Macca

Oliver in for JJ or Harmes I reckon Grundy is in but under what system? Gawn has to be the main man in the ruck unless we want to give him a breather prior to the finals At a guess it's Grundy to ruck 40% of the time, maybe 15% on the bench with 20% forward & 25% back Gawn 60% rucking, 25% forward & 15% on the bench Which means we might need another tall forward or Petracca plays forward more (with Clarrie back) And Smith can be used forward when applicable That will leave Brayshaw & Viney as being predominantly used on the ball (Brayshaw is in good form so why change his role?) We can always push Kozzie & Petracca into the middle when the any of the main 3 are having a spell. Sparrow to be used sporadically at the stoppages as well Hibberd to be the sub again

I thought the same thing ... to me the Hawthorn player deliberately took Daicos out and should have been cited for unduly rough play. 2-4 weeks penalty But because Daicos was contesting the mark, head contact was unlikely. Are the AFL so head conscious that they let this incident go? And are we going to see a glut of these sorts of incidents (if a player can get away with it) The other standout out feature of the weekend was West Coast not flooding back to protect a slender lead in the last couple of minutes of the game There's no truth in the rumour that certain members of the Eagles hierarchy went from ashen-faced to rosey-cheeked once the Bombers scored to gain the lead. It's just another wacky conspiracy theory

That's a tremendous win to the Matilda's ... we played very well and needed to And ran out the game well, too good for Denmark Sam Kerr gets some vital minutes so augers well for Sam & the team for their next encounter ... 5.00pm Saturday vs France or Morocco. An ideal lead-in to our clash with the Blues on Saturday evening

I agree ... and CH7 will be kicking themselves now as the TV audiences have been enormous And yes, a world class through-ball by Fowler. And then the nutmeg by Foord upon scoring!

Back in the day that would disappear in 3 or 4 minutes. A sugar-hit in overdrive (redskins included)

@Diamond_Jim @Dee Zephyr @layzie @Grapeviney @roy11 @Jumping Jack Clennett @Deestroy All @Winners at last @Jibroni Big night for the Matilda's tonight in front of an enormous TV audience The team has a huge following and a win tonight would bring an even bigger following The question is ... will Sam Kerr play? Go Matilda's Go Go Go!!

1st qtr - loading, tapering 2nd qtr - post tapering

The Pies will almost certainly have a home QF final against Brisbane or Port (unless we slip up) so I can see them not playing Nick (after him being 5 weeks on the sidelines) But a lot depends on the 6 weeks forecast. Is that accurate? Or approximately?

I'm not going with anything. None of us know much at all about training loads I'm saying that anything is possible so if people here are prepared to let our team off the hook due to loading, equally, they must take the same attitude with other teams That's the fair way to judge things Also, the argument is often that when we lose it's because we're loading but what about when we win? Is that loading related as well? You know what AF? Sometimes we lose because we play like [censored] Quite frankly, I don't believe anyone knows much at all about which teams might be loading or tapering Where's the actual data & evidence? On any team?

So teams aren't at their best when tapering? And we all know that post-tapering teams are at their optimum (in theory) That's obvious and goes without saying So again, if the Pies are tapering or increased their training loads*, why can't we use that as a reason that they've lost their last 2? (quiet last quarter's to boot) All bias aside, aren't the outcomes similar for all teams with the loading/tapering process (including an arch enemy) As @Watson11 highlighted, the Crows told the world that they loaded and tapered in 1997 ... lost 2 of their last 3 and barely got over the line against the 10th team in the other match ... and went from top to 4th in the process Then won the flag (1997) Did the same in 1998 and triumphed again *With the weekend off prior to the finals, extra training 'towards' the end of the season can be managed

So are teams at their best when tapering? Or close to their best? In track & field, athletes aren't competing when tapering But logic says that T&F athletes may not be at their best when tapering otherwise, why go through the whole loading process? So if the Pies are tapering (not loading) can't we use the same excuse/reasoning for them? Now, I'm no authority on the subject matter, far from it. I don't believe anyone here can speak about the loading process with authority There's a distinct lack of data at our disposal so at best, we're guessing, AF

I recall that the Crows supposedly started loading towards the end of the season proper before tapering just prior to the finals in '97 & '98 So are teams at their best when tapering? Does anyone know? In athletics especially, athletes aren't competing when tapering Whilst they finished off the season well in '98 (despite losing their first final by 8 goals to the Demons) they did lose 2 of their last 3 in '97 And of course, they won both flags in '97 & '98 The whole subject matter is murky due to the lack of data available. And the consequences of that often, unknown data

Correct but whilst training harder periodically is a very real thing I'm not sure wins and losses can be attributed accordingly. Certainly not every time. And if it isn't every time, which times? Collingwood may well be loading but is that the reason why they've lost their last 2 games? No one knows for sure and having a firm view would be guessing The same argument can be made for Port Adelaide When we lost 2 games late in the season last year (also, just getting over the line against the Blues) those who were advocating the loading process were in full voice They may have been right too but again, who knows for sure?

