Jaded No More

Joel Smith has spent more time on an injury list than on a footy field. Gotta feel for him.

Nobody likes to be in rehab I am sure. But good that he is getting the KMs into his legs and keeping his fitness up.

Ohhh May's 200th could be against the Hawks if all goes well. That is a big milestone.

Worrying about Lever, as he's been back to best finally. Hopefully just minor. How did BB look to be moving? Happy that Gawny is running. Not great about the change in direction stuff, but it is still early days.

If it is Caulfield, my retired Dad who lives around the corner already said he will attend every training session and report back... so I mean if that doesn't seal the deal...

Also he's a cute kid. Surely we can organise him a Melbourne based girlfriend!

Confirmed. Smile detected on final siren in 2021 grand final. He saves his smiles only for big games.

The man is a legend

When we got the dog I wanted to call him Oliver but my husband said no, even though he’s a ginger dog. He is a real princess tho… the dog not Oliver

It has come to my attention today that Luke Jackson recently adopted a puppy who is both the same breed and has the exact same name as our dog. All is now forgiven 😂

DeGoey 🤮

Max Gawn's [censored] > Sam Reid With all due respect to Reid

Seriously? We won a flag with that backline. That is a weird take.

He is an exceptional reader of the play and a great contested mark. I think playing defence is so much harder than playing up forward these days. If we persevere with him up forward, and his goal kicking is solid, he can be a very good 40 goals a year key forward for us. I have no doubts about that. However with May nearing the end, and if Jefferson and JVR continue to impress at both AFL and VFL levels, then we perhaps need to think longer term, and Petty might just be the next great FB for us.

Sydney is a very good team and they played well yesterday. They had our measure in the clearances in the first half, and they transitioned quite easily out of the back half on many occasions. They are an exceptionally well drilled side, with a lot of high quality players. This was by far our most formidable opponent thus far, and we beat them comprehensively. I still do not rate the Dogs or the Lions. I have a suspicion that something went wrong pre-game against the Lions, and then the Gawn injury caused further disruption. If we play the Lions another 10 times, I think we beat them 9 times with a fit side.

We have a 5 hour flight to Perth followed by a short turnaround with another flight to Adelaide. It would be madness not to manage players right now who are not 100%. We should beat both West Coast and Essendon comfortably if we bring our game, and our method should stack up even if Brown is having a rest, or Viney takes a week off to get his knee right etc. If Hibbo is sore, and we know he is going to be important when we play sides with really good mid sized forwards, then why risk him? He's on the wrong side of 31 and has a history of calf issues. Who at West Coast scares you so much that we cannot contain them without Hibbo? Ryan would be one perhaps, but I don't even know if he'd be fit enough. I saw him barely walking around in the last quarter. I would stick with Petty and JVR up forward for at least the next fortnight. If Essendon stack their forwardline with talls, then we could bring in Tomlinson, but Wright is still out for a while, so it seems unlikely. Likewise West Coast are running with Darling as their main tall, and so I am confident May and Lever can get the job done. Goodwin said post match that we want to find out some things early in the season. We have a plethora of kids who are showing plenty at the moment, and Kosi who is starting to make the midfield role his own. It's going to be a selection headache coming up, but one thing is certain, we should not risk anyone who isn't 100% fit!

And this is why it’s so important that we don’t rush players back and that we rotate players more heavily especially leading into finals. We ran on air in the first half of the season then we were running in cement.

Umpiring was horrific but it was poor for both sides. Umpire #32 clearly had his life savings on a Swans win. The 50s they gave away were all clearly there. The dissent one you could argue was soft, but unsure if we can’t hear the Sydney player’s reaction… he could have swore at the umpire. But the others were for a late hit and knocking the ball out after a mark. Both clear 50s. Not sure there is anything to complain about from Sydney other than ill discipline.

Who played half back in round 1 and 2? Lever CHB and May FB. Bowey and Gus and Rivers will play the half back flanker roles along with McVee. West Coast are hot garbage. If we don’t win by 10 goals we’ve lost.

I reckon if West Coast had just 3 fit players they would have won. Freo just ran over the top of them while Liam Ryan was out there playing legless. It was not a game Freo won because they were magnificent.

This is a very good day for humanity

Cocky like Papley… and equally as insufferable Suck on it Sydney

Kosi is playing mostly midfield now so he doesn’t need to come in at the expense of Chandler or Spargo. He will probably come in for Hibbo and we will shuffle the defense a bit.

Brown should have a week off regardless of whether he’s injured or not. Another week to look at Petty and JVR up forward and we can always bring Tmac back. We are heading into a softer patch of the draw and we need to take opportunities to rest our older and most important players.

JVR > Jackson inside 50