When Dustin got pinged for throwing one last night his response wasn't 'I handballed it', it was 'How could you see that?'.
I think that tells you everything you need to know about how all the players are approaching the game at the moment.
Really pleased with the game last night. All coming together on schedule again.
Confident Grimes will be at worst back for first final given the extra two weeks with the bye and the break after last round.
Be interested to hear from people at the ground on Graham as a defensive forward, a role he seems to play really well and McIntosh who I think was the one who went back to cover Grimes and played the role well. Also seemed like Riewoldt played defensively on McGovern?
Loved seeing the mojo on Dustin after the game, he has the sniff of big time footy and that means another level.
It's a nice thought to reflect on that performance and then remember Prestia, Edwards and Astbury are still to return and Nankervis and Houli are underloaded, with minimal minutes from Grimes.
Not convinced that's what Martin meant, I heard it too, but I could see an effort to get the fist to the ball, just couldn't see if he managed to handball. Anyway, fully justified in asking how the ump could see it, after all, they couldn't see the "tap" to Riewoldt in last year's QF. After that you would have to assume they are sight impaired!
We must have set up very well last night given the ineffectiveness of their intercept defenders. Just impossible to see this on the TV - they need to get better at choosing camera angles which show some of this.
Dustin Martin is an interesting one. He does really come across as someone who's sole goal is to win. All players want to win, but Martin seems a bit more obsessed, to the extent that, while he is committed to playing the starring role just because he can, that is less important than getting the team a win, even to the extent that he will sacrifice his own play to make the team better. He clearly understands that teams win games, not stars. Stars make a huge contribution, but they can't win a team game on their own - this is one of the factors which make him such a great player.
But I mainly responded to this post for the last sentence. Look at that line up of players out or just returning and still a bit rusty. The opposition should be very scared if we can get even some of them back. Geez, add Astbury down back, Prestia in the middle along with Shedda, wow, great additions to a team already showing it can play well. Bloody hard to see who can be dropped (although a couple of candidates, who would make any other team).
A valuable win, we're in this up to our necks and that's all you can really ask of the team. We are a contender. If we can finish top 4 we are in with a good shot.
DS