THE GAME - PS2

[Hellaintabadplacetobe 4,098]

what did anyone think of dunne today

Ordinary!

[Hannabal 4]

Ordinary!

You're being kind.

[1858 224]

Ordinary!

Was Dunn ordinary as far as offence goes or was he ordinary in his tagging roll as well? - also do you know which Swans player Bailey put him on?

[Hellaintabadplacetobe 4,098]

Was Dunn ordinary as far as offence goes or was he ordinary in his tagging roll as well? - also do you know which Swans player Bailey put him on?

To be honest he was just rarely sighted. Not sure who he was on to be honest, hopefully not Goodes cos he was possibly their best player.

[Redleg 37,906]

You're being kind.

Considering we have no forward talls who can win a match, why isn't Dunn played there. He is a big unit who can kick a goal and surely he would be of more value there than tagging.

[Whispering_Jack 28,023]

He may well play again but to what end?

Rivers had a couple of good seasons but he hasn't played for two years when he was almost our most important player. He's not now because Garland, Frawley, Warnock and Martin are all playing pretty well. And I fear the game is moving away from him. Pace and kicking accuracy are paramount and he is not great at either of these things.

I reckon he's not a certain first 22 starter and he needs to earn his spot. And I don't think he's going to make as much difference as people think.

I remember waiting for Stephen Tingay and Glenn Lovett to recover from injury. Both had the attributes to be elite midfielders. Neither played consistent AFL footy and hindered the development of our list for years.

Rivers is quickly falling into that catagory although to our credit we haven't waited around for him to "come good".

I reckon this is a "put up or shut up" year for Rivers.

You're being unkind to Rivers Fan. In his last full game, a half fit Rivers was a major factor in our 51 point turnaround victory against Freo in round 7 last year. With our improving backline, the return of a fit Rivers to the team, could be pivotal to our prospects because it might well open up a situation where one of the defenders - even Rivers himself - could go forward. I have full confidence that, wherever he plays, Rivers will "put up".

[jabberwocky 2,301]

Considering we have no forward talls who can win a match, why isn't Dunn played there. He is a big unit who can kick a goal and surely he would be of more value there than tagging.

He can kick a goal on the run but he struggles to take the ball in the air. IMO Dunn does not have the ability to play as a tall. I have watched him on the few occasions he has been played as a fwd target, he gets completely lost in the contest. I dont know whether it is a lack of commitment to the contest or he just doesnt have the natural ability to judge the footy in the air.

[Yencks 8]

i cant believe i forgot about the petterd hip and shoulder. thanks to who mentioned it.

and 26 possies to grimes, not a bad effort at all

[Bring-Back-Powell 13,328]

i cant believe i forgot about the petterd hip and shoulder. thanks to who mentioned it.

He'll probably get 4 weeks the way footys going

[jumbo returns 6,513]

But Lovett and Tingay were further into their careers than Rivers and Rivers

has had groin issues for the last two years that may now be ove with.

I remember Hodge running arund for Boxhill for quite a while recovering from groin issues.

And I remember Silvagni, the slowest looking footballer ever; I think Rivers has more than enough

speed inspite of appearances.

let's compare apples with apples - AFL footy nowadays has potentially developed beyond those who have been out of the game for two years or so.

rivers' injuries are career threatening and to the club's credit, they've moved on....

Late Draft Pick, box hill footy is so far removed from the real stuff, it's not funny, and silvagni? great for the torp onto the one on one situation. in today's footy, silvagni would have struggled with the precision and delivery that many teams have into their forward lines.

i hope rivers does return and i wish the kid all the best, but i've got a real feeling about this club atm that you really need to earn your position.

jumbalaya

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

I reckon this is a "put up or shut up" year for Rivers.

Definitely.

But Lovett and Tingay were further into their careers than Rivers and Rivers

has had groin issues for the last two years that may now be ove with.

The stage of career is irrelevant. The absence of football at a time when the game has got quicker in the past two years are. Now Rivers has not done a 3rd year of pre season. Tick tick tick.....

I remember Hodge running arund for Boxhill for quite a while recovering from groin issues.

Hodge did not miss more than 2 years of football

And I remember Silvagni, the slowest looking footballer ever; I think Rivers has more than enough

speed inspite of appearances.

Comparing Rivers with SOS is as absurd as those comparing Valenti with Willliams.

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

He'll probably get 4 weeks the way footys going

Doubt it/

Hall is very much like Neitz in 2007. A once very good KPP who has been passed by due to the state and nature of the game. He is a dinosaur with an anger management problem.

He is no more than an struggling AFL thug. A 21st Century Andy Goodwin.

His hit and follow up bullying of Morton down the ground was cheap big man theatrics from a player that should join Sharman's boxing troup.

Goodes is a class act and when he fires our ordinary midfield get shown up for what it is.....ordinary.

