The heart beats true

For [censored] sake. There’s only 2 teams who could outnumber us at the G in this final’s campaign and we get them back to back. We’ve had no luck this year at all.

I always find this dumb, from both the league and the players perspective. Warner stuffed that up because he couldn’t run where he normally would. Drop punts after the siren, always.

The intensity in this game needs to go up about 40%. More stoppages. More hard work. More hard bodies smacking into each other.

That’s a week, and now Blakey getting a HIA. Could be more. Terrible.

Well I guess you can’t have everything going for you.

Channel 7 opting for footage of Warwick Capper in the stands instead of the actual game. Meanwhile 80% of Australia has no idea who he is.

I was just reading about Laura Kane. She worked for the families in the royal commission into institutional sexual abuse. Massive respect for her. She’s wonderfully articulate and as smart as they come.

Uncle Colin always looks good at the welcome to country. The guy has sharp taste in suits.

We didn't play well - and lost by a goal. Fritta or Koz kick what is usually regulation for them in the last and who knows. So, let's not throw the baby out. Gus and I suspect JVR will go out. JJ in for midfield balance, Turner in. Smaller forward line, partly because we don't have much else, and partly because we have to learn how to use the ball better going in. Tracc more forward minutes. Possibly Spargo as Sub for Laurie who looked overwhelmed. Charlie only need 4 kicks forward to make a difference, and because he can't bomb it our players separate better for him.

The acting is better here.

If you take off your 'football is a sport' glasses for a second and view this purely as a ratings and PR exercise I'm predicting it'll go down like this... For the 6pm news AFL will announce Maynard gets 2 weeks. Collingwood will appeal, but only after the footy this weekend. All the talk will be about how they must appeal for the 'soul of the game' etc. Lots for the talking heads to chew over here and keep the dialogue in the news. Then next week this will carry on like a soap opera. The AFL and Collingwood will be in the news all week, and then he'll get off, or down graded to a week. We are only missing Vince McMahon.

Gees I wouldn't want to be relying on those frames to get him off. His eye line never even approaches the ball.

This is going to be hugely contentious either way. I honestly can’t believe that it will be, but it’s already obvious it is.

There’s an angle on The Age website from behind the goals… https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl-finals-2023-collingwood-magpies-into-preliminary-final-brayden-maynard-faces-days-of-nerves-over-clash-20230907-p5e2xz.html Maynard bunches up after the smoother. He just needed to put his hands out and push into a Brayshaw and both would have been fine. You can see he has the time, because Mitchell runs by in the same footage at speed and puts his hands up as the contact happens.

We don’t have the money for either of those guys. Not even close.

There needs to be someone on the market. I’m not sure there is.

The thing about ‘football actions’ is they impact either the ball, or the player in possession of the ball. He did neither in this case. I simply can’t see how the AFL doesn’t want that action completely stripped from the game. Left the ground, had no impact on the play, turned a shoulder, created a concussion.

It’s worth noting that when Brayshaw went down Tracc had to play more midfield minutes. Much more. Tracc forward, and one on one for longer, would have helped us a lot. They didn’t have a good match up for him. Once Gus went down we became much easier to coach against as we had less options.

Agreed. I thought we looked primed, and bar a nonexistent fingernail from Marchbank would have gone 8 straight into the finals. Tonight we looked flustered. We didn’t handle the pressure at all. 70% of our team would be hugely disappointed with their effort.

No way is Goodwin letting the club write anything but the most damning of reports. He was visibly annoyed, and he works hard not to be.

JVR is definitely getting a week for that I reckon. Wonder if he knew it and it knocked him off his game? He was nonexistent.

Agree. Love the bloke. He can play until he’s 40. He just tries his guts out.

I want one at the G. I sat with awesome Melbourne supporters tonight. Didn’t know any of them, but I loved how they cheered us on. The deserve to see us win it live.

Spot on. It’s what kills me as a supporter, and a Demonland member. I know I’ll come on here and a few pages into the postgame someone will post the expected scores and I’ll be furious all over again. We simply have to work far too hard for our goals, and it’s been a problem for us under Goodwin for his entire coaching career. He’s a great coach, but he hasn’t valued forward craft and skill enough and it’s hurting us badly.

Don’t feed the Maynard trolls. They revel in their ability to annoy.