Call me crazy but would it be worth giving T-MAC a run on the ball? He's playing like Fyfe atm.

Call me crazy but would it be worth giving T-MAC a run on the ball? He's playing like Fyfe atm.

If we did that this weekend odds are Roughy would kick 10

Call me crazy but would it be worth giving T-MAC a run on the ball? He's playing like Fyfe atm.

T-Mac has the right attitude.

Not such a bad idea 3dee.

The whole side needs a shake up after saturday night

Stale and predictable it looked.

T-Mac has the right attitude.

Not such a bad idea 3dee.

The whole side needs a shake up after saturday night

Stale and predictable it looked.

you know WYL i'd love to see the guys just told to back themselves in, turn and look to play on at every opportunity, the ratonale being that if we get it in there quick, odds on Hogan, Dawes and Garlett are going to give us a chance to score, and we know our defenders can defend very well if we turn it over

i'd rather see us making mistakes trying to take the game on than the stop start hesitation too scared to make an error stuff

Is it worth giving Mckenzie at least a full game?

Sadly, I think he is finished.

If he could transfer his work ethic and endeavor to a few of his teammates it would be great. We could even be a top 8 team right now.

He has got everything out of himself, through hard work, but I am afraid that time has passed him by.

you know WYL i'd love to see the guys just told to back themselves in, turn and look to play on at every opportunity, the ratonale being that if we get it in there quick, odds on Hogan, Dawes and Garlett are going to give us a chance to score, and we know our defenders can defend very well if we turn it over

i'd rather see us making mistakes trying to take the game on than the stop start hesitation too scared to make an error stuff

So would i mate.

I think that is how Hinkley bases his methods...

Back yourself....

Call me crazy but would it be worth giving T-MAC a run on the ball? He's playing like Fyfe atm.

Ok, you're crazy....

...but seriously he is playing too well and holding up the defence at the moment.

I watched him at Casey in his early days and he was used at times as an undersized 2nd ruck, he was really good around the ground strong marking and good at the contest.

T-Mac has the right attitude.

Not such a bad idea 3dee.

The whole side needs a shake up after saturday night

Stale and predictable it looked.

Big fan of T-Mac - and he has matured but I think his best football is still seeing the ball coming at him. There has been a knock on some of his decisions (and kicking ) at times. I am not sure he has the skill set to be a mid. I agree that his attitude is and always has been 1st rate.

So would i mate.

I think that is how Hinkley bases his methods...

Back yourself....

Besides talent and how much defensive pressure the opposition put on you, it is a huge confidence and trust trait that must not only be instilled but retained to "back yourself". You can see how fragile it can be - We have backed ourselves occasionally this season - the longest sustained period was against Richmond in the second half - GWS looks awesome when they back themselves and did this against Hawthorn but it went missing the week before. The very team you mentioned - Port Adelaide - did not back themselves on the weekend.

Agree about Garlett and Hogan being set to kick 40 - 50 goals. Makes you think how many they would kick if we kicked it to them more often.

Hogan will be the next player to kick 100!

(tongue firmly planted in cheek)

I didn't see much sign of Sydney slacking off in the last quarter. Any side trying to get well up the ladder for the finals will go for the 100 point kill against a team which only manages 1 goal in a half. Credit to our blokes that Sydney didn't succeed.

I agree - I watched the game yesterday and I thought we actually competed well with them all game. The problems were the ball was locked in their forward half, our players didn't run to create options when we got the ball (and didn't play on/too stagnant) and then we turned the ball over far too often. Out kicking into the forward line was horrible as well, too often kicking to our disadvantage.

Credit to Sydney they forced us to play that way but as far as contesting the ball went I thought we matched it with them. We just couldn't use it properly and couldn't score when we did compared to them who were able to score through sheer weight of numbers getting the ball forward. Tippett killed us and so did our stagnant play but other than that I thought we matched them well.

