Ted Lasso

12 minutes ago, leave it to deever said:

In all seriousness Brownie,  for me it was one of the best games for a while. Because after our last two games it was fair to wonder where we really were as a flag chance. 

We certainly are a very good chance for one as a result of that win. The Cats are a scary good side with both great backlines and forward lines. Their run and carry and speed of transition is damn good.

But our defenders ...the three horseman so to speak were wonderful. A proverbial wall of bronze and iron. To keep Cameron and Hawkins to zip was indeed a biblical effort. They say backlines don't win flags but I'm not sure that holds anymore. Ours must be the envy of all and it's missing two big names in Bowey and Salem.

Also to see Petty go from strength to strength as the game progressed was a sight for sore eyes. In the final stages it looked like he couldn't drop a mark even if he wanted to.

He was that connection at chf and the middle that we have so desperately needed. So glad Goody didn't heed the screams here to send him back to Casey . 

But in the end it just revealed another moment of this club to never say die. Cats went to another level in the last quarter but we went above that. At times the game wasn't pretty with its shots at goal but that was just a reflection of the pressure.

One of the biggest take aways for me wasn't just our number of tackles but rather how many of them stuck. It seemed that most of our players just couldn't be shaken off.

And the moments of just speed and skill like Frittas dribbler, Caleb's two steps and he's on you and Kozzies snap at goal were a reminder of the quality of some of our players. And in the final quarter we saw Oliver as who he really is. Simply the best midfielder in the competition for me. See ball get ball then hit a target. 31 disposals despite being hard done by the umpires.

Finally I'd like to give a shout out to two veterans. 

Max who just goes to another level against the Cats and Tom McDonald who has defied all odds and looks like the great defender he was six years ago.

That was probably the best h and a win since the Kardinia park comeback or when we pinched a win against the lions at the MCG.

Okay maybe not a big comeback win but in the context of the  season and past few games and who we played was most thrilling. 

Next week is another big test. But I'm sure we will go in choc full of confidence and deservingly so.

Win that and we may not be top of the ladder but we would certainly be looking like the strongest contender about. 

I'm very surprised any real AFL fan would have found that hard to watch, it was like being treated to a nail biting prelim in May. 

I honestly think the only people who wouldn't have enjoyed it were Chris Scott and Geelong who probably didn't think anyone was a serious threat to them this season and just got a very rude shock. 

Interesting game because they're so different to Geelong yet their weapons are similar, two big powerful forwards who could rip the game away from us in a 5 minute patch if we lapse defensively, strong intercepting defenders down back, so the forwards need to compete hard, and incredibly dangerous off turnover. 

the difference is probably Geelong are a lot more polished and refined where as Carlton are much stronger and more brutal in the contest and more likely to match us in there. 

We will need Gawn to dominate, our mids to play very well and May and McDonald with Lever to limit the damage from Curnow and McKay. 

in terms of changes i really like what Billings is doing so i'd keep him in, probably drop Taj for Bowey and keep Taj as the sub.

With Bowey back in the team it does give us another really sharp ball user from the back half which we've been missing.

I honestly think a lot of posters are misreading Chris Scotts presser, i probably took it as him playing mind games a little bit. I think he saw Melbourne take away and shut down a lot of what they wanted to do and render their star forwards ineffectual, so his response was to play it down as them having a bad day in the hope that teams don't study it too closely and work it out, but also to keep the belief in his playing group that they're the best team, and they weren't outplayed.

What a game of footy! well done lads!

10 hours ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

According to AFL360 these players qualify for the good bloke defence…

 

 

The other side of this is that top tier players very rarely get suspended even if they deserve to because the AFL doesn't like disqualifying brownlow contenders

1 minute ago, Jaded No More said:

Kossie needs to keep his nose clean. He has far too many suspensions to his name already.

I've never seen Gawny go anyone in his entire career. Would pay good money to watch take Maynard down, and then get off at the tribunal for being the best guy ever.

I actually semi like what Kozzie does, not the always missing games because of suspension but not much gets in your head in a sport more than playing against a guy that you know is a real chance to go outside the rules of the game with the intention of hurting you. 

1 minute ago, Jaded No More said:

He's lucky that he plays on the opposite end of the ground to May. Not so lucky that Viney is only a mere 50m away.

I reckon Kozzie is a HUGE chance to line him up if he gets the chance. Max will also be battling his emotions through the game. Gus is a pretty loved guy to the team and i don't think they're pretend nothing happened.

