Jesus, 9 16 to 12 6.  Sydney should have rolled them.  They're a lucky bunch of bastards Collingwood.

You're right, swans dominated the last quarter, had plenty of chances, just couldnt finish it off.  I reckon Robbo, mark McLure etc will have a field day questioning goodes' ability to cope with pressure this week, poor dude looked pretty pissed off after the game.

Thigh tattoo comment was in reference to beames' questionable body art.  Carved it up tonight, as you said still looks like a jerk though.

Skerret wrote:

Jesus, 9 16 to 12 6.  Sydney should have rolled them.  They're a lucky bunch of bastards Collingwood.

That 9.16 is slightly misleading. They could not get to good scoring position in the last. Lots of rushed boundary line bombs/psuedo rushed points in there. it's not like their structure in the last was good enough to have them with set shots from 25 out and they missed.

re Goodes: He's an out and out champ, and they tried to use him in the right way, as he's clearly underdone, but he needs to stop taking responsibility for set shots. He hasn't been a good set shot for at least 3 seasons.

I felt the most sorry for LRT. A for effort. Turning circle of the Queen Mary unfortunately for him and the Swans.

Still, the results over the weekend leave things pretty open. Injuries will play a massive part in things. Is the Hawk off for a week skezzer?

Geelong and Sydney are still legit, IMO, but they both need to be favoured by injury. Sydney'll need bolton and Reid back for the finals. And Geelong just can't afford any injuries to key guys.

Skerret wrote:

Lackluster round of footy really, bar two games.

Really noticing the effect of nagging injury general wear and tear. Aspects of the game at the moment are reminding me of the shortened NBA season. The quality of the regular season games was shonky for the most part as dudes were just riding injuries the whole way and not getting a chance for rest.

This season of AFL seems similar. A little bit of a war of attrition.

I worry in general about an 18 team league too, tbh. There's just no way that the talent isn't going to get spread a little too far. I can't see how you're not going to end up with each season having 2-3 teams that are really really rubbish. And I don't just mean GWS and the Suns. They'll come good, the problem is someone else will drop down instead and it'll get particularly ugly.

missed most of last rounds action. Darksiders 2, innit.

Still, went to see Sydney v Bulldogs on Sunday with Dad. The prodigal son has returned to the fold and I bought a Swans scarf. (great grandparents, Dad and his brother have all been South Melbourne fans forever. I didn't actually like footy that much as a kid, and when I did start following, I followed West Coast for a while, largely because I liked the colours.)

Apparently though, childhood indoctrination works a treat, and my heart never fully left the Swans.

Game itself was pretty meh. Swans started like they were taking a break between playing real football teams (collingwood and hawthorn). They were ordinary in the first. Horse put a rocket up them at quarter time and they then proceeded to rip the dogs apart. Pike is turning into a brilliant experiment, and the forward line looks much better with Reid in it.

I still wish they'd stop with the psuedo pagans paddock attempts though. They tried it with Collingwood, and it didn't work, they tried it with the dogs, and it didn't really work. Reid, Goodes and LRT are not good going back with the flight, apparently, and none of them have the pace to burn their direct opponent.

As soon as they went more traditional and started leading to the ball, things improved.

If Sydney win one of the next two, they're in with a show, if they win both, they're pushing flag favourite. if they lose both, they're in trouble come finals.

Injuries are the worry. Won't take much for them to fall off with a couple of big name injuries.

it's not so much brilliance they lack as a consistent forward/structure.

They sneak a shitload of goals from their midfield, their defense is brilliant as a team, and I reckon they can still rely on Bolton, kennedy and O'keefe with support from the younger guns like Jack and mcglin to not be disgraced.

It does feel a year or so early for them to be ready though, strangely.

jetta needs to work out how to deal with a tag ASAP though. he has some of that brilliance.

But yeah, very very tight comp. Is good.

Bye Ratts.

Roos or malthouse. You'd think either would be a good fit.

Interesting the stuff being said about the recruiting. it's true that a couple of them seem a little workmanlike for high picks, but I don't think I'd write off Kruser, Gibbs or yarran as bad picks. And Murphy is clearly a great midfielder.

They could do with more depth, but - and we won't know this until after the fact - I suspect a lot of the issues with carlton are above the soulders, and may be fixed by being told to pull the finger out by either of the aforementioned great coaches.

I'd still give 'em both a shot over Ratten. They do have the runs on the board.

