AFL Enjoyers
AFL Enjoyers - Round 22 Reaction and Review
(upbeat music) - Hi, Georgie. Got some exciting news, man. - Tell me, bro. - My dad's strength finally kicked in. - Ooh! - Huge, I know, huge. - Congratulations, dude. - Thanks, man. I just realized that yesterday, I'm mowing the lawn on Saturday. - One handed, you're doing it. - Man, I might as well have been. Like, basically, I know how it feels to mow the lawn, do it every few weeks, and then just out of nowhere, I'm not breaking a sweat. (laughs) Crazy. - And then, like, I figure, why does that happen? Obviously, it's the Dutch strength. I'm carrying around a little baby, six kilos every day, multiple times a day. So, man, it's been looking hard, man. - What about, like, if your daughter's in danger, do you, like, chip with your power? - I would assume so. It hasn't happened yet, but, man, I wouldn't put anything past me at the moment. - No, you could lift the car if you had to. - Yeah. - How do you think this table got here? One hand, just bang. I just looked at it. - There's no other way to get this table here, other than dad's strength or the crane, that's it. - That's it. Pretty much, man. - Yeah, welcome back, George. Obviously, I did the solo pod last week. You weren't feeling well. Apparently, you're still not feeling great. - No, bear with me, guys, if I, like, pull out a tissue, just like look the other direction, man. Got this, I don't know, two-week flu thing that's going around. That's, I don't know, man. You don't want this shit. You do not want this shit. - You don't want it. I'm still suspicious it's got to do with Carlton's form, but-- - It could, it could. It could, it could be the reason for my sickness. Who knows? (laughs) - No, thanks for coming in. - I guess we'll get into the footy. Before the first game, though, quick shout out, Flowers for Dusty and Tomahawk retiring this week. - And they both just retired and just decided not to play. Like, Dusty, not even like a speech. - Is Hawk, y'all, does that surprise you? - Well, maybe. I'll kind of expect something in the Richmond rooms. - Nah, not from Dusty, man. Even if he did, it wouldn't be, like, recorded or anything. - I don't actually know if Dust and Martin knows how to speak English, to be honest. I've never heard him. - He's a footballing machine. - I've only heard him say, "Woo!" (laughs) - Hey, Dusty, you've won the Norm Smith and you guys have won the flag three times. - Woo! (laughs) - Oh, thanks for that input. - Thanks for that input. - Do you reckon he's, like, top three or five all time? How high do you rate him, just quickly? - This is coming from a supporter that's never really seen much success. So, like, they always, obviously, talk about him as a big game player. And he is. And he's, you know, three Norm Smith is crazy. I don't know, I tend to not look at, look, not look down on players that have been consistent throughout the season. Like, I mean, was he a better player than Dangerfield? Potentially no. But he's had more impact in finals, so. - Yeah. - I don't really know where to put, do you put extra emphasis on the finals? It's easier to do that because that's the end result. But I kind of look at a player, like, I don't judge creeps for not having final success, you know? He's still superstar, so. But yeah, yeah, he's one of the greats, there's no doubt about it. I think in terms of impact in finals, which for me, it really just says, when he cares, he's the best. But how much has he cared during the round? - Do you think he's not caring in the season, or? - I think he cares, like, there's a baseline care, but I think, like, when it matters and he can hit that next level, I think he hits a level that, I don't know how many players are able to hit in the finals matches. Like, even Lance Franklin, in big finals, he wasn't like carrying the team over the line. It's just that he was on a great team and did his role. But Dusty was like literal carry in a lot of those finals. - Yeah, that can't be the night. - Yeah. - No, legend. And even Tomahawk, man, like, I remember back when he had that final against Collingwood, where he announced himself after half-time, thinking, gee, he's like, oh, he's finally good now. And then he's just been so consistent since then. - Yeah, crazy. - Yeah, very consistent, you know, and also very high. It's spoken about every time you talk about Hawkins, but very high assist type of player. - Yes. - And also one of the best forward/rockmen players in the comp, where, you know, any time he's in a forward 50 contest in the rock, he just pushes the player out and kicks it. So, yeah, look, it's gonna be weird watching Jelong and Richmond without those two players, to be honest. - Yeah. Well, Jelong and we'll get to them, but they're looking pretty good. I think there's some light for them in the forward line, despite his presence. - Well, the other thing is, I think, both of these players need to go. I don't know whether Dusty Martin's gonna, whether that retirement means retirement or it means... - I think so, man. - I think it means retirement, personally. - I think so. Unless you need the money, which, you know, I wouldn't be cracking for that. - I don't think he needs the money, man. He did all those bonds ads. - Well, man, the more money you have, the more you spend, so I don't know. - Yeah, that's true. - Yeah, look, Dusty Martin is not the player he used to be, and Hawkins is not the player he used to be. So, the retirement, yes, you need to retire. And it's probably for the best of your team to give other people opportunities. I don't know if Richmond necessarily have plays to replace Dusty Martin, but Jelong have, like, Chad and Neil and these type of players that need game time. So, yeah, it's time. And plus, Hawkins is like 40 years old, man. - Yeah, or at least like 35, 36. That's pretty old for a football player. - He's pretty old. So, no, well done to those guys, flowers for them. Let's get into it, Georgie. So, first game of the round, Friday night, Sydney gets over the lines of the pies, three points. Collingwood had a man, and they got Collingwooded. - They did get Collingwood. And he only got Collingwooded last week against Carlton. Thanks, Mitch McGovern. - Well done, man. I didn't get to mention that last week. Look, the thing about this game is, Sydney's been the best team all year, and then they've had a bad six weeks, as we all know. And the whole commentary was just like, can Sydney get back to their best? Can he any get back to his best? Can Warner get back to his best? That's all they talked about, just like as if, like, this team had just completely fallen off the horse and was a shadow of what they were, and which is kind of true. But the whole narrative of the game was, can they get back to their game? And then in the fourth quarter, he only fought in touches and a goal. Warner fought in touches and a goal. - One rule, both of them, yeah. - Golden kicks a match winning goal. And so they did get back to their best when they needed to. They kicked the last five goals, I think, and they got the win that they much needed. And after all of the craziness of Sydney, they'll still finish the season first. - Most likely. - And it's all good. It's all good. - I mean, it's only all good, though, if they go into the finals in good form, because it's too close this year, you get found out if you're not playing your best footy. So, I mean, there's still two more weeks for them now to fully right the wrongs. And then it'll be a distant memory if they can get back on the horse and be playing two finals at the SCG. - That's what I think will happen, by the way. - Yeah. - I'm not sure, to be honest with you. I think their star players are incredible, like you just mentioned. But it's often in the finals, not your star players that win it, like guys like Dusty are rare. It's usually just the collective team and like your weakest player needs to be strong still. - Yeah. - So, I don't know. We'll see. He's probably gonna be back, do you know? - I think he will be. - I think he will be. - If he is, that's pretty huge for them. But yeah, now that last quarter, man. You know, they kicked four goals from stoppage in the last quarter. Insane. You're lucky to do that for the game. - I think they're the type of team that like will get some confidence from that win, 'cause they kind of just got it off their back. But I also think they're the type of team that can really rise to the occasion. And I think when it comes down to finals time, so let's say they finished top four, they got their double chance, they get their home final. I just think they can flip that switch and I think they're gonna be pretty deadly. So I think Sydney will be okay. I'm not as confident that they're gonna win the flag like we were mid-season where they were unstoppable. But I think they're gonna give this themselves a pretty good shot at it. - Fair enough. What about the pies, man? Done? - Yeah, they're done. - They're done. - Look, they just missed too many opportunities throughout the whole season. It's just one of those ones where they started really slowly and they played catch-up ever since. And I don't think they ever really got their best game going. Yeah, they've had injuries throughout the season as well. I think this against Sydney, even against Carlton last week and the last couple of weeks, they've started to play better football, started to have that identity back a bit, but just a little bit too late, I think, for the pies. But you can critique their season, but at the end of the day, that premise last year. So I imagine even though, like as a pilot fan, you're gonna want them to front up every year and compete every year, their consolation prize of missing this final series is the fact that they won last year. So there's a year, Grace, I think. Everyone wants to defend their title, but yeah, I don't know. - Well, that's back to back years now where the premiers haven't made the finals, which is unheard of. I don't think that's ever happened in my lifetime. Twice in a row. - Yeah. - Crazy. I did want to say though, what did you make of the excuses from Craig when Craig, about that 50 metre penalty? - The take, man. - I play like every game at MCG. - Good that you bring that up because that was my next point, right? Listen to this crazy start. It's actually insulting and I can see why interstate teams, and even me as a fan of a Victorian team is disgusted by this, right? 