! A true show of grit hardness and a strong culture. We did the basics better; contest, defense, hardness at the ball. Our leaders were excellent, Viney, Lever, May, Langdon, McDonald, ANB, Melksham all outstanding. The kids are showing a huge amount and we are right in contention without FOUR of our best 22 from last year and at least 2 of our best five players (Gawn, Trac, Brayshaw, Smith, not to mention the forgotten man Spargo). We have been belted from pillar to post by the media this year and it seems to have infected some supporters on here (and me at times). We are a SERIOUS football club with flags in all three comps in the last three years, we’ve been in the 8 for 87 of the last 92 weeks including 60 odd weeks in the top 4. We’re in the top 6 for attendance despite being 9th for membership and have enough cash in the bank to FINALLY build a home with stable leadership and a relatively stable board. Yep, ruck selection next week will be interesting, yep a few players are below their best. BUT we’ve won three of the last four losing one game by less than a kick (that we should’ve won) and remain in the hunt despite being targeted and having HUGE injury adversity. This is a club to be proud of, let’s keep the negativity to the selection thread and get out there and push back on the [censored] notion that our club lacks culture or is a basket case. We’re serious, we have a flag and we’re in the hunt for more with one of the most talented young lists in the comp and a dedicated caring and underrated senior premiership coach. GO DEES, [censored] THOSE DOCKERS, we owe them one!

Before his knee injury Ben Brown played in the ruck in the VFL and had his best game of the season. Looked the most effective of our rucks Verral, Fullerton and co. For those suggesting Fullerton plays im genuinely interested have you watched the VFL? While he moves well, gets to contests around the ground and has some nice athletic attributes, he is easily out muscled in the ruck and rarely wins hit outs. He could play but it would be a very different style of play for us. Whereas Verral looks more like a real ruckman and can be very good up forward also watching every VFL game I think his best far exceeds Fullerton but he is also young so can go missing and can still be bullied by the larger bodied ruckmen at VFL level. I’m not sure what we go with but I don’t think Verral would be anymore a surprise than Fullerton and my Smokey is BBB to ruck a full game if his injury is fully healed.

Except this week when Harris Andrews did the exact same thing against Adelaide in the third quarter and a throw in was called. The commentators even called it “Neale-Bullen like” when describing their shock it wasn’t called. FWIW I think the May non called clear mark on the wing and Ed Langdons clear HTB tackle in the backline contributed more to us losing the game than ANB’s call. They’d already drawn even by then whereas the previous two calls happened when we were ahead.

It’s up to us now. Beat Freo and the Pies and we go into the bye two games clear in the 8 guaranteed in the top 4. We have rarely taken these chances since 2021, cmon Dees! Two big wins! Set the season up, put Freo and Pies away!

Nick Daicos is a protected species. In a week where ALL the talk was about HTB and more of it being paid he had the absolute classic HTB that is ALWAYS a free…play on called. Any other player in the league that’s a free. If it’s Clarry they’d pay it ten times over!!

Exactly. There is actually no problem with the HTB rule if they just adjudicate it consistently. Give a player a moment to get rid of the ball, if they get tackled before that moment, basically immediately, ball it up, quickly. If they then dispose of it, regardless of time, if the tackle is not good enough to stop the player handballing or kicking it’s not good enough full stop. The reasonable time rule was stupid when it was introduced and led to the blight on the game of players being barely tackled or having a bloke lightly holding their jumper despite disposing of the ball in the tackle having HTB paid against them! There’ll be heaps of that this week, just lightly grab a blokes jumper, preferably so they can’t feel it and appeal to the umpire. No need to tackle in a way that actually stops them disposing of it. Stupid! Had prior, didn’t dispose of it, ball pinned. HTB If they drop the ball. HTB! Drag it in on the ground or dive on it. HTB. That’s it, be vigilant with incorrect disposal, maybe some slick handballs get pinged, so be it. But be generous with prior, ball ups aren’t evil, stoppages are so slick these days the play will move, That’s the better form of the rule, you have a chance, don’t take it, tackled well, bang, done. We’re about to see some rubbish decisions this week on the back of a knee jerk reaction. Also, with the real rules there’s no reason not to take someone to the ground in a tackle, do it safely, roll them, HTB, that’s what Andrew should’ve done, not change the whole game so he doesn’t have to take Curnow down. Then again JVR did that perfectly and the ump robbed us of the game. Bloody AFL inconsistency. This rule change also seems to imply that more dangerous tackles will be paid simply because tacklers take the player to ground, another blight on the game.

