Diamond_Jim

Nah... that will be part of the joy and let's face it ... if we can't beat Collingwood (apparently Pendlebury is out for the rest of the season) with our full team we won't be going anywhere come finals time

Spot on Ricky ... 12 and a good percentage will probably get the 8th place but two other teams also on 12 will miss out. 13 wins (four more needed) definitely sees us playing on that fresh September grass ! Moreover we will be going into the finals on a winning streak

not really ... against GWS we should be at full strength (save for Jones) and many of the players coming back should be match fit

One thing I learnt as a Demon supporter is that next year is a whole new ball game and going up in form is not guaranteed. This is our year in the sense that the top teams are only marginally better than the middle ranked teams. History shows that this is the exception rather than the rule. Go Dees

2 weeks .. take it and move on Port game is almost a certain loss ... he will be missed against North at iceberg Park but at least back for a tilt at the Giants in the Nation's Capitol !!

not only that .. it will be someone else's home game and Bombers will still pocket the money..... Port have set the precedent Perhaps as a "favour" to a struggling Melbourne club

Excuse me for not reading all of the 23 pages but I have dipped in and out of this thread a few times. A couple of questions. 1.Will we have to trade picks and/or players to get him? 2. 600K sounds light in current terms and if it is more what does it do for retaining the large number of key players we need to sign next year?

MFCSS says suspended on both .. total time out three weeks maybe four on account of record.

A very well written article that turns the argument around to say that the actions of the AFL in today's world was sexist. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/17/this-is-what-the-afl-calls-respecting-women-looks-like-patronising-moralism-to-me Listening to Gil being interviewed on this subject on the 3AW footy show on Saturday it was apparent that he was all over the place in his thinking as was their policy. Just a couple of quotes from the Guardian article: "The AFL takes itself terribly seriously, doesn’t it? To hear its agonised chief executive Gillon McLachlan trying to explain the forced resignations of two senior officials for “inappropriate” relationships with “young” women – their youth seemed to be critical – I wondered if I was listening to the head of the Presbyterian church rather than the boss of a football league. " "The AFL is terribly earnest in its desire to do the right thing, and sees itself as a leader on all kind of social issues from racism, LGBTI rights to domestic violence. Mostly, its influence is benign, and occasionally inspiring. But please, Gillon, stay out of the bedroom. Women – and men – don’t need you there in 2017"

north is the first of the must wins. Lose that one and we will need an upset against GWS. Hard to see us getting over Port unless they play badly and we get a real lift across the board from the team. Was a little surprised Goodwin didn't try a game plan that restricted the Crows scoring ability on the rebound. If they kicked accurately (which they did in that first quarter) we were always going to be in trouble. (Remember had the Swans kicked accurately that would have been a much bigger loss.)

TBH at VFL level he was adequate-good from the 3-4 games I have watched him play. Sure he gets the ball but he is not sufficiently damaging when he does get it. Many of his possessions are hot handpasses to a hotter team mate etc. I have never seen him really nail a handpass to advantage a la Oliver. Hopefully the next few games allow him to shine but I think he will forever be a useful depth player. Love to be proved wrong because from watching him closely at VFL level he has a high degree of infectious enthusiasm which is great to see in a modern day footballer.

Toiges do not have an easy run home with GWS, Geelong and the Saints plus the Hawks and Freo at Freo. Their "easiest" game is Suns at the GC.

Realistically we would probably have to leave NT all together as I suspect that the NT Govt who pay the $1M would insist on a game in Darwin and Alice. Of course if no other clubs were interested we could play hard ball and say its Alice or nothing. However we do it let's ditch Darwin ! we need another thread at some time to discuss stadium economics/deals. They are so important to clubs and they vary so widely.

We need (ed) to beat one of the unholy trinity of Port, GWS and Adelaide (which we have now lost) to give us the luxury of losing one of the "easier" games. Still confident that we will make the eight with 13 wins. Port have a lot to play for next week as second position is a possibility for them over the remaining weeks. Will be another tough one in which our percentage could take a battering just like last night. Need some heroics from a number of players to cause an upset. North at Iceberg Park in Hobart will be a strong contrast to Darwin.

Oh come on... it was bad... admit it ,,, come on you can do it for once

the bigger game for us is GWS V Swans GWS 13 points down near the end of the third quarter We cannot afford a Swans win

well at least it looks like we won't have to worry about a nail biting finish this week. On a serious note we have a slight percentage advantage over many of our rivals for the 8. Would hate to see it blown away

As well as us in the last round they have yet to face...Adelaide, Eagles, Port and Geelong They are not going anywhere

I think you are right enyaw. For 12 wins to make the eight it means that there will be widely spread wins and losses which in turn means there will be around 3-4 teams on 12 wins at least who will all be fighting for spots 7 and 8. Percentage will play an enormous part. If wins and losses are unevenly distributed between the contenders you will need 13 wins

GC without Ablett.... how bad He has had 26 possessions until half way into the third quarter, The next best GCS player has 17 !!

the real concern is what the AFL will do to prop up Brisbane and GC from a playing viewpoint not to mention financially. GC is a basket case. With the Commonwealth games next year they will be without a stadium for much of the year just to make things more difficult. Hard to see how the AFL could have got it more wrong than putting a team on the Gold Coast.

Great news ... a pivotal player in our team going forward

Handy little bump in Port's percentage not to mention keeping them well in touch with the ladder leaders. Will be hard to beat next week.

Nice ending but the disappointment is that those Hawks supporters will still feel that they are a powerhouse. Time for several years of mediocrity a la North M

Looking closely at a couple of those marks they are an excellent strategy to use the force of a run up to split the pack to the advantage of your team. Even if you miss one or two of the defenders are momentarily taken out of the play thus allowing your team mates to play to advantage. If you know your player is going to approach the ball in that way it could become a real strategy. Hard to stop it as you are not allowed to block the run up. I suppose you could have a player run with him and compete/impede the leap. If you think about it the speccie is the one time when a clear in the back infringement is allowed.