The heart beats true

This has been a great effort so far.

Sorry, I forget where I was for a second. I’ll get in on with the negativity… Whose directing this broadcast? It’s a shambles.

Really? Jack Viney has delivered one of the great halves of footy you’ll ever see, the effort across the team has been selfless and intense in hostile territory, and all anyone wants to do is pot Weed? This place is better than that isn’t it?

Our effort and intensity has been great. I love these boys when they play like that. It’s such a good style of footy to support. It’s hard and tough, and it’s so exciting.

I love Jack Viney. He’s everything tonight.

Our forwards will have to be murdered before they get a free tonight.

Umpires keen to get them going. Meanwhile holding the ball doesn’t exist anymore.

I alway remember last year after the Tigers win TMac was in the rooms talking to Channel 7 about the demands of the modern game, and changing his running regime, diet and weights work to better reflect his role. The commentary team went to enormous lengths to move the topic away from what he was actually discussing back to dumb, football cliches. It was painfully obvious they don’t want to talk about analysis and insight, they want to talk about ‘going harder’ and ‘taking speccys’ and ‘copping one for your troubles’. King’s bosses would love him. He talks in ‘hardness’ and uses dumb stats to make points about effort (the amount of time he says a side is the number 1 team in something over the last 4 rounds is laughable. He never tells you who they played, or where). It’s all about keeping those looking for blood coming back for it. Look at Demonland after a loss. I’d bet the engagement is up. Negativity is a cycling emotion. It wants to be fed. That’s what all media does well - the AFL is no exception.

Kingy? Is that you?

It’s not an unreasonable offer - but his manager will know he’s at least worth a Sportage, and return flights to Surfers.

I have what’s called ‘dissociative PTSD’ about our 2012-13 seasons. I know on some level I was at the G when Essendon beat us by 148 points but every time I try to picture it all I see is me living in Provence for those 2 years, wearing a beret, and cycling down each morning to pick up a baguette. It’s very civilised.

I only saw him against Casey and he still looked a bit off it. I think it’s tough for the kid as he was playing on ball in his junior footy and he’s not going to have the height to do it in the AFL, so they are trying to turn him into an interceptor. They’ve had a few injuries down back across their list so he then ended up playing more as a traditional full back and had been towelled up by bigger bodies. If he’s playing in the ones as a 3rd tall/interceptor it might really help him get his confidence up. Good luck young fella.

I’ve thought the same thing AF. I know the club is very bullish on Disco. The likelihood that we bring in a game hardened contested forward in the offseason is only 50/50, so we’d have to have a plan that includes what is already on the list. Brown is always going to be a week by week proposition now and him, TMac, and Mitch Brown are all coming to the end. I’d imagine that Harry’s future is a topic of a lot of conversation at the club.

That’s just a manager letting the club know via the media that he knows his client is worth a good deal, and that they just spent money on players and he wants to be next in line. I’m sure the club aren’t sitting around thinking ‘maybe Koz doesn’t know he’s a good player, and we can offer him a 2006 Kia Rio and throw in a weekend trip to Phillip Island?’ We get it. He’s a valuable player. Now climb back under your rock until it’s actually your time.

JVR in the emergencies. He’s close.

Harmes’ concussion was broken by Demonland was it not? This place is the sauce.

Oh, that’s supposed to be a facepalm? Every time anyone does it to me I just assume it’s a hand humbly covering their face as they bow to my magnificence.

It was interesting watching the Brayshaw video on the club site this morning talking about his contract. He said it definitely was a distraction, and half joked that the reason for the long term deal was so he didn’t have to go though it all again. I feel for Luke. It’s been inferred here that there’s a bit more going on behind the scenes than we know. We may never hear about it all, as is his right to privacy. I do think it’s impacting his performance. He’s a kid. It must be really tough to have to contend with this everywhere he goes - and I bet the opposition on the field are into him about it.

We are a good club with a good culture. This is a great time to support our team. I love the timing, all though I’m somewhat disappointed that I couldn’t applaud every kick he gets on the weekend in person. I’ll never forget when he said to Garry Lyon after the grand final ‘this is our club’. He understands that it’s both a game, and so much more for people who love our footy club. I’m so happy to have him, Tracc and Clarry for a long time.

I’m not crying, you’re crying!

There’s a psychological term called ‘euphoric recall’ which is being gleefully applied to how other sides have performed during their periods of success. Geelong spanked Richmond by 70 points in the middle of 3 bad loses in 2019. I don’t see that being bandied about in discussions of how dominant they were.

Can anyone confirm that Gus’ manager is also Jackson’s? I’ve heard it mentioned but just wanted to see if it was a fact. Cheers.

It’s been brilliant. We’ve been up to our necks in every game bar 2 I reckon (Freo and Geelong). I thought we played some scintillating footy on Saturday night. The Dogs played the best they could possibly play to beat us. It was laughable that they kicked so straight in the last quarter. They couldn’t do that 99 times out of a hundred. I have so much admiration for our team structure and discipline. Watching players run 150 metres at full speed knowing they probably won’t get the ball is incredible. I think we’ve clearly got the best midfield and defenders in the comp. Everyone fit, on the park and playing well and it’s going to have to be something incredible to beat us. I also love that we know we’ve got Tracc and Clarry for the next 6-7 seasons. This place is where a lot of people vent their frustration because it’s a free hit. They really want us to succeed, but if they start ringing the alarm bells they hope it’ll console them if we lose - and they can say ‘I told everyone’. I don’t really buy into that. It’s ok to want us to win, but also be respectful of how hard the year has been, and still have a lot of faith in what we can do.

I’m honestly finding it really hard to believe that supporters who saw what this team delivered late last year would ever question their intensity or effort. Same position as we were in 2021, same ‘bad patch of form’ after round 19, same media pundits saying we aren’t ‘hard enough’ - and instead of having faith in the club and players that ended the longest drought in the AFL they prefer off the cuff opinions of guys who write pay per click articles. Have a little faith ya big sooks.

I yelled at him to sign the contract when he was running to the interchange in the last quarter on Saturday night. That obviously tipped him over. You’re all very welcome.