Macca

A (near) future forward line could look like this F Melksham Brown/Grundy Kozzie HF ANB/Spargo van Rooyen Fritsch I believe that van Rooyen is a bit inexperienced (right now) to play deep forward and Brown may not have the legs to play out at CHF The mystery man is Grundy and if he can adapt and learn* quickly this season, he could play deep forward or CHF Fritsch & Melksham can both play deep or HHF but ideally, on each side of the forward line (left & right footers) *Learnings?

Wow! And you saw Barassi in his prime Gold

Not sure he can top that ruthless steal & goal late in the game last night but more of the same is highly probable The other thing is that his vision has improved immeasurably. It was previously not a strength but we've seen numerous examples this season including that pirouette, baulk & delivery forward to JVR against the Pies Oh, and by the way, the J.E.T.S are my (official) AFC team (Packers the main deal of course)

Game of inches ... if the ball drifts ever so slightly towards Hipwood he maybe marks cleanly with a shot at goal to win the game Then the conversation is completely different. A little bit of luck hey? Maybe, but if the goal is for Kozzie to get warmed up with a few easy touches, it's a great investment. A confidence player and we need his explosiveness AFL's version of Beast-mode who could probably teach Marshawn Lynch a few tricks Lawrie Lawrence would describe him as an animal! (Duncan Armstrong style) haha Viney does not know the meaning of a backward step. Imagine having him as an opponent? Yikes!

Yes, if so, it's quite a good start Of course, we're looking for the goals, Wellsy, but 16 possessions, 6 marks and 1 goal is better than 8 touches, 3 marks and 2 goals (IMV)

So the more immediate talking point is what needs to happen with our KPF stocks in order for our line-up, up forward to work (in terms of being a premiership threat) Can Grundy force his way into the team up forward and does he need to be 'that' good to replace JVR or Brown? What does Brown or JVR need to do to maintain their spots? And what about Schache? Is T-Mac done for the year? Does Melksham rediscovering his form change the make-up of the forward line going forward And then there's Fritsch coming back in a month (?) After initially being quite shocked with the Grundy back to Casey in the forward line move, I can now see what the MC are looking for ... but whether Grundy up forward can work or not is questionable Watching last night it's noticeable that JVR isn't getting to the right spots due to his inexperience. He's a step behind instead of being a step ahead. He's got a bit of go in him but he's raw With Brown, he's just not the Brown of old. So he's a step behind but that's due to a body that can't quite do what it once could do So again, does Grundy have to be all that good in order to snag a KPF spot? 16 possessions, 6 marks and a goal today is hardly startling but it is a start

Even though our instincts can often only see one way, we need to see the other side of the ledger as well. Therefore, the Lions supporters would have also expected more free kicks. They are no different to us The disecting of the actual game in a tactical sense is way way more interesting Last night's game was a beauty and of high standard. Umpired well although there were a few errors (the players made more errors) In my view if the umps can get it right 8 out of 10 times they're doing well. In other sports the expectation might be 9 out of 10 It's daylight to the next hardest game to officiate. Nothing comes close

From an overall perspective we had nothing to complain about

I take the good with the bad ... always have

Just on the umpiring ... mine is an unpopular view but we shouldn't have any complaints from an overall perspective If anything, we had the better of the decisions not that, that made any difference to the final result I thought the game was well umpired and I don't get the angst towards the actual umpires who officiated. We won the game fair & square

Ok then, I believe you I only looked once so might have got caught up but what I remember is that I saw 26.40 (or thereabouts) thinking that there was probably 3 or 4 minutes left And I didn't feel like more than a minute had passed before the siren went

Are you sure? The last time I looked it hadn't ticked over to the 27 minute mark

I'd like to believe that taking the boundary option is a cosching issue rather than a player decision Have you heard McRae talk about his players taking risks and how he does not concern himself with errors? An example for our team is Brayshaw and how he has an attacking midfielders mentality ... that mentality means he will naturally take risks (and the coach knows that about him) But he is often asked to play as a holding midfielder or defensive midfielder or defensive wingman or even at half back You know what? In those roles he still takes risks with coaching approval. So some errors are going to occur Btw, Brayshaw has close on the 2nd most possessions at the club this season ... only a handful behind Viney (Angus had another 29 or so last night) He's had a very good season and is severely underappreciated on this site To win risks must be taken and that has always been the golden rule in footy. The safe option like heading to the boundary line spells doom (especially against the best sides) That's not to say that that switching the play (quickly) or using the angles aren't good options ... it's not about just booting it to CHF when using the corridor

