Lucifers Hero

Weightman got only one free after none last week. He may rue the day when he said drawing frees was 'a skill'. It translates as conning the umps! The umps are now watching.

I've had my Redlegs membership for over 20 years. In some years I knew I would get to few, if any games, for a variety of reasons. My seat sat empty. But I thought of it as a donation to the club. Have been to 3 games so far. Would love to go to every game but circumstances don't always allow.

Saintsational Haven't opened a 'preview' thread yet...not sure if they have one... Will add later if it appears. Big Footy Early on it was outrage at playing in Cairns, selling a home game and doom and gloom over their one pt loss. Then they realised the sky wasn't falling and not only were they still in the 8 but top 4! Unlike our opps in recent weeks they are quite chirpy about our game. Not so much Doom and Gloom. Our boys will be absolutely rooted after this game. At least we’ve got an easy kill next week. Well done club. Don't go there. You know he'll (Dunstan) be stepping up to rub Ratts face in it. Hopefully the club catches Covid and can't field a side. You obviously haven't watched much of Melbourne before. We need to re think how we play because if we have 2 players that can score big bags and not much else we will get taken apart. Expect the third quarter to be definitive. Both Melbourne and St Kilda have been third quarter teams this year. Which makes me think a fast start in the first two quarters could go a long way this game. Now we enter the storm. I'm not optimistic...and am fine with that. Overall I think we'll give it a red hot crack. If we pull a win out the port game is forgiven. I hope the boys have a sour taste in their mouths from cairns. Use that fire in their belly as the fuel to get a win this Sunday. I'd love to be the team that knocks Melbourne off. We are talking levels of delusion much further than previously explored as a supporter of this team. Optimism: In hindsight I thought we were really good just unlucky. Should account for Melbourne then Geelong pretty comfortably considering our form and mental toughness. I think we can give them a real shake and possibly even get a win if we play as well we did the last time we played at the MCG against the Hawks. What a way to win redemption if we can knock off the Dees at the MCG, I watched them today and they are ripe for the picking, let's knock them off. Actually think we’ll win this. Have felt like it for a few weeks. Do I think we’re better than Melbourne? No. But I think they’re ripe for the picking, and we get them at the right time You know what they say about things that bleed… I think Melbourne are far from invulnerable. Yes, they’re bloody resilient and at their best they will beat anyone. But, it’s our job to know what their best is and deconstruct it. It’s our job to match their resilience. I think we may flourish being the hunter. I'm hoping that the loss last night really hurts them and has also blow away a few egos. That's the only reason I'm tipping a win. I just don't fear Melbourne like other great teams of the past. That's not to take anything away from the dees. They're a great team and deserve all the praise. But compared to the Geelongs, Hawks and Tigers, those teams were just absolutely amazing on their day. I remember facing them and wondering how the hell do we beat them. But with this Melbourne team, idk what it is, it just doesn't scare me as much. My favourites: I can't see us winning. But I can see us winning. But I can't, but I can? 70pt win to us to paper over cracks further, Dees only loss for the season and they utterly pump us in finals as is right. 50/50 but it's us, so no actual chance except May to maybe break records for intercepts.

A fair assessment. I think there are several reasons for poor crowds, in addition to not enough dee fans attending. 1) opposition fans don't turn up. 2) We and most teams we play at the G don't have AFL members so that stand is near empty for many games 3) Few if any Friday night games means we don't get the 'neutral' fan to our games. Hopefully, more dees fans go to our forthcoming games vs 'better' and some 'bigger' teams. But I feel the 3 points I mentioned above make it difficult for us to regularly get 'big' crowds to our games. Edit: Now to put the counter point of view😉 our average Home game attendances have been better than most clubs and better than some 'big' Vic clubs. We sit 3rd. Being Home games it excluses the ANZAC Eve game. So perhaps we aren't as bad as we think. Source: Footywire after round 6.

Correct. Yze said he is the one that is least likely to be ready as he went into covid protocols late so may not get training in. Others will be able to train mid/later in the week.

Was rapt to see his 100th game recognised in the banner yesterday even tho it was the previous week. when appropriately the ANZAC banner took priority. He has become our lock down of small forwards. Completely shut down Shai Balton. He is our new Neville Jetta. Not as great, yet but it is terrific to see his has found his niche in the team. It is a niche that plays to his strengths and minimises his weaknesses. It is the sort of role that the less you are noticed the better you are doing the job. I'm biased but think his performance in that low profile role deserves more recognition. Interview post his 100th A humble and honest guy. Just love him!!

QB vs the Pies.

I guess that is a matter of perception. Sometimes when Goodwin talks about players his view varies from some DL'er views, sometimes they vary a little, sometimes a lot. Re TMc, for the best part of 18 months our players, coaches, CEO and President have talked about selflessness as a key reason behind our 2021 success. Oliver epitomised that when he took upon himself a goal 'to be a better teammate' at the start of 2021. To me it seems that selflessness is a non-negotiable so no matter how good you are, if selfish you don't play. It is like other non-negotiables like two-way running, 1%, defensive work etc etc. The club has set standards on these non-negotiables and to my eye it looks like TMc has some work to do on the selflessness side. Whether it costs him a spot in the team we shall wait and see.

