Wells 11

Well thats just a terribly unfair fixture ;-) . .....I did like your point there though.

It’s a bit too easy to overlook after the way we grabbed top spot and our our flag last year . But we finished this season in 2nd position. SECOND. I’ve been following the dees fr over 50 years and only once have I seen us finish higher .. 2021. So despite what I strongly suspect was an injury related fade at the end of this year, the boys did us proud. They came bk in 22 fit and hungry and gave us 10-0 zero complacency. Petty has AA stamped all over him. Kozzi was always a huge talent .. and he’s now getting better at showing more of it more often . 6 goal match winner in Alice. JVR, Howes, Bedford, Turner all look exciting (and maybe a cpl of others) and are looking to push there way in. Jackson fr a healthy Grundy and another 1st rounder is a win.. at least in the short term. Our window is short term so I’m ok w it. 2023 will come and we will be one of a few sides smack bang in our window. It’s painful right now but these are good days to be a demon

Credit where credit is due hey. They’ve revolutionised the way the game is played this year and their corridor at all costs is genuinely exciting to watch. Kinda hurts to see the pies being good again, but they are. Re your comment though about them having an “ inferior” list. After watching them tonight I’m just not sure they actually do. They have a lot of hard running, elite ball users that we don’t have and they play to that strength. They also have some kind of eveness in their inside grunt and outside speed we don’t possess as well.

He really is turning into something special isn’t he. Thought he was just about our best last night.

yep .. and we’ll said. I think this is also why teams started over running us. I guess the question has to be asked did we really need to keep playing all of them? Trac worked out ok, as did Clarry but the rest you mentioned, and add Salem and Rivers, just didn’t. Perhaps that’s just the footy gods having their say.

Yep. Salem prob shouldn’t have played after he got injured at the start of the year should he. We kept waiting fr the him we know to appear. It didn’t. Bottom line was that a half fit salem was in no way better than Bowie… but we’ve been looking at that fr months and been unwilling to see it . He just can’t play injured. some can some can’t. He showed us he can’t. Rivers is also carrying an injury and is utterly and embarrassingly bereft of confidence. I’m a real fan of his but that’s got to be about the worst game he’s played fr us. Genuine liability. I do expect those two to bounce bk though …they’re just too good not to. Hopefully they sort their injuries out over summer… or we’re stuffed., Hunt is prob just in our bottom 4. I don’t think we can point the bone at him.

yep. some real shockers weren’t there. Topped off with that ridiculous call against lever. How many questionable frikn free kick goals did we get hit with in the finals. Just So many dodgy ones went against us. We just couldn’t take a trick.

yes but worse. It was like watching a slow motion replay replay of the SAME crash we watched in almost every loss we’ve had. Surest way to beat the dees is to be 5 goals down near the end of the 2nd.

Lever sums it up at the very end… distracted, disappointed and gives way 50. Kozzi continues to give free kicks away w late hits plus another 50 tonight. That’s Not what great players in great sides do. In general and across the board they were mentally off and the reasons fr that needs finding. Injuries? fitness? game plan? yze / jackson distracted? 23 feels like an enternity away.

Petty was our best player imo. spargo gave us nothing

I was genuinely shocked at just how far off it Rivers, Sparrow, Jackson and Spargo looked tonight. all 4 have taken massive steps backwards this year. Rivers has become a liability down back ( gave away 2 goals by panicking ) and Sparrow a liability with his disposals. pickett. ( as much as I love him) gives away another 50 and 2 x down the ground frees fr late contact. where’s his head at? Jackson drops a critical mark and has almost zero impact. Hard to stomach the way we’ve been over run late and out coached. Season has to be seen as a failure now.

I have a sense this game will go to the wire.

seems to sum up the mood here and in me too DJ. I’m open to being surprised but have that familiar MFCSS cloud around me.

Personally I think there’s more of a risk in playing him. Obviously to the player himself as he WILL be targeted. But more to the point the risk of keeping up the facade that everything is fine. We’re in a sudden death final and arguably our best player is down… it’s now or never. I’d be bringing in an in form Dunstan and, as part of that, try to get the whole team to share the load and lift a notch. This isn’t business as usual anymore and now everyone has to do more. Murphy, the doggies captain at the time, went down on the eve of the finals and they won the flag. The whole team responded to that and we need the same ..not playing an injured trac who can barely run and can’t kick straight .

we left 3 very gettable goals lying around that we should have kicked. so it looks worse that it was.

He did. And a few of the boys looked flat didn’t they.

boys looked tired.

This thread is getting to be like the game day thread! As I see it, it’s 3/4 time and we’re 10 points down. Some think it’s already over but Binman thinks our loading will see us through (ie jacko stays) In the game itself, his mum is apparantly starring at CHB for the opposition … maybe cause in our panic we just keep dumping it long and high into the pocket ? Plus the pokémon cards are also having a field day at half forward. But there’s Still a qtr to go …. I think with a few changes the dees can still pull it off!!

your “it’s just a thought” sadly seems to be the best idea/ info we have. If the club doesn’t sort this out in our golden era, the members are gonna burn the house down on the way down. In an era where I feel amazingly proud of the club in almost all ways… it feels like we still have this one seriously embarrassing area. The thread taps me into how I used to feel all the time about the dees.

As long as Jackson doesn’t go public with his intentions. Eg If Cerra had nominated us we would have got him cheaper than the pick 6 the blues paid. I think Jackson, go or stay loves the club and will do his best w his manager to see it’s a fair deal.

Hird may well galvanise the bombers ….but in the short term only. As, at the same time, it may well galvanise the rest of the comp and the AFL against them. Hird should never be a senior coach again. Assistant coach ok but that’s the limit: I have to ask myself who would want to go there with him in charge , whether it be player or assistant coach. If he got the gig and did poorly, for whatever reason, their whole club would fully implode. Way more than they are now. sigh. one can only hope! After copping all those years of sheedys abuse about basically being a loser club, I don’t mind one bit he’s getting a taste of what that means now. Maybe he’ll learn a bit of humility.

That’s going to stay with him fr a long time. It just had to go to the goal line. So obvious 🤦‍♂️

yep. This instead of “ the dees have been targeting zorko all night”

They got to exactly where they were headed.. physically distracted and suspended.