11 games at the G this year, so far, out of what, 20, what'll be out of 21? Three at Marvel. They've only gone into state six times. All year. - It's insane. Is that even, how does that compare to the Carlton and stuff? - We can check. It's probably similar with the Carltons and whatnot, but man, I know North for sure hasn't played that many games. 'Cause I haven't been to that many games, so insane, right? And to say that that 50 would have been called, like, the fact of the matter was, the guy was chasing McStay on the lead. Ball's marked, he's taken a few steps to slow down. By the time he's got an opportunity to go back on the mark, McStay's off, 'cause it's crunch time. So I think like to expect the arm to just pay 50 right then and there without giving the guy a second. - Look, I think, crazy. - I think it is a textbook free kick. - You reckon it is? - Yeah, I think it's a free kill. I recall Carlton getting a couple of 50s this year in that way. So I think it is a free kick, but two weeks in a row, you're up by 30 points and you nearly lose after the start and you lose. What type of coach takes, looks at a 50 or a free kick that didn't happen and looks at that as something to bring up in a press conference? If I was a pass fan, I'd be pissed. - Yeah. - What about the fact that you're up by 30 points? - And what about, remember that game against North where Bailey Scott should have got the 50? He wasn't, you didn't care so much then? - No, you can't look at, as a coach, you can't evoke it, I'm piring. - Well look, if it's like, there's a few exceptions I'll give to that, like the time where the sun's lost to that Ben King, Max King, no Ben King, the Ben King from the Saints free kick. Remember that one? Earlier in the year? - Yeah. - That for me was soft, right? - I get it. - That's a blader one. - I get it, man. Like there's the circumstances, but no. - This one wasn't to me just for the record and there was a few deliberate out of bounds that Colingwood gave away. They were both deliberate. And they got found out on both. So again, I don't know, that's poor form for me. - Yeah, I think if you, it's a signal maybe of a team that's losing their edge a bit if they're starting to come in about on pies. No, it's, even when like you start to get a couple of injuries and your coach starts bringing up injuries for the reason that they're losing, I don't like it. - Yep, fair enough, man. Oh God, we've got to talk about North a bit now. Thank God we're in a relevant team right now because the excitement of the rest of the round has overshadowed how disgusting this was from North Melbourne. - Yeah. - All I'll say is this, man, like this was pretty much copy-paste of the game we played against them in Perth except this time we fucked that up, excuse my language. But like, I've never been burning so much recently about a loss, 'cause obviously we're North, we lose a lot of games, but I was actually, I was holding my four month old daughter in my arms watching the end of the game, like trying not to scream. And like good thing I was holding it because I would have just erupted, man. You can't be up, like we start the game poorly, whatever, we're back into it. And then it was just classic new North where like we're actually playing decent 40 hard to beat. We're up at like almost 40 points, halfway or more through the third quarter. And then we do the classic North like give 'em life. We're only up by two goals in the last quarter. We tie the game and I'm like fine, we're just gonna get steamrolled here. And then they do the worst thing, which is then go up again by three goals and then throw it away within three minutes at the end there, three goals, under three minutes. Disgusting, man. It's a full credit to West Coast for never giving up and North Melbourne does not have the right to say, yep, game's done. - That was in Hobart, right? - In Hobart. - Yeah. - Which people keep saying we play Hobart well. We haven't won there. We won one game at the end of last year because Gold Coast didn't even show up. And we otherwise we have not won there since we had Shawn Higgins, facts. So actually that's not right. I think we might have been hawth on a few years ago, but nonetheless, we do not have the right, nor does any team, but especially North Melbourne, to say, yep, game done. - No, definitely. - You play your ass off until it's actually over, till the siren goes. And it's unfortunate, man, 'cause going back to back with wins, increasing our win tally by one would have been awesome from last year. But, like I said in the press conference, sometimes you need to learn the harsh lesson. Like, you would have thought we've learned enough, but now that we're in that competitive stage, it's learning okay, not what just we're competitive. Not just that we can win, it's like, hey, when you're winning, foot down. Make sure you win. - So are you saying that your wins tell you it's the same as it was last year? - Three, yep. - So do you think there has a team you've improved from last year? - Absolutely. - Yeah. - I think we're a lot closer to knowing who's gonna be here, long-term, and who's not. We've had a lot of players sign. Guys like Charlie Common finally playing a season. Jackson Archer playing a season. Logan did it again, but we know what he is when he's fit. So like, I would say we've found another four to five players or like, yep, they're gonna be around. Macurcher, Dursma, Archer, Common, actually contributing. So that's very positive stuff. Now in saying that, the bottom end of our list is just still not good enough. So that's gonna be where the big change has to come. And like guys like Luke McDonald, I know we celebrated him last week, 200 games. Very quickly reminded us why we're just sort of sick and tired of seeing him play. Like as a captain just didn't stand up when we kicked it on the full missed the mark at the end there, like, you know, it is what it is. But overall I'm optimistic. I think we're, the fact that we're learning how to win now is a good thing. It's just we stuffed up big time. There's no two ways about it. And West Coast, credit to him. Guys like Ali, he only had like 17 touches, but kick two goals when they needed it. - What changed for them, for them to get momentum kind of after you had a tendency? - Well, it's cliche, but their experience players stood up. McGovern was a monster. Yo, it was a monster. Alan killed it five goals. Darling abused Luke McDonald. Didn't get that much of the ball, but every time it was a contest, he was winning it. You know, so basically all of their experience players stood up when they needed it the most. And North's, like even she's all you expected to do better in some moments. He had a really sore angle at one point. - Yeah, I think he had a very slow last quarter. - Yeah, he was injured, to be honest. Like, I think it was one of those contact ones where you can play through it, but he was sore. So look, I'm not like a lot of North fans like, oh, you know, we're never gonna learn. It's like nothing's changed. Like things have changed, calm down. You know, you'd rather be learning how to win than learning how not to get smacked up. So we're in that next phase. We've got a tough next two weeks, dogs and Hawthorne. Probably definitely losing both. But yeah, for me, it's full credit to West Coast. I did want to say that, man, Colby Mercertia, dear God, I know he takes kickouts and gets a lot of cheapies, but this kid, man, he's leather poisoning as a young kid, personified. Ridiculous, so. - You've had a couple of players like that. Young Chisels, the other one last year, and even this year. - Yeah, we've drafted while, I must say, like having Wardlaw, Sheezel, Mercertia, and Dursma, who he was never gonna be like the rest in terms of instant impact, but he's a class player. All, actually, thanks for bringing up the draft because man, the only silver lining in this loss is that we still have a big two. No, you have to nail it. I don't even know. - Is there a risk of not nailing it? 