Diamond_Jim

Well .. here we are with a win .... perhaps not as easily as some of us might have wished but it was a win. Well now it's Adelaide at my favourite ground... followed by Port at the MCG and North at the iceberg also known as Blundstone Arena. An unholy trinity of games if ever there was one but not impossible as we move closer to the business end of the season. Win two ... or dare we dream... three and top four seriously beckons St Kilda play the Toiges again which gives us a bump in that regard. As well as us Port play the Saints and Adelaide together with a tricky game against the Doggies at Docklands. The bottom half of the eight is well within our grasp but no reason we can't strive for top 4 as our injured players return. Go Dees and PS.... would prefer the games to be a little easier than today's against Carlton !

Now behind.... unbelievable

Doing our best to let them back into it. Now they hit the front

On top now... time to put It on the scoreboard

Some glimpses of good play in that last 10 minutes but not stringing it together. Hoping for a big second half

We just cannot get out of first gear. Where's that attacking style we used to play

Can we play worse. Probably not which is a positive

We have little forward structure and are way too loose when they counter attack. Not much use all our forwards playing around the wing

25 minutes until game start. Crowd is sparse at present. Predominantly overcast with small breaks in the clouds. Crowd looks prdominately Carlton. Not surprising as it is their home game

Carlton traditionally play a very defensive game. I went to the Docklands and watched their upset win against GWS. Their defence sits back and just picked off the run and carry of the Giants. This then allowed them to quickly counter attack through unmarked men and then take a mark in the forward line. Our normal game plan does not work well against this style so I trust that Goodwin has some tricks up his sleeve. One obvious ploy is to leave a quick mobile tall near the forward line to counter balance the defensive line. I'm sure there are others.

He and Riewoldt .... what I would give to have players giving so much for so long

ok 8 out of 9..... point still holds true

Swans have now won eight straight ... no other team is anywhere near that at present

If we can't win tomorrow ... we have not improved as much as we thought .... so let's enjoy and see what the morrow brings Swans showed today they are the best team going around at present so perhaps last week was not that bad and we have Hoges and Garlett back

Good clash jumper for Richmond .... glad to see they don't play the we are special game... at least in that regard

now that is a string of possibilities. You just have to learn to think like a Hawk or Swan supporter... our natural place is on or near to the top of the ladder Go Saints

GWS v Swans next week .... should be a big game On at the same time as we are playing in Darwin Ok... now for the big question the answer to which depends upon your degree of optimism re the Dees..... Saints or Toiges I'm hoping for the Saints ... I want that fourth spot !!

Some good points there Razor At the start of the year I had the feeling that Goodwin was coaching for next year (2018) and that this was a building year where we would end up at the 7-12 bracket. The topsy turvy results by all teams has meant that in a perfect world we could snatch something. I agree re Smith but there is obviously something there (like Hannan) that Goodwin can see for his game plan. Lynden Dunn is perhaps another example of the Trenners, Garland syndrome ... gets a game at Collingwood but just didn't suit our attacking game style. Interesting to ponder whether Garland would have got a game this year if not injured. Fingers crossed for tomorrow and then onto Darwin.

Essendon have a reasonable run home ..... 6 games against teams outside the 8 and Adelaide

almost time for the 3aw post match call in could be entertaining

Boy those Giants can score when they need to Scored the last 4 goals and now in front

Hi who are they holding back as the emergency for tomorrow? I assume it is JKH many thanks

Unfortunately I will have to hope the Pies win but it could easily be a massacre and the end for Nathan

The other thing that perhaps one can say is that the Hodge push had little if any context in the game itself (it was a push for the sake of it) whereas the Walker push was as part of a legitimate act of shepherding

remind me ... did Hodge go They look equally bad save that Hodge appeared to have a raised elbow and was arguably a little later and therefore out of play.