The Lunchtime Catch Up
AFL journalist Ronny Lerner joins the show
Hey guys, it's Ben MacKay here, you're listening to The Lunchtime Catch-Up Podcast. Down and Caulinwell on the trophy, time for fumble, back to Caulwell on the Menzies. Bumbers on fire! He's getting really involved, he goes up barrel, Jackie Strick, and put out the extra sunlight barrel. And he's down from 16. Sam Durham hasn't seen a moment like this in his life. Picked up in the mid-season draft two years ago. Can he handle a moment? Welcome back to The Lunchtime Catch-Up Podcast. The Lunchtime Catch-Up Podcast is two blokes that have known each other forever. We catch up most days in the Melbourne CBD for lunch. Let's talk everything else in the footy club. My name is Grant, and with me is Scott. Hello everyone, good to be back. Look, first of all, congratulations if you're listening to the show after a tough game. I always thought, well said, actually. I had about three messages during the week going, I'm going to try and listen, but I just don't want to hear about it at the moment, so I've got to understand that. So those who are tuning in, well done. So thanks for your time, and look, we'll try and talk through it. We'll try and make this the best we can. Yeah, and look, a bit later on, probably in about 20 minutes time, we're going to have Ronnie Loner, I think he's a Herald Sun editor and Giorno now. So he's a bomber fan, so a really good Giorno. So he's going to come on after the break, try and make sense of that game for us. But we'll talk through it, and as best as we can. Absolutely. Look, where do we start, dude? Where do we start? Look, no doubt for me, that's my, that was the most disappointed I'd felt this year. The margin definitely flat as this, because we're down by 40 points. It was like 30, 30 minutes to go or something like that. And, you know, in some ways, that late flurry, I don't know about other fans, but in some ways, almost annoyed me. Let's give us, indeed, seriously. Look, I'm glad that, I mean, of course, I don't want them to give up, but the urgency that they play with and all that, you're like, you just, it did, it did generally feel like we just let four points slip away. I, I look, I thought Melbourne were good. They were much cleaner in the wet and all that sort of thing, and they were physical, but I still felt like, no matter what, the game was there for the taking. The whole game, it really was. If we, if we showed our normal game, I know people will say, you know, that, you know, I'll wear, you know, that, where there's obviously been a lot of memes and like frauds and all that from fans. And I think it's more, I'm just a more annoyed because I think we should have won the game. If we had the same attitude as we did, you're against calling, we would have won that game. But I think the first thing that comes to mind is which I asked one learner about hearing a Scott, Brad Scott after the game. And if anyone hasn't listened to the Listen, the Ben Jacobs interview after the game, both more on the Ben Jacobs side. That was, that was just, that was me checking around, checking my phone wildly, I'm professional, but let it that out. But yeah, he was, he was really basically just being up front and saying the strategy and the direction and how we wanted to play. The players didn't execute it. And not only that, they didn't really try to. So he looked as flat as I said, Ben Jacobs Scott. I mean, Scott's press has always go for what, 10 minutes. It was four minutes and 20. He did not look impressed. I don't think they, yeah, well, I'm pretty confident. That's the first time the players would have probably got a bit of a talk. Yeah, I was going to say, yeah, a bit of a rocket, I reckon. You know, this is not a game where you go, well, we're 30 more handballs. We're 40 more disposals. The fact is we way over possessed on a wet day. We tried to play dry weather for the, that's the key. That's it. And it's from, from across the whole ground. I don't know. I don't know what, what was going on during the week or whatever. But the IQ in that whole match from the players, because clearly Scott and Jacobs, you can see in their face, that is not how they wanted them to play. They both said we did not play the conditions at all smart. So they just did not adjust. They tried to play like they're under the roof. I think that's one of the key figures. And I reckon Brad Scott, we know enough about him now that he probably would have placed a very well positioned rocket in, in behind closed doors. He wouldn't let him know that, right? I don't think he's sorry, I don't mean to phrase that. It's about to say, I don't think he cares about the loss. He does care about the loss. I reckon it's how the loss happened that he'd be more worried about. He's been focused all year, ever since he's been arrived at the club. His focus is on, on playing the game the way they agreed they would play the game. When we went and did the media day, the players were saying, we're not too concerned about the wins and losses. If we meet the KPIs and we play the game the way we want it to play out, the wins are going to come, which is a very healthy attitude. And it's all fabulous and it's, it's great. If you, if you do what you need to do and you hit the KPIs and the play, you will, the way that the coach and everybody wants you to play. That's when the wins should come, right? They just didn't do any of the thing of the sort. They didn't play the way the coaching staff wanted them to play. And Ben Jacobs's interview was, I agree, was, it was telling because he said it wasn't, he didn't play the way they wanted to, but they didn't even try to do that. So they still have the ability, Essendon. And I've said this because I've pronounced lids being launched and that's fine. But they still do have the ability to have bad, really bad games. And in the wet, we're no good. We are just no good in the wet, right? We have tall marking forwards. We have other markers. Yeah. And that's the other thing, right? There'd be a debate of whether the right was at right at team selection. You couldn't help think at least we're one too many tall, but the, the forwards set up and look, we'll go into the forwards because I think the forwards actually been a real issue lately. They're just not performing. And I get, you know, we've discussed this often, but I get part of it is the delivery. But I mean, just talking about working hard and then just finding separation. And, and, you know, we've just got, you know, girlfriend down, string her down, Langford's somewhat down, right? Not to the right. Just not, yeah, just not there. And they've got to work it out. Lloyd was pretty blunt on right today, saying, seriously, he's just got to man up. We'll just put him in the VFL because that frame that's, that's 106 kilos and playing like he's 96 kilos isn't good enough. You've got to use a frame. It's the reason why he was playing in the twos of the Gold Coast. Yeah. That's why I put him into the twos of the Gold Coast. So the look, there's just areas that, that, you know, the, they're, they're carrying with this cause obviously we've lost four to the last six. So it's not just like, Oh, we're overreacting in one game. It's, they're, they're starting to get a bit of a trend going. And I'm not saying that all the games have been horrifically bad. Which along obviously second half was not great, but they obviously lost a plot with the umpiring in that one, but you know, the Gold Coast sum was a serviceable loss, you would say. And Carlton, I thought was okay. But it's just more happening. Like I said on, on, on, on X or Twitter, what do you want to say? It feels like as the months gone on, we're carrying another guy, like there's almost like one or two guys drop off. And then when, you know, we're carrying four guys. Now we're carrying six guys. This kind of generally felt like 14 guys were out of form. Um, so that's my concern is like, you know, I can't be, I just can't think it's, it's a fitness or tired thing. But, um, and the irony is the last five, six weeks is actually the healthiest of clubs