Lucifers Hero

At least the cats could legitimately claim key absentees, (Stewart, Parfitt, Connor), injured players (Henderson, Touhy etc) and no bye. Port had a fully fit list and fully rested. Inexplicable and I suspect for their fans unforgiveable.

I have a lot of time for Jack Niall but I think this article is bizarre: why-may-should-thank-hocking-if-he-plays-in-the-grand-final . Sure the bye helps May but it helps the whole bulldogs team a lot lot more as they have virtually circumnavigated the country and in quarantine for 3 weeks. The extra week is an enormous advantage to all 23 of them. Not Niall's most balanced article.

I reckon Petty should play on Schache to stop him blocking Lever as he did Allir Allir at every i50 contest. Just keep Schache (or whoever they use to block) out of the way.

A few weeks ago Richardson said that if the bulldogs made the GF we might need to move out of the Joondalup resort for them. He mentioned our players were really happy there. At the time I thought the bulldogs should go to the resort where the loser of Dees vs Cats PF had been. It would be a shame if we had to move and be disrupted, even in a small way, what our team was used to.

I read your post - that was a good 'telling off' as well! I had also invoked his grand daughter to bring him some cheer. Seems to have worked and he came back to us.

That is a nice sentiment. But no. Whoever wins it has earnt it. Keep it.

I too was getting worried by @old deeabsence. Can't have him missing out on the DL fun. Had to prod him a little via pm to come out of his slumber. Good to see him back posting.

Hard to put money on the bulldogs. They have injuries, been travelling and in quarantine for 3 weeks, limited training and no bye. Hope the punters are right. Don't want to play bulldogs in the gf.

One of my friends texted during the 3rd quarter: it was beautiful to watch, like dancing on the field. when our players were carrying the ball with overlap play. Couldn't have been choreographed better. It was beautiful and mesmerising.

In the post game thread I wrote: 186 Atoned. 83 in the penultimate game on the big stage vs a nothing at stake game at sleepy hollow, Geelong. Hell yes 83 trumps 186!! Let the scars from this game sink deep into their dna and may it take them a decade to recover. Geelong are now our 🐰!!

Couldn't be bothered trawling 24 bf pages. A small sample from the first few pagers: The gracious: beaten by a younger, harder, more skilful and simply better team - happy for the demons, and im looking forward to watching them in the GF....theyve made it there the hard way, and all the best to all their supporters on here...great to see from a team that has gone through everything they have. i hope they have one more in them. Well played Melbourne. Sensational performance. I hope they go all the way. The good: Boy o boy what a game that was!...for Melbourne Nobody cares about the "making finals" window. Play horrid joyless football all season to finish high enough to get flogged in finals. What a ride. The bad: Everything was in their favour…skills, midfield, lucky bounces and ricochets, umpiring. Every time they slipped over they got a free kick, but umpires ultimately irrelevant after half time. The Ugly: In response to the first listed 'gracious' item above: By the hard way I assume you mean being so sh*t they get gifted half a team worth of very, very talented players. The Melbourne love from the media is giving me the [censored] . Go port or doggies . [censored] gary Lyon and the rest of the flogs . The Funny: I think we should trade Narkle, Clark and Constable and load up with Burgoyne, Mumford and Mundy. Surely we can reach another Prelim in 2022? Scott has the Ross Lyons about him. Good coach highly credentialled, just cannot get the big one. I've always thought it's over coaching Gotta give it to the Dees - Viney is a sh*t stain and Fritzel has a very punchable head, but other than that they're a very watchable side. Class everywhere. Time to step down, Scotty. You failed.

Port and Bulldogs score heavily from their small fwds. Does Hibberd have the stamina for two games in a row? I reckon Hunt is a genuine possibility. Hunt for Hibbered.

186 atoned! On nearly the biggest stage possible! Awesome!

Quite right. Hibberd OOC this year and Melksham OOC next year.

Just for the record, TMac is contracted until 2022 and I had an inkling his salary was pretty high next year.. That doesn't change the essence of your post as the club will find a way to do the deal if that is what they decide.

One wonders why they didn't negotiate some outdoor time before leaving Perth. They had the same restriction in Brisbane but before leaving Launceston they negotiated a trip to an oval on landing in Brisbane and then free movement between their floors in the hotel. As it is they get no fresh air for nearly two days: Perth hotel, Bus, Plane, Bus, Hotel. Game time. As much as I dislike the Bulldogs this is pretty rough on them. I wonder if it was an oversight to negotiate something like Brisbane.

Beveridge needs to stop whinging. He is now 'warning' Port to not target Bontempelli's knee or their will be 'retribution'! Why flag the severity of the injury. If he isn't fit to withstand a bump or two, targeted or not, then don't play him. He is beginning to sound as rattled as Scott does.

Scott is a bit like 'the boy who cried, wolf'. He has a late change for nearly every game so it surprises no-one when he pulls that trick. It is a silly game he plays. I still think there he will make a late change announced just before final teams are confirmed: about 6pm today.

Yep, on the back of GST they get from the Eastern States. McGowan's smugness knows no bounds: "They will be wildly angry and they will want to undo the GST deal," he said. abc.net.au.wa-budget-5-point-6-billion-surplus-but-no-border-reopening-date

I hope you are right that a state can open up internationally when it reaches 80% regardless of other states. I have a niece, her husband and two gorgeous little boys living in Hong Kong, who can't come home to visit. Hotel quarantine just isn't feasible for boisterous 5 and 7 year olds. All along I've felt it is outrageous to lock Australians out of their home state. Hope your mate gets back soon.

Agreed a hub over here would work. But who knows. How much of a fight will the AFL raise? Just look at how McGowan bragged about having the GF on his terms and didn't pay the AFL a single cent!

The urgency isn't just around catching covid. It is about opening our borders locally and internationally so people OS can come home, visit families, labour shortages can be filled, universities can ramp up their campuses with international students etc. etc etc The longer it takes WA to vaccinate and open borders the longer it will take the rest of the country to effectively open up. McGowan is stretching the National Cabinet's agreed dates of Oct/November to March/April.

It isn't statistical but there are increasing reports that the WA system is under severe pressure without even a single covid case: elective-surgery-postponed-wa-hospital: - Elective surgery cancelled for a month, dramatic increase in ambulance 'ramping' hours and chronic underfunding of health system for several years. So, I am of you view that the WA Premier has reasons to not vaccinate quickly and to keep upping the ante; the latest being 90%, an almost unachievable figure.. His latest is they open their borders in maybe March/April next year. So every likelihood afl teams will still need to go over and quarantine. The problem for the rest of us he makes it harder to reach a national figure of 70% or 80%. Other states will need to go beyond those figures to compensate for WA vaccination shortfall. There are reports suggesting that Qld health system is also stretched. Interestingly, they also have low vaccination rates. I'm not sure they want the country to open borders either.

Have disliked Scofield intensely since he dropped Oliver with an 'elbow upper cut' at a break, was reported, appealed and got off. Media claimed Oliver took a dive. I find that article extremely unpleasant and tbh disrespectful. We were naive on and off the field but what is the point to be dredging that stuff up now. Chest beating, ra ra by yesterday's heroes.

Geelong have named Darcy Fort as an emergency. It was reported he rucked at their training yesterday while Stanley didn't. Tuohy and Henderson also reportedly 'sore'. A late change coming up?