Bit confused.

So often, the team looks undersized, physically inferior, and unable to stick tackles.

Tonight - rarely had to worry about those things.

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THEY LIKE TO SEND UP!!!!!!!!

Until each team plays each other the same number of times, the AFL, as a fair dinkum competition, cannot be taken seriously.

He (Mr Swann) said the honour and pride associated with the club's traditional navy blue jumper was priceless.

True, but pressure can still happen....

Ablett miss was amazing, but throughout the game, errors /luck/crap... All happen

Martin could have iced the game...
Agree, we have to learn to control the game when we are being pushed hard and we are tired... But hey, that's better than trying to get back into a game...



Go Blues

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“Every single element of the Club has to be the best in the league, meticulously and methodically, and only by doing this will we be elite and challenge for number 17.”
Greg Lee

This is probably the sexiest post I've ever read on TC. And I come here for all my news.

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!@#$ off Essendon**** Just !@#$ right off. SCUM.

For a supposed tough player Selwood sure flops like a landed fish.

EAD Scott.

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"One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." - Frank Zappa

Pros:

Not only a very good win against quality opposition. But very good team performance.
Tackling and defensive pressure was much better.
Some of the best ball use I've seen for years. The forward entries were fantastic.
Nice to finish off better than the opposition.
Eddie, Jones, Docherty and Cripps were outstanding. Cripps really got the midfield off to the start we needed.
Tall forwards. Casboult especially.
Another terrific midfield game from Gibbons.
Surprise move to give Martin so much midfield time, but he was terrific.
Another good game from Weiters, even if Hawkins finished strongly.
I think we've found one in Pittonet. Reminds me of Mark Porter.
Nice to see SPS rebound after a poor effort last week.
Good to see Setterfield playing a little more inside.
Newnes was handy.
Williamson showed some signs. Love him in the team.
Exciting flashes again from Cuningham.
Walsh was a little better than the last 2 weeks. Kind of like that we've been playing pretty well, even if he's been off the boil.
Finally on the right side of a 'goal review'.
Nice to finally we got some respect from that opposition coach.

Cons:

Pity we couldn't bring it home and win comfortably.
Harry still has real issues with his set shots. 1 out of 4 isn't good enough for a guy with his skill level.
Those rubbish free kick goals to Selwood and Stanley, to get the Cats going.

The Eddie Betts left foot pass to Murphy...Greg Williams would've been proud of that

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#DonTheStash

Great win no matter how you look at it.

We were the fourth oldest team this round and need to inject some youth as I fear it might get stale.

We havent taken the next step yet until we put together four quarters.

The kick from Murphy to Betts at the very start of the game was good too.
Really set the tone

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Our tradition demands success!

Like your analysis Stefchook.

There was much to be pleased about and some are quite subtle.
Harry overall let himself down but early there were some goid things: often he gets moved under the ball in the air but i saw him do that to his opponent (once) for the first time. Also chased and made a good tackle. I don't mind swapping him for TdK as that gives us good flexibility, but Harry needs to be playing to grow.
Setterfield was a much stronger physical presence today, for the first time. Stats weren't amazing but it was a good step up from him.
Walsh a bit more like his "old" self.
Martin silk.
Eddie match winner.
Midfield set the tone at the start, finally.
Love that Levi is getting some reward.
Played lots of good footy and showed what we are capable of.

Is Andrew Russell still round the joint?

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The only way for some people to understand is for them to be on the receiving end

Left wing moralists
In self serving denial
They shit me no end

Watching the game now, missed it last night, the lead up to our 4th goal, from McGovern, just brilliant, relentless pressure

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"I had to eat"

Really happy with the midfield structure last night, had the right guys in the thick of it.

Loved seeing Eddie play like that again.

Levi was huge, we kept or found a way to keep the forward line a bit more open and it paid off.

Pretty stoked with the match saving spoil by Ratugolea.

Pittonet is really emerging, we might have found one here.

Balance that against a bullshit (but expected) armchair ride by umps...we deserved that win

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If I want your opinion, I'll give it to you!

omg, imagine the comments on here if we’d lost (which I was resigned to as the final minutes ticked by).

Only have free to air so could only listen to it. ABC commentators kept saying we “abandoned our structure” in the last q.? 17 Carlton players camped in the Geelong half of the ground?