being for years. It's, it's the best apart from Darcy Parish. That's as good as we can put on the park. Yeah. So it's, it's, it's, that makes it to me, probably even more frustrating is that we should actually be, last year, I can understand when the injuries went held to Skeletor, you know, at least you can put some emphasis on it. Yeah. Okay. We're all over the shop, but this year's sorry. No, like we, I'm going to come up against a, um, a Melbourne team with no protractor and no gorn and that sort of stuff. And you come up against other clubs with, with star names that are out of it. Where you look at a calling with, you should have won that because apart from Darcy Parish and maybe Kane Baldwin, that's about as good as it gets. Um, and we should be winning those games. And these are the games now that if we're going to do anything in the finals, if we're going to a winner bloody final for a start off and then actually think, hang on a minute here, we might maybe win the next game. Games like that against Melbourne. I don't care if it was in the wet or not. Games like that against Melbourne against a depleted Melbourne when we had all the tools in the world to try and influence that game. And I, I want to talk about the next person I want to talk about is Sam Draper, because it started in the middle with him every time that had no recognised Rachman, he should have dominated and we should have got first hands on that ball a lot. I'm now officially over and really concerned that the only thing that Sam Draper has, he has two things. One is belt to crap out of the ball in any general direction he wants. And the other one is grab the ball with a lean on the Rachman with his left hand, grab the ball with his right hand and then have no idea what to do next. Yeah, I mean, grab out the Rachman. I mean, I just built it forward. Really? That's it. It's grab it out of the Rachman forward. Yeah, for people who didn't see Jeff White, the X Rachman, tweeted out. Would have been like eight or nine different scenarios where, where Simon Goodwin's really told rivers is to be in a position of Sam Draper, just punching the balls as he can forward. And, and it was very little, what's the word? Very little change from Sam Draper acknowledging it. And that's just, I think that's the frustration is, is probably when I talk about that IQ is like what's happening in the game. Like, OK, you know, you know, three quarter time, a half time. OK, we're like minus eight, whatever it was at half time. Minus eight and clearances. What's going on? Yeah. Like they haven't got a recognised Rachman. So clearly, something's breaking down. Yeah, and he would have seen the ball being whacked directly into the hands or close enough to into the hands of the Melbourne guys. The guys at half time would have gone. Sam, I appreciate moving the ball forward in a wet game is everything. Progressing the ball, moving it forward as all calls. As our mids know, that's your plan of attack. But that's the thing is that if you're exactly correct, if you don't, if, if the likes of the players not stepping up, the likes of Zach Merrick, it's tagged by a half decent tagger in, in Bullen, um, he is been tagged. You've got to have Durham and Shield and all the rest of the guys having a really good game, right? And to have that really good game, you've got to be able to get the ball down their throats to get it out of the middle. And Sam, there was just a huge disconnect between our Rachman and what the hell the, the midfielders were doing, although the midfielders didn't know what the hell he was doing. So it was always no, 50 percent of the time, no, 50 percent of the time, they were just scrambling to figure out where the hell he's going to hit it. Yeah, it's, it's, it's one of the areas I go, surely. Yeah. I mean, if there's ever off season coaching, uh, we, like our Rachs, um, because I'll be honest, I actually thought Brian did the same thing in the VFL. And I was like, boy, do we need some desperate coaching with our Rachs? Oh, and just grab him. Will you please? I mean, I, yeah, I feel like maybe don't play Goldie next year. Just make him an assistant coach and say, you're actually, you're a whole task in your off season. We'll pay the same salary. We would have paid everything, uh, just grab those three blokes. Wasn't any Brian and, and Draper and show them what the hell to do. Because it is very, very little, little times in a game of AFL football, when just whack blindly whacking the ball forward is a good idea. Like if you just, if, if it's a play or if you really, really want to whack it, maybe it can be great, but the amount of times you did it, the only time it can possibly work if it goes over the mids to the half forwards, but that's so rare. I know you've got a volleyball, the thing. And even then, man, like we've got enough of the mids, like we've got the Durhams and the merits and the, and the shields and those kind of guys where we should be looking to put it down their throats, not making them chase a ball that you've just pounded for six to eight feet in any direction. So Sammy, Sammy's worrying me at the moment, like we did say that he needed to perform really well in this game because he's going against some no name, no name, right? He's got to do better than that. Like I don't understand. And he's, he's doing it week after week after week. I'm not sure why he doesn't understand. He's proof I've seen him tap stuff. I've seen him beat a tap right now, honestly, I felt like three or four years ago when I was watching VFL, he had really good. But he was jumping and tapping. I don't know if the more he's got, it feels like, and it can't be this case. I feel like I'm talking a little bit out of my, you know what? But it can't be the case of just, he's a lot heck of a lot stronger now that it almost has got to him and I can grab the ball out of the rack and I can do anything along with it, but it's just, I actually, we need finesse Sam because he's got a great leap and he can get his hand to the ball. He's just going to say he should be getting it there first. He's, you know, but we always seem to have two guys behind him, like in the center bounce and he's tapping it forward. And it just, it's just not too outdated. And we've got a scramble to get the ball. Yeah, and first advantage with the thing. And if you're watching carefully, you can see both Melbourne wings were just sprinting in to actually help because they thought, you know, that one of these punches could go off the side and go to the right or to the left. And so what was happening is Langdon and I forget the really quick guy will come to me, but yeah, was coming in fast. And that was, you know, I think actually there's some stat that like so much of the clearances were actually happening from their wings in the end. So that school wouldn't have a plan for us. And it was just frustrating that we were so handing on a platter. And it didn't feel like a complicated counter. I think I was more frustrated that didn't feel like it doesn't take much thinking to alter what you're doing guys. Okay, fine. At the end of a quarter, you go, all right, Sammy. Cheers. I tried to get a runner out to you, but I couldn't get it out to you. But mate, officially, like, stop doing that. All right. So the series says, I don't care if you've got a contest more. You don't pull the ball out of the thing. But you wrap against some four foot nothing. Noob who doesn't know how to be a rock. Yeah, so stand your ground and tap the ball properly. See if you can tap the ball properly. Don't worry about trying to grab it and kick it out of the air. It's some random kick that's from the middle that's going to go eight thousand miles in the air and just land it half forward. Don't worry about that stuff. Try tapping it. Ask Dylan where he's going to run or until Dylan to run here and you're going to tap it to him because you're going to get first hands on it. So I'm a bit disappointed to Sam's game at the moment. He's all bash. He's all crash. He can take your grab every now and then. He can take your grab and you'll pinch