Ted Lasso

I don't really agree on our form line, we smacked the Saints and Tigers around, both are looking like top 8 sides. we smashed the dogs and likely caused the confidence issues. and there are reasons for our flat performance against the Lions that won't be made public i'd suspect. In terms of the Swans i'd say their grand final performance was a bit of a reflection of how close they were to winning it and i reckon even with all the issues we had, we would have given the Cats more of a shake on Grand final day

It's going to be an absolute arm wrestle. both teams missing their big contested marking force around the ground in Reid and Gawn makes for an interesting Dynamic on the flip side BBB seems to have found some very solid form he hasn't really had as a Dee, Fritsch will be better after the run last week and Trac and Oliver are building nicely. I think if we manage to win this game it'll really help set our season up and give the lads some believe we can do some damage regardless of which players are in or out.

Very confident for a team that only made a grand final because we had injuries and niggles coming our our ears and the umpires let Papley do what he likes in a Prelim. I reckon we've got their measure even without Gawn

I think one thing Mark Neeld got wrong as coach was he thought that by virtue of playing x amount of games history tells you that's when you become good. i think the reality is you need a core of the right young players, surrounded by the right development coaches and program to play a significant number of games together with a similar game plan to build cohesion. Fremantle i'd say haven't identified and adapted to the new trends in footy and have gone back to an outdated game plan with slow movement, they don't have the players to kick a winning score consistently and by clearing out the players to fit in Luke Jackson, they've destroyed that cohesion, and upset the player group by paying him so much money. they're a live possibility to have a similar year to what we did in 2019 when we finished second last following a prelim.

900k a year and i bet he made his mum shout the snags

Thank goodness! the flags back on!

ACL is definitely a live possibility :(

I hope they don't panic too much, but i'm a bit concerned by McDonalds output, he'd want to find some significant form very soon I'd guess May will come back in, and potentially someone like Josh Schache. depending on Maxy's situation i reckon we might grab a ruck in the mid season draft

Brisbane were red hot and we were a little bit off from the first bounce, dissapointing but not the end of the world, aside from the injuries, my biggest worry was how disorganised we looked post the Gawn injury, we have enough high quality leaders that they should be getting back on track faster than that. I'm absolutely certain we will see a response against the Swans

Looked like a medial but you never know with these things! hopefully get some confirmation of what they suspect soon!

Bringing in Fort really highlights the great challenge other teams are going to have with "Gawndy" you think you need another actual ruckman to compete with these blokes so you bring in a tall lumbering guy who's almost certainly going to lose anyway because that feels like a better option that using someone like Hipwood who would definitely be exposed both in the ruck and around the ground. I reckon Grundy will spend more time in the ruck this week and Gawn more time forward. i think Brisbanes backline will struggle to contain Gawn, and Grundys mobility will really challenge Oscar and Fort. i suspect we will tag Neale and Berry will Tag oliver and Petracca will take home the 3 votes Brisbane have been and seemingly always will be a team that can't beat good teams on system, and instead relies on acts of brilliance from their big name players.

I hope it puts 2022 into perspective for us. winning back to back flags is soo hard, the cats from a conditioning stand point look miles away from the teams they've played. i suspect a lot of them are carrying niggles and just don't have the run in their legs yet, they'll get there, but it's really challenging to build the fitness base when the season has started, it's a bit like starting a road trip with 3/4 of a tank. I suspect they'll rotate and manage their players a lot to try to catch up with the pack, which is probably a mistake we made in hindsight, not managing the challenges of that well enough.

Even when fully fit, it's not clear to me that he's an obvious best 22 player. i suspect the club likes his potential upside and ability to play multiple positions, but i'm with you, not sure i'd have given him 2 more.

Sad reality is Brisbane are mentally soft, they can't handle a hungry team coming at them, and they're just not that well coached. they're going to be 0-2 after this weekend, they'll beat up on enough lesser teams to play finals but they won't fire a shot again this off season

Brisbane are going to come out absolutely breathing fire, this is going to be a much tighter game. I still think we get the job done, our backs will make it very tough for their forwards to take enough marks to kick a winning score, and all 3 have very litttle impact once the ball hits the ground. so they'll rely on the smalls getting at least half of their score. on the other side i don't think their defense will be able to match up on us well enough and guys will continuously bob up and kick goals. Dees by 21

I don't think we need to death ride Fremantle. they've just let too many players walk out the door, upset their chemistry and i've heard a lot of people over there aren't stoked that LJ is one of their highest paid players given how inconsistent he will be for the next 2-3 years at least. This is Peter Bell trying to stroke his Ego but it's IMO upset a club that was otherwise building nicely

Oliver, Petracca and Kozzie will be our starting and best combination by years end. Mr Pickett is ready to absolutely explode as a player

Wait til he sees what that bloke in the number 5 is going to do to them Saturday night.

we're going to belt them... Dees by 59

I hope the club is having a serious look/think about Ben McKay as a long term Steven May replacement, not that it has anything to do with the Doggies game

The Dogs should be far more worried about how they match up against our inside mids than we should be about their tall forwards. No Dunkley leaves a heavy load on Libba and i think we'll see a similar situation to previous carlton sides where the obvious pressure on one bloke hurts the team massively.

@Roost it far can you please keep repeating that we're going to win the next 5 flags and kozzie will sign on for 6 years?

I actually rate Norths backline. i know they're going off stats but i think it's the one area they're not so bad

Big fan of some new blood within the team, both lads provide some zip, Lauries skills and decision making are spargo esc, it's definitely clear the club are really keen to make sure the kicking inside 50 isn't an issue this season.

Haha i've got no actual information on this one beyond clubs and particularly Melbourne are really excited about Kozzies improvement and how much damage he can do spending more time in the middle. he's genuinely challenging the front liners for time in there already.