Elliot has faded. Is it weariness or an injury? Josh D was poor too. The holding the ball he was pinged for looked bad, it was bad. It was a brain fade; there was a total lack of awareness by him, and a serious outcome… a goal was scored by Melbourne.
The coach or assistant should bring it to his attention and ask him about it. It was one of those “ incidents” you do want to unpack.

I follow the pies . Maynard has no hope at all .

He won’t be free to play.. not a hope in hell.. the hyperbole is just complete and utter overthink

It wasn’t just a smother .
You are in denial .. smothers are a world away from from this .. it was a collision .. initiated by a player .. he chose an action.. it went badly for him .. he has no hope to get off. None

Maynard unsafe, no problem, yet I follow the Pies.

The action in its totality was not just a smother, it was more than that, so that’s point 1 . Secondly, in totality, it was severe action too, so a suspension will apply and Maynard will miss the grand final, if the cfc make it. The rest is hyperbole.

Hooray , I finally see someone wanting Lipinski, the dud, dumped. He is no good

Ace, we even won with Lipinski still in. He was useless pretty much again. They must dump him this week.

I cannot see how Maynard WONT BE suspended.
Duty of care resides with the player who initiated action on the Melbourne player. It was careless, not a smother in its totality. It was far beyond that… and yes I follow the Pies. All the challenges will be summarily dismissed as head high stuff is also a massive governance issue for the AFL , now, due to future massive class actions in the pipeline soon, and it will be THE decision maker when there are severe incidents, as we have here, no question . Forget appeals boards, Gil McLachlan and his top minder are the decision makers; the other stuff is just hype.
So player Maynard will miss the Grand Final too if CFC make it there.

Elliot is injured, and unfortunately can’t play anywhere else. If Ash Johnston was fit, he’d be a walk up start . And McStay seems to have no tank. Against,Brisbane, if we make it, all of this is gunna kill us. McCreery also stays at home. Why the hell hasnt McRae tried to get them into the midfield for stints during the year when we were cruising. These are gunna kill us too, Brisbane’s whole side are runners, except for Daniher.. and that’s how it should be . We need runners more runners not just the Daicos boys.
They should have given runner Kreuger his head after we were say 14 2 win loss
They look at McRae through rose coloured glasses. I don’t .. he read what I said about Will HE and suddenly praises him when in fact McRae dumped Will after his finger injury. Against Brisbane we can’t afford to play Cox and Cameron. We need Ash J as our other X factor player agst Brisbane

I hate to agree with you, but I do agree. There is so much bs in the media saying things like it’s a footy incident. There are so many journalists and ex players, most of them trying to demonstrate how good they are in unpacking the issues, but in fact, they just get themselves into a knot, nd continue to talk bs.
Luke Hodge is really talking nonsense about most things. One of them was saying that Melbourne will hunt Collingwood till they prevail ( prevail is my word). Hodge has limited vocab… omg. this was just hyperbole, it was just nonsense that disappears into the ether, like most of his ramblings. Yet he is a channel 7 expert. Oh f me.
He also said Melbourne would have won by 5 goals if they kicked straight. Ah no, the ball has to back to the centre, I mean, how much do these clowns get paid for spewing out all this rot.

Just wanna know who you barrack for ?

