Jaded No More

If Tmac can pull a rabbit out of the hat it would be a much needed miracle. Like Melksham, Petty’s bad luck could be Tom’s golden ticket to a second flag and more than likely his last opportunity. That is perhaps all the motivation he needs to push through and bring back the Tmac of old for the last month of the season. That’s all we need. 4 good games.

Yep it’s not just a worry for this year but it’s the sort of injury that can really hamper you for a long long time. Hopefully by managing it well now, it’ll have a better long term outcome for us. The endless list of injuries this seasons can get in the bin!

[censored] [censored] [censored] [censored] Please never play that dump of a ground ever again 😡😡😡😡😡😡

Communication from the club re: injuries this season has been putrid Except for when Gawn went down and the internet went into meltdown and we got an update on a Sunday.

Carlton you could definitely argue are in better form. But why are Sydney in better form? They’ve won 4 in a row. We’ve won 5. Of their 4 victories they beat: GWS (excellent win against arguably the best in form team) Essendon by 2 points - the same Essendon who nearly lost to West Coast Freo who are bottom 4 Dogs who are up and down and can’t play away from Marvel Their form is not bad and they’re definitely building nicely. Round 24 is make or break for them and will be super tough. We also don’t have great form at the SCG. But IMO we are still in better form. And Oliver back changes everything.

Lucky it’s only Monday and Melbourne’s weather changes as often as David King’s mind.

Which season tho? The real one is starting soon…

Patrick Dangerfield’s resume reads - channel 7 commentator - Geelong COO - Local hero - AFL commissioner - Part time footballer - Proud owner of large shorts and small eyes

Cerra did a second hammy less than two weeks ago. If he plays it’s either stupidity or a modern day medical miracle. Not sure about Walsh.

Any idea why?

So is 5 weeks with surgery a realistic timeline?

Like blaming Viney for Gawn’s injury in round 2. Stupid.

I was talking about Carlton being the second best performing side over the last month, along with us. Pies... pfft!

Danny > Edmund

Trac can steal this award now that Nicky is done for the year. Only 10 points between them, and we know Trac has 10 points in him... unless Clarry comes back and wants us to hold his beer 😁

Yes you are right, we have played one less forward in order to allow for an extra mid. I think we will drop the extra mid closer to finals once Clarry has settled back in, and go with another half forward, because we still have the option to play Kosi, Rivers and ANB through the midfield as needed, and we can push Gus back in case of dire emergency. I have a sneaking suspicion that Kosi is an ace up our sleeve that we are keeping for finals, where he will play greater on ball minutes. We don't want teams planning too heavily for it to happen, so we are using him sparingly now. But he hasn't trained with the mids in pre-season to play 2 minutes of midfield time a game IMO. So with that in mind, we will definitely need an extra small forward, which in all likelihood will be Spargo, unless Fritta is back and we choose to play him and Melksham together, with Melksham doing a defensive role on the opposition's intercept defender, which is important against the likes of Pies (Moore), Lions (Andrews) and Port (Aliir). The loss of Petty just throws off the plans of settling the back 7, because the forward 6 is back up in the air. Annoying and untimely!

Now this, this I can [censored] and moan about. Absolute rubbish luck. 0 stars.

There is no point thinking like that. We play a contact sport. He could have done this injury from a bullet pass that lands on his chest and McKay falls on him trying to defend it and his foot is caught underneath. He did a similar injury going for a mark against the Hawks.

Congratulations to the AFL for managing to organise 9 games with only 2 weeks left before the round is played. Thank goodness they did not screw us in the process and give us a short break AND travel all in one. It pays to be a good side!

The best defences are built on predictability. Smith has a bit of Frostball about him. He isn't predictable enough to the other defenders, and we don't have the luxury of time to get him settled down there. He doesn't know when to stay back and when to run off, and he isn't reliable enough to allow May and Lever to peel off and help one another. Tomlinson is slow but he's predictable. I think we are playing May higher up, because the plan is to have him replace Petty at CHB and have Tomlinson and/or Hibbo play closer to the goal line, where you need a 'goal keeper' style sweeper who can peel off and defend. Hibbo does this brilliantly well at ground level and in the air, but is obviously limited by height. Smith's attributes and unpredictability are better suited to playing as a forward IMO. With Clarry back *touch wood*, we will now have the option of dropping out a mid from the rotation, as we have been carrying an extra mid to cover his enormous loss. This will allow us to play a 7th defender, which could well be Hibbo, and free up Salem/Bowey/Rivers to play a more attacking role off half back. Alternatively we may choose to play an extra small forward to up the forward pressure and play a stronger front half game.

I agree, but their weapon is their contested work, which I feel we can better them in. I think Hibbo needs to play this week because their smalls are terrifyingly good at ground level, and our defence is not. A good week to play a small defensive group, and we always have Smith as a lever to pull down back if we need (he could even matchup on Curnow if we get desperate).

It depends how well they feel Adams is coming along, but I would say yes. We also have Jefferson coming along nicely up forward at Casey, so I would hope we target another tall defender. No doubt we will if Tomlinson leaves, plus Hibbo retires, and May is not exactly a spring chicken either.

So basically Mitchell 2.0 Bont or Trac deserve it purely for being elite for a long period of time and backing up over and over again (unlike Daicos... not yet at least). Would be thrilled for Bont to win it, he is the most influential player in the game in terms of being able to impact mid and forward. Trac is a close second... if he can kick straight. If Trac kicks a bag or two in the next 3 rounds he could pinch it. We could also have a tie.