I think we outscored our xScore because our kicking was outstanding in the third, kicked some beautiful goals from crazy angles. First quarter Fritsch missed from 45 directly in front, Kozzie missed 2 he should kick, Salem also, Langdon missed a low percentage one from the boundary but also missed 40m out on a slight angle. That’s 0/5 relatively easy shots, hit even two of those, game over. Second half was better but low percentage or no we had the chance to make this a much more enjoyable day, first world problems, but a problem that has cost us before.

Good win. The good : Max Gawn is GOAT, no question, gets his 7th AA jacket to eclipse Cox, continues to get more Brownlow votes and coaches votes than any other ruck in the modern era and hopefully, if we improve a lot is in the running for 2x Premiership captain. TMac exceptional game. Langdon in a different role works and rotating Windsor, Hunter, Sparrow and Woey on a Wing looked better. Viney and Trac rotating forward was also great and the midfield mix is diversifying, which will help in the long term. Our defense was also far better at stopping them getting out the back than last week although this is still a work in progress. The bad: Our goal kicking in the first half. This should’ve been over at quarter time or at least ten minutes into the second, instead we kicked 9 behinds in a half and left them in the game. A few players are down Caleb Windsor looked tired for the first time this year, to be expected and there’s no way we should drop him, but he’s been so amazing it’s a shame to find out he’s human. McAdam just couldn’t hold his marks doesn’t look fit. He was absolutely cooked in the last quarter, hopefully it’s an adjustment and find AFL tempo and confidence again, there’s no way I’m dropping him, I think he’s clearly in our best forwardline but he still looks a little underdone. Junk time goals to them lowering our percentage. Many would have Petty as a negative also but I think he’s playing a selfless defensive role to get our other forwards free and this week it worked. If we can kick to your Petts the few times he actually gets the chance to get off his man he’ll be fine. I hope he towels up Pearce next week. Go Dees, enjoyable win! I wish we’d brought it against WC but beat Freo next week and we’re on track.

Umpires have killed us in this game. Every 50/50 call has gone their way and every clear one for us has been missed.

Early days but: JEFFO CAN PLAY. He will be an AFL forward if he keeps developing and working on his body and fitness. Competes hard, can take a mark and is doing great things at ground level. K Brown looks great in the midfield, clean hands, poise. Sestan is a live wire up forward, looks more an AFL/VFL player these days with his body and fitness. Developing nicely and doing so special things. Verral will be an AFL level ruck in 1-2 years and may even surprise sooner than that. He’s a gun. Adams does a lot better behind the ball when he’s not competing with Tomlinson for every mark. (Also helps that Brisbanes forwards are rubbish). The negatives, Hunter is not knocking down the door, for a bloke who would’ve thought one wing would be his this year, particularly with Langdon out, he looks slow and as a result plays for a free every time he gets the ball and shanks kicks or kicks to no one far too often. AMW does some good things but has Jayden Huntitis, bombs an all his kicks to no one and tries to do a bit too much, gets the ball and has speed and nice hands though. Great first quarter Casey!

Before the Casey game I would’ve had: In: McAdam, Verrell, Salem Out: JVR (concussion), Turner, Billings We may go with BBB and have Petty play backup ruck but I think Verrell can play more ruck minutes and we would be wise to help Max a bit after a bruising two weeks for him (mostly illegally but apparently the GOAT ruckman doesn’t deserve any protection at all). Having Bowey, Howes, Rivers with Woey also showing a bit down back (I’d still have him sub or Billing’s sub with Woey playing more forward) in the same team we finally get to see Salem play midfield for the first time since preseason. When Bowey went down Salo was forced to go back and we haven’t seen the setup that looked so promising in pre-season with he and Rivers rotating through the midfield. The Carlton game was annoying as we are the better team and really owe them one especially as it would’ve made this season far easier, finals a near fait acompli and be well in the hunt for top two but instead we need to win our next three and set up a huge showdown with the Pies. Hopefully that begins with smashing a wounded Eagles outfit this week!

Both (us and Geelong) teams coming out so far off the pace after last week’s game speaks volumes about how tough a game it was in those conditions. Last night hurts so bad as all we had to do was play the first quarter at our standard and it was an easy win. Oh well onwards and upwards, I hope Geelong continue to embarrass themselves but we need them to get a bit closer to keep us in the four.