I don’t want to agree, but I do

The author says there were 2 story lines to learn from the Pies Demons game.
I have banged on about a couple of story lines, and I think my emphatic praise of the abilities of a Will HE, has borne fruit; McRae finally woke up, by including Will HE in this game, and giving him great praise in the post game review. He finally realised player HE as sure, beautifully balanced, clean, who has great foot skills, and hand skills, and his hunger to know when and how to use them is not just good, it’s outstanding. I influenced McRae, in short. Will hurts oppositions, that is what really matters. Will is gifted to do all of this. Lipinski does zip.
A few weeks ago, Will’s brilliant tackle on Adelaide’s Doday was inspiring and tough, and skilled.. no sling tackle here by Will, just a vice like tackle of Doday .. 20 metres from our goals..superb it was ‘ ball’, it was Will’s goal, demonstrating top flight determination and strength. Will is super dangerous near our goals, and his assists are “ natural and informed slo mo” decisions. I love his style. He is blossoming at the end of his career. Watch Will when we next play. I have supreme confidence in Will.
I just hope and pray, McRae also sees the converse of that, dumps Lipinski. He has not done so so far, but the evidence is there, so he must act and drop Lipinski. He is not up to it, has little to no impact, and there is no hurt inflicted on oppositions. Selections decisions now are absolutely critical and he must go. He must not be a sub either.
Ginnivan, although unruly and ill disciplined is favoured by McRae. However, I think against Brisbane, he may be a poor choice. I think outside the square, and believe against Brisbane in particular, we need a hard, quick, tough and tall player, a runner, a rookie to stop the Brisbane runners, hard at them. No one will agree, but to me Brisbane has all the skills, so need we a player to blunt these players as best as possible. That rookie is Kreuger.He can be a very good, and energising.
So it’s Daicos in, Lipinski out ( not in the 23). Kreuger the sub unless my 2nd favourite player, Ash Johnston is not injured.

The points the Demons kicked that they blah on about cost them so much were quite clearly a reflection of their inability to seal those with calmness, and under pressure. They got the eb jee bees. They couldn’t cope, no. Secondly, Mihochek missed an easy shot from 25 metres out on an angle of about 40 degrees. That goal alone at that stage could have buried Melbourne. Thirdly, the ball has to come back to the centre after each goal, and any number of things could have occurred.
The best thing for me was me just being there, and being completely mesmerised by Bobby Hill’s display of his consummate skills, the skills of a virtuoso… beautiful. It’s an absolute joy to watch. His talents are a cut above of all players. It’s not X factor, it’s x y zee factor. We need another chant …. “ Bobeee” , “ Bobeee”, “ Bobeee” …Don’t ya think?

The selection committee of the CFC will mess it all up if they play Lipinski, he is no good, no free runner, no impact player that matters at all. When a club recruits a reject, they play them to justify their decision. They just want to select them week after week in hope. Well hope is no good when they don’t measure up. We want to win, but they are caught up. Lipinski must go, and the same applies to McStay who stupidly was given a 5 year contract.
Hoskin Elliot must play, and Frampton for Cox. Youth is needed in this team of oldies. Cox won’t be able to carry that big frame over 2 and a bit quarters, he just won’t, particularly on a wet ground. Ditto perhaps for our other oldies. Sidebottom is waning because of an injury, and all the hard final series campaigns So we need run and aerobic finishers. McStay and Lipinski ain’t them just virtually doing zip. If ever we need a mid player with a tank to do well, it is now. Adams must play the game of his life, absolute. We need you Taylor.
The player that they won’t select is Kreuger. But I like the rookie, he is physical, strong, tall, and can play the metres gained role and bump Oliver and Petracca etc off the ball to slow them down. If they won’t select Kreuger, the much more youthful next best is Frampton. If we go in with Cox, Lipinski, McStay, we are not going to win.
It’s concerning especially when the player himself, Howe, wants to play forward rather than back. He figures that his reduced mobility will matter less if he is played as a forward. Well no, this tells me he is just going to struggle anywhere having that mentality. If he is to play forward, that needs to be when he is fresh, where he can exploit the slow coaches, Lever and May. He can do that, but he knows backline play even though he has indicated expressly himself that he doesn’t want to go there
That means we are as a team somewhat unsettled.
What we need is run, so Will HE must be used in the midfield in stints, perhaps McCrorey too, again because if the weariness of Pendles and grandpa Mitchell, and the very ordinary form of Adams. We are an old team, that might be a taboo to the crazed lovers of the Pies, but I’m right, it’s true so we must compensate.
Degoey has a huge load and his ability will pay dividends more if he is a forward early for stints too. He is a finisher. When you play five hundred, you lead with your big trump card at the beginning of the game to draw out other trumps of your opponent early to secure your lead and hopefully, win. We need deGoey to play very forward early and have others moving up the field to the centre. We need to win that first quarter because catch up footy is draining, we must start well. Degoey is the right bower, the right bower wins the trick, and the next one. Then move him to mid field playing the no trump game to scoot away, that’s “ finishing”.
Football is going to move to playing and training and recruiting mids only , who love the gym, the weights, the smell of cut grass, and run . So you really only need runners, ruckmen will fade away. Nick Daicos types and one Curnow type.
My thoughts