[Hannabal 4]

Doubt it/

Hall is very much like Neitz in 2007. A once very good KPP who has been passed by due to the state and nature of the game. He is a dinosaur with an anger management problem.

He is no more than an struggling AFL thug. A 21st Century Andy Goodwin.

His hit and follow up bullying of Morton down the ground was cheap big man theatrics from a player that should join Sharman's boxing troup.

Goodes is a class act and when he fires our ordinary midfield get shown up for what it is.....ordinary.

I disagree. I thought Hall's aggression was well controlled and the type of display that puts fear into the opposition backmen, as evidenced by no one holding Hall to account. The Demon players were soft in their acceptance of Hall's show of strength. I'd love to have that type of player in our line up.

[drdrake 3,045]

I liked halls reaction when Petterd bumped him, he looked around and grabbed the biggest bloke Warnock to have a little wrestle with. He had no idea who got him and went for Warnock.

We have 2 small defender options as back up for Whelan, Bennell and Cheney both have courage, speed and good skills. Matty is one of the best small defenders in the AFL and we haven't had decent replacement for him when he has been out but these two look good. As mentioned our backline is coming together nicely, but our midfield and forward line still needs a lot of improvement. Seeing the foot skills of Jetta, Strauss, Bail, Bennell, Cheney and Morton his long passing today was great, we put pressure on players like Jones, Moloney and others that can't targets. One of Mortons passes was a 50m kick and hit Miller on a hard lead between 2 Sydney players.

We are improving, but a long way to go still.

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

The Rivers thing has been done to death, and while we do love a good footy debate, this one has gone a long way beyond anything resembling new news. It's always the same 5 or 6 posters with the same opinions. For some, Rivers showed enough footy brains in his good years to warrant faith. For others, they say the game has gone beyond him. As far as I'm concerned he was ALWAYS slow and a bad kick, even when he was on fire. It's not his lack of pace and ability that made him a high-ish draft pick or a unanimous Rising star winner in the year of Davey. He hasn't been hit by any trams, so there's no reason to believe his nous is gone. I reckon it's a simple matter of glass half full, glass half empty. In the end, it could go either way. But I DO object when people claim he's done and dusted. There's absolutely nor reason to write him off. He's still young.

Welcome JS.

You're being unkind to Rivers Fan. In his last full game, a half fit Rivers was a major factor in our 51 point turnaround victory against Freo in round 7 last year.

One of the better 5-odd possession games I've ever seen. I thought he was in plenty on the day, and was stunned to see him not featured more on the stats sheet. Just goes to show...

Hall is very much like Neitz in 2007. A once very good KPP who has been passed by due to the state and nature of the game. He is a dinosaur with an anger management problem.

Agreed. Watching Hall makes me kind of feel sorry for my close mates that followed South Melbourne. Watching Neita slowly fall to bits was heartbreaking for someone who regards him the best demon he's seen live. They must have a similar feeling up north. We all know the one... In our hearts we know he has to be axed, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to put the red line through his name. Sometimes love hurts, and I'm glad it's them going through it, not us.

As for the fact we don't have a power forward, I think Miller does a fair job in the meantime and things will only improve in the coming 3 years. In fact, they'll improve drastically.

[Late Draft Pick 48]

I didn't make myself clear.

Hodge's career too was held up badly with op, hence he was running around

at Boxhill for some time, because he was recovering from Op.

I didn't compare Rivers to Silvagni. Rivers is quite fast but will never look fast,

and some footballers are just like that, take Silvagni for instance.

[Slartibartfast 15,904]

Sorry to bore you Dappa but I'm not a great reader of every post so I may have missed the Rivers debate. Sadly though you missed the point. In the past Rivers was one of our 2 or 3 most important players and as a result if he missed a game it affected us greatly.

Not so now IMO. Even if he is as good as he was he'll just take the spot of someone who is doing a good job in the backline. His incremental impact on the performance of the team is now significantly reduced.

And Jack I know one's interpretation of performance is subjective but which of Rivers 4 possessions and one tackle in the game against Freo impressed you? I'm being facetious of course but with those sort of stats and the fact that Pavlich was Freo's only player after half time all I can say is it must have been a terrific tackle!!

[jumbo returns 6,513]

Doubt it/

Hall is very much like Neitz in 2007. A once very good KPP who has been passed by due to the state and nature of the game. He is a dinosaur with an anger management problem.

He is no more than an struggling AFL thug. A 21st Century Andy Goodwin.

His hit and follow up bullying of Morton down the ground was cheap big man theatrics from a player that should join Sharman's boxing troup.

Goodes is a class act and when he fires our ordinary midfield get shown up for what it is.....ordinary.

there are just some players that carve us up - goodes is one of them. he basically pencils in 3 brownlow votes when he's up against us. none of our players are committed to sticking on him to play a negating style. there's no room any more on any club's list for a 'shut down' player, unless you can get the pill yourself.

on a most base level, goodes is a star, we don't have one.