'Cause it's quite, it seems like it's quite even. - It's quite even. People might say that's a good thing. Like you're gonna get a good player, 'cause they're all good. But we know that's never the case. There's always a few that fail the hype. So look, the record recently is good. We need to nail it. We absolutely need to nail it. I don't know what they'll do. I follow the draft very closely. I don't even know what I want. It's crazy, but yeah, no. Interesting game between two teams, that both can't halt a lead. So yeah, we just were on the short end of it, but kind of disgusting how it ended. But anyway, lines be giants, man. I wasn't watching this one 'cause I was watching North, but what happened there? - Well, lines came out of the box and dominated the first quarter. Like really, really dominated, like crazy amount. And you think to yourself, well, here's your flag favorite. And then three quarters passed where the giants absolutely dominated the lines. And you're like, well, here's your flag favorite. But it's just, that was a weird one, man. Because to kind of turn it around like that, a second quarter for the giants. And just kind of really do all the scoring for the rest of the game. Um, then I think that giants kick something like 80 points to 30 in three quarters, which is a nylation. And that's, yeah, that's at the gabber too, right? - It is, yeah. - So yeah, look, we've talked about the gabber not necessarily being a fortress for the lions. But I just think the giants, when it all clicks for them, I just think that they look invincible. - And you can say the same about the lions as well, right? And it's one of those games where both teams got to show their best football, but the giants did it for three quarters and the lions did it for one. - Yeah. - And that's the result. - The most interesting thing for me, like definitely that first quarter, but when you look at three quarter time, Brisbane's up by eight points. And you're thinking despite throwing away the lead, despite the fact the giants have come back strong. In that third quarter, it was one goal four to two goals one. So you would think, oh yeah, the lines have stated it. Going to the last quarter, pretty much tied game, but they're up by eight. - And then that last quarter is probably the most disappointing part of the game for the lions. Like they did not show up to it. One goal for six goals straight for the giants. - It's crazy. I mean, like there's a couple of teams this round that really faltered and like gave up a big opportunity to set up their season. But the lions have done that 'cause I don't think they're even seeing the top four at the moment the lions. - No, they're falling out now. - They're falling out. So if you know, at three quarter time, they're in prime position to maintain their top four spot. And then, you know, the round ends in the fifth and the giants are third. - Crazy. - So look, two points separates those two teams, but there's only two rounds left. So I think that we can probably talk about it throughout this round, but I think the latter might be set. - You reckon? - Yeah. The positions though are all up in the air. Like I really have no idea who's going to like find their way into the top four. But the Brisbane Lions and Fremantle, and I probably the only ones that can make it now that the Bulldogs lost. But looking at this, looking at this later now, Sydney Port Giants are long, Brisbane Freo Dogs Hawthorne. I don't know what type of maniac you'd have to be to pick that order and that top eight at the start of the season. - No, never. - But yeah, look, very disappointing loss from the lions and a very good effort from Giants. And just go just to show it's still two rounds left, not clear who the best team in the comp is. Who are you most scared of in that top eight? - I was going to bring this up later. I've actually got a prediction for, not who I think is going to win it, but I've got a grand final feeling of who's going to appear in the grand final. It might surprise you, right? - I think the Giants are the best team in this top eight, in my opinion. - You think so? - Right now. - I was going to predict them in the grand final, but the other team I think is going to surprise you, because I know you don't really rate them. But I think Geelong. - Nah, and I can't see it, bro. - I'll tell you why. - They had a really impressive win. - I'll tell you why. And when actually transition perfectly again, right? - By the way, unbelievable victory from Geelong. - Yeah, and here's why I think they can make a grand final, because if they're anything, they have, of all the teams in the finals now, an experience of playing in a grand final, and winning a grand final in the last two years. Brisbane lost last year, but they're not at their best. We know their defense isn't fit enough, probably to win it. The cats, meanwhile, have been there recently enough for me to think it's possible. And they've got the young talent, we've always doubted the young talent's not coming through. Now they've got guys like Dempsey and Sean Manner, I don't know if he's an experienced FIFA player that they recruited or if he's young, but nonetheless, there's a freshness to the team there. Cameron looks possessed, like he's playing arguably his best football in the last two or three years. So I just think, like, when it comes down to it, they've actually got the know-how to at least appear in that grand final. And not a lot of the other teams can say the same, both with finals experience and success. So, I don't know, I've just got a feeling. - I don't have to have the worst midfield to find a way. - Well, we keep saying it, man, but then they play Frio's midfield, and at the very least they break even. - Well, the thing about this game round is it wasn't, I would have thought the game plan before Frio is to keep it tight, keep it contested, and let your balls in the midfield smash up on Jollong, but it was actually an extremely transition-based game. And Frio really went back to their kick-to-kick top of way to move the ball, and to find opportunities to slice and dice. But that just didn't do it as effectively as Jollong. Like Jollong, just their counter-punch abilities as good as anyone's in the comp. - And that's because their defense is so stable and strong, man. - And they're really high skill. - Yeah. - But yeah, they were so aggressive in their transition. And it looks so much more deadly than Frio punching from their back after their four-and-a-half. And that's kind of what I saw the difference in this game. They just rebounded stuck at least twice the speed of Frio. And you could just see in Frio's stats, I love every time I look at Frio, I love seeing Luke Ryan and Jordan Clark's stats. And Heath Chapman and Corey Wagner as well, all got the ball, it's all back-off players. And when Frio's at their best, they're not doing that. And just interesting, like Sirong had 22 possessions and three goals. He was their leading goalkeeper, Sirong. Now, Sirong's a gun, but typically a Sirong stat line and a racial stat line looks like 35, 40 possessions. They had 20, 22. And that's because it wasn't in the contest. And you allowed someone like a Rhys Stanley to kind of break even with Luke Jackson in the rock, which is not something that you typically expect, right? - Yeah. - So I think it's good coaching from Jelong to be able to execute that type of game style. When really, if they match the contested style, I reckon Frio would have a massive advantage. And the other player I want to highlight, if Jelong is to do something this season, they still rely on Patrick Dangerfield. And look at like, there are a couple of players in the competition that are old fights that are still performing. Danger's one of them, Zorco, Travers Bogi still all right, Pendlebri and Cybot, I'm still good. But if you look at Dangerfield versus V, which has been like a, you know, a hot contest throughout their whole career, there is no comparison in the impact between those two players. V has to retire, he's just doing nothing. Dangerfield only had three more possessions than V, but like 10 times the impact. Contested marks, you're still messing up goals as well, and it's still almost best on. - Yeah. - So, yeah, that guy had just... - And well, my point exactly is this man, like they've got the know-how, and Dangerfield, we know he's not peak Dangerfield right, but he can do games like this. - He can. - And there's only six games to go now on their way to a flag if they were to go that far. Plus, potentially, if they win a pre-game a bind between, to freshen up. So, I don't know, man, I think the point about the midfield is a good one, but at the end of the day, they beat Frio in the clearance. In all the clear, like stoppage, center clearance, and so on. And a lot of, pretty much all their midfielders, bar dangerfield are defense-first midfielders, like Atkins, Bose, Holmes, they'll throw in there. Like all of them, at the very least, wouldn't get destroyed by a better midfield in terms of like your creeps going forward and Walsh, whatever, will hurt