Upgraded to seats, only ones left were in the nosebleed sections in the Southern stand and the Olympic stand.

Really looking forward to this one, for some reason I am not too stressed out about it. Think we might win....

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Circumstance has no value. It is how one relates to a situation that has value. All true meaning resides in the personal relationship to a phenomenon, what it means to you.

Me too! Really hope north beat em today. Will make for a great week!

Dayne Beams out with quad injury. North should win. Interesting to see if Beams and Daisy play next week.

or if Gibbs doesn't get up.

Daisy will be a bit underdone but he's the sort of player you just stick back in the team. I would think a quad is more than one week..

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

Watching this first pies quarter, I'd say our midfield will be and is our biggest issue.

Will be tough if we stick to the boundary.

Lindsay Thomas has a new bunny! 3 goals first quarter

There's 5 reports psoted in the NB thread covering yesterday's last NB practise game vs Coburg.

Big men did not fire....and Hammer is easily our best option as a KPF...and I'd say Levi might be safe.
Warnock did not fire or take a mark (no one can recall him take one).
Laidler not setting the world on fire.

BELL and BUCKLEY the stand outs......BELL spent a bit of time with MM at quarter time and did really well at theclearances...sounds like the type of body we need.

Couldn't work out if he watched the game but BV brought up a good point about Brad Greens experience and influence for our clearance work (not)....and it made sense...and I too have a concern there. Surely Judd would be helping out there. He's got plenty of experience and know how about centre clearance and set ups in the guts.

Bring on BELL!!...he'll sort out the Pies midfielders....Pendles wont be able to get around him, nor move him.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Quad has to be more than a week

Hopefully the club has the foresight to have the players wear black armbands during the game...

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WADA medical director Dr Alan Vernec describes Essendon* FC drug case as biggest scandal in team sport the world of sport has seen. #WC2WB

#GUILTY

Pies impressive considering their outs. Their forward 50 pressure has been huge.

Couldn't agree more.

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I'm shocked to be sitting here

The outcome of next Sundays match revolves around which game style mick opts for. Does he stick with his slow chip kicks along the boundary or does he throw it out the window for one more round and let the boys go out there and play?

I'm also expecting a surprise come Thursday when the teams are read out. I have no Inside iformation, just a feeling I have

Agree. They were very good today. We will need to be at our best but our best is good enough.

OMG....I don't know how to feel about the Carlton connection as I've already been saddened/ shocked/ devastated by the loss and the heroics. I too have a sister I'm very very close to, and yes she's a die hard Carlton fan too despite being married into a very Geelong family.

RIP.

Yes it is worth the tribute because they were meeting dad for the first CFC game of the season, plus the fact the Carlton connection has been mentioned and filmed and photographed. Plus the dad has to live through this the very least we can do as a Carlton family/ brethren is show our admiration to the two siblings and their family and respect the fact they were a truly devoted family to each other let alone to the Carlton Football club.

Makes me want to cry TBH.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Well saif trublu. Do we play the first half style or second half style we showed against Tigers?

I know MM knows what we can bring to the table to counter the Pies 'shield of steel' because we've done that in the past when we've been keen, committed and lightening quick with dominant rucks.

I'm expecting no chnage...maybe Bell comes in for....and we play both styles at various times in the game...now that will be predictable but timing is everything.

This game is going to be BIG. It is every other time we meet. BIGGEST normal H & A game on the Calendar followed by Bombers followed by Tigers....then the Hawks...but that's another story.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Given this happened on a Grocon site - I would be very disappointed if the club doesn't honour the memory of these people.

My deepest sympathies go out to both families.

How many times I have waited for my children to meet me at the football and they have met me safely - we now all realise we are all only a micro-second away from such a tragedy. It doesn't bear thinking about.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

The Pies kicked 12 goals from North turnovers. Its their strength. Press up, force the opposition to kick to contests and score on the counter.
Thats why we've performed well against them in the past, we run the ball through the press and switch around it. Combined with our runners beating them into space, its the perfect recipe to beat them.
Lets hope we get the midfield sorted out and play them on our strengths.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.