Top 3 standout and then any number of players could have filled the next 3 6 - Gawn (a colossus all night) 5 - Petracca (brilliant) 4 - Viney (a beast) 3 - Melksham (dangerous & productive) 2 - Brayshaw (solid) 1 - Hunter (solid) Unlucky - Pickett, McVee, Bowey, Rivers

Thought Hunter might have picked up a few 1's & 2's. Felt he was solid all night (26 possessions) DE rating wasn't kind to him but I didn't think he was wasteful Had the most metres gained by any player on the night (559) 2nd best none other than Joe Daniher with 490

And he did a couple of nice things too whilst at the clearances ... a good move to get him into the play I watched him a bit tonight and I thought he did very well as compared to some previous games 11 possessions, 5 tackles and 3 goals is an excellent return yet I felt the ball eluded him again tonight (but not as much) Truth is we'd take that sort of return numbers-wise, especially in a big final

I've got access to the MCC as family are members but I'm an AFL member so the southern stand it is I tend to analyse as I'm watching and am not very emotional so I tend to block out all the noise ... except for the filth supporters, they never fail to get under my skin. Can't stand 'em Tonight I was shocked when we won, it was a bit numbing to be honest Initially I thought we'd pinched the game but we did win the first quarter comprehensively (as we did the last quarter) so the game was split that way ... separated by 1 point at the finish I'm reasonably sure that many of the Lions supporters would be wondering how they could have possibly lost the game ... just imagine if it was a GF? (not on the receiving end thanks)

Rivers dash through the middle late taking on 3 tacklers was breathtakingly good More of that please!

Yes the 2000 QF was a beauty! I was there and ended up hugging my Carlton mate when we won (the things we do) Just checked AFL tables and we were down and out 21 points down going into the last quarter ... 7 goals later and we're in the PF So, comparing the two, the Carlton win was bigger with what was riding on the result But equally as euphoric? The Blues win was well ahead on terms of how I reacted The collective, layz? Might be different

The difference between winning and losing by a small margin is quite stark in our sport No greater example is joeboy's player analysis ... a narrow loss and often only 4 or 5 get a rap but if we win, the majority often end up playing well Yet one straight kick is the difference ... correcting, even a wobbly Barry Breen type kick can be the difference As one poster described tonight's game ... the agony and the exctasy Lose and we're on shaky ground but win and that QF looms large (for us)

They are in a league of their own. True filth and a law unto themselves Brisbane's supporters are mild in comparison. In fact, there's no comparison I was in amongst a lot of Lions supporters tonight and there was no hint of any trouble all night. None

No, now you're putting words into my mouth I said nothing about copying Collingwood but we have to find a find a way to attack through the corridor, our way. Using our strengths to good effect We play like we did in the 2nd & 3rd quarters and we'll be out in straight sets again We should have met fire with fire (our way) but chose to be indecisive and go sideways We had no dare, no dash and let Brisbane dominate We got the win but there's work to be done looking ahead

I've been standing in the outer or AFL members all my life and we've never had that many supporters in that area A large majority of our supporters have always congregated in the MCC area and the Northern Stand It's just the way it is. For me, I don't care that I'm outnumbered in the Southern Stand as it's my choice to be there 10 years at the top and you'll see change

Too much waffle It's a mindset ... either attack through the middle or we don't (or won't) Go back and watch the 2nd quarter for a great example as to how we wanted to avoid moving the ball through the corridor Continuously moving the ball slowly around the boundary line through the Southern stand wing and half forward flank ... and the Lions lapped it up So in the last 15 minutes we took risks through the middle and hey presto, we win It really is that simple but you continue to overcomplicate and over-explain

Are you serious? We got a good run from the umpires tonight I'm convinced you and a number of others here just need something to whinge about. Forever complaining when there's no need to Umpires against us? What a load of garbage.