your goal and stuff. But I appreciate the enthusiasm and the jumping and the bashing crash and stuff. But I just want to see more rock craft out of the guy. Yeah, look, before Ronnie comes on, the next part I want to talk about it is a little bit negative again. But it's an area that it's now going on far too long. Is our mid to forward craft. No matter what, we still had seven more inside fifties. And this is happening on repeat now. Is it? We must be almost number one in inside fifties at the moment. Because we're smashing teams in inside fifties. But we're not getting scores. So you know, 56 inside fifties to 67 points. That's really poor. And that was obviously you could tell it was a clear frustration on Scott. But Scott's got a bit of a task there because it's been a pretty running theme for several months now was this issue. I don't know, I'd love to know what it is. I'm trying to, I'm looking down at the forwards thing, what their work rate is. I'm looking at the mids. Sometimes on some occasions, I feel like our forwards are too high up the ground. Like I know there's, you know, sometimes out of a quick back, quick pack, sorry, mid might quickly have to do the release 50 meter kick down the track. And there was just several times, it was just male or lever, but like in 30 meters of space. And you go, actually, where is our forwards? As you want to say, but what did you see when, I know you've got to release the kick and stuff. But even though, but where's our structure though? Because that's a play that can easily happen where you have to just kick it. But where where's our structure of our forward line? Like, why isn't there a guy? You know, sometimes you feel like almost not in the forward 50. Like we're so high up that we just could not get a balanced forward when we had the ball or on a quick counter. So there's a clear disconnect to me is what's going on. Because it was, you know, obviously there was just really poor turnover, just poor kicks from across the field. Bad, bad skills, man. Which was exacerbated in the wet and it was just bad. Yeah, so it's frustrating. It was very frustrating. Make no mistake though, we lost that game. Like we lost that game. If we weren't playing that bad, we win that game. But it's, I don't know if it's- We weren't even physical. Like we're every part of that game. Oh, I think it was disappointing. I thought our physicality, our mental approach. Yeah, it was just, you know, it was across the board, a poor game. And you've still only lost by 17 points. So just 20% better would have probably got you a win. That's it. And that's why I don't know if it's a comforting thing or not a comforting thing to know that we lost that game. We just played real bad. And the disconnect was there on the forwards and we played badly basically and lost it. So I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt too that, yeah, they just, again, they played badly. They're still capable of doing that clearly. And look, yeah, so there was, I mean, how many goals did they get from out the back moment? Like, you go, where is, where's our defender this time? I mean, I said the same thing about the forward line. Sometimes you're like, Melbourne just got a 50 meter kick, milk and would kick at 50 meters. There's a guy all alone. All alone in the forward line. But seriously, 30 meters around him empty. Yeah, so it's just, oh, disconnects everywhere. I mean, obviously then Ben Jacob's mentioned, you know, structures were all over the place. They said they didn't set up our structure to what we planned all week. We don't know why they didn't, but they didn't. So I always, look, and my last thing is, I always get concerned when I start hearing that because this is what truck happened. Yeah, and they just, they didn't do it for me. They started, they started, stopped listing. This better be just a one off, because. If it's not, I hope they place a foot in some bumholes. I really do. It'll be very interesting on, on Thursday night, for Scott, who's very, very traditionally conservative, with, with changes. He backs his plays in. I'll be very interested to see how he approached that game and, you know, will he make some changes? Because we haven't even mentioned some guys who are clearly down on form and have been down on form for quite some time. Yeah, we may talk that about with Ronnie, but yeah, it'll be very interesting. What Scott's approach is Thursday night? Does he back him in again? Or is this the time where he goes, you know, I'll watch for you Phil. Actually, Robert's at half back, played really well, and then going. He's going to want it. He'll be, he'll do the structures we want him to do, because yeah, I just think, I, I hope he does do that. I hope he does get a little gnarkey and go, guys, don't, don't you dare do to me what happened to truck. I don't you dare just start ignoring stuff and not, and not doing what's required of you as a player. Because if you do, clearly the game, the game plan works. But if you don't, you get hammered. Yep. All right. Look, we'll get Ronnie Lanar, Ronnie Lanar on now. Lanar, what did I say? Ronnie Lanar on a line. I said that one way too fast. We'll get Ronnie Lanar on the, on the line. I said, that's, it can trip you out. Straight after this break. Thanks, guys. [MUSIC] And welcome back to the lunchtime catch-up podcast. Now, joining us on the show tonight is a, is a, is a favorite of ours at the, at the podcast. And quite frankly, a favorite of yours as well, from all the comments that we get. What this guy knows has forgotten about, more about football than you and I will ever know. He's from the Herald Sun, the AFL-40 record, and footyology, Mr. Ronnie Lanar. G'day. G'day, Jack, quick to speak to you again. Yes, indeed. Yeah, look, we planned this a couple of weeks ago. So, I'm, firstly, apologize for that. That it happened to be this, this game review. As, as both as possible. But usually, Ron Connolly cops this one. He always complains that he gets the losses. Yeah, next time we're talking to Rowan, it just sort of mentioned that, yeah, it's not just him that we, we get the losses for him. Yeah, I try, I try to tell Ron that, you know, you have a certain fun angst when we lose that I appreciate it. So, look, it's good to have you, Ron. It's been quite a while. So, we do get quite a request to have you, Ron. So, I'm so wrapped to have you back on. Hey, I'm just interested just overall. And look, obviously, the emotion can be on, on what happened on Saturday night. But, what, what are your thoughts so far in SN24? I know like a balanced view of what you've seen. And so far. It seems, it does seem to me that overall that the team is on the right path, right? I mean, if you just look at the fundamentals of who they sort of recruited in the offices. Now, I reckon in recent history, I reckon a lot of essence to point it out, they were to great. Recruiting probably hasn't been the biggest strong point of the SN24 club. But you'd have to say, you really would have to say, Ben Macci, a huge tick, Xavier Dares, a huge tick. Even, you know, Jay Grash will be sick into super, as they say, you know, around that sort of hard-forward and big-field option site. Just gives them an extra option. And, you know, Goldstein said, it's the purpose of the first half of the year, you know? I mean, he was always, I mean, it's supposed to be only a backup rock one, I think. But now, I think they really did overextend him with the Draper injury and that sort of thing. So, I think they nailed all the recruits really well. And if you look at what happened last year, obviously, you know, I'm sure a lot of essence supporters, again, are probably having nightmares and days over, you know, it seems like it could be the same thing could be happening again right now. And I get that because, you know, they're very, they're based on a lot of essence supporters, and they're not going to get ahead themselves. Until they actually see essence in the top eight up to around 24, which is completely understandable. So, the point I would make is, I think, on the back of their pretty strong recruiting, the fact that they're sort of, back to where they sort of almost were last year, I think that is a good sign in a way, that the wheels haven't fallen. I don't think, I mean, if you want to go back to the pre-season predictions across, you know, all the media organizations, I don't think many people would have had essence in the top eight this year. I certainly wasn't one of them, you know? There's a lot not in the top 10. Yeah, well, that's it. And I think back to this. You know, I know that, you know, essence being hovering in the top four, or the being in the top four, you know, it's quite a decent chunk of the season, which has been remarkable. But if you go back to, you know, before the opening round, and someone was to tell you that essence would be heading into round 19, I think most people would be pretty happy about that. