Macca

But here's the thing Every game we need to bring our best and be suitably switched on And the match-day plan has to be spot on every time. We cannot be outcoached in the match-ups (e.g. the ruck situation vs Bombers) Complacency brings the wake-up call and we've had 2 instances this season ... yet here we are sitting on top of the ladder with an excellent percentage and a half-decent schedule

It's a far cry from yesteryear when we wanted more than a dozen replaced when the cupboard was bare And as good as the Northey and Daniher teams were, our depth is quite something these days A concerted plan to have at least 30 AFL standard players with at least half that number being B+ or better. The management has been first class I like it, I like it a lot (can you supply the gif layz?!!)

How about Brayshaw? You've usually got lots to say about Gus Even faint praise or a back-handed compliment will do DS haha

Maybe, but we don't often bring in a player for just the one match (sometimes we do and have done) And it was his first game for the club ... he looked a bit overawed to be honest But if Petty is good to go and/or Brown or T-Mac put their hand up, he'll be lucky to stay in Petty was playing that harder role reasonably well around the CHF area prior to his concussion

The MC will have known all along that the competition for places up forward as a KPF was going to be hot this year The acquisition of Schache and Grundy (who is shouldering most of the ruckwork with Gawn up forward) along with Petty used as a tall forward has meant that we've got 5 talls for 2 or 3 spots Matching the midfield depth that we now have So competion within the ranks answers the questions. Brown & T-Mac will need to impress in order to come under the selectors eyes. We'll find a spot for Petty when he becomes available And those in the team (Schache & van Rooyen) will both need to do enough (or more than enough) to stay And we might want to rotate anyway with a squad mentality as the focus If Brown and/or T-Mac impress today we will have a nice problem at the selection table

He also likes to fly from behind a little too often and the coach won't be happy with that ... thus, he very nearly got dragged last week. Looks exciting to us but not a great percentage play Weideman did the same nearly all the time and most forwards who ultimately don't make it usually have the same fault But van Rooyen has enormous potential and he is learning on the job. But he is far from the finished article Running under the ball is just a rookie mistake and a timing issue. And these days, playing as a key forward is infinitely harder than it was back in the day My expectations aren't huge so he doesn't have to be a gun footballer anytime soon. Just play his role and adhere to team rules He's progressing well and will most likely stay in the team for the foreseeable future. Schache is first out if Brown or T-Mac can regain form

Well that's not how I read it on certain threads ... your's and others views on Brayshaw were scathing but your appraisal was wrong anyway. You intimated that he should be playing 2nds But his disposal efficiency rating is elite and has been all season In relation to other team members he's in front of most if not all (Counting the regulars only ... May 86, Brayshaw 84, Lever 83) So he's 2nd in the club The criticisms look completely out of whack and quite frankly, weird

No, he's not that good (yet) ... as a forward, he has a requirement to get to the front position whenever applicable This he doesn't do consistently yet but that's not to say he won't be a success. He has a long way to go if the aim is B+ or A grade Even the A graders are disciplined enough to know that playing in front increases a players chances of getting the ball immeasurably. For instance, it's damn near impossible to win a free kick playing from behind in a marking contest We've got the goal sneaks like Kozzie & Fritsch to play the different roles up forward Key forwards need to be able to cop lots of punishment in order to be successful It should be noted that the coach nearly dragged him last week By the way, do you still want to see Brayshaw in the 2nds? Because that's what you intimated just a few weeks ago. Played another excellent game tonight. In fact, he's played well all season despite the utterings from the naysayers 29 possessions at 100% disposal efficiency Mind you, he'll probably get acknowledged with a 'clanger' when the Demon teammate he kicked it to one time during the game fell over in a marking attempt So the stats are questionable as well

Not exactly a starry starry night More like a training run/circle work. North provided the witches hats (mind you, we were once like them ... '08, '09, '12, '13, '14 ugh)

Yes, an absolute nightmare for opposition coaches. 1 out they (and we) are vulnerable (see Essendon clash) but as a pair, virtually impossible to curtail As long as they can both remain fresh and ready for the big games, we're in a great spot But is it time to give Grundy a week off against GC? He's shouldered a lot of work for 7 games. And if we don't manage him next week, will we at all? If Schache stays for another week surely he can ruck for 20% of the game against the Suns? Bring the game we brought tonight and we will obliterate GC