[watts up? 0]

I thought yesterday we showed some very good signs, obviously there is still alot of improvement needed to come, but I think we are moving forward more rapidly than I had anticipated we would. I think our early start to the pre-season has really shown in the last two weeks, we've ran out and stayed in both games for a start.

Our backline worked beautifully and was clearly the highlight, everyone did their bit. Firstly i think Cheney needs more of a mention, he looks like he'll become a regular. He made good decisions, backed himself and was very rarely beaten by his opponent. Garland and Warnock did well against O'Keefe and Hall, with Garland taking some marks that kept us in the game down back and again later up around the wing. Frawley looked good and showed signs that his added bulk will increase his output this season, and young Jack Grimes excited me more than anyone, we're going to see some big numbers from this kid straight away if he can stay healthy.

Goodes will be a little sore after getting the surprise of his life when he marked in (what he thought was) the open, only to play on and turn around straight into an oncoming Paul Johnson. Later on he attempted to mark on the other side of the ground only to have a fired up Jake Spencer crash through him, spoiling the mark and telling him all about it. With Spencer and Moloney in our midfield i think a few teams might come off second best if they try to intimidate us physically or rattle our young-ins... Haha I just had a flashback of Phil Read... I wonder where he is now?... probably surfing and crushing skulls full time.. Haha he is probably a bra boy nowadays.... Ah Phil, when will you learn...

Our midfield wasn't as much chop with Sydney dominating center clearances although I thought we did alright at the stoppages in their forward 50. I'm pretty sure Moloney played most of the game, which was encouraging, didn't do anything special but should be handy once we've got a couple more games into him. Nathan Jones is a funny one, I'm hoping this year with an actual midfield around him he will be able to use what he learnt last year and tear games apart. Can remember reading when we drafted him that his last game (before coming to us) he was best on in a losing grand final, kicking five goals and having a truckload of possessions. It's just that every time he gets it he seems to get wrapped up straight away and falls over, I really hope he can break through this year with a bit of breathing space. I've got high hopes for our midfield with Scott West coming onboard, even if he has only half the influence that Ratten did on our midfield in (i think it was) 06 then we will see some solid improvement.

The new kids looked good, i thought Jamie Bennell did some smart things, didn't get much of it, but i don't think he was on the ground very much. Jetta was competitive and got his first goal in the red and blue, hopefully there will be many more to come. Strauss looked clean, confident and hit targets all day long. Bail was very impressive in his limited game time, racking up a heap of the pill late in the game, linking up nicely and showing that he is up to the challenge of playing against the real deal (not just un-co queenslanders..... no offence to Miller).

The forward line was the biggest problem, hopefully we can find a few combinations in the next couple of weeks. Sylvia pulled the finger out and turned in a decent half of footy, Like Jones I really hope he can make some progress this year, somehow he still seems to be capable of making shocking decisions, maybe it's a confidence thing (I know it doesn't look like it, but you never know). I would be over the moon if yze magics predictions came true and we got some good value out of him.

I'm really starting to get excited, we still have alot of talent on ice, and alot that hasn't even been unleashed. If we can keep making progress at this rate I think we can kiss goodbye those hundred point loses and snatch a few more victories than last year, by 2010 we will be turning heads. I'm extremely happy with how Bailey and co are doing in every aspect of our teams development. GO DEES 09!!!!

Oh how could I forget Morton, the kid ran all day long and played an excellent game.

[timD 994]

H, I gree about Hall's aggression. Garland's arm waving - as if to ask why he did it - was all that happened. Hall followed up by pushing moron with his forearmand said a bit. I wondered if it was a bit of harmless chat. Surely chip and warnock (boys with frame) could have 'said' a few things in return.

That said, I'm glad that spencer seemed nowhere near it - he strikes me as the kind of guys that would happily have introduced barry to 'ranga rage.

I like spencer a lot. He has grunt and a bit of c-grunt in him too.

[Slartibartfast 15,904]

Say what you like about Hall's aggression but he did it because he was frustrated and he did it because it was the only way he could influence the game. If he'd kicked 5 goals he wouldn't have done it. I reckon he's still a very good player but the game is passing him by and I don't think he has the passion to play in a team that doesn't contend. He also wants to box and may make a lot of money from it. A bad start to the season, a few frustrations and I reckon Hall may not see out the year.

[Hannabal 4]

Say what you like about Hall's aggression but he did it because he was frustrated and he did it because it was the only way he could influence the game. If he'd kicked 5 goals he wouldn't have done it. I reckon he's still a very good player but the game is passing him by and I don't think he has the passion to play in a team that doesn't contend. He also wants to box and may make a lot of money from it. A bad start to the season, a few frustrations and I reckon Hall may not see out the year.

Hall had a dog of a day. And yes, he's on the way out.

And yes, I like his aggression.