Thanks Ace.. forgive me. McStay was a full forward at Vermont.. I again say what Johnston would do and the crowd would respond to his x factor.. so yes I can’t accept that the duds will play.
I looked at the details of McStay .. he got a five year contract.. its insanely incompetent to give him that.. we have a lot of oldies in that side.. they aren’t effervescent at all … so the dills are playing him to support their ill conceived recruitment decision .. everyone is looking through Rose coloured glasses in assessing McRae. Not me. I hope they get some of my heat

Thank you Ace, I’m not part of the roar clique, so even when I unpack analyses, the smarties attack me. They chatter to each other only. That’s ordinary.
So yeh I’m incensed playing these duds when you can have the electric X factor Johnston who can do anything, but is in the sidelines. He lights up the crowd. And he does that because he has all the weapons and that great exuberance. The crowd love it. MCStay hasn’t got any of that; the dunces gave him a five year contract. OMG. He stands in the goal square and takes the odd mark. And yeh Lipinski was recruited from the dogs. Zip loss to them, and a massive chance he will do nothing this week or any week .. he can’t do more that the little he does now..pathetic …he’s is not good enough.

I did not just talk about playing Kreuger, I mentioned Frampton too. .
It all surrounds whether Cox will last the game be it in the 3rd and 4th quarter, knowing that we have many players over thirty. It’s a concern.
I just see Melbourne being on top of the ground more with our duds in and our aged players. So if Will is not played, that’s a poor decision.
We also have Cameron who was playing very well before his injury. I like Cameron, just hope he is ok. It all adds up to getting rid of those they aren’t good movers and poor performers, and McStay is on
one of them, and Lipinski is in because again they want to justify their recruitment of him.
Oh dear, these are shocking rationales, and I’m calling them out.
Adams needs to play very well, or things aren’t rosy; he has to do a lot more.
And OMG I just looked up the McStay details . They have given him a 5 year contract. The stupid decision makers are playing him to justify their recruitment of the dud. He’s being played because it’s looks bad not to when you have given him that contract. A choice not made at all on merit.
Thats why I am incensed that he is chosen over Johnston, the walk up start, and chosen over Will. That stuffs our winning chances.

That’s just an attack on me , not a dressing my point that McStay and Lipinski are or are not, duds. Yes all the cfc people I know agree with me. They don’t visit this site . We talk and watch and compare .
They agree with me about Johnston being played, a genuine x factor type with all the weapons … I put a case for him earlier. You write a measly line or so, nothing

One other comment, it’s a luxury but not something we can continue, to have ageing players as mids yet have forwards like even Ginnivan, Macrorey, Elliot, Mihochek, and McStay not being put in the midfield or further up ground because they haven’t been there. I don’t think McStay could last a minute, and Lipinski when there is, in a word, limp. That’s what makes fitting in Kreuger types ( I’m not all dismissing Frampton) where you get physicality, height, run and exuberance. Cox is gunna slow us down, and fade …he fades now. I’m telling you , Melbourne won’t fade.

