We will win this one.

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I am as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more!!!

no worry room this year Big Blue?

Ask me after round 5

I truly believe we will have a good start to to 2018.

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I am as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more!!!

Trublu said we will get smashed. So I’m going to get smashed to forget the game.

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dane's trolling again

Tickets go on sale on Monday 5th March for members and Wednesday 7th for general public for those brave enough to go.
I will be there.

I'm going
Get tickets early expecting crowd of 90 K plus

I have high hopes and only JLT but they are looking pretty good this afternoon but I suppose only playing Bummers

Watched part of the 2nd quarter and they were very clean. Success brings belief.

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"our electorate seeks less to be informed and more to be validated." Sad times.

Tigers are playing very intense footy. Quick knock ons, slick kicking, running to support. Going to be very hard to beat for any side.

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Go BLues

Skill level pretty high too precision passes as well as you correctly say doing the tough and little things that make a complete side

BTW hate having to say that about Tigers

Hate saying it too but they do look good.

Exposed the Essendon* hype as just that.

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Go BLues

Only deficiency today seems to be defence against tall marking forward Mckernan has taken a few marks although Astbury is off
Who I think is really important because he releases Rance to be more attacking

Hopefully Charlie and Boult can have good games

They force turnovers in the midfield and score from stoppages better than anyone. I'd love to see a heat map for their whole squad for that Ess game, seems to me that their plan isn't so much about those smalls applying pressure/ forcing turnovers in the forward line but doing it in the center of the ground, they achieve this by outnumbering and outmaneuvering opposition through the middle. Overwhelming opposition mids by playing less talls. They decided to experiment a logical new structure with less talls (mostly by accident through injury), talls especially tall fwds and rucks to a lesser extent are almost redundant atm, the complete opposite plan of the way our list has gone, we need to find a way to utilize our talls; that is our advantage over them... maybe our only one.

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"Then joked and said he (Jack himself) probably wouldn't even need to play until round 2 against Collingwood."

Marking talls will never be outdated. Richmond have a good intercepting backman in Rance. If someone like Franklin is on song, they will leak more goals.
If you can win clearances and have clean inside fifty entries, a reasonable goal to behind ratio from your marking forwards, you will win games. We haven't had that for a long time (probaby since Fev).
You can have all the mids in the world swarming forward but if the ball goes the other way and the tall forwards can mark it, you're cooked.
The ball traveling through the air will always win out over a runner. The secret as you pointed out is not to turn it over in the midfield (especially when your mob is running towards your own goal).

We still have an inexperienced midfield group and they may get flogged at the clearances early in the season. Our backline is pretty quick and not over tall so we may hold up OK.
Raw emotion and the home crowd may prove the difference. One thing is for sure, the joint will be jumping, especially if we can stay with them. I think the AFL will be pretty chuffed that these two sides are going to clash in the finals in the next few years.

Can't wait for round one. It seems like such a long time since they played.

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Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

We're going to get flogged.

The Tigers will do what they do. They will hunt us as they do whoever they play and smash any idea we have of playing a certain way by midway through the second term and from there all one way traffic.

It is not going to be fun but it will be a learning experience. Mostly for Bolton .

I reckon we will be be a a lot better in 2018 than what we show against the Tigers.

Glad your not playing 29. Such optimism.

I think we may not get the points but we'll be giving a very good account of ourselves in this one.

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I support the Navy Blues whatever happens!

I reckon it'll be a close one



Carlton by 85 points

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#DonTheStash

They have jumped us early in the past and we haven't been able to run them down.
it's important for both teams to get off to a decent start.

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Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

I think we will have a good year but this particular game is set up as the perfect storm. I hope Bolton leaves a few talls out of the 22 in a bit to match them for nimbleness.