Further to the above, the owner of Dukes (which manufactors the Dukes ball) is saying that he is going to investigate whether the ball was a 4 or 5 years old variety Back then the Dukes ball offered more swing & seam But will the ICC investigate? I doubt it as they'll probably see the protestations as just more whinging or sour grapes Plus, the ICC are a bit of a toothless tiger anyway. Beholden to self interest And that's the issue as well. In a general sense we are so used to not accepting the umpires decisions that when a serious issue like this does surface, it gets lost with all the other complaints & whinging But even at the lower levels of park cricket, this sort of thing would probably never happen. But we're talking about an elite level of sport here. As previously stated, it's the worst decision by officialdom (by far) that I've ever witnessed at a professional level LBW or catching adjudications even themselves out over time. So you take the good with the bad But are we ever going to see a worn out ball replaced with a near new ball in the future? A decision which led to one team having an unfair advantage? In my eyes, the 5th test has a giant asterisk attached to it Anyway, that's 4 Ashes acquisitions in a row now. Winners are grinners!

Well all that might do is make the ball swing even further ... technically, roughing up one side of the ball in a deliberate manner is illegal. To do both sides needs more than just rubbing the shine off as that shine can be retrieved with some elbow grease! Of course, I'm not suggesting that the umpires did an illegal act, more so doing what can be done illegally Bottle tops (Wasim), Zippers (Du Plessis) Dirt (Atherton) and Sandpaper (Warner/Bancroft) have all been caught using illegal methods roughing up one side of the ball So in effect, if that's what the umpires did, then they are showing their naivity to how a bowling team can gain an advantage Way back, the Indian spinners used to just rub the ball in the dirt near the popping crease (until that method was banned) A 40 over bowl has got to that stage through natural methods over a session and a half including being hit hard with a bat up to 240 times ... I'm not sure that sort of wear & tear can be reproduced in a short space of time. Effectively, the hardness gets knocked out of cricket ball over time Khawaja has been quoted as saying that the ball was no older than 8 overs old ... and he'd know. These blokes play cricket nearly every day in some sort of capacity

His opportunism includes seeing a spot in the forward line up for grabs ... and he's seized the moment It can happen in good teams such as ours ... a stellar defence and a terrific midfield so the coach asks for someone to put up their hand in the forward line So up steps Melk (and Petty) ... and Petracca. And then JVR jumps in with 4 goals as an add-on It's all coming together

And how about that Jake Melksham! What a turnaround in form that many here probably couldn't see (including myself) He's a dangerous commodity in that forward pocket/flank and opposition coaches would be damn concerned about his opportunism and silky skills Him on one side of the forward line and Fritsch (on his return) on the other side is what I'd like to see in operation There's no way Jake makes way for Bayley ... they both play as part of a medium sized forward line (along with Petracca) as well as the talls and smalls chiming in Beat that, Collingwood!

As someone else said here ... Grundy has provided great value in the sense that we've now got a fit & firing Gawn at the right time of the year Max looks totally rejuvinated and that couldn't have happened without a Grundy type to often take the burden And we can manage Gawn & Grundy ongoing for the next 4 weeks and then September So it's the sum of all the parts not the micro image that only the media want to see

I'm wondering if we are setting up Grundy to come in sooner or later as a type of utility Good to see Smith get a full game as he can play a variety of roles forward or back or as a type of link I reckon Grundy could play a similar role (but not the same role) as well as a bit of rucking

All players make errors, DJ

Because he had a good game

Harmes played quite well last week 19 possessions 4 clearances & 4 tackles So rightfully rewarded by the MC

When it was obvious that Jackson was off we made the play for Grundy So we can either hold Grundy to his contract (my preferred view) or we trade him out and get ourselves another ruckman (which is a must because if we don't bring in another ruckman, it will be Gawn on his own with maybe 1 or 2 years of prime production left) So unless we can get hold of another decent ruckman as back up to Gawn, I'd say we will simply declare Grundy as a required player and hold him to his contract It's not as if Grundy is being offered an $8Million contact elsewhere like Jackson was. That's not happening and other clubs will almost certainly want him cheap. So why sell him cheap? That's not good for business He's a keeper, all things considered and as others have said, he's got a good chance of being in the team in September anyway (but not right now)

Beat this one! We have never won a Friday evening encounter against any opposition whilst I've been drunk to the eyeballs! It has never happened and needs to be rectified quick smart

Any team, anywhere, anytime