True enough with their kicking. It's feast or famine. Yarran, Gibbs, Murphy are great. judd and Scotland are reliable, and then there's a shit load of mixed bags.

I still want to see Rocket Eade get another shot. I think he rung a lot of good seasons out of not much at both Sydney and bulldogs, and did it in different ways that suited the lists.

(Unlike a Pagan, who pretty much did fuck all, as soon as he didn't have North's 90s list.)

Chrome on iPad can get stuffed, don't click on a different tab halfway though writing a post or you'll lose everything!  Devastated.  Ah well it was probably for the best, id only written a bunch of baseless speculative rubbish based on nothing.

So.  Hawthorn minor premiers, impressive again last night, and will either play collingwood or wce again in the finals, depending on whether the bombers pull something out of the hat?  Either way it looks like they'll be going straight through to the prelims based on how they've accounted for both opponents this season.  Good god I hope they run into Geelong, personally I can't stand hawthorn.

that means we've got swans v crows first week of finals, with today's match at kardinia deciding where it will be played.  Go cats!  Should be a cracking game.

Feeling pretty seedy this morning so looking forward to a big day on the couch, couple of interesting games coming up.

Don't get me started on Campbell Brown, if I had any respect for him it was all gone after The r22 hawthorn/essendon game 2009?), with his carrying on over Lloyd's hit on Sewell, and threats over what he'd do to Lloyd if he played on the next season.  Not to mention last year elbowing callam ward in the face just because.  

Yes, 80s hawks were incredible, and in fact I used to support them, insofar as a 5 year old can support a footy club.  I felt guilty about going for them just because they were so awesome though, which is why I jumped on Adelaide in 91.

Franklin and rioli are two blokes I simultaneously love watching play but hate, if that makes sense.

I agree it's hard not to like hodge and Sewell, as hard nose no bullshit footballers. I like both of them when they appear in the media actually, especially Sewell on 360.  Which makes it all the more idiotic that I want to see them fail!

haha.  im definitely usinh arseholishness in real life at the first opportunity.

well thats the finals sorted out then:

haw v coll friday night
adl v syd saturday arvo
geel v fre saturday night
wce v nth sunday arvo

expecting all the hope teams to win, maybe being a little optimistic/biased with the cros though.

wasnt the best day of footy objectively - bear in mind i missed the geelong sydney match for gc adelaide.  our mate campbell brown likely will miss a couple of matches for a high bump - looked pretty bad in realtime but the replay showed it landed more on the shoulder than the head.  still, he can get stuffed.

ps:









phwoar

Just watched the Port/Tigers game.  First draw of the season in the second last game, amazing.  Rubbish game though, two inept teams.  "I hope the finals are as good as this!"  Shut the fuck up Bruce you senile, blithering, rambling, flatulent, unctuous old cunt.  Jack won the Coleman though, what a non-event.

Skerret wrote:

Just watched the Port/Tigers game.  First draw of the season in the second last game, amazing.  Rubbish game though, two inept teams.  "I hope the finals are as good as this!"  Shut the fuck up Bruce you senile, blithering, rambling, flatulent, unctuous old cunt.  Jack won the Coleman though, what a non-event.

Bruce is just getting warmed up for Cyril on Friday night.

(on that subject, watched an old hawks replay a couple of weeks ago, he gushed over Darren jarman who was apparently "heavenly".  I thought his homoerotic outbursts were fairly new; guess I just never picked up on it as a kid)

Yeah Coleman medal was a war of attrition this year hey.  2 time coleman medalist Jack Riewoldt.  Disgusting.

Skerret wrote:

Skerret wrote:

Just watched the Port/Tigers game

Minutes later...

Wariospeedwagon wrote:

Wow anyone just watch tigers v power?

I lol'd, in a nice way. The obsession with what happens outside the playing field is surely reaching a tipping point.  Waiting for the day when a braindead Brian Taylor's overly personal yet banal question is greeted with a "Get fucked Brian" from a weary Trent Cotchin or similar. Friday will be a wankfest the likes of which God has never seen (if he existed) but hoping they beat each other senseless.

Lol yeah, I messed up my post and started again (using a touchscreen); by the time I finally fixed it you'd already posted, some minutes previous.  Embarrassing stuff.
WOWEE get the camera back on The Weapon, look at him Darce!

-BT every Saturday night over the last 6 months