them. But if you can at least break even, which is what they do most weeks, the rest of their team is so solid. They've got one of the best key forwards, one of the best small forwards in Stengel. Defense is solid. I don't know, man, I would be worried about playing them just because they've been there and done that. And they're the least like volatile team in the eight, I think, like their best and their worst doesn't come up as often. - Yeah, that's probably true, that's probably true. - So, it's interesting, man, but great win away. Can I just say as well, the Frio jerseys were very sexy. - Oh, yeah. - Why aren't they wearing that every week, man? - I don't know, man. - Crazy. - Took me back to the Pavliger days. - Oh, man. - And the Sandaland days. - Right. - So hard to send. That was Jafarmer days as well. - Yeah. - If you want to go that far back. - Jeez. - Crazy. Oh, man. It's time. The S1N game. - I'll be careful not to go so hard because I'll sound like a Hebrew Crete in two games time, but. - Yeah, look, maybe this is one for me to go harder than you, but let's just... (laughs) - Look, trust, trust the S1N, man. - Ooh. - Trust the S1N to find a way to lose to the S1C. Didn't you say that in your thing? - I said in the solo part last week, you're correct. I said I really want to tip Gold Coast because it would be classic acid in, but the amount of shit I gave you for tipping Gold Coast away, I couldn't be a Hebrew Crete. - Yeah. - But I felt it in my bones this one, man. And you know what's funny? So do the acid in fans. Man. Oh, in that last quarter, like to kick one gold nine, just in any quarter, is the funniest thing I've ever seen. Like one gold nine does not happen, right? - No. - To kick that in the last quarter where you're killing the other team. And I was watching that game like Gold Coast suck. They did this last week against West Coast. They just figured out a play in the crunch. Their structure is out the window. They're horrible. And you still let them win. And Waterhoek bike on the end of the game by Mack and Andrew. - It's amazing because it's one of those photos in the end. You can kind of just trace Mack Andrew following the ball. And he's the only one that looks likely and he's going, he's run 15 minutes to try a market. Unbelievable. - Insane. And the kick wasn't a good one either. Like on the TV, it's like shitties missed. And then it sales in. Ah man, look, all I have to say is this. And I'm gonna say all I have to say, but I've got a few more things to say. My first thing to say is this, right? Brad Scott, when you need it most, will not deliver. I said this all year. I've said it last year, it's facts, right? They've said all year, they've learned from last year. We always were suspicious about that. What did they learn exactly? Same exact slide as last year. And I wouldn't be surprised if they got a belting in the next two weeks, just to top off, right? Essad and Edge earlier in the year. Where's that, all right? This team is cursed, like, and I'm not even saying that as a joke. I actually think like something is haunting the Essad and football club. - Yeah, well, I kind of feel the same thing about the Blues men. I kind of like-- - Yeah, it'd be great. - It's one of those ones where it's like, what will it take to make this team successful? And Essad and fans don't have the answer. They thought that they had the answer, they don't. Carlton thought they had the answer last year as well. They don't. There is something about these teams that I know what it feels like. Like, I actually know even I hate Essad and I know what it feels like. And the fans would be just thinking just in disbelief because it's almost inevitable that they took this dive. And it's also hilarious and interested in fashion for them to have a really big win last week, to give themselves just a chance, right? Just a chance just to blow it to Gold Coast. Like, it's just, they do all the hard work and then like, just the easy beat stuff right in front of them. They just can't follow through. - Yeah. And here's the thing for me, right? Like, they've gone out of their way and I'm gonna call this guy, and actually two guys out right now, right? You've gone out of your way. You've recruited Goldstein. You've recruited Mackay. And I'm gonna call them out respectively. Respectfully, sorry. Because I understand maybe why they left. Obviously North's not doing well. In Goldstein's case, he knew Jerry was about to take over. In Mackay's case, he was tired of losing fair enough. I disagree. I think you need to be the reason for change and not just bail, but fine. But Goldstein's gone there. Brad Scott's recruited him there to be the veteran presence, right? And when he was in the team, correctly if I'm wrong, it looked pretty good, right? He was doing okay. Now they're deciding to roll in the crunch time with Draper and Young Ruckman, who's barely established himself in Bryan, he's his name, right? He's doing okay. But you've recruited Todd Goldstein. If you want to play the two-pronged round. - Can he, Goldstein injured or no, it's not injured? - He's in the VFL, right? - Oh, wow. - You've also got Peter Wright, who's been a dead-eye kick for you and a great mark in the 50, but you're instead blooding Nate Cady. Who's a good player? My point is this though. And by the way, Ben Mackay, he's gone to play finals or whatever. Massive vowel there, my friend. - Yeah. - But also, nice and helpful, right? You're saying the team's got no leadership, dropped. So Brad Scott needs to look in the mirror here and say, what do I want to achieve with this team? Do I want to just wait for the slide to happen and then say, well, look, we're projecting for the future? Don't lie, man. You want to make finals, you want to win finals. Of course you do. Yet you're dropping your experienced players and blooding the youngsters at this time of the year. And Cady could be killing it for all I care, but like the point is, Peter Wright is a big boy, he's established, he's a handful. Against his old team, would have been great to play against the Suns. - Yeah. - Right? Goldstein would have been excellent to handle wits when Draper just run around, run a bit of a mark. Like he did. Fair play to him, he actually played pretty well. But like you're relying on guys then, like Jake Stringer, who's not to be relied upon. You're relying on Langford who's disappeared second half of the year. So I don't know what these guys expect like, and it's all, like if I was a bonus fan, I'd be wanting Brad Scott out. I think there's reason enough to say, this guy doesn't know how to lead us to where we need to get to. - Yeah. Look. - Yeah. It's looking on the outside, it's hard to know what their issue is and where their improvements are gonna come from. Like is it a play that they're missing? Is it the way they play? Is it a mental thing? If it's a mental thing, it's probably the hardest thing to fix potentially. - I think it is mental. It is. They've recruited aggressively for years now. And it's got them nowhere. So man, look, while onto the Suns, they played like dog shit and still somehow won. Like that's hard to do. But it is a man. I do feel for some bombers fans that I know shout out to me, shout out a few others. But after the siren, to lose like to have your season lost after the siren as well, where you just got a 15 to 20 second period, would you just question your whole existence? - Well, I felt like that from a meaningless north loss, that was close. I couldn't imagine what that felt like. Insane, man. But no, look, it's funny, but at the same time, for me, I just can't believe it. Like this year of all years. - I can't believe it, man. Because we were looking at that team and we're saying they're no good for ages. - Yeah. - It just took right to the end for them to be exposed really for what they are. - Yeah. And here's one thing, actually, that Matt's ascent, right? Essident has not left Melbourne to play a game since they last played Gold Coast 10 rounds ago. - Wow. - So that's an extra funny thing, shout out, Matt's efforts sending me that. These guys have not left Melbourne. - Yeah. - For two and a half months and they've still botched this and they've lost to Gold Coast who hasn't won away. They've lost to the Saints. They've lost to the Crows. All teams outside the eight. Red carpets and understatement, man. Like this has been rolled out for them like no other. - Yeah, that's without a doubt. - And they've botched it. - Yeah. - Look, at the end of the day, they don't have anyone to blame but themselves, right? - Correct. - This is just something that's in their own hands. It's not unfair, it's not like Adelaide last year where they got robbed and Sydney took that spot. Like there's none of that. There's no crazy free kicks, there's no nothing. It's just them. It's just them. It's just them doing what they did last year and every other year. And I just don't know what's gonna change with this team. - It's crazy, man. - One more thing I'll say actually about Brad Scott, I watched these press conference because I knew he'd spew up some political stuff and he didn't not disappoint, especially because I've heard this multiple