Jaded No More

Pickett is licking his lips at 33 year olds with one hamstring trying to side step him.

If he can bring ball to ground and help keep Henderson busy so that Brown and Fritta can have a good run at the footy, then I think he would have done his role. Of course a few goals would be nice. But he just needs to be back to his mobile running best tonight, and his tackling best. He has been one of our best inside 50 tacklers. Need to continue with that.

Dear Tom McDonald, your mission should you choose to accept it, is to run Henderson up and down the ground like a deranged yo-yo until you hear a ping.

One can never be satisfied losing to Geelong

I don’t think anyone felt like we had a real shot at a flag in 2018. Beating Geelong and Hawthorn was reward enough after 190 years of no success. We can win it this year which is so much worse.

I’m an emotional wreck. I mean I’ve been in lockdown for like 900 days which isn’t helping, but this is a new level of insanity. I feel nervous, anxious, teary, excited…

Is the box he’s ticking the one next to “play for a good team who currently has a coach and a chance in hell?”

As I’ve said for week, I’m happy to pass my GFG barcode along if the club says we can. But if you haven’t been posting here for a long time and can’t prove to me you are in Perth and a tragic Melbourne fan, and ideally a member already who doesn’t have a GFG, then you can frankly [censored] right off. We need to make sure the true fans and members get first dibs over new comers who have booed us at Optus Stadium for years.

I feel this very strongly in my soul. But stress eating is done now. I’m in stress loading. Too anxious to eat. Great for the diet. I’ll be knocking off work from home early tomorrow and getting stuck into the several wine bottles in my bar. I have a very special bottle of champagne that I’ve been keeping for a long time. If we win the grand final I’m going to neck the entire thing.

Needs less teeth.

Weideman vs Tmac. Discuss. Who is more important, Clarry or Trac? Is Jackson a forward? Demonland is never short of an argument. But this place has been unusually chipper in recent weeks. Sickening really.

Haven’t seen you around here in a long time. How are you feeling about this game? Confident?

I also prefer to play Port in a granny.

The one thing I think we can all agree on, is that Jonesy is a team player. He has put in loads of work into his body and I have no doubt he wouldn’t be putting his hand up in what he knows is the most important two games in our recent history, if he didn’t think he could make it through. He wants to win a flag as much as anyone, and if he does play he will absolutely give us everything he has left in the tank.

Pretty simple to see who has been around for a while and who hasn’t. Just check their profile. It has the joined date.

He doesn’t offend me. Browne though is a dweeb.

I wonder if the sub is picked for versatility or if we know there’s someone going into the game a little sore so we bring someone in to cover that role? JJ can play a few midfield roles. So can Melksham. I assume it’ll be one of them.

As important to them as May to us. We wouldn’t win a final without May.

Gutter journalism is an essential profession it seems.

Neutral supporters are silly.

Port can literally not have an easier trot to the grand final. If they lose the prelim it will be the worst choke of all time!

Hibbo in for Smith according to channel 7

I am hoping the 8-10 minute period in round 23 where they smashed us in clearances has given us enough of a wake up call to realise that we absolutely cannot get smashed in the middle. We need to, at the very least, break even in clearances and make sure that when they do win a clearance, we pressure them enough to ensure they don't turn clearances into goals. They kicked 4 or 5 goals from centre clearances in round 23 which opened up that massive gap in about 5 minutes of play. That is unacceptable, and I presume Viney, Clarry and Trac will be on this to ensure it doesn't happen again. If we can pressure their ball carrier enough to get the ball bombed in high inside their 50, we should be able to nullify enough aerial contests down back, and run the ball out. Our ground ball game in defence isn't great, but Geelong's isn't much better. They have a tall forwardline that is largely immobile, and bringing in Ratogulia only makes that worse. While Scott wants to stretch us in the air, it is actually the ground ball that can really hurt us down back. This is where someone like Grey and Rosie would really worry me if we make the Grand Final and play Port. Their tagger (I forgot his name) is out injured. I don't think they will try to hard tag us, but I would like to see Viney do a job on Danger and really limit his involvement. While Selwood can still do a lot of damage, Dangerfield is their creative mid and playmaker. He is not at his best physically right now, and Viney needs to really exploit that.

On the other hand, their first quarter record this year is also quite poor. If we come out firing like we did against Brisbane and get a good 5-6 goal lead going into half time, I really just can't see how they run over the top of us. While none of us want to let them open up a big lead like in round 23, Geelong will not feel at ease if they are just 4-5 goals up at any stage of the game, and that will mean their star players will have to motor for 120 minutes. My only concern with this game is our lack of experience. Will we let the occasion get the better of us? Will we let Geelong rough us up as they so love to do? Will we let the bias Geelong umpiring get into our head? If we play at our best, we will absolutely win this game. But even being 2 or 3 percent off is enough to lose this against a very experienced side that is desperate and knows this might well be their very last chance. And then you know, there is plain old bad luck like Hawkins breaking May's face "accidently", or some lucky goals etc etc that can swing a game. But so long as we control the things we can control, and play at our best, we should win.