Jaded No More

Go read the comments. They’re not far off. Pretty good.

This game is a class above. Both these sides look set for a top 4 finish.

Both these sides look good

We still live rent free in their heads. I love it.

If there is one thing I hope we took away from last season, is that we have got to better manage the load of our best players, and stop trying to push them so hard until they fall apart at the most critical time of the year.

I think we will go easy on May. Calves are very tricky injuries especially at his age and especially with his body size. He is just so important to us, if he does it again it could well be a 2 month injury. If it’s just a strain now then surely they take no risks and get him cherry ripe. We cannot win the flag without him. I don’t care what anyone says. As a defense first team, you can’t afford to lose the best defender in arguably the competition, and not have it ruin your season. He is up there with Oliver in terms of critical importance. We looked [censored] horrific when he missed those mid year games last year.

I think this was purely about experience and not wanting to go too experimental. Had we known May was gonna blow a leg, we may have stuck with Hibbo over McVee and given Turner a go. But given the premium we put on defense, and having both May and Salem out, we probably want some calmer older heads down there to steady the ship. It is always less risky to give young kids a go in non KP spots. It’s probably why JVR isn’t being rushed. It’s easier to debut a back flanker or a small forward pocket with only mild success, than to throw a kid at FB and be like “good luck son”. While Tomlinson has had some shocking games recently, I think they have a matchup in mind for him, so I’ll wait and see how it pans out before I judge too harshly. Turner is very much in the frame if May is still not right and Tommo doesn’t blow us away.

Stiff competition from Dusty... who also did nothing... but is Dusty.

I hope that after a full year recovering from the knee, he feels confident enough in it. While he looked horrible against the Saints, I am sure he is well aware that his time is limited and he has to impress if he wants to get back into the best 22. If he has a stinker and May's calf needs more time to heal, I think Turner will come straight in. I think we went with experience over potential, and we probably feel like Tommo has worked so hard to get back from his injury last year, he deserves another chance to prove his worth at this level. I wish him well, because that would be the best outcome for us and him.

You obviously didn't watch the Richmond game. McVee was 'invisible' because he was playing on Dusty. Dusty did SFA, and hence McVee won the day. He was super impressive against the Saints too. The reality is that Hibbo is 32 with a history of bad calves, and Salem is injured. We need to have ready made replacements for these guys. Chandler had a brilliant year at Casey, and absolutely deserves his chances. What do we do if Kosi leaves? You have to keep developing these guys, unless you prefer to keep going with Melksham who is in his last season? And lastly, I bet that when Bowey debuted you thought "who and why", and he turned out to be a gun and best 22 players. You have to keep developing your list, even when you are in your premiership window, or else you will end up losing quality players and end up with a very old list.

A draw so everyone is sad would be delightful

Do people really think Richmond can win a flag?

I don’t like it

Thursday and Friday night games are hard if you are coming straight from work. I try to work from home on those days, now that I can (thanks Covid), so I am not rushing in and I can eat something before I leave home. When my husband comes to the game, which isn't all that often, he will always buy a soft drink and hot chips (he doesn't drink alcohol), and always complain about the price and the wait times.. It's as predictable as bad umpiring and the trains running late 🙃

Nor do they have the luxury of having a home ground advantage so good they can bank 10 wins a season without breaking a sweat. I might be wrong, but I can't see where enough improvement will come from to win a flag.

To be honest I rarely ever eat at the footy. I am generally too engrossed in the game to eat. Half time snacks are usually all I bring. Also the idea of lining up for ages to pay $20 for a soggy hot dog or under-salted chips offends me. I was excited when they opened Royal Stacks. Tried it once. It was terrible! If they had good food and I didn't need to line up for ages, I would definitely consider indulging every now and then. I do love the idea of a cheese platter, which is what normally gets consumed when we are watching interstate games on TV... but it seems like a lot of work, especially when it's very cold.

I also don't get it. The Tigers will need a time machine for Dusty, Reiwoldt and Cotchin if they are to win the flag.

Congratulations! Parenting is a lot like being a Melbourne supporter... sometimes good, sometimes terrible and always riddled with anxiety. Edit: If his name isn't Max, Clayton or Christian I will be very disappointed

I mean the Dog's only pre-season form was beating North, so how much can you take from that? Richmond will certainly finish higher on the ladder than North. I am confident we all agree on that one.

Turner is no less experienced than Darcy though, so why can't he play on him? I assume Petty will take Naughton and if they throw Lobb forward, which they may not be able to anyway because they will need to somehow cover both Gawn and Grundy, then we can send Gawn back to cover him. McDonald is only a break in case of emergency solution if we lose a player MID GAME. I don't think we will start him in defence, because it will hurt us far more than bringing in another defender to cover May. We saw what happened to our structure when TMac went down last year, and we obviously don't believe JVR is ready to play that role yet. If he was, you could argue that TMac could swing back, but going into a game without Fritta and then throwing TMac down back is conceding we can't win enough midfield ball to win the game. And we absolutely can.

I guess if you add the cost of public transport / petrol / parking, plus food, it's well over $100 But of course you don't have to buy food or drinks, you can bring them with you, which we have been doing for a long time (mainly because food at the ground is [censored] and overpriced). I've never gone to a game with the intention of drinking either, so that helps. I go to the footy to watch the game, not to drink... although there were many years there where being drunk at the game would have really helped 😁

Tomlinson is my least preferred option too. I watched him get destroyed by some kid versus St Kilda and it made me unwell. Having said that, he is experienced and is also a big body. We might think that with McVee and Laurie we can't bring in another virtually untried kid in Turner (half a game last year is hardly experience to hang your hat on). Schache has a point to prove and probably knows the Dog's forward set up better than most. Can he cut it as a defender? Who knows. Look you can't replace May with a second rate player. He is arguably the best defender in the game. We just need to make do until he cherry ripe, because we can go without him for a few weeks now, but we can't afford for him to break down in finals. He is far far too valuable.

It would be an incredibly negative attitude to go into round 1 with Tmac thrown into the backline. We have options, and to rob our forwardline of Tmac, who's absence last season showed us how pivotal he is to our setup, is just defeatist. Turner, Tomlinson and Sasche can all come in and play down back, pushing Petty to the FB role, which we know he can do well. We can also push Gawn back behind play, which I suggest we might do if we need to stem momentum, which still leaves this guy named Grundy in the ruck. I hear he is not bad.

I think this is a big one. Unless you are like me, and never ever buy food or drinks at the venue, and have a pre paid membership that gets your free entry to all H&A games, footy is a very expensive outing. Add to that the price of petrol/parking/public transport, and you are looking at $100 for 2 people at a minimum. That's money a lot of people just don't have to spare right now. Unless you are a hardcore fan, like all of us on Demonland, most people will absolutely pick and choose which games to go to given the cost of living. Whereas they might have gone to 10 games a season, they might only go to 5 or 6 and they'll make those games the ones they are really keen to watch, rather than every game on the schedule.

And yet most commentators don't rate him. He is a gun!