Preview R16: Changes vs. Richmond Tigers (after the bye)

[AFC979810]

We aren't winning the flag this year. That's a fact. If we nail the second half of the year we'll play 2 finals, if we fumble a few we'll possibly only play 1. Yes we can still miss entirely as well.

But assuming we don't fail spectacularly, what better thing to give a young group than a few finals games with zero expectations to throw everything to the wall knowing that simply playing a genuine finals game, let alone winning, will give them valuable experience for future campaigns.

But nah. Come finals time it'll be get Grandpa Tex to 300, and find spots for Smith, Laird, Crouch and Murphy.

But I bet Edwards, Taylor, Draper and Dowling will find the experience of watching those guys play finals so valuable.

Why?

1. We aint missing the finals. Right now, if you truly believe it, go to the betting agencies and put your mortgage on it. We are currently 20-1 to miss the finals.

2. Why the hell can't we win the flag? We are the healthiest team in the AFL, have a dream run home and are currently 4th on the ladder and 5th in flag odds on betting sites. Our biggest loss is 19 points.

 

[AFC979810]

Another example of Murphy/Nicks Derangement Syndrome.

Just because anti-Murphy posters stated this, it doesn’t make it TRUE.
Did you watch all or any of the match?

My impression watching the match was that Impey was playing mostly on Rachele and Pedlar and Murphy was mainly matched up on Amon. After reading the match day thread I noted which of our forwards was closest to Impey when I watched the replay and Impey gained the ball. I also checked who was the nearest Hawks defender when Murphy was in the screenshot.

Would you like to guess how many of Impey’s disposals were “On Murphy”?

Perhaps we can blame Murphy for all of Impey’s disposals when Murphy was on the bench?

There are plenty of things to complain about with Murphy without making things up.

I saw Murphy on Impey a bunch, but lets just pretend he was only on Amon.....

Amon - 17 disposals, 509 metres gained (4th on the ground), 3rd for Hawks for R50's.

Murphy - 11 touches, 147 metres gained, 0 goals, 0 points, 0 goal assits, 4 kicks, 48.7% DE.

So how are you still defending Murphy?

 

[FR0GGY]

Why?

1. We aint missing the finals. Right now, if you truly believe it, go to the betting agencies and put your mortgage on it. We are currently 20-1 to miss the finals.

2. Why the hell can't we win the flag? We are the healthiest team in the AFL, have a dream run home and are currently 4th on the ladder and 5th in flag odds on betting sites. Our biggest loss is 19 points.

Nicks?

 

[AFC979810]

Very silly trying to compare Tex to Murray.

Tex did his ACL in Rd 5 of 2013 coming off an amazing season. Had a clean surgery, great recovery and after 1 SANFL game came back in Rd 9 of 2014 and played the rest of the season (13 games) almost every single game for the next 4 years.

Murray did his ACL in Rd 19 of 2023 after his first decent season and came back Rd 14 of 2024. He then was subbed off with a knee injury in rd 19 of 2024 and missed round 20. This year he played the first two games and had a knee injury for a month. Came back for 2 games and hurt his knee again requiring Knee surgery.

Definitely understand why posters want to be more cautious with Murray's return considering he has missed 11 of the last 18 games with 3 separate knee concerns.

Ciao Giacomo - waiting for your response to this.....

What a silly comparison of Tex to Muz.

But - it got me to thinking. Username with a shitty reference to Italy. Fake intellect. A love of trolling.

You aren't Rucci are you? You do have the persona of someone who is clinging on to the last remnants of their whispy hair in the middle of their cranium hoping nobody notices the comb over.

 

[AFC979810]

Nicks?

Yeah - its a very valid point Froggy.

But I am in the dreaming part. Think we can overcome the tactical ineptitude of Nicks.

We have an amazing best 22 (IMO). We have a great injury list. A great draw that can build momentum.

Health, Momentum, Genuine match winners (Rachele, Rankine, Dawsom, TT), and Luck can overcome Nicks....

Gonna need a perfect storm, but I remember the Bulldogs of 2016.

 

[SugarShane]

Why?

1. We aint missing the finals. Right now, if you truly believe it, go to the betting agencies and put your mortgage on it. We are currently 20-1 to miss the finals.

2. Why the hell can't we win the flag? We are the healthiest team in the AFL, have a dream run home and are currently 4th on the ladder and 5th in flag odds on betting sites. Our biggest loss is 19 points.

Because 3 of the top 5 are Geelong, Hawthorn and Collingwood. Which ones are we beating in Melbourne to win the flag when we can barely manage to beat any of them at home?

Even if we somehow jag top 2 and win a home Quali and Prelim, odds are still on us meeting an MCG tenant/regular in the GF. Our only realistic hope is to meet Brisbane in the GF but that will almost certainly mean needing defeating one of Geelong, Hawthorn or Collingwood in the Prelim.

Also I didn't imply we were going to miss finals, I merely mentioned it as a possibility (if we were to fail spectacularly from here on in) to avoid anyone pointing out that the third option is still mathematically possible.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Why?

1. We aint missing the finals. Right now, if you truly believe it, go to the betting agencies and put your mortgage on it. We are currently 20-1 to miss the finals.

2. Why the hell can't we win the flag? We are the healthiest team in the AFL, have a dream run home and are currently 4th on the ladder and 5th in flag odds on betting sites. Our biggest loss is 19 points.

There's not any really good teams this season either

Collingwood are old. Can they go the distance?
Geelong are old-ish and don't have blue chip mids
Brisbane are good but we just beat them
Gold Coast are as finals green as we are

There's no untouchable team running around.

