Jaded No More

Richmond are a massive threat even from 8th. Geelong on their sheer experience alone are a scary finals proposition. Brisbane can also do serious damage and are very well balanced all over the ground. I don’t rate the Dogs or Port because they are poor defensively and don’t know what to do when the game is not played on their terms. Both will make finals and both will probably win a few but they won’t make the grand final. Port especially if they don’t get a home final. West Coast and Sydney making up numbers. Richmond scare me more than anyone although I think our midfield and rucks are superior to both them and Geelong.

This was their first really hard game since they lost to Sydney. Port was ridiculously soft and poor defensively. Would they have won against us today? I don’t think so. Their midfield wasn’t great but it was so easy for them to dominate up forward because Port applied no pressure on the ball carrier and their backline fell apart.

Will they play the Dogs in Victoria next week with no crowds? Seems unlikely. That will help. The big question mark for me is how their old legs carry deep into a long season. Shorter games helped them last year. I also don’t think their rucks or midfield is as strong as ours.

Quoted for 1000% truth.

Well Port are trash. One less team to compete against.

Geelong have a scary forwardline and can move the ball precisely by foot. But Port put no pressure on them. Their defensive efforts and poor kicking and decision making makes me fairly confident Port will do no damage in finals.

This they pay as holding?

Hawkins just holding opponents off the ball. Typical cheats.

Port’s kicking is horrendous. Turnover after turnover in dangerous positions. Woeful.

This game is looser than a hooker on a Saturday night.

Love these goals from frees against Geelong ??

Dixon standing up after being blocked all night. Come on Port run over the top of ol’ legs.

Fun game to watch. Especially since I know we can beat both teams when we play at our best.

Port turning it over. Geelong streaming slowly towards goals where they find unmanned targets. Rinse and repeat.

Defensive efforts from Port is bottom 8 stuff. They tackle hard but gees their spread is poor. They hate it when they don’t have the ball.

Ruck frees make no sense. Flip a coin and pick a recipient. This game has turned into a steaming [censored]. Port soft and loose. Geelong slow and cheats.

Port’s backline and defensive efforts are a disgrace. Geelong move the ball slow. To give them so many uncontested masks inside their forward 50 is a joke.

FFS Port. Be better. Turning it over and costing themselves goals. Can’t wait for May to take on Hawkins again. Let’s hope he refrains from breaking his face this time.

Cameron has the perfect punchable head for this team ?

Selwood getting done for holding the ball is maybe my favorite moment in football each week. Except for when Danger flops and doesn’t get a free. Port look good. Geelong look old. Can’t run with Port. I’m excited for when they all retire and become Hawthorn 2.0.

Hawkins and his floppy arms need a good smack in he head. Cannot stand that thug.

How many decades can I watch the same Geelong players? Just retire already. So sick of this team.

Tell ya what, both teams defensive efforts are pretty dismal. Fun to watch a shootout tho. Rozee is not a bad player! Let’s go Port. My hatred for Geelong cannot be explained in words.

He’s carrying an injury. Goodwin won’t disclose what it is and he’s been struggling since he had the week off for the Adelaide game with soreness. It’s a golden opportunity to give him a solid 20+ days of rest before September. If rest is what will really help him, and given we’ve just finished our two toughest back to back games of the home and away season, I think it would be wise to give him this week off. Of course rest may not help and he may need surgery in the off season.

You make valid points and as I said before, our elimination strategy is great except at all levels of government our only solution to achieve that is to go into lockdowns, even 18 months on. Lockdowns are hugely costly and should not be the go to, when we’ve been yelling about vaccinations and proper quarantine hubs for a year. As you said our vaccination roll out has been a joke and we still quarantine people in densely packed CBD hotels. The mind boggles. Forget Seattle, my family is in Israel and they have been 80% fully vaccinated for months. Population 8 odd million, including some challenging communities of Orthodox Jews and Israeli Arabs.