Swans v Power

[dimelb]

For Port this game was incredibly important. Our previous victory over them was the beginning of the rot. It would have made an enormous statement if they could beat us. That's what makes this win away from home so impressive.

For me it's about attitude. Fremantle probably went in to the St Kilda game already chalking up a W in the back of their minds. By the time they realised they were in a contest it was too late.

This will be the biggest danger for us over the next two weeks. If you don't come to play hard, intense footy for four quarters you will be beaten.

Hear, hear. And I'm sure Horse will be on the same message, especially for Richmond.

[Ampersand]

For Port this game was incredibly important. Our previous victory over them was the beginning of the rot. It would have made an enormous statement if they could beat us. That's what makes this win away from home so impressive.

For me it's about attitude. Fremantle probably went in to the St Kilda game already chalking up a W in the back of their minds. By the time they realised they were in a contest it was too late.

This will be the biggest danger for us over the next two weeks. If you don't come to play hard, intense footy for four quarters you will be beaten.

[0918330512]

Richmond hardly "belted" Essendon.

You're entitled to your opinion but If you look at results across the competition you'll see that teams in the top 10-12 are closer in ability than in previous years and winning is no longer just a matter of showing up.

Carlton almost rolled Fremantle last week. Does that mean the Blues are almost as good as Geelong? St. Kilda thumped Fremantle. Does that make them twice as good as Geelong?

Anyway, if 14 wins out of 15 don't convince you that we're one of the best form teams of the comp I doubt there's anything I could say that could convince you.

In 1987 we scored 30+ goals in 3 consecutive weeks against WC, Ess & Rich only to have Carlton beat us. That didn't mean Carlton were a side capable of kicking massive scores. Footy is a week-to-week game. Just like with managed funds, past performance is not indicative of future performance.

[0918330512]

Laidler is a very strong mark but slow.
Rohan is fast but a fumble fingers.

Can we combine them?

You want a slow, fumble fingers?

[albrotha]

Hard fought win against Port. Cannot believe that one free kick that was not given against Buddy is being given so much attention. It is about time the pendulum went his way for a change. You would run out of fingers and toes counting those that could have gone his way and didn't.

[aguy]

I agree. When the mids have been popping up across hf as targets we look very dangerous

[Nico]

Take comfort in remembering our relatively poor form running into finals in 2012. I think we are playing ok, but we need to clean up our disposal quality before finals - as we have been sloppy for several weeks and the good teams, like the Hawks a couple of weeks ago, will punish you if you are off come finals time. I think we are going pretty well, and to me the biggest worry is Tippett and K Jack, who both still look far from fully fit.

Jack still averages about 25 possessions a game and he seems to get tagged regularly. Just not kicking the goals because he is not playing close to goals. I wonder if that will change come finals time and we have a fit list. We played our best footy when we had our mids rotating off the HFF.

[Ampersand]

Haven't watched the replay yet but I thought Tippett looked better than last week, particularly his defensive game and movement down the ground.

[mcs]

Posting this a bt nervously, but...
I am not really convinced by our form and I wonder whether the next three weeks is a bit of a trap.

We scrambled over the bombers who got belted by the Tiges. We best port but hardly decisively - the same port who lost to collingwood - a team which has just been belted by ten goals by west coast.

The repeated references on here and elsewhere are to solid grafting wins. That is where we are currently at. Then we are going to play three softish games leading into a qualifying final. I confess to some nervousness

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For mine too. He clearly starts bumper barring the port player but ends up clearly pushing him with his hand. Much more obvious than laidler later in the game.

Take comfort in remembering our relatively poor form running into finals in 2012. I think we are playing ok, but we need to clean up our disposal quality before finals - as we have been sloppy for several weeks and the good teams, like the Hawks a couple of weeks ago, will punish you if you are off come finals time. I think we are going pretty well, and to me the biggest worry is Tippett and K Jack, who both still look far from fully fit.