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, that's the general view of the season, so far. I mean, we can definitely go into the weeds about the, what happened from the weekend, sure. There's no doubt it has. That's been made deserved. They're right. What happened from the weekend? No doubt about that. But in terms of the general view, like the forest from the trees, as they like to say, I do think underbreds, God, I still think overall, Ephson has a, like, a sort of new-found grit and toughness and edge about them. Would it be an inch? Yes, yes. Oh, there you go. Exactly right. That was yes and yes. What can that say? That was the phrase that we used earlier. Yes. And I think they do play, like, you look at the midfield, right? I mean, over the course of the season, they're guys like Sammy Darmon, Dye Caldwell. They really play like their coaches to play. You know what I mean? It's just a real hard, you know, uncompromising. And you know, even Matt Guelft got bored with his pressure. We need that in his best. You know, just those examples, and obviously, Zach Merritt from the, you know, he's just- Oh, they even say do something a little bit. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. You know, I agree with that too. And it's just that unrelenting, you know, when they're on, when they're on and the pressure's up, F&M is a really hard thing to play against. And I think that's in the mould of their coach. And I think overall, what's the winnily two years into the breath slot right now? It does look like they're on the right track now. I'm not going to say, yes, 100% of it, because you'd be crazy to have given S&R history. But I'll say, yeah, I'll say that overall, it does look like they are heading in the right direction also. Yeah, I think, I think they've got a really interesting month coming up, because we were just talking prior to the, to having your wine. And I was saying like the irony at the moment is our, our losing for the last six is actually when we've been at our healthiest. So that's probably more, probably would be the coach's frustration is, is there any lost parish really last five, six weeks? We're last, we're last year, you know, the wheels fall off, really went down, drebon and down, string went down, you know, so you could put a little bit of balanced argument on it. So I think, I think for me, the next month, the, you know, the, the Saints Freo, obviously crows this week and Gold Coast at Marvel, they need to, they need to finish strong, I think, for me, I think they, you know, not every win has to be spectacular, but I think they've just got to close out the year, as well as they can to not, to not replicate a little bit of last year. So they can kind of go into 25 with more confidence. Like, okay, here's where we were, 23. Now we've, we've, we've gone up a cog in 24, we're more consistent. And then 25, let's see where that goes. That's how my view is. Yeah, cool. But on the other hand, you know, progress isn't always necessarily linear as well. You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, you look at, look at Freo. I mean, there's the case in point, 75, Mr. Files. Now, look at them, I know they had a full loss on the weekend, but they're on the, they're on the doorstep of the top four this year as well. So it can, it can, you know, the exact of it seems fortunate. You know, I mean, even now, I mean, look, it's your long, there's no premium, Mr. Files. Now they're back again, you know, I hear what you're saying in terms of like taking a gradual step by different. Sometimes, you know, it's not necessarily mean. Yeah, there's no guarantee. Yeah, there's no guarantee. That's right. But to your point about the run home, I think you'd probably say, yes, then the probably two in three wins to make sure of it, to make three. Yeah, I'd say two in three. Yeah, three, three to make sure of it. Two might still get them in because they've got the drawer, obviously. But listen, of the next four games, they would probably have to, I mean, they should win at like three, maybe even all four, if they're fair to income, I would say. If they're fair to income, and we'll find out if they're fair to income or not. Because really, I mean, that has been given the golden opportunity to make the finals this year with this run home that they've got. You know, lots of games at Marvel, which I'm sure we'll get into as soon when we come out of the Melbourne Games and move to Marvel and all that sort of thing. But you play what you play, and I'm sure you boys feel that when you attend guessing games at Marvel State, I mean, it really has become, especially the, I don't know if you feel the same way, it's become a real cauldron. And that's the game at Marvel State, and we have 40,000 people there. I mean, they've got 40,000 people to a west coast game a few weeks ago. That has a nice audience. Well, you look at what Richmond attracted against GWS yesterday. I mean, I don't know, different, obviously different portions. But an interstate seems to get 40,000, and it just gets pumping. Like the places of the joint gets pumping when the last one is on a roll. So if they can really harness that energy, I think, you know, there's really, you know, we'll find out they're feeding, because just they're feeding, and they'll win three of them next four, at least, and they should, they probably should make the four on because two very tough games to finish off, with obviously Sydney, which is at Marvel. So, you know, there's Brisbane up there. And you know, Sydney could be the stage where they're so far here on the ladder, they might take it in. You should never know. Yeah, never know. And Brisbane could be in the same situation. Those two teams might have locked up top four spots or whatever. Yeah. And we think that happens at the back end of the season. You know, Sydney's still three four games clear on top. Well, you know, they might want to risk a real stack of their best players. So you just never know. You just never know. Anyway, if they have to ask them for the take, that's all I'll say about that, yeah. Yeah, the fault now, mate. As a journal, and the sort of the contacts and the people that you know, you're in a uniquely unique position to sort of understand what it's like to deal with the Essen and Footy Club off the field as well, right? So access to players and staff and all that sort of stuff. I'm very interested to understand from yourself, what's it like dealing with the Essen and Footy Club from a journal point of view, right? So I'd love to know what it's like now after a couple of years under Brad Scott and this administration to maybe previous years. Has anything like we don't we don't hear much from the from the president. We it's all very much Brad Scott same message. What's it like to deal with those guys now? Well, I mean, in the last couple is actually, I haven't had too much to deal with the Essen and Footy Club. So, you know, I have a dealing with them on occasion. They seem, you know, they've been pretty fine in terms of, you know, what the what they're willing to, you know, how they sort of interacted with junos and how they treat the junos. I've never really I've been in even a long, sort of long view. I've never really had, it doesn't seem like it's changed too much. You mentioned like that, you know, the president and that sort of thing. I think, yeah, I really ever considered the reductions of, you know, late 2022, all that, that huge turmoil. You really, it's really it has calmed down off the alone. You're, you're, you're, that's so often spent. I think I think the infestified domain was a really messy, what do you say? A really messy way to go about. