Lots of post match experts ranting on here but there’s not many of them who wouldn’t have selected the same team. We weren’t beating the Lions with the team that beat eagles or almost beat the saints. So we rolled the dice and lost. They were runners up last year playing on their home ground with few injury worries. The first quarter and a half can sometimes happen in footy lots of teams have periods where they can’t get near it and it’s not for lack of effort. The players who came back were always going to struggle with the pace of a final but so were the kids with only two or three games in them. Give em 20 and they’ll be right. This was not our year that the gods smiled on us too many injuries at the wrong time. AGAIN. Glad we are getting a fresh approach in our fitness department, what worked 10 years ago for Russell might not be what’s required now. Hindsight is always 20/20
I understand some of the Young criticisms but at least he’s fit to play week in week out . McGovern a better player but if I read about hamstring awareness after every game then missing a week or two I’ll go nuts! Or Marchbank being a week or two away 🙄 Young and kemp are who we have not perfect but out there
The worst team we have put on the park for a couple of years and we lost with nearly last the last kick of the day. Pretty fine effort of spirit from us I thought. Wouldn't be too proud if I was saints after finals last year Ross has them in a death spiral. We have rolled the dice for the last 5 years by continually keeping players on our list who are constantly injured and not available. Everyone tells me how great Russell was with Curnow’s knees. Great job there but an absolute bloodbath everybody else. List selection needs a ruthless shake up I mean adding another injury prone muppet in Fantasia was just the last straw Marchbank Cunningham Martin Williams sick of cameo games that makes us think wow but then out for slightest ailments that warriors like Cripps rise above. Clean out the cupboard even Docherty should be borderline but he and Silvagni have some credits in the bank. This is what has possibly cost us the finals this year we ran out of fit good players 6 weeks ago
I enjoyed being at the game as you see who is running at half pace who is not making position etc things the TV doesn’t show. Was impressed by the over all effort put in today every player kept running chasing and competing for every contest. Thought that Binns was very good in that he did not stop running to help spoil or fill a hole or make a position to kick to. Carroll was the same also thought Lord showed something. I was impressed by Moir when he came on he lead at the right time dropped back at the right time and had nice hands to mark under pressure on the lead. Caught the train back from the game with Eagle supporters they didn’t seemed surprised by the result just resigned to where their team is at. It’s a feeling I remember well for a lot of the last 20 years. Having Flagmantle as the paper over here was calling them at one stage miss out was a bit of a laugh for them.
I also can see us winning. Currently living in Perth looking after grandkids Eagles are as cocky as they come when they are favourites it’s dominating over here about winning 3 in a row helping “ Flagmantle “ blah blah blah I see the big boys up front being out as a chance to freshen us up to playing a different style going into the forward 50 because lately bombing it long hasn’t been working. We have become predictable and lazy. Yeah I’d like them there but they are not. We still have a solid backline in. Our on ballers are still top 8 quality. We just have to rejig our forward entries. I can see why there not ready for Lemmey to be given a chance too much likely hood of bombing to a big kid expecting Harry or Charlie and this is rolling the dice for finals not being in the bottom 4 and playing the kids to see where there at. Any team in the 8 can go all the way this year. Injuries are messing with us but with two rounds to go if we can make it and a weeks rest before the finals, get a few soldiers back and you never know.
If Weitering cops another corkie Larkey could kick a match winning bag we have no one up our sleeve who could contain him. But then again don’t think they have much to stop McKay or Curnow
Funny how life changes We have lost two games by 12 and 14 points against teams in finals contention in past few years I would have been rapped to have lost by that much to mid table plodders. We are having a flat spot that most teams have leading to the end of a gruelling season I think it won’t take much for us to be rolling again. We will still make the finals yes second would be better than eighth but I think this year more than any other teams outside the top 4 can go all the way. The premiers will need luck with injuries,suspensions and crucially umpiring this year! Put the midfield mix back with fit TDK and Hewitt freshen the small forwards to keep ball deep in forward half will ease panic pressure on backline and we will be fine. I think!🙃
Started to play like millionaires with impossible kicks not coming off. Geelong have a sniff and we have stopped. Will someone tell kemp when he flies for a spoil the golden rule is not to let it out the back of the pack grrrr
Our depth isn’t enough to win big games. It’s close but without Saad and McGovern out our backline isn’t sharp enough in its delivery forward. Our small forwards need to nail each opportunity they have but the ones who are there at the moment don’t Fantasia missing on three quarter time prime example also no pressure tackles to keep ball in We will need a lot of luck with injuries to go deep
I miss PaulP and I hope he's OK, and then there's a swag of posters like Mav, Raydan, LanceRomance, Tommy'sBarber, bmaurizio, Amers, capcom, c4e, chalkybill, flyboy, Jack Burton, and many others who no longer post or only occasionally post.
I suspect that social media is attracting more people away from discussion groups across the board, and footy groups in general and this place in particular are feeling the squeeze.
Social media is faster with latest news, be it fair dinkum or fake, bit there's really not much scope for the discussions that make this place interesting, informative and, at times, infuriating.
The bright side is that we seem to hardly attract any bots now
It’s nice to be missed but nothing nefarious about lack of posts from me, can’t speak for the others but haven’t moved on to other sites or different media (too old to understand how to do that). I still read the posts from the older guys as they have the wisdom and have been through the same eras as me from 1958 to now. I now spend about two thirds of my time in WA helping out with grandkids and over here if you don’t follow the locals you are in a vacuum for other footy news. I’m sure WA surfer would agree that you guys are our lifeline to what’s happening and I thankyou for that. I just haven’t posted much as we are going alright which is fantastic but grumpy old buggers like me need to whinge sometimes! 😀☹️
Better team won but they had to work at it. We ran out of steam mentally after they started coming close but happy with the year. We are two years behind Brisbane in development but we know what it takes now. Still don’t know why we constantly bomb the ball up forward instead of having another string to our bow by running it closer looking for leads. A few got found out thought Cincotta was poor but been a good find and needed a bit more class than Fogarty maybe Owies but never know. Our tactic of Doc being an extra mid from the forward line failed as we kept kicking it to his man Coleman who used it well. 16 points flattered our last three quarters of play but a year of improvement and we are earning respect not ridicule anymore
I watched a replay and noticed Marchbank always seems to push up to a good position when we are going forward where he can be used by us or cover a turnover. Be happier if he could stick his marks more though!
