Jaded No More

Nervous. So so nervous. I was fairly confident the last two weeks. Not so today.

I hate him. He is a despicable god fearing [censored].

This is a bad outcome no matter which way you look at it. West Coast beat us and Pies win the flag. We beat West Coast and we face the possibility of losing to Collingwood in a grand final. It’s one big messy Cox fest.

Sickening. Jeremy Howe winning a flag. Please god no.

We are concerned because no matter who wins tomorrow, a Pies premiership is highly likely. And you don’t live in Melbourne so you don’t understand how awful that is!!!!

Seeing Bucks’ smug face makes me sick. I hate this team so much. Please please please let us win tomorrow, because honestly West Coast are no chance. We are the competition’s last chance of saving the world a Pies victory.

Apparently according to MMM I was listening to it on the radio and it’s what they said was happening. Collingwood have been very impressive. Cox scares me. I just can’t see how we stop him. He destroyed us last time we played them too.

De Goey off the rooms. Howe grabbing a hammy. Excellent news for us potentially.

Hate to say it but Pies are a lot better than anyone wants to admit. Scarily they couldn’t beat West Coast in Perth. I’m worried. I’m very worried.

I would only do this late in quarters to try and arrest some momentum. We did it late in the third quarter last week and Tmac marked the ball in the backline on the 3/4 time siren. However you don't remove a 4 goals a week forward out of your forwardline, and rely on a 20 game player to replace those shots on goal.

Perth is beautiful. It is like 95% of the people there who are the problem. See also; Adelaide

They've also done a great job and been extremely helpful with ticketing issues and questions. Everything has been very clear, and well organised.

Hibbo definitely was on him in a few contests. The point stands that he nearly won them the game. Our biggest vulnerability is our defence, we know this. Fritsch is not a true shut down defender, so in terms of bringing in Smith, it was an absolute must. You could argue that Tyson should have been dropped instead, but Tyson has actually done a good job these past two weeks, and is a contested ball winner. We know how important that is to our game plan, and it is where we've won the past two weeks. Tomorrow is no different.

Correct, and by bringing in Smith you are essentially releasing Hibbo to do more of the attacking, rather than having to match up on a tall, as he did with Gunston and lost badly. So you aren't losing a lot of attack from the backline by doing this swap anyway.

There are always bad luck stories in finals, just as there are good luck stories. I feel for Fritta. I feel even more for Hogan and Vince. Fritsch has been with us for a year and has done a lot more than I bet he even expected. Joel Smith is lucky, just as Weids is lucky, that Lever has gone down (and so has Hogan). This is the right decision, without the benefit of hindsight. West Coast are very tell, it will be a dry day and we need to try and limit their talls. Smith will free up Hibbo who got a nice touch up last week (lucky his opponent couldn’t kick straight hey?!), and that only makes us better. Prelims don’t come around often. You gotta make tough calls to win tough games and there are few tougher than a trip to Perth to make a grand final. Go Dees!!!

And lets not forget that Tmac is 26. He was hot garbage when he first started playing. Big man take a LONG time to develop. Jesse and Weids are already 10 times better than most KPFs their age. I would not contemplate moving either for any price, unless they were desperate to leave.

The media should take a look at some Melbourne replays and watch how many times a game Oliver gets held at the contest, with no free. Not once does he complain, whinge or remonstrate with the umpires. Imagine if the same was done to Selwood, Dusty or Mitchell.

I agree with this. He made some pretty crappy decisions by foot on Friday, which is unlike him. The backline is not his natural position, which makes it even harder to drop him, because essentially he's been doing his bit for the team covering a position that doesn't allow him to play at his best. I would feel very bad for him, but this is a must win game. Sometimes tough calls need to be made, and I guess we feel that the midfield is where we can really pressure West Coast, and Tyson is an experienced mid. If a mid goes down injured, or if they are applying a hard tag and say we want to push Oliver up forward, Tyson gives us the flexibility to cover the inside role. The midfield is definitely where we can win or lose this. We smashed them in contested possessions in Round 22, and it is ultimately why we won. They were flying Business too. I guess when you're in a prelim, Virgin throws you a few perks! Old men need longer to get over the jetlag

Good point. To be fair I am not even contemplating the possibility of a WCE win.

Plenty of better options out there. Never go back, when you can go forward. Also, I think Gawn's spewing days are over, so it would be a total waste of a trade.

Meh. I would be perfectly happy to save our cash, and go all out for Kelly at the end of next year, and with a 1st round pick (pick 18?!) at our disposal. Gaff is not going to be the difference between winning a premiership or not. He is a good player, but as ProDee said, he wants to play inside mid and we have plenty of equal or better options than him already.

Saints are the only ones willing to give him a 4 year deal with a trigger for a 5th. Fools.

Could not care less who wins, as I think at our best we can beat both. Would I prefer to beat Collingwood on GF day, for sure. Do I hope both teams get loads of medium term injuries? yes.

Thank my lucky stars that I had the good sense to rearrange the entire last quarter of my work year, so I can push out my work trip and be in Melbourne for the grand final. Great move Jaded, great move!

At home with Dad, since we just couldn't justify spending the money to go to Perth. At least at home I can swear and yell and carry on like an idiot without judgement.