times as a North fan. I've actually heard him say these words. - Believe it or not, George, the players are hurting just as much, even more than the fans are. That's his quote, right? - Is that when he got asked on what he said behind the closed doors and it's like, well, that's why it's closed doors. - Yeah. - Oh, look, he's a smart guy. You know, he's had a talk, Brad Scott, but like-- - What about when he said, well, would you prefer us go zero and six and storm home? Is it like the only option is storming home or capitulating at the end? What about just a consistent season, buddy? - I think the fans would appreciate consistency of beating teams you should be, not throwing away games, not making excuses, but it's all good. Trust me, fans, the players are hurting even more than you. If that's hard to believe. - It is hard to believe. - So it's all good. Let's move on from this bullshit, but. So Port got the job done. The other game that was on at this time, also a close one, but it was a grubby game. It wasn't good football to be honest. - Hard to watch, man. Again, Melbourne fans, like, there's no weather excuse this time around. And that was actually like a beautiful weekend. Like, where are the Melbourne fans? That was a bizmo bro. I've seen more fans that like, I was kick. - Disgusting when you consider as well that they're not now, but a few weeks ago, as badly as they've been playing and like the injuries they've had, finals was well and truly on the cards. If they just strung together a few wins, like the dogs did and so on. But yeah, right, the fans pour as to not show up, right? Did you see how many seagulls there were? - Yeah. - I've never seen so many seagulls in my life. - Because there's no people to scare them away, I guess. - No, that's exactly why. Crazy, the seagulls are like, it's just another day of the week. We can just live here insane. But now look, pretty interesting game if you think of like what Port had to play for. They really needed to win that game, right? - They did. - Horn Francis. - You can play it, you can play, man. - He can play football, he's a powerful unit. - He's only like a second of it, second of it. - This will be his third year, yeah. 'Cause he bailed on us after year one, he's played in Port for two years now, yeah. - He's a gun player, look, the fact that he can get those like 20 possessions, two or three goals, he's huge for a team. He doesn't need to be getting it like 30 plus like Rosie and Pat is due. - No. Yeah, look, it's just one of those ones where Port fans will go, I hated watching that, but we did what we needed to do. And Melbourne like, Melbourne really could have won it. I mean, it's one of those games where you just go and just carry it and did everything you could. - What a boy. - Yeah, I just, same kind of story with Melbourne, like they're up there, they're just like a little bit of star power, I think. I mean, you look at their best player or, or go on the best player, but the best player in previous years, Oliver, Oliver looks like worse than he probably has all year in this game. - 16 touches, yeah, you're right. And the thing is with him, like I said it a few weeks ago, it's one thing to miss out on the preseason with all the issues he's had. It's another thing now to be at the end of the season and not have built into it by now. Like what's going on there? - He's miles off. - I don't believe that's any more to blame like the officers and like, what's going on during the year? You've had months and months to get back in shape. - Yeah, I don't know. - So, crazy to me, Pickett had an insane game. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. Look, I really would like Pickett to find a way to produce this type of form way more often because he's extremely talented and he's got rank and vibes, right? And you see what rank and has done playing in the midfield this year. There's no reason why Pickett can't find a way to provide, to be that X factor and give their midfield a little bit of a different look. Like he's a player that, when looking at this list, there's so much growth to come from him. - Yeah. - And interesting ones, Jack Billings has now played a full year at Melbourne. He hasn't been the team much. That's a fail. - Yeah, I don't know how much they were expecting that to actually work, to be honest. - He's, you know, as a Pick 2, that Pick 2 has kind of carried his name for a very long time. But yeah, he's, I don't think that he's really got it. - Nah, not anymore. Not for the modern game anyway, it's too chaotic for him. - Yeah, just looking at the other players, there's a lot of kind of just names in here that you're just not really sure about with Melbourne, but you know, there's still season bodies. Like players like, who is it? Tomlinson, Marty Hall, Daniel Turner, Blake Haus. - Well, Hall's playing like north of the AFL for the last two years. - Yeah. - So I don't know what they're expecting him to do. - I mean, Vine is still good, Salem's still handy. Neil Bullen always gives a big effort. I don't know, man. I feel like they just need to reinvent there this little bit, bring some excitement back into it, but there's still enough bones here to be a good day. - I think they definitely need to, I would get rid of Oliver. I know he's on a massive contract. They're gonna have to probably pay to get rid of him, but I don't see any benefit of keeping him around. Like he's obviously not setting a good example if he's not able to get in shape or yeah. - Yeah. - Gorn carrying, Patrika will carry them, Pickett's exciting, Van Oryan's good, but like, you're right. There's a, and Mayan lever obviously. But besides that, there's probably a good five to 10 players. They're just like, jeez, we really need to fix this up. - He's so smart though. They could do something like a Jelong and find themselves back at the higher remarks of the season. Relatively quickly, they could, if they were smart about it. Like they still have the bones of a list and the maturity to be a good team. If they can find a way to do something that Jelong always finds to do. I don't know if they've got it in them. - Yeah. - I don't think they've demonstrated that they've got that ability Jelong has, but they're like a middle of the pack team at the moment that has bones that just has, you need to put muscle around that bone. - It's, I agree with you completely. I think Jelong, I mean, look, they've never been bad as long as I can remember watching football, right? And I think there's a reason for that. Obviously what goes on behind the scenes is the answer. I don't know if they can do it. Like even Sydney, just always good somehow, even when they have one down year, they bounce back. - But they've got extreme talent everywhere Sydney. - I'm just saying like throughout my life, seeing them never get really bad, besides maybe once or twice. Like, I don't know, man. I would agree with you. They need to just redefine their list a little bit, but it's going to be hard. It's very competitive. Like trying to attract players to Melbourne, you don't usually think of going to the Ds. And look at their crowd as an example, why? Like, disgusting. So we'll see how we go. Port on the other hand, they've got themselves a second now, which means they're playing at home if they keep it up in two finals games. So. - I don't know about Port like. They've been swept the last few years, man. They need, they can't let it happen again. - Yeah. - But they're there. They've done well to get there. So that's fair play to them. - Look, they're definitely a team that has peaked at the right time. They're kind of like the Bulldogs if they've come in and they've started to play really good football over the last, like six weeks or so come into the right season. They haven't been that amazing this year, but I'd say that they're playing there better football now. - Yes. - So. - That's actually true. - I mean, like what they did to Sydney was ridiculous. They destroyed the Bulldogs a couple of weeks ago as well. So yeah, I mean like the idea of Port winning the flag this year just doesn't compute in my head. I just, I can't say how that's a possibility, but it technically is, I don't know. - True. - Now I would agree with that. All right, next game. Rip the bad day off, George. - It's amazing. - It's you, man. - Look, bro, all right. To be honest, I'm not sure what you really expect from me. Like I don't know what to say. - I want you to get angry, George. - No, I'm not getting angry. - Like I actually can't provide any analysis with input. I don't know what to say, bro. - No, I feel you have to. - Like I'm not actually sure what to make of this game. - Do you like me to start you off because... - Well, let me just say this, like, I fully expected Colton to win this game. And I expected us to win this, win the next two and be in contention. And I've kind of expected Colton to just win the last couple of games and they just keep not doing it. And boy, did that look bad today. But the annoying thing, one of the annoying things about this game is the fact that I don't know how much of the performance is down to injury. And I will never use injury as an excuse as in, like, if