I trust we will get competent umpires this week instead of the third stringers we had against the tigers.
Third stringers Prof? That’s remarkably generous of you!
One of the lowlights of that game was a boundary throw in that barely made it into the field of play and resulted in a free against Pitto for a “block”. Nankervis wouldn’t have got to the pill if Pitto had stepped aside and waved him through 🙄
I’m disappointed that Acres wasn’t selected. Hawthorn will try to bully us and, apart from Acres’ ability to have an impact at both ends of the ground, he doesn’t take any sh1t and has the size and attitude to back it up.
I think that Vossy himself identified a critical factor; he felt the players needed a circuit breaker and his resignation provided it.
Of course there are positional changes, selection changes, more input from the coach during warm up drills at training, etc, but don't downplay what's going on between the ears.
Hawthorn have been top 4, top 6 most of the season, after making a prelim in 2025. I think we would be losing to them no matter who was coach.
If there’s one thing that I’ve learned about modern footy, it’s that any team can be beaten if they’re not switched on and their opponents are.
Hawthorn has to be the favourite but, if our MC gets it right, our preparation is spot on, and our second tier players make things a little easier for Cripps and Walsh, we could cause an upset 🤞
So do I, but only if we play our best footy for four quarters.
Hawthorn has been inconsistent this season. They will be looking to bounce back after their woeful performance against Melbourne but a loss like that can sew seeds of doubt.
I’m still trying to make sense of the Hollands for Acres change 🤔
The best I can come up with is that we knew that Richmond would try to exploit their advantage in foot speed and Ollie was meant to help counter that.
Acres is a plodder but he makes up for that with his endurance and anticipation. That enables him to get to contests and, unlike Ollie, he usually has an impact when he gets there.
Ollie wasn’t our worst player by a long shot, but we wouldn’t have missed him if he wasn’t in the team. Hopefully, he’ll be better for the run but I suspect that the Hawks will be happier to match up against Ollie than the Sheriff.
Not playing at the weekend most likely means that Acres will be in the Magoos.
A win is a win and seven on the trot is some achievement!
Richmond had the yips in front of goal but some of our set shots were atrocious. We had 17 marks inside 50 but could only manage ten goals! Misses from 30 metres and virtually straight in front are inexcusable.
Haynes definitely took the ball over the behind line before he was pinged and that is exactly the kind of howler that the ARC should be used to eliminate.
Then there's the AFL's announcement that umpires will reverse free kicks against players who deliberately ruffle or pat an opponent's head. Rather than Alger having a shot on the siren at the end of the first quarter, Walsh should have been roosting the ball down the line. Still, it was a brainfade on Walsh's part to give away that free.
Probably being held over as the new Emergency, now that Young is in the team.
Considering that Zac had about a dozen possessions in the first half, he might also be on Emergency duty.
Zac spent a lot of time on the bench and the commentators and boundary rider said that he was carrying an injury. If so, it didn't seem to worry him when he was in the play.
A good win in the end but we certainly made hard work of the first three quarters.
I thought that all of our AFL listed players did OK and particularly Fogarty, Lord, the Camporeales, Charleson, Chesser and Riley.
Moir certainly had a crack today and I liked Skull's physicality, although it didn't seem to earn him any favours from the umpires.
It was good to see Chesser getting a bit of the pill and using it well.
Boyd and Saad had solid games but I suspect that they'll both play out the season in the Magoos. Williams seems to be not quite 100% but he did some nice work and his on field leadership was important.
