Jaded No More

I think you severely underestimate how difficult it is to take hangers. It's why we see so few, and in fact, we are seeing less and less each season, because unlike before, players who jump too early, use hands in the back or interfere with the contest and don't hold the mark, get penalised. I applaud Kosi for giving it a red hot crack as often as he does. Eventually one will stick and it'll be the mark of the century.

Just like how Geelong were back in flag contention when they beat Hawthorn... and how we are no good but Pies are unbelievable because they beat GWS without Toby Green at the MCG.

From the stands it looked like a rough tackle and I was secretly praying Day gets up and walks on or I knew Sparrow would be in trouble. You could argue the impact grading but I don’t think we will bother. We have a big important game this week. JJ will take Sparrow’s place.

I don’t have it in me to go another 5 rounds with the tribunal and appeals board 😂

As always the vision is just excellent 🙄

I saw it and immediately thought it’ll be looked at. Player was ok so was hoping it’ll be a fine. It was a dumping tackle. Not heaps in it.

Everyone said we were miles ahead last year too at round 10. And we all know how that turned out. Smashing GWS at the MCG without Toby Green is not a premiership winning achievement ffs. Yes they are setting the tone. Their game plan is what we’ve all adjusted to and they are hard to beat. But they aren’t impossible to beat and player vs player we have a superior list of talent. We absolutely can win it this year. But we have a lot to work on. Lucky it’s only May.

The crowd was actually not bad. Just shy of 40,000. I reckon that’s decent considering how Hawks are traveling.

Really good this win for us. Opens a gap between us and Saints and also smashed Saints percentage which was the closest to ours.

Me too. They’re going to be a very good team. Building nicely and assembled a nice list. Plus Burgess.

****ty little fracture is what worries me. Tommy Mac also played for two weeks before they discovered his foot was buggered.

To be fair, playing West Coast is now considered a training run not a game

I’m very worried about Petty. The ankle will be fine, but foot injuries are horrible.

No different to the last 3 seasons really. But we know when it all falls apart for them.

He’s also allowing us to play Ed in a more defensive wing role. Langdon is pushing back to help the defenders while Hunter pushes forward to help the forwards. He is also helping out the mids around the throw ins. Often he’s close by on the outside to help with the handball receives. He’s been incredibly important and is heavily involved in almost all of our forward ball movements. I just don’t get why people don’t rate him? Maybe because he was insufferable at the Dogs? 😂

I think that sadly that’s half the problem. He isn’t a showy player. He plays a disciplined team role which is very important but leaves him always competing with others for a spot. I love JJ and I think he has a lot to give but when you’re playing in a side blessed with so so much talent you need to stand out. Look how good Chandler is and it took him 3 years to get consistent game time. It’s the downside of playing in a good team. If JJ played for Hawthorn yesterday he’d be in their top best 5 players comfortably.

The temperature dropped really dramatically between the first and second quarter and there was a bit of dew. It made the ball and the ground slippery. I think that contributed to the fumbling. On JVR you can just tell from the small bits of play that he’s going to be a player. He has such a good attitude. He loves to compete and isn’t shy about asserting himself in a contest. He played higher up yesterday when Petty was off and did well to position himself in dangerous spots. Finished with 14 touches and 5 marks plus a goal. That’s a really good performance for a kid in his 7th game who just went through the week from hell.

Hopefully Crows get the job done over Saints as well. That will be great.

I’ve seen so many random midfield combos this year from us that I think we are genuinely taking the [censored] sometimes. When push comes to shove you’ll see Gawn, Clarry, Trac and Viney do 90% of the centre clearance work and you’ll see us win or at least break even in most of them. This year has been the most mid rotations I’ve seen us use under Goodwin. Trac is playing forward way more and Clarry is on the bench more often than ever. As is Viney. Gawn spends half the game at FF. This is not how things will pan out in September. But doing this now means that come September I’m not watching our best midfield combo limping on the field barely able to give a yelp like last year.

It won’t happen Hunter is an elite endurance athlete and covers so much ground. He is incredibly underrated.

Essendon doing remarkably well considering their outs.

Not one journalist wanted to ask Goody about Trac??? Sounds like Petty is precautionary and will be assessed during the week. Good chance to play Friday night.

Is it something that is likely to get better as the season progresses or not?

He looks injured to me. Kept grabbing his calf. He was off the ground for quite a bit and was in the square more than usual. Clearly pushing thru something @WalkingCivilWar isn’t he?

Need to wait for the injury fall out before we can make an assessment on team changes. I feel we need another tall down back anyway.