44 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

I think Maynard had every intention of taking Angus out. The Ball had left the area. 
he executed the Move and connected 100% to the head….😡

I am really curious to see how Kings Birthday plays out, i do hope Maynard gets some sort of attention for no other reason than to see the paper tough guy go to water infront of the footy world

I'd genuinely rather them just throw Matt Jefferson into the side before he's ready than see Lobb even drive past the MFC

Just send them down to Tassie, they've already had 500 first round picks so no need to compromise the draft and they've got Clarko in charge. 

27 minutes ago, Redleg said:

You should have seen the abuse and anger I copped from a mature, otherwise very sensible Pies fan, when we were discussing the incident.

I said after Maynard got off, that the AFL will 100% outlaw that the next year and he then continued with the abuse and anger. 

I've had similar debates with people Red, i asked a mate to find me another instance where a guy has sprinted from 50 meters way, left the ground and knocked someone out in an attempt to "spoil" the ball. Naturally he couldn't outside of some very ordinary looking incidents from decades ago. 

I do believe Maynard wasn't intending to knock Gus out, rather to make a physical statement early in a big final, but he made the decision and it's had massive consequences for Gus and he should have been suspended. 

Can't see us getting anywhere near the Cats to be honest. we're making too many mistakes and they're going to absolutely kill us for every single one of them. 

His best is incredibly good, but he's clearly not happy and it's impacting his performance, if he goes to a strong club with a good culture that regularly wins and plays regular finals i reckon he'll find himself a consistent brownlow contender pretty quickly 

I think the Cats are going to be in a really good position to get him if he decides to leave 

4 minutes ago, 12345_54321 said:

Melbourne re-signed him on a 2 year contract extension literally 4 weeks ago. They wouldn’t do that if they wanted to trade him in 4-5 months. 

All that means is that we want to keep him, if BL and his manager think he's an AFL level player at another club, and he has a good suitor we are a chance to lose him. 

That's not to say we should pick him if we don't think he's best 22, that's just the landscape the game exists in now

37 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Wow.. maybe he comes in for Benny Brown??

Don't hate it, he can mark and read it well

14 minutes ago, Demon trucker said:

Yes but where  does Casey play? You're answer is?  split with  Casey, because that's the only way, we abandon Casey, or do you want the VFL sides to play at Caulfield, or start again with only a Melbourne demons AFL and Vfl side, the VFL side plays where? So come on smarty pants, answer theses questions 

If we are building a multi million dollar facility we should either build it at Casey (unsure of feasibility) or we should build a ground to play on at the new home base, i am firmly of the belief that having 2 facilities 45 minutes apart will cause unintended division within the club. 

There are AFL teams that run all of their different teams out of the same facility so that's not only possible, but i know people at those clubs that would strongly preach the benefits of it, and those that have 2 facilities like Collingwood have them situated MUCH closer together and the reasoning relates a lot to history and tradition, Victoria park has a lot of meaning to the Pies. 

I am not intending to upset anyone with this view, i just have a slightly different opinion on this and will try my best to voice that respectfully. 

Just now, Demon trucker said:

Think about his post, sounds like it's coming from a non Melbourne supporter, what does he want us to do leave Casey?

Oh yeah, i'm a non Melbourne supporter that's been posting on Demonland for just shy of 12 years haha. it's a massive conspiracy because Casey is cold and i don't like it. 

1 minute ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

No BBB no Kolt no McAdam

I believe BBB has scheduled training sessions off to manage his ongoing knee issues so potentially there is nothing unusual there. 

I like the idea of Caufield, my major concern is with Perts "2 campus" idea that he's mentioned a few times, i think the best clubs thrive on unity and when you have 2 facilities it's hard to see how that creates anything other than division 

Whatever the forward mix is, we just need to figure it out and back it in, one of my big criticisms of Goody as a coach is i don't think he gives plans and players enough time. Sam Weideman was a good example of a guy who was back in the 2's the second he had a bad game. 

I think the signs are there that the 3 talls, Brown, Roo and Petty can be a dangerous combination, so i'd be giving them the next 6 weeks together guaranteed to build chemistry not just with each other, but with the mids 

Never in doubt! by 2029 he's going to be some player!

Steer well and truely clear of this bloke

I would absolutely make a play for him if he indicates any kind of interest in coming to Victoria. 

5 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Who would you play in defence to replace Salem? Hunter? Or someone else?

The backline in this scenario would be May, Lever, McDonald, Rivers, Howes, and Windsor giving us some run and dash, a role he's very capable of playing.