Sydee

Interesting timing re English I'm wondering at what stage does LJ's non-commitment to a MFC future start to impact on the attitude of his teammates?

Yes they did and interestingly I think they held leads in the first half of each then lost second halves - sounds a bit familiar Irrespective our team needs to make a statement tonight we have an incredibly tough draw and must finish top 4 to be a genuine chance of a Cup

I was lucky enough to see that game live - for me it was really the start of believing we were the real deal Up to half time they had us covered easily - second half we simply ran harder and moved the ball quickly. Zac Bailey was very handy for them with 4 goals so him out is a positive - flip side we got 3 or 4 I think from TMac who is missing :( If we don't lift our intensity significantly and get more efficient with ball in hand we can't win tonight - hopefully tonight things change and they can get the season back on track

How does this compare with last year ? Seems like a very predictable and easy to defend strategy particularly with Max missing and BB not really clunking them atm Brisbane will have a significant height advantage Thursday if we continue to bomb long and go down the line I can't see how we win the game

Yes they do - we have been well beaten in the air recently and this looms as a real problem Thursday as the weather looks dry

Apparently Zorko to Miss Top of the Table Clash (lions.com.au)

Luke is a young man who irrespective of where he decides to play will earn extremely good money. If he fulfills his potential this will exceed what many people could hope to earn in a lifetime. If his decision is motivated purely by financials then a key for Luke is to surround himself with savvy investors/entrepreneurs that can help him optimize his next 10 years earnings. Some poor decisions can destroy the money he earns very very quickly - some smart decisions can have it multiplied many times over. I'd like to think that we are smart enough as a club to give Luke (and for that matter all our players) the support to optimize their earning capacity. Bottom line - anyone who looks at the financial side of this decision purely on contract value is doing so on a pretty superficial level IMO Until I hear he is leaving I remain confident he will stay, get paid well, help build a new grand old flag and be guided by some savvy MFC supporters to help set him up for life after football

Really - I’ve watched quite a bit of Casey this year I don’t think his problem is not doing much with his possessions it’s more about getting more of it, building fitness and getting to more contests He is very skilled and has an excellent football brain - he reminds me a lot of Spargo. I’m a little surprised we drafted two players that are so similar and not sure how they both fit in the same team. Spargo has him covered atm with defensive pressure

On Weid he may be being more positive because he’s simply running out of tall options to play F50 - they’re either all out of form or injured Sam really just has to find a way to become a more physical presence in the game - I’m sure his skills are fine and looks the goods at training but once he crosses that white line we need to see a Demon - I’d get him to watch the way Neita attacked the ball as a forward as inspiration

After 60 pages of nothing but speculation - reminds me of sitting in the backyard watching the grass grow

HMMM yes most recently last week - I sat through the same fixture at the SCG last year and thought there's no way that can happen again - alas I was wrong - very wrong 😬

Unfortunately my punting has not been kind to me recently and I find myself with virtually a zero balance - this coupled with a fierce determination to not make another deposit will see me refrain - but good luck 😀

Fair assessment - I struggle to see us kicking a big enough score to win based on exposed form in the last 3 weeks - their forward line is pretty capable and hard to shut down - ours is almost completely dysfunctional atm - personally I'd like to see us mix things up a bit and try Trac forward and Gus on the ball - if we go into the game with the predictable BB at FF and Weid at CHF its hard to see us creating a winning score IMO

Are you backing us at those odds ?

Are we still happy where it sits? Seems like things are going nowhere Time to p!zz or get off the pot soon

I'm warming to the idea of playing Trac as a permanent forward against the Lions and replacing him in the guts with Gus. We have become very predictable and teams are feeding off that Gus is in form and Trac has been struggling to impact on the ball We desperately need some strong bodies in the F50 and that won't be coming from BB or Weid assuming he is gifted another opportunity Gus whilst playing great footy at HBF can be covered if we have May, Petty, Lever, Salem. Pig and any of (Bowey, Rivers, Hunt)

Ridiculous odds given the form line

Maybe but atm we are not playing the same brand of football I watched this game with a lot of interest and there were three very stark differences to the way we play atm 1. A willingness to run and carry moving the ball forward as quickly as possible 2. Effective tall forwards that if they don’t mark bring the ball to ground so their small forwards can go to work 3. Consistent pressure acts when not in possession meaning opposition has less time to dispose effectively I don’t think the way we’ve played over the last month or so we’d beat either of those sides last night which is obviously a big concern because they are both lapping at our heals Lets hope we regain some form and fast It would be great if BB and Weid watched how physical the tall forwards were in this game - I don’t think they have it in them to replicate that but it would be nice if they could

Correct and many will not agree but J Smith would be in my best 22

If we go small inside F50 and continue to bomb away the way we have been recently I'm tipping Harris Andrews and Marcus Adams to take around 40 marks between them - game over We will need to come up with some significantly better connection and carry through the middle to be any chance

Love your creative thinking but there is zero chance of Gus playing in the ruck if you ask me

I have watched a fair bit of Casey this season - thought Daw could be used as a foil for Max but more to give the big fella a chop out to allow Max/LJ to spend more time in the F50 I'm concerned that he may not have the fitness to do enough minutes in the AFL - no idea why he wasn't good to go this week Max going down couldn't have come at a worse time We need to find someone who will compete physically in the air in the F50 its not Weid nor does it seem to BB Brisbane I fear will dominate in the air

Neanderthals booing a player that goes as hard as Oliver for the full 4 quarters is to be expected from that lot Hopefully it is more incentive for the MFC to crush them later this season and send them out of the finals race

I think the high ball into F50 happens for two reasons 1. We've slowed the ball movement up the ground so much that it lets the opposition get so many numbers back to crowd the area making it impossible for our forwards to find space to lead 2. When we try to move the ball quickly we are regularly making bad decisions by hand putting the ball carrier under extreme pressure which results often in a high ball just hacked forward These are the problems I think Goodwin's is referring to in his presser - our process/method what ever label you want to use if currently not working well and they need to fix it

Wonder if the Brisbane Lions fans are running a "what they're saying over at Demonland" thread ?