C’mon Teaguey, fix this next.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Last week trailed by 42 points and lost by 1 - realistically played one half of footy with our notoriously slow start serving as the major decider

This week coughed up a 42 point lead and hung on to win by 2 - realistically played 3 quarters, with an uncharacteristic dead final quarter almost the major decider

It's clear maintaining focus is the issue as a developing team - quarter to quarter we match it with any team when switched on, but endurance and consistency will be the difference between 15 wins and 5. When will this come? Hopefully the win will boost confidence and start to build the belief to match the raw potential.

The way he throws himself forward when tackled looking for in the back pisses me off big time. Plus, the umpires fall for it likely as not!

Fantastic not to listen to channel seven commentators

Pros

WE WON

Switched on from the start.
Relentless 2 way running doesn't show in the stats

Levi was mammoth. One of the best KPFs in the comp.
Pittonet. We found one here.
Betts' skills, experience and ability should never be underestimated. Match winner
Martin amazing. Pity about his missed shot at goal. Field kicking brilliant.
Gibbons bopped everywhere.
Ed did the job on Selwood.
Cripps beat Danger
Docherty the backline General
Loved Murphy on the outside using his foot skills
Loved the contest Simmo on Ablett

Cons

McKays goal kicking
Setterfield was OK but 7 possessions
SPS a bit lost in the last.
Need to get fitter ie I question the endurance Russell has been raving about....not a huge issue.
Silly free Willo to Selwood, and a couple othersNot much to be disappointed about

I'd love to see TDK play but I would persist with Harry. He needs match conditioning.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Carrying on from last week's discussion, we don't have the mindset to go up the ladder. It will come but we need wins and 4 quarter performances to change it.
It's an old chestnut but teams also have to learn to win. We have been on the end of so many close or 'honourable' losses in the last decade or so that the players are attuned to it. It's part of the mindset that would otherwise stop them going into their shells and panicking in the last like they did last night. They stopped playing the brand of footy that got them in front and had kept them there when the Cats cam at them twice. It was Us v Melbourne all over again with the boot on the other foot.

That first three quarters was scintillating at times, punctuated by a few silly mistakes that we can forgive the boys for and a few silly mistakes the umps should be ashamed of.

Just before the ball was bounced, Sellwood had someone rub baby oil or something on his upper arms and shoulders just to make sure any attempt to tackle him would slip up to the neck area. Of course he didn't need that to get the first goal, it was just in case. The Simmo one was very technical and could have gone either way. Never mind, it's all over now baby blues.

People before me have gone over the pros and cons. I just want to add to the McKay critique. Those who read my posts will know I have been critical of his approach to goal kicking for a long time and there is no end to it. He was his usual lackadaisical self last night, trotting in and throwing his foot at the ball, which almost always goes out to the left and doesn't always swing back. Despite surely knowing that, there has been no apparent attempt by the club to fix it. If they have, he isn't listening. If he is the great hope of the future, we are in trouble unless he takes his footy seriously. His marking has gone off and his kicking is atrocious. At least he went in for a few inside contests last night instead of hanging around while the little blokes do the hard yakka. I know he has the ability because I have seen it like everybody else but at the moment his mindset is way off the mark and he is bereft of confidence it seems to me.
SPS is charmed. He is so highly skilled on both sides of his body he should be a weapon of choice for the coaches. It means he can play both sides of the ground and both sides of the contest but he just doesn't get enough of the ball.
Welcome back to Willo. His kicking is great, even though he missed a few targets last night. That was a pretty reasonable night first up after a spell. I'd keep him in the side now. He gains yards with almost every possession.
It's interesting that we have only won a few first quarters in the last year. I will ask the question.
Is the fact Matthew Kreuzer is a crap tap ruckman part of the issue? Have we played him and allowed opposition midfields to get first look at the ball too often? I might look at some games and see how it pans out. I thought Pittonet had another good game and there is no way I would select Matt ahead of him based on just two weeks work.

I'll take the win. It's worth 4 points on the ladder but it's worth more towards the winning culture of the club. Now they know how to come out firing, there is no reason for them not to do it more often than not. And it was so good to see Scott choking on his words at the presser having to admit we flogged them for three quarters. Get used to it.

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

I was pleased that last night's game validated the 2nd half of last year. Last 2 1/2 qtrs last week showed we have it but rightly got left in the dust of pissing 4 points down the drain. Last night will do us good. Teague said the last qtr was all mental as we stopped attacking and went down the line trying to save the game, which is confidence. Hopefully now we'll have that confidence.