Colonel didn't play. But when your players are injured during the game, that is an excuse when half the list is injured. And you say, all right, it wasn't, you know, Hawkes were out playing you. Well, yeah, but Jack Mine got injured in the first quarter, Fogarty got injured in the first quarter, and Boyd got injured in the first quarter. Now, they didn't all get subbed off in the first quarter, but Boyd played most of the game. He didn't touch the ball. He did not have a possession. This guy was like a traffic cone. Right, Fogarty's our pressure forward. Two possessions knocked out by Jack Mine. Jack Mine, he got a hamstring by probably being rubbed down by the trainer. He got a hamstring. That's how easy it is. Like, Charlie Kurnow, he got injured in the first minute of the third quarter. Adam Sard hamstring, Mitch McGovern was off, period of time, like, it's an awful effort from Carlton, but like, I actually turned it off in the third quarter. And the reason I turned it off is because, I don't know what did I expect this team to do at this point. Like maybe like in the first quarter, or I changed the way you play, but in the third quarter when you're down massively, and there's no one on the bench, like I can't scream at the screen and say, "Boys, pressure." I can't do that when you haven't been off for 20 minutes, you know what I mean? So it's almost gives them somewhat of an out, or almost, I don't know exactly how to explain it, but it's like, that is to not the, like if this was a complete team with no injuries, could Carlton have found a way to win that game? We don't really know, because they were challenged from the first quarter with injuries bad. And Hawthorne is a running team, and they run us off our feet, and we didn't get an opportunity to rest at all during that game, so we're just never gonna win, we're just never gonna win that game. So to have your season come down to a game where, in a way, it's almost like during that game, I don't know how much of that was in Carlton's control, and maybe that's just a wrong opinion, and I think most Carlton fans would be saying, future effort, like seasons of the line, where are you, show some heart, but I'm probably a little bit more realistic. In this instance, in this specific game, now why Carlton are in this position now, where they've lost five of their last six games, wherever it is? That's a different story. In this game, I just don't know. I just don't know, man. Like, you say that there's no forward structure, but the whole forward line's on the bench. They're not tackling, not pressure, they don't have any space, but they can't run. I don't know, man. You tell me what you think, but I just think if there's ever an injury, excuse, this game was an injury excuse. - I hear you, but if I'm being completely honest, watching that game, if all your players were in, bench injuries and whatnot, like no one got injured, I think instead of losing by what did you lose by the N74, I think you lose by 45 or 50. I don't think it would have been-- - You still think it's a 40 point loss. - I don't think it would have mattered, man, and I'll tell you why. Hawthorne played their game style to a tee. It pressured you like straight dogs flying over a chop on the street. - Yeah. - Right? They had 20 marks inside 50, lowered the eyes every time, hit up open men every time. The Blues defenders were at sea, man. So I just think like when a team is just tactically overrunning you, and like they, and some of the transition goals they were getting was ridiculous, like from defensive 50, random pinpoint torque up the field. - I saw that one. - Yeah, and then one more kick, and then one more kick to like two guys running into the open goal. That's called a structure breakdown. - Yeah. - But it's sort of defined by Hawthorne's play, and then Carlton breaking down there after, not so much by Carlton just not showing up for like a better term. So I think even if you were fit and firing, I think the better team was always gonna win that game, and it was Hawthorne, and I tipped Hawthorne not because I don't think Carlton's a good team, but they haven't warranted a tip for a couple of weeks, and I haven't been playing well. Colonel, I mean, think of it this way, man. No other team has Colonel, right? So what does every other team do to score goals? No other team has Aaron McCoy, right? - Well, this is a thing. Like I just don't get, I get what he's saying, I just in this instance, I just, I don't know, that level of injury, I just think it makes it hard for me to, I don't think any good team would find a way to win that game with that injury list. - I agree with you. - This is a specific game, right? But at the same time, if I look at the game a little bit more, right? You're right, in the way that the way Carlton played is, similar to how they've been beat in all the previous games over the last thing, they just always look like they're playing chasey in the midfield. Like it's great three-cam when you're playing footy and you're just chasing the bigger boys. They're always under pressure, they seem to make the wrong decisions, they seem to just kick it under pressure while the other team always has space and structure. That's gotta be coaching or something going on. But I haven't been able to work out watching Carlton, but what exactly is wrong? If they just look awful, they just really look awful and there's only like one or two players that look like they know how to play the game at the moment. And it's not Walsh, right? And you look at Curno and Curno's, it's Curno to blame, is it the ball movement, is it the space? But like what I just don't get about this team is, they've got two of the best fours in the comp, they've got arguably the best meet in the comp and they've got one of the best full backs in the comp. And they're gonna miss the finals. And halfway through this season, they will tear it as the flag favorites and the best team in the, like, how does this happen, man? We talk about Esonin, like Carlton's capitulation is way more embarrassing than Esonin. This is one of the biggest fails we've ever seen. - Well, you've got an abomination. - Yeah, you've got a better list and you were in that same position as them, top four, you know? - Clear second, bro. - Clear second. So, look, you're right, man. How many years are we gonna say, like you've got these gone forwards, gone back, gone mid, like, in my opinion, just as an outsider, your players, and you've said it yourself as well, but sort of, you know, positive light, like, they're brutal there. When the pressure's on, they're big boys. I think you just need more skill. - Yeah, we do. - And better, like, higher IQ players, 'cause Hawthorne made ball movement look easy. Like, when you watch a team play that well, it's like, oh, yeah, that guy's open. Bang, 30-meter kick. Oh, yeah, now this guy's open. Humbled to him. - I don't think football has to be that complicated, man, but we've had the same problem of bombing into the fourth line. For as long as I can remember. And it's almost like, you can get away with it, because you've got really special players, like Mckine, Kerner, they can do contested work that most people can't. But yeah, it's just, there's something wrong, and I think you're right. I've said it, there's no substitute for class. You look at someone, like, in your own team, she's a whenever he gets the ball. Isn't it crazy how it just happens to make things happen? - Exactly, right. - Our version of that is obviously not to the same extent, but Elijah Hollens this year has come in and shown what class can do. And like, that just means in the form of taking your set shot or finding an option in the middle of the ground. But when you watch him do it, you go, "Oh, that's refreshing." 'Cause the rest of the team can't do it. We just got headless chooks, man. We've got dumb footballs. And we've had dumb footballers since for Voloman, like... - But the thing is as well, man, like, you said yourself, like, it's a high quality play that makes it look easy, but it also is structural. And I think not feeling the players heads up with complicated game plan, 'cause look at Hawthorne. There's no way Warpool, Nukem, you know, Nash, these guys that are on the ball for them are these kind of players that you expect to be leading a class attacking outfit. It's obviously that they're just making it super simple. And guys can just pop out of the know, "Well, I'll calcium deer today, I've set it for all year." These guys come in as a rookie and just play stuff and he's always open. - Other teams just seem to make what Calft does look more complicated than these two. I don't know why. - I think they have two-- - It's too hard to explain, man. Like, I've just watched a team being top eight all year, a premiership chance all year, a top four chance all year, lose their final sport. And they ain't getting it back now, 'cause Kurna's not gonna play next week, sounds not gonna play next week. - Well, I think just-- - Nada's not playing next week. - Hawthorne's got Richmond and North, that says it all. - They've got an easier run than us. House is still a doable run, but we're not gonna have our best plays out there. And it's kind of like, I don't even wanna play finals, bro. - Well, if you make it right now, I mean, eighth play is Brisbane in fifth. That's the Gaba, what's the point of that? - Well, why aren't winning that? - Yeah. - In elimination, so. - Do you think Vos is in the hot seat now? 