If Nicks gets glandular fever at just the right time we're a chance

 

[1970crow]

looking like 1 change.
Peatling for Pedlar.

Murphy selection is all about backing him in after all the comments from his selection against Hawks.

This is a game we have to win if we're serious this year. I said the same when we played Freo though.

Vast difference between beating Freo away and Richmond away. Winning this would have no bearing on whether we're serious this year or not. Very few teams are going to be losing to Tigers, regardless of where they play them.

 

[FR0GGY]

Yeah - its a very valid point Froggy.

But I am in the dreaming part. Think we can overcome the tactical ineptitude of Nicks.

We have an amazing best 22 (IMO). We have a great injury list. A great draw that can build momentum.

Health, Momentum, Genuine match winners (Rachele, Rankine, Dawsom, TT), and Luck can overcome Nicks....

Gonna need a perfect storm, but I remember the Bulldogs of 2016.

#freekickcrows25

 

[1970crow]

People liking Jones selection is hilarious.

Firstly, Jones hasn't been selected and secondly, I don't think I've seen a poster say they like his selection.

 

[Gtowncrow]

9 games to go right? We aren’t going to be debuting players or playing young inexperienced players. This is all about this year now, pushing ahead with experience as we prep for finals.

The issue is Nicks is too much of a moron to realise experience doesn’t necessarily mean good like Murphy and he hasn’t taken into account should we get a run of injuries that we haven’t tested or given enough of our squad a taste of AFL this year

Is there a list somewhere of debuts for each club? I think we only have one for this year with Sid.

I reckon we'd be lowest on the list.

 

[skam85]

Ciao Giacomo - waiting for your response to this.....

What a silly comparison of Tex to Muz.

But - it got me to thinking. Username with a shitty reference to Italy. Fake intellect. A love of trolling.

You aren't Rucci are you? You do have the persona of someone who is clinging on to the last remnants of their whispy hair in the middle of their cranium hoping nobody notices the comb over.

This is a huge call but it makes so much sense

 

[AFC979810]

Because 3 of the top 5 are Geelong, Hawthorn and Collingwood. Which ones are we beating in Melbourne to win the flag when we can barely manage to beat any of them at home?

We lost to the Hawks by 3 12 days ago. We have lost the last 5 to Collingwood by a combined 20 points. Our last 3 to Geelong we have lost by 19,5,19.

We just aren't that far away.

Even if we somehow jag top 2 and win a home Quali and Prelim, odds are still on us meeting an MCG tenant/regular in the GF. Our only realistic hope is to meet Brisbane in the GF but that will almost certainly mean needing defeating one of Geelong, Hawthorn or Collingwood in the Prelim.

Home / Away doesn't matter IMO. Our biggest thing is being healthy and in form for the ride home.

Also I didn't imply we were going to miss finals, I merely mentioned it as a possibility (if we were to fail spectacularly from here on in) to avoid anyone pointing out that the third option is still mathematically possible.

Fair. Just saying missing finals would be catastrophic. We are a better chance of winning it all than missing the finals IMO.

 

[Blue Red and Gold]

If someone had told me at the start of the year that we would announce a side with Smith, Jones, Murphy and Burgess in it I would have thrown up.
Despite sitting in the top 4 I am still feeling nauseous

 

[Mr_Moogle]

Firstly, Jones hasn't been selected and secondly, I don't think I've seen a poster say they like his selection.

I already clarified the first part and the vibe I'm getting is not so much "Jones is great", it's more "I guess I could live with this".

 

[Firewalker]

The boys club stands strong

 

[Mr_Moogle]

There's not any really good teams this season either

Collingwood are old. Can they go the distance?
Geelong are old-ish and don't have blue chip mids
Brisbane are good but we just beat them
Gold Coast are as finals green as we are

There's no untouchable team running around.

If Nicks gets glandular fever at just the right time we're a chance

Nicks gets parvo in time for finals.

 

[walterhobbs]

I'd rather Jones than Murphy. Then again I'd rather an inanimate carbon rod over Murphy

 

[Maddogmetro]

Peatling in, Pedlar out. Only change.

Smith and Murphy hold their spots.

Just incredible.

 

[SellarStardom]

For all those hating Jones being an option, Nicks went with Murphy instead!!!!

 

[Pugsley]

I'd rather Jones than Murphy. Then again I'd rather an inanimate carbon rod over Murphy

David Mackay isn't available.

 

[Scorpus]

At the start of this year, some people swore we wouldn't play Walker, Fogarty, Thilthorpe, Rankine, Rachele, Keays, Neal-Bullen and Murphy all in the same side

Well, a big fat I told you so on that one

Nicks spent half the season trying a few other options in that seventh forward role (Curtin forward, Taylor, Pedlar) but has ultimately settled back to his comfort position of Murphy

 

[Bearded Clam]

The not-so-good-player remains in the bowl.

Actually hope we lose to the tigers..

Not that it would change anything. The whole club needs its conservative ******* mentality burnt to the ground.

 

[cleanhands]

At the start of this year, some people swore we wouldn't play Walker, Fogarty, Thilthorpe, Rankine, Rachele, Keays, Neal-Bullen and Murphy all in the same side

Well, a big fat I told you so on that one

 

[Pugsley]

At the start of this year, some people swore we wouldn't play Walker, Fogarty, Thilthorpe, Rankine, Rachele, Keays, Neal-Bullen and Murphy all in the same side

Well, a big fat I told you so on that one

Nicks spent half the season trying a few other options in that seventh forward role (Curtin forward, Taylor, Pedlar) but has ultimately settled back to his comfort position of Murphy

Sorry Dad, I didn't want to believe Murphy would be in the side.