[Ampersand]

Posting this a bt nervously, but...
I am not really convinced by our form and I wonder whether the next three weeks is a bit of a trap.

We scrambled over the bombers who got belted by the Tiges. We best port but hardly decisively - the same port who lost to collingwood - a team which has just been belted by ten goals by west coast.

The repeated references on here and elsewhere are to solid grafting wins. That is where we are currently at. Then we are going to play three softish games leading into a qualifying final. I confess to some nervousness

- - - Updated - - -



For mine too. He clearly starts bumper barring the port player but ends up clearly pushing him with his hand. Much more obvious than laidler later in the game.

Richmond hardly "belted" Essendon.

You're entitled to your opinion but If you look at results across the competition you'll see that teams in the top 10-12 are closer in ability than in previous years and winning is no longer just a matter of showing up.

Carlton almost rolled Fremantle last week. Does that mean the Blues are almost as good as Geelong? St. Kilda thumped Fremantle. Does that make them twice as good as Geelong?

Anyway, if 14 wins out of 15 don't convince you that we're one of the best form teams of the comp I doubt there's anything I could say that could convince you.

[Melbourne_Blood]

The Port game was played at a pretty ferocious intensity for the most part. It was finals like. Pressure was huge, and the score line slightly flattered us, but we held off a strong challenge from a desperate team who at one stage this year were sitting two games clear on top of the ladder and looking unstoppable. They can play and they bloody well came to play on saturday! We did enough against Essendon , never looked like losing for mine. We've lost 1 game since round 4 and beaten all teams in contention for the premiership. The ( narrow) loss to the hawks is the only real blip so far, and there's no shame in losing to that mob at the G. A soft run in maybe but hopefully that gives us a chance to freshen up some of our hard working mids. I think we've got far more reason to feel bullish than we do to feel concerned.

[ernie koala]

Posting this a bt nervously, but...
I am not really convinced by our form and I wonder whether the next three weeks is a bit of a trap.

We scrambled over the bombers who got belted by the Tiges. We best port but hardly decisively - the same port who lost to collingwood - a team which has just been belted by ten goals by west coast.

The repeated references on here and elsewhere are to solid grafting wins. That is where we are currently at. Then we are going to play three softish games leading into a qualifying final. I confess to some nervousness

You're obviously in the 'glass half empty' camp.

We've won 14 of our last 15. Our 2 latest wins have been against finals bound teams who were clearly desperate and up for the challenge.

Against Essendon we came off a bruising game against Hawthorn and a 6 day break, to Essendon's 12 day break.

Port, and the 50 odd thousand screaming fans, were desperate and(according to all the commentary I've heard and read) they played their best footy since they were on top of the ladder.

I think there's no doubt teams get up for games against us these days, we are seen as a benchmark of where they want to get to.

We beat them both, without it being our best footy....

I'm definitely in the 'glass overflowing' camp, at this stage.

Also, I don't think either game, against the Dogs or the Tigers, will be soft games.

[Zlatorog]

Agree. I wonder if it is part of the strategy to cruise by instead of going with full on game. Injury to Hannebery and Tippet probably caused this cautious approach. It's the finals the at matter and healthy playing list.

[Melbournehammer]

Posting this a bt nervously, but...
I am not really convinced by our form and I wonder whether the next three weeks is a bit of a trap.

We scrambled over the bombers who got belted by the Tiges. We best port but hardly decisively - the same port who lost to collingwood - a team which has just been belted by ten goals by west coast.

The repeated references on here and elsewhere are to solid grafting wins. That is where we are currently at. Then we are going to play three softish games leading into a qualifying final. I confess to some nervousness

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I don't know how anyone could not think it was a free, a clear push in the back for mine.

For mine too. He clearly starts bumper barring the port player but ends up clearly pushing him with his hand. Much more obvious than laidler later in the game.

[Jewels]

Really????

http://www.afl.com.au/video/2014-08-...ushes-his-luck

I don't know how anyone could not think it was a free, a clear push in the back for mine.