Macca

Regardless of their supporters, they were the better team on the night Can we play a lot better? Of course we can but tonight we didn't bring it, Kev We lacked system going forward, we played the boundary too often and we lacked decisiveness Many of our kicks forward were scrubby and a lack of marking ability up forward was a standout feature. Some would say an alarming feature Still, if Port win tomorrow we'll be back in 4th spot with a likely QF opponent in Collingwood (minus Nick) A reminder that we dismantled the Pies in the QB clash In a lot of ways, we now know where we stand Is it the loss we needed to have? The wake-up call?

We're capable of playing at 8 or 9 out of 10 standard ... tonight we were barely 6.5 out of 10 and that's why we lost (the main reason) We couldn't deal with Carlton's all over pressure and we were rushed with our disposals all night Effectively, the Blues did what we normally do (all over the field pressure) Up forward, it just didn't work for us so we've got a bit to sort out in that area But kudos to the Blues. They outplayed us but we very nearly won So there's hope and on the flipside we might slip to the valued 4th position where we'd effectively get a home final for the QF So it's not all bad and it's not as if we got thrashed. We didn't play very well but we very nearly won the game Looked at another way ... if we play like we did tonight in a final, can we expect to win? I doubt it

ANB Skills!!

And we're in the Semi's You beauty!!!

Harry Kane off to Bayern (all but done & dusted) Ange gets his first setback

The quintessential big occasion player was Brent Crosswell

You forget how young these guys are sometimes ... of our 4 (McVee unlucky not to be the 5th) only JVR seems young But the other 3 are all still very young yet are all premiership players As @BDA mentioned above, with our draft hand this season, we've got plenty of young talent either established or coming through The future is bright

Former demon Brent Crosswell's nickname was Tiger The story goes that he was not good with fellow player's names so would call said players 'TIger' when calling for the ball. "Tiger Tiger!" Or ... "It's yours, Tiger!"

Nutbean is either taking an extended break or has moved on from forums I can understand either stance Plenty have come and gone so the above 2 explanations is probably the main reason Just on Nutbean, he is a real music aficionado ... front row seats for nearly every time a contemporary music artist (or artists) that have come to this country. As well as the classic performers from the past He'll be front and centre for McCartney

I'll give you one guess as to who accused him of waffling on too much (not that it was any big deal, Nutbean took it in the right spirit)

It's a bit like when Nutbean was accused of waffling on too much so he changed his avatar to a picture of some waffles Haven't seen Nutbean here for an age. Hope he's ok

And Kozzie as well (midfield minutes) ANB also for stoppages other than centre bounces. And Rivers sometimes has a run through the middle/stoppages Doing the exercise of naming all the 22 players on the ground does your head in a bit, AF At match committee level, they'd have it all worked out (who comes off and on and when, how & why) so you can understand the rigid nature of rotations And then of course all the rotations of the mids ... counting ANB, Petracca and Kozzie as part of the midfield rotations, there's a total of at least 10 mids if we count both ruckman And they (the MC) can't make it up as they go along ... most of it has to be pre-planned (With a bit of leeway for break glass in an emergency) And of most of the talls, most are swingmen, ruck or utility types (May & Lever tend to stay put)

From the past ... Carey & Matthews These days it would have to be Hawkins ... precisely the player we need although he is coming to the end Jack Riewoldt (in his prime) is another

Here's how I see the team lining up throughout the match With this team there are no players listed on the interchange as the use of the '/' is more appropriate. As we know, all the players often spend at least 80% of the game on the ground Feel free to critique as my line-up is more of a guess FB Bowey May McVee/Smith HB Rivers Lever Salem C Hunter Brayshaw/Sparrow Langdon HF Petracca JVR Chandler/ANB FF Melksham Grundy Pickett R Gawn Oliver Viney/Jordon Of course, all players spend time on the bench so the '/' used could be used anywhere And Smith, Gawn, Grundy & JVR could all be used at CHF or FF (rotating?) Grundy & Gawn could also spend time in the backline (Grundy to ruck as well) Hibberd to be the sub again to provide fresh legs in the backline?

SEN radio are covering all Spurs games this season ... maybe on the app

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