There are others who agree with playing Kreuger. It’s not a “ no not Kruger”, it’s requires analysis , and you have said zip.. read what I said in this thread

I said for example that they left Will out when he recovered from his finger injury .. poor decision. He helped us in getting to 15 2 . ., the duds did not. I don’t agree with with you in not playing Johnston. He is unquestionably an X factor, NOW THIS MINUTE, he has the weapons .. he has been a corridor player too, a crumber to boot …you have seen his prodigious kicks, his exuberance , it has been infectious. He was mishandled in being dropped and recalled and dropped again. Seeing his raw abilities ( and already proven abilities) I would have spent a lot of time in getting him ready throughout 2023, it’s called targeted development for a player who could do it off his own boot. Playing types like Kreuger and Johnston is perfect when your seniors are getting on. We have a lot … They add espritde corps, and it’s immeasurable but massively good for the team. We don’t quite have that at present, And yes I’m appalled at playing the duds. They are unworthy when you examine it . And yes I have been quite critical of Adams.. he is sub par and I do wish he’d hurt oppositions more.. he is waning , he’ll play, but needs to really step up.
That’s ultimately a McRae call, so is the continued selection of the duds in McStay and Lipinski. Every cfc supporter I know, agrees. You are right about Kreuger … and yes he can perform a role in hassling Petracca and Oliver etc, and get the pill too.

The very alarming issue is not Cox so much, but the very baffling and foolish decision by the CFC to continue to select the two duds, rejects from other clubs, McStay and Lipinski.
It’s evident to everyone I know that they arent good enough, add very little impact , lack a lot of run, and yes, don’t hurt oppositions much. You won’t answer ” no they’re not ” to that as many others agree with this.
Johnston’s situation ha s been appallingly handled. In out, in out. The optics of watching him demonstrate that he is an x factor player with heaps of ability. We need another x factor type like Bobby. Johnston is a walk up start, if not injured. Aside from that I’m thinking Frampton or Kreuger should play rather than Cox because of the weariness factor, Krueger is energetic, tall, has run too, so knowing that the Demons have runners, we need more of them too if the duds are played, and Adams fails to do anywhere near enough, and yes I do think he will underperform.
I’m still fuming that Will HE didn’t return to the team immediately after the the finger injury came good. It was a kick in the guts to Will. I am thinking Mcrae lacks both the wisdom and fortitude to stick with right calls when challenged. I’m convinced that the poor things I observed above tell you that he’s not a good judge and a roll over type.
Further, McStay and Lipinski have been out during the season due to injury for lengthy times, and will hamper our free flowing play. They just don’t have enough ability in any event. They are one dimensional players. This will show up in the third and last quarters. They can’t run on top of the ground.
The problem with Cox is weariness due to age as the games goes on. This is our other achilles heal.
We have a number of thirty plus players like Sidebottom and Pendlebury (and others) who are showing signs of it being a big season. Ditto for Moore.
If you add incompetency of the selection committee as indicated above, the signs are not good. The wins over the Cats and Bombers aren’t a good indicator. Both these teams were “done” for the season, an easy observation to astute followers.
Will HE should be in the team … a must due to clean hands and feet, his surety, his balance and his flexibility. He should spend time at centre bounces and in midfield. We need him badly as Taylor Adams is simply performing below par, just poor overall. He would be out if we had a ready replacement.

It’s time the bulldogs focussed on securing better mids. In today’s footy, while smalls are valiant, they lack run, and just don’t move the ball through the corridor quickly etc because they can’t. Williams, West are good examples. There aren’t a lot of metres gained, and they are B- players.

Prior to that they had Hunter, another small, and unloaded him for not only being small. Yet they moved on Dunkley.. a very poor decision. He has height and is mobile. So that was an error. He might have got them across the line to finals this year, but nope

They have the best ruckman in the league but must provide him with top mids
.
So the number one objective at the club is to do everything they can to secure 1 or 2 quick mids with height. But forget Parrish, he’s a fairy, he’s not done much, so stay away.

The barrackers of the dogs might decry me for me saying Daniels, in particular, West aren’t A or A- or even B grade. Playing West might make Dad happy, but not the supporters.

You get the impression that that are an inward club, believing each other. That has changed with the sacking of Rohan Smith.
So Beveridge needs to focus and be the driver, he’s not.