Correct! Don't listen to 'em, 'deever, you had it right the first time. TMc played selfish football in rounds 1 - 4. Despite obvious efforts to correct this in round 5, imv it was part of the reason he was dropped for round 6. He showed selfish signs again yesterday. So imv can't be relied on to do the team things. (I can see a 'pile on' approaching...)

I saw 23 players play their guts out, 20% of whom lacked recent AFL conditioning. We were under constant pressure and the game was played at high tempo. We prevailed. As Goodwin has said many times, we don't try and play a 'perfect game' we play to wear the opposition down and when opportunities arise to score we take them. You have identified many errors but imv we played to Goodwin's plan of 'imperfection' just as he wants us to.

The last para is an interesting question. Hawkes had Maginess run with Langdon all game and the kid kept him quiet, by Langdon standards.. They had Connor Nash on Oliver after qtr time and he kept him quiet for a while. They switched him onto Petracca in the last until he went off but didn't keep him quiet. The problem with these tactics is they still lose.

You must have been watching a different game.

Depends on who has recovered in time to do some training. I would drop TMc for selfishness. Pinched Harmes goal and burnt a bunch of players in good positions to chance a long range goal. Missed.

Top 8 taking shape. Cream rising to the top. No matter what happens this round we will be 2 games clear of 5th team (and maybe 4th). Strong position.

Great win. Players fading in the last. 2 weakened by covid. 3- 4 hadn't played AFL tempo for a while. Bank the 4 points and move on.

You might like to sit down... The equivalent thread was started this week 😑

I noticed this as well. So many were/are overweight, especially their senior players who should be setting the fitness standards for the kids. In the 2022 predictions thread before the start of the season, and before their covid disruptions, I tipped them for the wooden spoon. Reckon I will go very close.

If we win the fear meter from other teams will go thru the roof! All we need from Bedford and Melksham is tackle, tackle, tackle and keep the ball in our f50. Others can kick the goals. Still thinking dees 3-5 goals.

I meant the masks might just slide off or beak off. And, it is a lot harder to breathe with a mask even when walking for exercise, let alone breathing to play elite sport. Could be wrong but don't see masks as feasible on the field.

Yes, he is OOC this year. iirc Freo are also keen. They apparently have the cap space and Lobb may want to go east again. It is really only Ralph regularly stirring the pot (then others quote him) and offers from WCE are more attractive click bait than offers from Freo. Ralph is like Tom Browne, he guesses a lot and hopes to be right sometimes. Doubt it this time. No reason for Jackson to go now. In a few years, maybe. As an aside, Ralph also said WCE are going to great pains to say to player managers that Simpson is there to stay. If Ralph is right on this it seems they have difficulty attracting players to go back home or move from the east coast.

Massive % boost for Richmond; nearly 20pts. And they play again later in the season at the G. That % boost might be enough to get Richmond into the finals. They have a relatively easy draw for the rest of the season. That % may be enough to keep the Bulldogs out who are yet to play the Cats twice, Lions, Sydney, Freo and Demons. As an aside Geelong will play WCE twice. This and the other low ladder teams they play twice may be enough to get them a top two spot🤮. Their last two games are GCS and WCE. Great chance to rotate aging players and get % boosts.

How long would player masks last in a tackle... ...not to mention the possibility of spreading the virus from handling the ball...

Amazing that because WCE are at the bottom of the ladder the Jackson conversation on here has gone from 'no way do we let him go' to 'how many top 10/first round draft picks do we get' Sure WCE will be poor for several years but Freo won't be. If he really wants to go back to WA he may choose Freo. Anyway, its really a moot point as all the signs are he will re-sign, despite the stoking of the fire that John Ralph does every few weeks.

Whether deliberate or not Eagles are set to be at the bottom of the ladder for several years. If they get 5- 6 top 10 players in those years they are well on their way. Their problem is they appear to not have a lot of talent in the low to mid 20's age group to build on once the older guys go in a year or two. So finals are a few years away. There are some good WA kids touted in the top 5 of the draft this year so that might be a happy hunting ground for them. While their draft prospects may change it is easy to see WCE trading pick 1 or 2 for several top 10 picks and start their rebuild. If they finish last they also get the extremely valuable pick 19 to convert to better/more picks this year or next.

From Hawks bigfooty re an SEN Mitchell interview: "It was an interesting take from Sam in his chat with the brain's trust (Kingy and Cornesy). He said score involvements are a good indicator of who you should tag and not just disposals. He said Petracca and Neal-Bullen were the highest SI dees, which was really interesting". ANB out will make them quite happy.