'Cause like you said, it's an embarrassing capitulation. - Look, I don't think Vos is a good coach, man, but what I'm saying is, there's nothing we can do about it. Like, you can't get rid of him. You just gotta find a way to work with what he's got, but-- - I think you can, man. Adam Simpson's available. Primarily she winning coach. Don't get it done. - No. - Why not? - If the answer isn't, I can't be like that, man. - I know you've been through it, but like, when you were going through it, the team was never ready. Like, the team right now has played in a pre-lim, and they can play good football. So, I don't know, man. Simo's been there. He's had good forward line in the past. - I don't know what the answer is. I actually don't. No, but it just seems like if we just don't win the ball in the midfield and get it forward with speed, there's no other option. And we've actually been a really good transition team this year. We've won, like, at some point, or most of the year, we've been the best transition team scores from defensive 50, which is not our DNA. I don't know why that that's the case, right? But we've had a good turnover system, but now it just seems like we can't get the ball out of our 50 to save ourselves. We can't win the ball in the midfield to save ourselves. And we're just, other teams are able to make us feel like there's just no time or no air or no space to do anything, and we just hospital-ham ball each other. No wonder we're all injured. - Yeah, I don't know, man. Like I said, I turned it off. - Fair enough, man. - Because nothing was going to change. Like there's just nothing that could have happened. - Yeah. - But yeah, if you expected me to say that we're going to always buy 70 points to Hawthorne, no, I didn't expect that. - No, I don't think you should ever predict that. What I will say is on that 70-point margin, the disgusting thing, especially, is that you're tied on points now, but you threw away that at the percentage lead. - Don't know. - And that's why Hawthorne's in the out right now, on percentage. - I know. - Because they belted you. - I know. - So it's bad, man. Anyway, it's almost impossible now. And the only way you'd do it is if you have two bigger wins and Hawthorne wins there next year, but you just win by more. Which at the moment, with your forward line depleted, does not look likely. - It's not happening, man. - So, sad, man. - I wouldn't be surprised if you lost to the Eagles next week, man. - You might, you might, yeah. - Yeah, they're hard to beat there. - Yeah, true. Next game, we're not going to talk about too much. Sane's got the job done against Richmond. It's close in the beginning. Richmond sort of did that thing with a put up a fight, which is fair play to him, but they just don't have the list right now. - I mean, that's three million points, man. - Just quickly on them, though. So, Dusty's gone. There's heavy, heavy rumors that Baker and Rioli are gone. Maybe even Chai Bolton. That's the one I think is least likely, but maybe, and Jack Graham gone. So, that's five very experienced players out the door. Lynch can't stay fit. They're going to bottom out hard. They're going to have lots of draft picks, but they're going to bottom out big-time American. - Well, I don't know. Maybe that's what I need to do. - I don't think they have an option. - So, yeah, unless they can recruit and get heaps of experienced players wanting to join them, which I cannot see, they're in a bit of trouble. Saints, on the other hand, sort of ending the year a little bit more strongly. Last week was a bad one, but, you know, they've got the list to be able to compete in that mid-table sort of space, but, again, with them, I don't know where the improvement really comes. - You don't need the one. - 'Cause guys like Wang and Emilera have announced themselves now, like he's kind of what he is. I don't see how he can get too much better. Steels, who he is. Oh, one's can get better, but he's not really that high-position player anyway. So, I don't know. Phillip, who was out today? But the Saints, for me, I think they're going to be stuck in the mid-table on this. I can find a few gems out of nowhere. - Yeah. I mean, they demonstrated like, like any team this year, they demonstrated that they can play good football when they're on. But, I mean, they've had a disappointing season, like they finished six last year. - Yeah. - But it just seems like the rest of the comp has improved that are faster, right than them. - Not for sure. - And then the last game. So, man, right when we thought the dogs were going to push on, maybe even make the top four, they stuff up as well. - I actually tipped that late in my personal test. - Yeah, you're nice. - What was your thinking behind it? - Well, Adelaide are actually complacent with some pretty good football, and the dogs lost pretty hard in Adelaide over a couple of weeks ago. And it just would make sense in this season for a team, another team to just not take their opportunity. So, I just thought Adelaide would find a way with ranking coming back as well. And he's that X-Factor player. We are, no, I mean, Adelaide's just one of those teams where you just can't predict. They can play good football, they can play bad football. Dogs have been like that this year, but as we said, they've kind of found a little bit of form. But they've left themselves open as well. Like, they'd be absolutely burning from that performance. - Yeah. I think just on Adelaide real quick, it's a real shame that when Tex was in his prime form, Foggity wasn't this good, and he wasn't ready. - Yeah, very good play, Foggity. Foggity's career best form. And I think this is just him now, 'cause he's been playing like this all year. You know, they've got Phil Thorpe fit finally. It's just a shame that like ranking at his best and Tex said his best hasn't happened at the same time to see what they can do. - The other player that has really performed in second half of the season is Keys. - Keys? - He's really competent. - Yeah, Rochelle, he's been good the last month as well. - He's gotten better. Look, this is actually, we talked about Saints where's the improvement, but I actually think Adelaide is one of those teams that could bounce back next year. They do have a lot of threats. - I think their high end players are very exciting. - Yeah. - Like most teams though, it's like, what about that last five to 10 spots on your list? But there's no doubt there's talent there. - There's talent, man. - Yeah. - I would agree with you, especially when their talented players are like key forward on ball, your rankings, your Foggity still thought, I think he's the wild card in at all. If he can stay fit or yell, he's shown a lot since coming back. And then yeah, you're right, like guys like Keys, I mean, even their defense, there's all these guys who, when you live in Victoria, for example, they're not even news, right? - No. - Like Warhol and Hinge and these guys, but they're actually very good footballers. - Yeah. Hinge is very good. Michelany. - Michelany is a young player. - Curtin's a young player, just finding his feet now. - Yeah. - So I agree with you. I still don't excuse like the dogs. You look at their stats, right? Like bot, Liba, Trilor, all sort of leading the way in possessions and whatnot, like you'd expect to see. So it begs the question, I didn't watch the game so no fully, but sort of what happened, you know? Like, well, they're conceding 100 points. - I can see 918 and I can see Sam Darcy kicked 1.5. - Oh, did you? - That wouldn't help. Norton got subbed out. Yeah, I'm not sure, man. I'm not sure, but it looks like they just got outclassed. - Yeah, well, they're gonna play North next week. And actually interesting though, like the dogs had 59 inside 50s to 43. - Yeah. - Nine goals, 18. So maybe it was just a case of, they never put on the scoreboard pressure and just at no point in the game did they get close really. So maybe a missed opportunity. - It does look like their midfield that usually gets a lot of possessions was well under though. I mean, Liba 24, Trilor 28, but like he's been averaging like 40s. Where is Ed Richards? Ed Richards injured with 11 possessions and a goal for Ed Richards. So he's down, barely down, no drive from the back line at all. So some of their prime move is just didn't get going this game. - Yeah, fair enough, man. So that's a bad for the round. I've got a question here from our loyal listener of the pod, Chris Inkreat. He asked us, when was the last time the Blues bombers, Tigers and Piers did not play finals in a single season? I haven't done the research to know. - Neither have I, but it is a very away final series, isn't it? - The interstate teams are showing up. - Who's the Melbourne based teams? The dogs and the hawks. - Dogs and hawks at the moment. And Jelong, you could say, Victorian. Otherwise, both Sydney teams making it. - This