Bombay Airconditioning

I’m heartbroken, 17 year consecutive Redleg member and I’m stuck in bloody Sydney. A good Irish mate of mine just logged in to secure himself a ticket, he’ll be wearing Red & Blue and cheering us on, he also went to the prelim.

In NSW you can get between $300 - $800 for lagging on someone.

For me it’s as simple as both teams have great system driven game plans, Dogs have some genuine gun players, we have genuine guns on every line. If we come to play we should get the win.

Some of these comments….Suddenly people are jumping of Melbourne. The Dogs beat the Bombers who haven’t won a final in however many day, the Lions with an intentional rushed behind, and they flogged Port, a team which struggled in big games for most of the year and choked in a home prelim last year. Our team has made changes with our fwd line through out the season but now we are now playing with a synergy that will deliver us the premiership. Our defence is the best in the league, all of our fwds are genuine weapons and have all had games where they have kicked multiple goals. We have the no.1 ruckman in the comp, Gawn had a career best game against Geelong, Jackson is a freak, I’ll back Oliver, Trac and Viney against Macrae, Bont and Libba any day. I’m sick of hearing about Caleb Daniel, yes he has good vision and uses the ball well but the majority of his kicks to me seem to be barely 15 metres. I was nervous last week but I was adamant if we win the prelim we’ll win the flag and that hasn’t changed for me. We need to tighten right up defensively and not be caught just guarding space allowing the Dogs to pick their way through. This is our year, the Mighty Demons will be bringing the Premiership home.

I think a lot of people will still have us as favourites regardless of tonight’s result, Port’s body of work against top 4 sides is still a work in progress. Our premiership drought brings enough of its own pressure.

Again just highlights how important mindset is.

Port’s losses this season. Rd 3 Eagles by 37 WA Rd 7 Lions by 49 QLD Rd 9 Dogs by 19 AO Rd 13 Cats by 21 AO Rd 17 Dees by 31 AO

Hinkley can join Scott. Potential back to back home prelim losses.

I’ll be watching from those 4 squares tonight, I have trouble sitting down during games like this.

Nerves are gone, we’ve got this. We have the best defence, the no.1 ruck, 2 of the best 5-6 mids in the game, the best medium size fwd. we have guns on every line. The changing of the guard is almost complete, Eagles and Tigers who are normally finals mainstays missed the cut, it’s time to send the Cats into obscurity. Our time is now, we take them tonight. We are Melbourne, we are the Dee’s, after tonight the Mighty Demons will be feared again.

No mate it’s not, it was my attempt at humour. I was inferring we win the next couple of flags which would mean we only have pick 18 in the next couple of drafts.

I can confirm that a club official unofficially met with the Fremantle Dockers and unofficially offered 2 future 1st round picks. Freo simply replied what use is 2 future pick 18’s to them, we would need to come back with a better offer.

Disappointing thing is come finals we’re meant to have the best umpires umpiring and the softer / weaker frees are normally let go.

I’m surprised at those odds, especially being in a final. I’m nervous but confident we can beat Geelong.

Zorko had a chance late with a shot and kicked it out on the full. Regardless last nights result doesn’t bother me. I honestly believe if we beat the cats the flag is ours.

Normally I don’t look at the total count too much as long as the umpires pay what’s there and are consistent, but last night there were some dubious decisions. I thought the Dogs got the better end of it, one that went the Lions way was the Caleb Daniel intentional out of bounds when he kicked it mid air in traffic and it came off the side of his boot. My concern is decisions like that over the next two weeks.

Context please : They beat the dogs without Bruce and at the time the Bulldogs were having their slump having lost their last two and working out their new forward structure. And again, had we not beaten Geelong in Rd 23 Port would of finished on top having not beaten 2nd, 3rd or 4th. But credit where credit is due, for mine Port hasn’t had a slump this year, they’ve come to play every week but have struggled against the better sides. Their win against Geelong last week was solid but rd 23 against the Dogs was hardly convincing.

I’ve posted this previously on a different thread. Ports losses in 2021 Rd 3 Eagles by 37 WA Rd 7 Lions by 49 QLD Rd 9 Dogs by 19 AO Rd 13 Cats by 21 AO Rd 17 Dees by 31 AO Ports last 4weeks : Beat crows by 4 points Beat Carlton by 95, Carlton had no Cripps, Williams, McKay Curnow 2nd game back after a year. Murphy farewell game after playing reserve’s most of season. Beat Dogs by 2 after trailing all game. Dogs without Bruce. Had we lost to Geelong in rd 23 Port would of finished on top having not beaten 2nd, 3rd or 4th. Yes they comfortably beat Geelong last week but I wouldn’t personally describe their form as good as ours. This year has shown they have struggled against the top teams. I actually think if Lions will beat the Dogs and give Port a decent run. As for the flag this year, we’ve been the best side all year, we’ve beaten every other team in the top 8, some of them twice. Think we’re the only team to do that. We have an injury free list, Petty has been settled in the side for the best part of 15-16 weeks. We have season regulars like Hibberd, Jordan and Hunt currently not playing. We have the best defence, we kept the highest scoring side (a team that beats up on weaker opponents) to a score of 60. We are settled in Perth, if we’re lucky enough to win next week our GF opponent will have to travel as well. We will have played back to back at Optus. Barring major injury or total mental breakdown this is our year, along with the next 4-5.

Whilst I was excited after beating Geelong and we finished on top, for me as a supporter it’s a flag or bust. I’m sure the players would give up any individual awards if it guaranteed us a flag. Having said I truly believe this is our year and we can have it all.

For some reason I’m more nervous about the prelim, I think if we can win then we will steam roll who ever we play in the GF. I also think the Giants can beat the Cats this weekend, I think they’ll be steeling themselves for this game and make it a tough contested match. In the other game I think the Lions will easily account for the Dogs and I wouldn’t put it past them to beat Port either. This is unfamiliar territory for a Dees supporter to be sitting back in semi’s week watching our likely opponents battle it out, something I could quite easily become used to.

Although Hunts kicking can be wayward at times it’s better than it used to be, he breaks lines and was playing well enough before injuring his ankle. Bowey will be better for the experience and his disposal puts him ahead of others. Hunt for Smith.

Should be suspended for that, regardless of who plays them next week. Intentional and intimidatory.

I’d take Sam Walsh.

Didn’t see Geelong capitulating again like that. This might sound arrogant but we’re Port that good? Cats never really got going and I know that’s in part to Port and their pressure but for me it wasn’t a game of anything exceptional from either side. Allir had a cracking first qtr than Port just ran away with it. Looks as though the changing of the guard is complete with Richmond and West Coast already failing to make the 8. If we can beat Brisbane tonight I will be ecstatic, barring serious injury we should be GF bound.

Honestly didn’t see this happening but definitely not complaining.