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. But, but I think the infestified domain and, yeah, I mean, you know, we have, backing over old territory, but, you know, obviously we all know that all that change needs to happen. And it happens to, um, happy days. And it does look like the club's on the right part, but who knows. But yeah, it just looks like a bit intense on next day. They're fine to deal with as well. Like I'll probably deal with the more on that side and during the late and that sort of thing. But, um, yeah, I mean, I don't, I haven't had any issues with the discipline club. This is probably other people that deal with them a bit more than I do. That you might want to speak to about that. Hey, um, so let's talk about the Melbourne game. I guess, sorry and goes, should this defense be more annoyed about the last 10 minutes of that game? Because it felt like the coaches were like, I don't know if you heard Ben Jacobs. Uh, on the club website, um, and obviously, you know, Scott was similar, but Ben Jacobs was clearly suggesting the players almost ignored their instructions. So as you could see, clear frustration on what the players served up and to what they taught the guys about the conditions and everything like that, that they basically did the opposite. So you think that they did the opposite of the first three and half points, that we don't? Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Like you can tell the coaches are not impressed how they thought through that game. Their structures that they wanted to set up were not there. So they're, and they're pretty blunt on it and on their assessment on the club website that, um, that the players pretty much what they talked about all week did not happen and didn't even look like they were trying to happen. Well, the thing about the Melbourne game, which I just find astonishing, literally two weeks beforehand, they played in the same conditions at the same ground against your long and okay, that's the Mulligan, you know, you forgive that maybe because of such a bad loss. But two weeks later, you're presented with the same scenarios. Surely you're losing the space. Surely two weeks ago, those lessons would surely be fresh in their mind. And I tell you what, the coaches can say, but I reckon a lot of the, oh, I reckon a lot of the players have to go in and the way they selected that team. Again, they went in with the super tall team in the wet, played, you know, there's a humble, happy game going. I mean, it makes, it makes no sense. You know, you've got Harry Jones and Nick Cox and I are the wing in the, in the, in slippery conditions, um, they're a super tall Ford line. You've got Draper in the rough, which obviously you need to do. But I just think there's a, across the boys, it was just such a tall team. And they said, well, what do they expect? Look at the result. They got smashed again. Don't worry about the final result. They're down by seven goals in the last quarter. So similar, similar to the Geelong game, you know, in their respects. You know, I just cannot believe that they did not learn from their mistakes. Cause it was almost, it was, it seemed to me almost an identical game. And they just did not learn from their mistakes. And it was just extraordinary. They went in way too tall again. And yeah, that's, that's the price they paid. So it's, it really, it really, um, it really commuted me. But obviously, you know, rainy games don't happen so often. But we're just them playing them. And maybe it's got to do with what we're talking about earlier, moving some all the same, they just don't know how to play them away. What areas, what areas are you seeing of late that are concerning? Is the ball movement going forward? Cause they're, they're getting inside 50s pretty easily, but there's not, you know, but it is, is it that kind of area that yours? Cause that's, I think an obvious one, um, and they're losing clearances lately. Cause, um, we talked about it just the previous segment. We talked about our frustration with Sam Draper and the lack of thought process that's going through an opposition team's tactics. And we seem to play right into them. But, uh, yeah, it just, it did, it's the, the, I think we were like one or two and inside 50s for the whole comp, but we just cannot get scores. I mean, this is, this is a broker. I mean, you, you have to get this for as well as the last 20 years, what their biggest frustration would be. It's for delivery. I mean, it's just all the time. I mean, how often does it, does it frustrate you when, uh, you know, they just bomb along to a completely crowded forward line? There's like, you know, there'll be 15, 20 people in the forward line, bomb along to guys that, I mean, let's be honest. I mean, everything's just sold upstairs. Or you know, how many times have paid the right take an A and overhead mark or a pack mark? I can't, we can count on one hand. It's not in these three and A. You just doesn't do it. It's just, uh, very frustrating. And you just keep, I mean, put it on top of that. So you get to justify by the fact that, you know, the board just gets bombed in long with really, doesn't really look like with much care or methods. And then how often do the, when that happens, you know, the opposition just runs it down the ground through their open vacant forward line. They just kick your goal within the first, the second, inside 50 they have after, after, um, we're standing the barrage of, um, aimless, estimate, sorry, 50. I mean, that's been one of the biggest problems that's been set for ages. I mean, even in that common game, I mean, the common game was a, a really good example of how they can adapt, you know, you mentioned that there's a, you know, I think you mentioned that we haven't had the players not adapting in the, in the Melbourne game, but I mean, the first quarter is calling, but there's a real, the, the same thing was happening. And it looked like, you know, when they, they fell four goals down, it looked like, yes, and here we go again, the same thing's happening. You're pumping it long with no real regard and slow ball movement, as you mentioned, giving the opposition just ample time to get back and set up and just clog up the, the, um, the, the effort in the forward line. But then what happened after quarter time, which is, I think was the credit for the coaching team and the players, they recognised that they had to make it down. So what they do, they, they get speed on the ball, you know, they, they, they take things on up the corridor, catch the, catch the opposition back line off guard and lo and behold, they, they create a, a, a whole stack more of a golf story opportunity. So I think that, you know, everyone should really, I mean, and then they sort of had the last career as Melbourne as well. It's amazing what happens when, when, yeah, it's the old, it's the conundrum. You know, when you, when you've got nothing to lose, then you play like, you sort of should have played the whole game. Like, why were you doing that at the start? You know, I, but, um, you know, these are the, the, the conogens that they felt football, but I think it's spot on them. The forward, forward delivery has been essence these issues for a very long, estimate support. Yeah, they would agree with that. Yeah. So, yeah, it's true. How do you, how do you, what's a warrior an excellent fan should have when it comes to finals footy, the MCG, our record at the MCG is just not good. Um, and it's, you know, and maybe that's just open weather, but is there an issue with how much we love the situation at Marvel to everywhere else outside Australia? Well, I mean, it's not Australia. Sorry, sorry. Sorry. Yeah, it's