is going to be the least controversial play ever. It's like, oh yeah, whoever wins it wins it. I don't really care. As long as there's no Collarwood, Carlton, Richmond, and there's stuff. These teams aren't going to threaten. So no one's really going to have an issue with Fremantle winning it. The Giants winning it. - Just trying to think like, it's going to be the least, like it's going to be the taintiest grand final day barbecue ever. Like, who do you want to win now? Who cares? - Well, that's a good point, right? So I've seen Sydney in plenty of grand finals. I've seen Jelong in plenty of Brisbane and Hawthorne, right? I've got family that goes for Hawthorne. So for their sake, I would be happy to see them in it. But other than them. - They're not going to win it. I would like to see the Giants win. Expansion club, they've been around it. They're best football stacks up. So you can't say that they don't deserve it. That would be good. Brisbane, it'd almost be fun to see them fail because they've been up there so long. Free mental, free mental animal. - They've never won one though. - They've never won one. - I don't think this is the one. This is the team. This is the free mental team. - Well, who's in front of them? That's really scary, right? They have to play Hawthorne in their prime. The one only shot they made the grand final. So that was never going to happen. I think how funny would it be, though, Giants V free over the final. Two teams that have never won a flag, mistakes. Both only played in one final. Interesting. Anyway, we'll see in a few weeks, won't we? But yeah, Chris, to answer your question, I've got no idea. Probably never. - Yep. - So there you go. That's actually, let's just say never. I think that's got to be true. One more very quick thing before tips. Wildcard round, next year. Don't like it? - You got a reward consistency, man. You're telling me after all this shit you have a wildcard round and Carlton, Essad and Colling would make for good viewing, actually, because of those names. After having just the shit kicked out of him for most of the season, not deserving to play finals, one of them gets a wildcard chance to win it and not. I don't believe that you earned your right. I'll tell you why I think it almost has to come in. - Ooh. - I'll tell you why, though. I agree with everything you just said, but when you extend the league to 19 and soon 20 teams with probably an NT team, it makes no sense to have 20 teams on a top eight. So I think extending the opportunity to the 10th teams, albeit disadvantaged by an away game, makes sense. - Look, from that perspective, I didn't think about that, actually. - That's the only thing I can say. But if they were to bring it in before Tazzy comes, next year, for example, like where's Tazzy? Why are you doing it now? I disagree. - It is interesting to, we stick with the top eight where we keep adding teams. It does make it harder, just statistically. - Yes. - So I do get that. But yeah, look, I don't, I feel like you've got how many games in a season, 22 games or whatever it is to find your way in. I think that's enough, man. - Yeah, no, that's fair. But I think it's gonna happen. I think when it does come around, people will love it, actually. Unless you're in it, I think the entertainment of it will be crazy. - Yeah. - But yeah, it's almost a necessity, in my opinion, unfortunately, with the extending of the teams. - But I feel it always has to change something every year. - I like my idea better. I've just scrapped the sons, but replace them with Tazzy. But anyway, all right, let's do some tips, Georgie, and then we're out of here. So the bombers are hosting the swans at Marvel. - They're not gonna, they're done, man. They're mentally beaten. - Is this the Giants game like last year where they get pounded? - I think it is. 'Cause swans probably have a second win after finally getting their win. - Yeah. - I reckon they've got no chances in it. - Yeah, let's go swans. Sons are hosting Melbourne? - Unless. - Okay. - Now that the Don's know that they're not gonna make it, this is when they play their good football. - Nah, nah. - Nah. (both laughing) Precious off in a way. - Precious off in a way, but I think the swans, the fact that it's the swans is irrelevant. I think they're gonna just pound them. The sun's at home against Melbourne. I think we got suns there. - Yeah. - Yeah, it's got suns. Giants hosting the dockers. Huge implications of this game. - Yeah, I think the Giants, man. - Yeah, we'll go Giants. Freo, I haven't watched a lot of them this year. When I have watched them. - Freo actually lose their last two games. - Yeah. Well, that would mean they're almost, they're, Freo might actually be the way to get Carlton to the eight. Like I've talked about Carlton today about their season being done, but it's actually technically isn't. And that almost pisses me off more because it's got to watch two more games and still keep one iron finals after that display. But Freo could lose their next two games and Carlton only has to win one to jump Freo. It's actually possible. - We want, no, you're, oh sorry, yeah, you are only two points behind, you're right. - Yeah, we're gonna beat one of the Eagles or Saints. And Freo could, like it's still possible for Carlton to get in from that way. We're talking about Hawthorne, but it could be Freo. - I would agree with you. 'Cause that's a hard game. They're probably not gonna beat the Giants. - No. - And then who have they got the last week? - That's someone dish caught. - Port at home, but nonetheless, Port's got their own things to play for. Interesting, man. - Well, Port will be playing for top four, so they're not gonna wanna let that slip. - No. - I'm not saying that's what's gonna happen, but it's definitely not-- - Well, I think Freo is the worst of the teams in the eight right now in terms of high end sort of ability. I don't rate them as high as I do every other team in the eight. So it wouldn't bother me, put it that way. But anyway, we'll see how we go. So let's go Giants there. Pies are hosting the lines at the G. Lines at the G, not too flash, in saying that I still wanna go to the lines. I think they're forward lines too dangerous. - Yeah, I might have been doing it for lines, yeah. - Calling with the defenses too suspect lately. - They still have that fire in them now that they're gone. - True. Showdowns next. Saturday night. Crazy game. (sighs) You have to tip port, don't you? But I would not be surprised if the characters won. - I'd like to show up for that stuff, man. It's a 50/50 really is. Like I know there's massive separation between them and the latter, but I'd like to show you what they can do. - Where's Matto when you need him, man, jeez. - I'll go port. I'm happy just to go with the team in form. - I think we have to, yeah. We'll respect port enough. Saints hosting the cats at Marvel. Gotta go to the caddies. Doggy is hosting North at Marvel. I'm going to the game. Hope we don't get pantsed, but gotta go to dogs. - Yeah, this is one of those ones where they flexed them on. They love playing you at Marvel, man. - I, historically. I think I've been to more dogs, North games, than any other game, and I hate it. We never win. Please, just give me one win, North. That's not gonna happen. But don't get pants, please. Hawthorn hosting, Richmond. Gotta be the Hawks. Probably large win. - Yeah, I think they'll win the next two, man. - Yeah. And Eagles hosting you guys. I don't want to even be disrespectful here, but it's gonna be a hard one. - It will be a hard game. - And they've shown in the last two games, I know they beat North, and I know they beat the Suns, but if you actually watched the game, they didn't just win because the other team was bad. They forced their physicality upon the other team. I think you'll win, but it'll be close. - I think it's got, really got to do with what team fronts up, like injury-wise, 'cause if Colonel doesn't play, Boy doesn't play, Mighton doesn't play, whoever else was injured, doesn't get up, and we're fielding another four VFL players. It's gonna hurt us. And yeah, I don't have any confidence in this team anymore. So I've been week to week saying no, they will bounce back, will bounce back, but I'm over it now, I can't, after that. - I don't blame you for not having any confidence right now, like how could you? I'm gonna tip Carlton, but my head's almost saying, why are you doing that? Almost, but I'll give you the benefit of the out, that there's still a chance, and that surely there's gonna be a wake up. And let's not disrespect the Hawks, have punish teams the second half of the year. And it was no different for you guys with a shorter bench. But yeah, that's about it, man. Thanks everyone for listening and watching. - Thank you. - Give us a like and sub, as always. Matt, so I hope you're enjoying your Fredo Espresso. - Yeah. - Actually, you're in Cheeky Spain now, so enjoy your payers. - I don't know anything best Spanish culture, but enjoy it. - Whatever it is, man, enjoy yourself. And yeah, thanks a lot of rum, see you on the next one. - See you. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (lively music)