Ted Lasso

Winning would be absolutely incredible! years of being embarrassed to wear the red and blue vindicated!

and got a huge amount of assistance from the umpires, otherwise they wouldn't have even got past Brisbane, Umpires even swung the momentum in the elimination final

There is a massive difference between finals footy and home and away footy and this is the first time they'll play a top 4 standard team who plays a finals brand of footy, in a big final. it'll be interesting how they stack up. in the last 3 games we've played we've beaten Geelong twice (they couldn't beat them at full strength) and Brisbane who were in form, confident and on a streak. they beat Essendon, got helped by umpires over Brisbane, Brisbane deserved to win, and Port who didn't show up and have struggled against good teams all year. their form coming in isn't anything like what ours is, and i suspect they'll realise the contest they're in very early in the game.

Not too sure Dazzle, i reckon someone like Tohey or Duncan for their foot skills but not much else.

Not really relevant to MFC trades, but i have heard from someone i trust that Chris Scott is strongly considering walking away from coaching at the end of his current contract, I think now is a good time for the MFC to go hard at a couple of Cats vets with the lure of a flag

an equally ridiculous suggestion on their part, especially considering they aren't playing a scratch match this weekend.

I have never seen the footy media so determined to come up with some reason why Melbourne won't win, it's incredible. suggesting the Bulldogs might be more fresh than us, given we've had 1 game in 28 days and they've been to just about every state in that time.

Gawn will no doubt get back and guard the danagerous space as well, if Naughton takes a crazy pack mark you just have to cop it but we have to make that the only way he's getting a set shot on goal. English will plonk himself at the top of the goalsquare and that's easy enough to defend if we keep the pressure on and force high kicks in. Weightman is a worry but with any luck our team defense can keep him under control.

The issue with the Cat and Mouse plan is that last time Josh Bruce was playing, and kept Petty occupied, i think we'd be okay with the match up of Petty on Naughton, and keeping Lever out of it, so it may not work as effectively, we did a lot in round 19 that we simply won't allow to happen in the GF, and that should worry the dogs because it was a draw based on predicted scores.

Jesus, they're fine, they woke up a bit crook, they're not taking an chances. Chaplin said they're expected back on deck tomorrow!

Kozzie Pickett could absolutely light up the big stage as well. It's hard to imagine a way Petracca doesn't lift in a grand final. he could win the Norm Smith by a mile

Tom McDonald. all the focus will be on Brown, Fritsch, Kozzie and Gawn/Jackson. Tmac is going to get a lesser opponent, and i see him having 25 and kicking 2-3 goals

Reckon he's re-negotiated his wage, and it's all to help us bring in Cerra and maybe others

I remember there being a few years where the brownlow winner was on the losing team, i think in 05,06 Cousins and Goodes won and played in losing teams, i might be wrong but i remember reading it was a bit of an omen

Yeah the thing is though, we have played 1 match is 28 days, where as the dogs have travelled to Tasmania, brisbane, adelaide, perth and played several games in the last 5 weeks, so we are undoubtedly going to have much more run in our legs. it's just going to be a question of reflexes and being "match fit" and after belting the cats by 83 points, i'd say we are fine. if dogs are skipping a practice match, to me the only conclusion is they know they're banged up and unless they can get some rest in they'd know we're going to be running a lot better than they are.

Dogs not playing a practice game is a huge mistake in my opinion. i think that's pretty common place in finals byes to have a pretty intense match sim in between, Hawthorn, Richmond and co have all done it, bit of a risk by the dogs to help a few sore/underdone players i'd say.

I reckon Bontempelli wins it, which might be a good omen because from memory when the Brownlow winner has come from a GF team, that team hasn't general won the game

This has got to be the biggest beat up ever. the facility is 30 minutes from the CBD, meaning they've got plenty of time to go out and grab dinner or whatever they want to do, no doubt the club isn't going to lash them if they're 10 minutes late. but i think it's a good rule in general, prevent the young guys from having a sesh or anything stupid.

Fair enough, could have another 2-3 good years in him at another club. sounds like a win-win. might be the experience the Suns are looking for

I think this is the play, Gold Coast Currently have pick 19, If it were me i'd be attempting to Bundle up Sam and Pick 34 for that pick, and then attempting to engage Richmond on a swap of our 2022 first round pick, and a pick upgrade for them, for their second first rounder pick 16. The temptation for the Tigers would be if we have a premiership hangover they could get a much better pick next year, but worst case they should get an equal return on investment for that pick, plus an upgrade. Pick 16 and 19 in my opinion is a good starting point for a deal to bring in Cerra. so effectively 2022 first rounder, 34 and Weideman for Cerra

for us to get the deal done i'd be looking at the Gold Coast, they've stated they're open to trading good picks for established AFL players, if we had a couple looking for opportunity there may be a chance there, but that's how i'd see that deal getting done, unless someone else left and we bundled picks into a first rounder for Freo

Geez i bet Bailey Fritsch is being nice to Goody after 2018 haha

Round 19 was a really interesting game for us imo, i think we did a few things that would probably qualify as experimental, i guess you can be a bit like that in the position we were in. I am really torn on Libba because while i think all their centre work starts with him, Viney, Oliver and Petracca are in such good form i'd be really tempted to back them in. I suspect you're right and we will attempt to put on extreme pressure to blunt the effectiveness of Dale/Daniel, but i also think a key is going to be Spargo/Neal-Bullen being offensively potent and making them defend.

My Norm smith tip is Tom McDonald, i think all the defensive focus will be on Brown, Fritsch and Kozzie, Tmac will get a lesser match up and i see him kicking 2-3 and having 20 odd touches and a bunch of marks and providing a great link for us.

To add to this, i don't think we can underestimate the role Angus Brayshaw has played on the wing as a result, i'd suggest he will feature quite highly in the Bluey for his team first defensive wing role, he works his backside off helping offensive transition, but is always back helping out the defenders as well, rarely lets his opponent influence the game. Issac has had a great year for the cats, and i doubt even Simon Goodwin thought we'd have been beating the cats in a prelim at the start of the year