Brown takes up the front position on a constant basis (when in form) and that's a very physical thing to do at any level of footy. Takes a lot of courage to do so consistently (the front position) Can Schache do that? Not tonight but again, we need to see a bigger sample size. JVR played from behind tonight as well

Schache will possibly/probably get another chance against GC but at their best, Brown or T-Mac would be a better bet Schache didn't do a lot tonight but it's only one game But if Brown and/or T-Mac turn it on tomorrow they might force the selectors hand Mind you, JVR didn't do a lot either but we had numerous other scoring avenues against bog-average opposition so neither key forward was needed apart from creating contests or being used as decoys The knock on Schache is that he isn't a physical player and in September, that stuff is a requirement It's early doors, all the same. Need a bigger sample size

Yes the Geordies will be well pleased with that big win over Spurs But the big clash is upon us tomorrow morning at 5.00am Arsenal @ Man City For what it's worth my pick is a 3-1 victory for Man City but any kind of scoreline wouldn't surprise (aside from a 3-0 or 4-0 victory for the Gunners) Man City should score 1 or 2 goals you'd imagine. Not sure Arsenal will play for a draw and if they go all out for victory then fortune might favour the brave But they've got Haaland to contend with ... along with De Bruyne Should be some sort of game

Pogacar wins both one day races ... what a gun rider he is!

We should adopt the rugby league rule of the referee calling out 'held' as soon as the ball is pinned to the player in the tackle If the tackler then continues the tackle then a free kick is awarded against That would alleviate many or most of the sling tackles and/or the double movements with the tackles And the umpire should just grab the ball back once he/she has called 'held' and throw it up in the air straight away without waiting for the ruckmen Back in the day that's what happened and it worked well and there were very few complaints

Another one day event tonight (Fleche-Wallonne in Belgium) Women's race is on now (SBS Viceland) and will finish just after 8.30pm The Men's race is also live on SBS Viceland and should finish around 1.00am

Yes when he is playing that role he reverts to the dashing midfielder when winning the ball If he can rediscover his best form he can be a real weapon. Time will tell

Yes he argued fiercely for his club here on the thread about the Bombers peptide scandal Whilst I didn't agree with him he put up quite a convincing argument in terms of how guilt could be arrived at and where the actual proof was Of course, WADA only ever needed to arrive at a 'Comfortable satisfaction' conclusion which many weren't familiar with ... for instance, our tribunal doesn't work* that way in its adjudications *Does anyone know how the tribunal actually works?!!

Haven't read the thread and it might have already been said but how blessed were we for our lack of injuries in 2021? Hardly any sort of injury to any of our best 25-26 players. At the time many of us thought that could not happen again and sure enough, we've had a lot of injuries since the GF win. As well as those players who are obviously carrying some sort of niggle/injury (last year more so) But premiership teams often have a great run with injury and in fact, I can't recall a premiership team having many of their best players miss a raft of games on their way to the flag It's probably happened maybe once or twice but I can't recall an instance

He plays his best footy as a run-with tagger. Not a hard tag, that's not his go

It's funny isn't it. When you first post you can't imagine even posting 50 or a 100 times And I used to look at those with 10,000 posts or more and think, that will never be me. Who's got the time? And here I am at 13,000+! What the hell happened? Edit: 14,000+ oyvey 🙄

What about the bloke who wouldn't shut up about all of us joining in to sing "You'll Never Walk Alone" outside the MCG before every game That was nuts

Well there was a veteran poster here who for years was perceived as being constantly negative but as it turned out, he was spot on nearly every time. No prizes for guessing who I'm talking about haha There's often a fine line between being negative and being a realist The optimists often see the realists as pessimists and the pessimists equally can see realists as optimists It doesn't pay to be a realist on a fan site!! It's a minority group

I see a lot worse from those who should know better Abuse of their own players, abuse of umpires (by the way, doing that is not ok), those who can only see misery and the same types who are only happy when they've got something to moan about. Plenty fall in those sorts of category's But it takes all types and again, differing views makes things interesting In other words I might not like what you've got to say but I will defend your right to say it (as long as the line isn't crossed) We've had genuine trolls here who aren't Demons (esp those like Dr Who with his many guises!) Now those types should be banished but Ash35 who is a Bomber is harmless

No I don't believe so old dee More so someone who speaks their mind against the majority view. A bit negative? We can all be like that We need differing views to promote debate