a Monday. You do raise the point, but yeah, we've only one, what, three of the last foot, seven at the MCG. So, and then again, one of the best ones for a long time happened last week, although maybe it doesn't look that good now, give them how conga was looking at the last bit. Yeah, I say this, I was trying to make, you know, a win. It's very much like the stock market, you know, at the time, like these, the stock, the, the, the value is up and up. And then in two, three weeks, you look back, I hang on to the value of that. Win is really bomb it. It's so big. You have to sell, sell, sell. But, um, but, uh, yeah, the MCG is a good question, but then you think about, you know, on the Western Bullock, you know, that there's a team that is also a co-tenant at Marvel Day. We didn't look at what they did in 2016. And, you know, they went back to, they obviously go to the big dance on the, on the, on the big stage, a few times a year. I mean, they beat, uh, they beat Hawthorne in the semi as well. So, you know, if they can do it, then why can't estimate that? I mean, or any other team that's part of Marvel. Um, but I think it's a good point because I, I think overall, without having the numbers, you know, at hand, it does seem like, um, estan's ability overall to play the MCG has, um, diminished. Yeah, it's, it's the move to Marvel. So, especially in, like, May, the last 10 or so years, I mean, they do, they do get a few good wins the MCG. Um, so, yeah, I think if you were like in, in, in, in, in opposition team, and you had a choice where you want to play, you'd pick Mark, or you'd pick the MCG because as I said earlier, Marvel stadium in the estan game has become real, like, it's become like a real culture, but I don't think, yeah, it's pretty interesting. They're probably for fair playing, uh, the MCG and free mail will get their wish. I mean, when's the last time we estimate free mail at the MCG, it's gonna be about 25 years ago. True. Yeah, that must be, yeah, they must be just thinking the world's the luckiest. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, I, I posed the question to our Facebook page, um, via a poll that we're heading towards the end of the season, we have, um, we've sort of stuck with the majority of our players, um, throughout the season, or especially this back half of the season, does maybe, I don't know, there's a, there's a few that are underperforming, um, the likes of righty and that sort of stuff and Perkins and the Perkins and those kind of guys. What would you do? Would you stick with what we've got and try and build that sort of form back in, in the ones, or would you make some changes now? Like, would you, would you sort of give Archie a rest or drop, um, righty, um, down to take half another marks or whatever it is? And if you would drop a few players, who do you reckon is genuinely a chance of making the team? Well, I think, um, in terms of, in terms of, um, selection, I think this week, um, I think overall, uh, across the, the, the team, I don't think Raskott will make for me changes. I've got a gut feeling that he'll think to himself, okay, we're back, we're back under the roof, perfect conditions. Look how well they paid in great conditions against kind of two weeks ago. I think he might hold fire on wholesale changes. I do agree that, I think Americans need, need the rest. I think, um, that's, that's the, he just hasn't been performing, um, very well. I'd like to see, I'd like to see Will setup, he'll get, get back into the team. I think he's a, he can be a really, um, important player. Um, I, I think, um, in the, in the games, he played at senior level, though, obviously restricted by injury, but there's times, you're telling us to play at senior level. I think most, most often, but more often not, he hasn't put a foot wrong, to be honest. I'd like to see, I'd like to see Alan Davey back on the team. I, you know, man, man, see, I just don't, I think, I think, um, Tom's up for man. I know he wasn't playing on the late end, but I think, I just think, um, in the games that Davey played this year, surely he can get me, you know, didn't like, bother the statisticians too much, but I just felt in each game he played, he showed something, and that there's something there to work with. Um, I was just a little bit disappointed how quickly they dropped him, because I thought he was really building into the season, and he was, you know, every now and then, like, you know, for instance, that goalie and CWS comes to mind, you know, that, that little shimmy around the defender, and the, and the little dribble from the outside of the, and, but also the pressure that he was pulling up, but, yeah, so it's good to see him again, I reckon, at some stage, um, it'll be good to see Ben Hobbs maybe get a shot as well, so there are options. I mean, I, I know Hobbs probably hasn't had as good a year as he did last year. I thought last year he was really promising, um, made him backwards a little bit, uh, dealing with chills form. Well, that's right. I mean, who saw that coming? I couldn't believe how well he started calling it. That was pretty surprising. Um, in terms of Peter Wright, I think I think for now, he'll probably stick with him. Yeah, Marvel unfortunately is his ground, isn't it? Unfortunately, Marvel is just, you, you do get normally three goals out of him. That's right. You know, especially against the, you know, probably a more inferior opposition at Marvel. Um, I think Peter Wright will probably, um, uh, get a reprieve this week. Um, you know, he hasn't been at work. I wouldn't have, uh, thought that, uh, yeah, you think you think Laverde comes back in with the toes with the crows forward line? You think so? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he was a pretty big loss in the end. I mean, there's probably no excuse to rest and given that Melbourne were missing going with the trucker and, uh, you know, you really want to throw in brochure as well. If you really want to go that, you know, uh, but Laverde was, because I thought he was fantastic against Collinland. And I thought a few weeks before that he probably played the game of his career at West Coast. So I thought, yeah, it was a bit unfortunate that he, he made way. Um, but that's probably some of the names that are probably in the mix in terms of the fringes to come back in. I'm not too sure about Goldstein. Maybe, you know, I think, I don't think I'll do it in, uh, unless, unless it was like an injury or something. And then you might, maybe I was Brian, possibly to see how we go. I know people, people that they didn't really rate the game, pay it. So I was up 30, 30 wasn't too bad. But, um, uh, yeah, Goldstein, well, I think it's just now firmly in the, um, in case of emergency break, but now I think he serves his purpose. Um, not, not the, not the traipas, you know, um, being, sitting around a lot. Yeah. Oh, well, I thought he second half just Collinland was sensational. And I think, I think you think on Saturday night, he did have a crack or he, he definitely couldn't be faulted. Um, but he just does make a lot of frustrating mistakes, I think. Um, so that can be a bit of a downfall thing. Uh, but yeah, Perkins, I'm very concerned about his form. You know, I thought he was really good in 2023, but, uh, yeah, if you just don't think we're kicking on as well as, um, everyone would have hoped for, I wouldn't have thought. Yeah. Right. And it's fun. Like Perkins even first seven or eight games. I thought we're quite strong. Um, I remember even tweeting out like after about eight games, he was like, oh, he's averaging 20 disposals on a goal. And I, this is this, but then just, I don't know what's happened, but it just went off a cliff. And, um, and I actually, you know, even Coxie's form wasn't that great. Um, with the Ds, he just, maybe it's not, not his type of game. Cause that, that's what we're probably to like a selection, right? Cause I was, even before the game, I was saying like, why, you know, why would you make Cox the sub and Heidi play the, the run, the run through role. So yeah, just, it was a bit strange to me that whole, this whole thing. And speaking of set of field, I mean, he would have been great in the wet. He's, he would have been a lot more grunt. You could have put him on the inside, maybe on the outside. Hell, he could have pinched it sort of half forward or half back or something like that. But I just wondered, it seems a glaringly obvious, uh, selection error to go in that tall. Like, I appreciate Essendon when it's perfect conditions. We move the ball quickly by hand. We take grabs and it looks good. And it's one us a few games, but I wonder if that, I don't know the guy, I don't know if they just thought it was going to be clear due to the weather reports or something like that. Cause it just seems like a, like an error, basically, that to not sort of bring hind into the game and the set of fields and maybe even the Hobbes of, of the world into the game. And that coupled with the fact that we're clearly no good in the wet, um, really seriously affected it. So that's why, like when we've, Scotty's mentioned earlier that we've lost four out of the last six or whatever it is, but it's frustrating that that game had to be wet affected, so to speak, because it just, it didn't show the ability for Essendon to beat Melbourne in sort of dryish conditions, because I reckon if that was dryish and or at Marvel, we win that game. Yeah, no, I agree. And, and even, you know, on the Heinz, like, surely a half time was the time to make that sub. You don't wait till sleeping for the first order when the game's pretty much done. But I had to realise that they, they made a mistake and they had to just own it and then bring in Heinz at half time. Yeah, I think, you know, yeah, I think Heinz would have been really important if he played a bit longer. And he seems, he seems to, I mean, I think he ends up with his means the person was right in the end, isn't the guy he's up. So they both had eight, so, you know, he tends to have an impact more than what he does come off. So come on, as the sub. So, yeah, there's definitely proof of thought there for sure. So last question, what's your gut feel for Essendon from here on? I know it's, I know our team that's, you never really know, but what's your gut feel about where, do you, do you, do you generally think they're going to, this team's going to make the finals? I think they'll make, they should make the top eight, they should make it. You never know, because obviously what would happen last year. So, as I said, we have to start the program. We have some fans who really, in the know, they're not going to get carried away, they're not going to get excited until they actually see Essendon's name in the top eight up around three four. So, absolutely. So, and I think they've got what it takes to make the finals, for sure. I think it would be a real huge failure into deployment if they didn't make the finals from here, because really, let's be honest guys, there's no excuse now. I mean, as Scott mentioned, you know, there's the injury listed pretty much as good as it's been for a long time. And, you know, they've got a pretty good run. They've got a pretty good run, you know, Adelaide's been killed up, Gold Coast here, never went away from home. And even three, the James of 50-50, you know, and if they only had two or three wins, and they can't make the finals from here without run, and Sydney might, and who knows what teams Sydney's going to build around 23, if they've thrown up top five, you know, that would be a huge failure from here. And it could happen. You just never know here, but it would be a huge failure if they didn't make a part of it. By the way, sorry, I did say last question, just a quick one. You know, even just this weekend, right, the Carlton result, the Freo result. Calling with the year. Calling with results, you know, have you ever seen a year like this, where you go? I have no idea what the hell's going on outside of Sydney. Well, it's a great question. Well, even, and then even Sydney, what they served up a few weeks ago. Yeah. They're looking at the freshmen and saying, "Kia ora?" Yeah. Well, and Freo at home and, you know, to kill that, yeah. It's just bizarre. Like, I can't predict anything. What's going on? Off the top, I mean, quick for that. After the top, I had 1997, I think it was quite similar, where it was just, you know, and look at the eventual Premier was, Adelaide came from Port, unfortunately. But there was, I think, it was just like, it was, it was, it was a very even competition 97 for memory. Yeah. And I think, I think it was, it might have even been, yes, it was a team of the bottom four that piecing with nine wins. Like, that's pretty remarkable for a team that low on the ladder to have, have nine wins. So that was a really indication of how even that comp was, but you're right. I mean, what's it now? It's between second and third, two games separating. That's pretty, pretty unbelievable. But yeah, it's, you know, very often the ramifications are huge on every visit. It really takes the matter, isn't it? Yeah. It really is. And, and you know, we can bag the AFL for many things. And rightly, we should, but go get in prayer for what they've done with the competition. The first time it up, amazingly, which is, yeah. And that's what you want. Why, we don't want to have the APL situation, like, when the two or three teams come in every year, it's just everything gets a crack at it. And this is the result. I think it's great. I really do think that it's great for the comp. Beautiful. All right, mate. Thanks so much for joining us as always. Now ourselves. Where can they find you, Ronnie? Well, you can find me on Twitter @RonnyLerner, which is my name. I wrote double NY, L-E-I-N-E-R. And you can just find my work in the hell sun in the AFL record and also at 40 oldies. Beautiful. Yeah, enjoy all that. Sounds good, man. Look, thanks for joining the show as always. Have a great weekend now. Look forward to talking to you again. Now ourselves. Thank you. Thank you. ♪ I know my great King, journalist, left to take stock of ♪ ♪ The whole fail, omission, our five-side perspectives ♪ ♪ How does it make you feel to know that you're running for this? ♪ ♪ A fave. It's great. It's important to be late, Gavin. Have a good weekend. The music, I didn't even stop, Jan. A fave music break there. Who we got there, Scotty? Propaganda. Propaganda. Nice work. Great interview with Ronnie Lerner. We really love having him on the show. He's a friend of the pod, has been for a good period of time. You told us you wanted him back on, and there he is for you. Apologies to Rowan Connolly for not having him on today for the loss as well, but we'll make sure we get him back on as well. Just to finish off, just covering the AFL. I don't know if people watched it or not, but what's the VFL on Sunday against Casey, cold, wintery day at Casey? Probably the guy that people thought, "May you should have played in the wet day the previous day." Ben Hobbs shined, obviously, in the wet. The club decided to rest in the last quarter, which is kind of interesting to have said something. Yeah, kind of interesting because we're playing Friday night, the senior guys, as an option possibly to come up five days later. Did 30 disposals in three quarters looks every bit of Ben Hobbs in wet weather. He knows how to do that. One of the positives with Jaden Davies scored three goals. Nice. Looks really, really dangerous. He's now averaging around two goals, I think, for the last four or five games. That's a really nice sign. I think he's kicked 16 goals for the year in the VFL. That's a better sign, Jaden, as the year's going along. But again, just continuing on with that form and the twos, you reckon? Just finish out a good solid season in the twos and then we'll talk about what you might do next year. Yeah, the gap feel is that maybe his fitness, because one thing, his disposal count has always been down a year, and that usually means a guy can't go to contest the contest consistently or the whole game. Maybe it's just a level of just the next a bit more run. He's got plenty of time. I have a pre-season. So that's my gut feel. I thought Alwyn has actually been in good form in the VFL of late. Archie Roberts had a quite sort of first quarter, maybe half of the second quarter. Second half, he was really, really impressive. They're playing off half back, and his ball use especially stood out really creative. So looks under control. So I think he had 24 disposals coming off his 32 disposals the previous week. So look, he's doing everything you can to put his head up, therefore consideration. And yeah, especially a defense of ours is probably not going as well as I'd hope as far as being in sink and rebounding the footy with precision. So he's definitely one to be considered, I reckon. Who else? Set a field was solid. He's been solid for two or three weeks now. He's not staring but very solid. Would they be doing the same thing with him as they did with Shiel? Like build up a good solid base until you go, okay, cool. That's what he should be in now. Well, I mean, he really, yeah, it feels like to me, it's more the other case of just he's not in Scott's plans at the moment. But, you know, this obviously debate whether he should be or not, but that's more my sense is just, especially now with Shiel now in. It's just, I still think there's maybe a spot for him, you know, whether he does the Perkins role if you need me or it might be a slightly different role. I know because actually he's got slightly different play out and rotates forward. So that's, you know, how you combat that, you have to make a few adjustments. Yeah. So a visual. Yeah. Again, you know, he's not, I wouldn't say a wet weather specialist, but he was still, you know, I still would have, I'm pretty confident he would have got his 20 to mid 20s disposals. Yeah, he was okay without without starring. So, you know, Brian, got his hand to the ball light just, just wasn't really productive with his tap outs in my opinion. And I just thought he probably got out muscled a bit too easily for my liking. When we were talking about Peter Wright, about his frame, I just felt like he got moved aside by Fullerton. Too easy. Bit too easy on occasions that, you know, there's still a bit of strength issue, but sometimes it's come soon to almost a bit of grit in your teeth as well and not letting a guy shove you aside that easily. So I didn't think it was a great game from Nick. But look, it's, you know, I never actually mentioned him more a year, but I will actually think some time in some games, Wiederman's actually having some nice moments down back. He's still, he's still got talent, but he just hasn't, he hasn't, he actually marks a heck of a lot better down back because the game comes up to him. Yeah. It probably has a different pressure set as well, but Ben Brown still scored, you know, I don't know what he actually got, but it felt like three, four goals on it better, but he actually did take the game on, took some really nice marks in the wet. So, but even just before his suspension, I actually thought he was in half decent form, like in down back. So look, that's kind of like it was, wasn't the greatest game from us. We made a last ditch effort in the start of the fourth quarter, but then quickly rolled over and lost by thirty-five or so. So, yeah, it wasn't not a good weekend for us, and I'm pretty, really. No, no, no, good weekend for the club. And Melbourne was 17, so it's not really flattering. So, look at that, probably dashes any, any hope we have of playing vehicle finals. So, it's a bit of a long year for them. So, you know, if we play a final, we've got no backup as far as this vehicle guys will just be sitting on the park going, you know, they'll be missing in one or two weeks. Yeah, absolutely. So, that makes it a little bit tougher, especially if you actually win a final, and you have somebody who gets injured, you might want to grab somebody from the two. You have to get someone that hasn't played for two or three weeks. But, you know, obviously, guys like Sarah doesn't have a pretty experience if you did need that. So, you know, it's really good to see the injury list. And congrats to Darcy Parrish and his partner Grace for having a little Tommy. Congratulations, Daz. And Mrs. Daz? Yes, you know, we're still, I wish we were always like a boy. Yeah. So, there's the midfield, Kobe Buick and the young Darcy. Well, maybe 14 years apart, maybe not. Well, I reckon Kobe will still be playing that. So, yes. Yeah, so congrats. But, you know, obviously Darcy's only now one to two weeks away. So, he's been doing a lot of training at the club, building up his running half a game in the two's? Straight in. I would be shocked if he's straight in. I really would, you know, because I feel like, it's because it's three times he's really done this thing. So, I'd be shocked if they didn't treat this much more cautious and say, you know, I always, my personal thought is you would have half a game, three quarters of a game, maybe the next week with the VFL, and then it's fine, and then yeah, it's fine. So, you know, realistically, I kind of find seniors that he may be one week off, but he's probably senior wise to me three weeks off. But it's just good to see him back. Absolutely. Because, like, in the wet, you know, like, it's funny, he would have been our most productive player against Melwood. That's his conditions. So, you know, for people who think we don't miss him, we do. He can get clearances pretty comfortably. So, he's still a very much a role for Darcy. You know, Caine Corns doesn't think there is. And we should just get rid of him. But yeah, for me, there's definitely a role. So, the injury list is looking really good. Obviously, Baldwin's only got three, four weeks to go. Hallway's the same through about through. So, we're getting, you know, to that point of nearly everyone available at the moment, outside of Zach Reed. And if we can just take advantage of that, now in games, that'd be great. Yeah, I know. We say that. We get worse as more players healthy. But this Friday, Crows Marvel. Massive, massive. We said that for the last four and a half weeks. This has a bit of significance in it because they need to get some confidence back. That's the thing. Like we said at the start, if they had to come out of that game with a nice solid win over a team that was down two of their best, if not their best players, if they had to come out of that with a win, a nice little solid 17 point win, something like that, chock-a-block full of confidence, come in and slap the, you know, what out of the Crows. Now they've got to go in and lift. And they've got to lift. Now Crows aren't a real special football club at the moment, but they've got to have their mindset around lifting to be able to get that win. This is now an absolutely must win game. Yeah, at least the Crows, you've got to consider going with confidence. They haven't had a good year, but they did beat the Saints very comfortably on the weekend. So they'll come in with at least with their heads up. We're going to have to match it. We can't have no first quarter drop-offs again and that sort of stuff. No, like a loss this week would be disastrous. Yeah, huge. You'd be at home against the side. Again, you should beat. Again, if this was Sydney coming in, it was Brisbane coming in, you'd go, we're probably going to lose this, right? Like, I mean, you understand if you lose this one. But against Adelaide, who are not real special. They're 14th. Yeah, you've got a bit of them. They're not real special. You've got to beat them. But we'll be there. Big game at Marvel and again, I can't stress enough how important it is for everybody to get down there, bring the Winter Woolies and get down there for another 40+. But yeah, so a massive game this week, we will be at the game. So the post-game reaction show will probably be after, or maybe the next day, for the post-game reaction show. And then we're back into normal programming from there. So thanks, everybody, for listening. A special thank you to Ronnie Lerner again, and we'll talk to you guys very soon. Catch you guys. [Music] [Music] [ Silence ]