The scoreboard was clearly overwhelmingly in their favour but the difference between the sides wasn't as great as it would seem. There were little pieces of play here and there (and some questionable umpire decisions early which cost us) which were the difference. Early on, Brayshaw wins a free in the centre, gives it off to someone (Lumumba?) who kicks it forward to a leading Hogan. The ball is a metre too high and goes over his head directly to Richards. A better kick and that's a goal. Down the other end Dunn gets an iffy free against him to Tippett who converts (even though Dunn was adamant it was touched). There were multiple examples of these little things which added up. The biggest issue for us is figuring our how to break through the press coming out of defence and through the middle and how to maintain a flow on game without getting into trouble and turning it over. Freo and Sydney have both strangled us in this regard and we go into our shells. GWS did too in the second half which was a complete turnaround from the first half of that game. We started off well taking the game on against Sydney but once they locked us down we had no response. Get this rectified and it'll go a long way to sorting out the team.

you know WYL i'd love to see the guys just told to back themselves in, turn and look to play on at every opportunity, the ratonale being that if we get it in there quick, odds on Hogan, Dawes and Garlett are going to give us a chance to score, and we know our defenders can defend very well if we turn it over

i'd rather see us making mistakes trying to take the game on than the stop start hesitation too scared to make an error stuff

That's how the Giants beat the Hawks, play on at all costs. You stop, you're dead.

you know WYL i'd love to see the guys just told to back themselves in, turn and look to play on at every opportunity, the ratonale being that if we get it in there quick, odds on Hogan, Dawes and Garlett are going to give us a chance to score, and we know our defenders can defend very well if we turn it over

i'd rather see us making mistakes trying to take the game on than the stop start hesitation too scared to make an error stuff

As much as I would like to see this, the likely outcome is that they try it 4 or 5 times and then revert back to their old ways with their confidence completely shattered.

Fuming at half time, most of the second half.

Late 3rd quarter, Garlett out of the middle, to brayshaw, to Hogan. Goal. 45 seconds of glory in 90 minutes of pain up until that point.

Stretch did a few nice things, as did Toump. I thought the latter showed composure in places, should see him to get another crack against and hopefully build in on it.

10 minutes worth of good football, out of 120 is not ideal, but Ill be back next week.

God, this football club.

What the hell happened to the team from round one? Attacking, fast, dangerous. Could cover up our mistakes and poor skills because we kept the ball moving forward to our crumbers.

The moment we face good opposition we disintegrate into the Neeld team.

I cant be bothered reading this whole thread, who are you referring too?

I could tell you but I couldn't be bothered.

Stretch did a few nice things, as did Toump. I thought the latter showed composure in places, should see him to get another crack against and hopefully build in on it.

I'd like to see Toumpas given a full game on the ball. Or alternating between HF and in the centre. I feel like he is better when he hunts the ball rather than floating around not knowing what to do. He also laid a few good tackles which I was happy with.

I'd like to see Toumpas given a full game on the ball. Or alternating between HF and in the centre. I feel like he is better when he hunts the ball rather than floating around not knowing what to do. He also laid a few good tackles which I was happy with.

Agree, when he's hunting for it seems to be a lot more confident because he knows how to 'get it'?

The biggest difference between the sides was gut busting run. Sydney have a number of players who run hard when they don't have the ball to deny the opposition time and space. Then they run like mad to provide options when they do.

We don't.

We are also very susceptible to teams that squeeze the life out of their opponents. Freo and Sydney's main strengths.

When our two way running improves (as it will when the more inexperienced boys get more preseasons under their belts) so will our results.

The moment we face good opposition we disintegrate ...

That's what makes the opposition good in the first place.

last year we lost by 4 goals 7 points in 2014 to the swans this year it was 5 goals 8 points,how have we improved?.… would be nice for Paul to answer this.

sorry enyaw

last year 69 to 38 181%

this year 88 to 50 176%

That's an improvement of 5 percentage point - wooohooo

Vince not charged of anything.

Dunn fined for knee to Goodes

So both are available vs Hawks.

Phew!!

Vince not charged of anything.

Dunn fined for knee to Goodes

So both are available vs Hawks.

Phew!!

Excellent! Vince is lucky I believe he new what he was doing.

To be fair also we have just played probably the 2 best teams in the comp atm... Fremantle smacked Essendon tonight, now 2 games clear undefeated, hasnt been done since we did it in 56, Sydney similar sort of team with huge mids and gun forwards.....we are about where we should be really, lets see where we are after the Queens Birthday..

I agree we have just played "Two best teams" and a team that beat hawthorn

I agree - I watched the game yesterday and I thought we actually competed well with them all game. The problems were the ball was locked in their forward half, our players didn't run to create options when we got the ball (and didn't play on/too stagnant) and then we turned the ball over far too often. Out kicking into the forward line was horrible as well, too often kicking to our disadvantage.

Credit to Sydney they forced us to play that way but as far as contesting the ball went I thought we matched it with them. We just couldn't use it properly and couldn't score when we did compared to them who were able to score through sheer weight of numbers getting the ball forward. Tippett killed us and so did our stagnant play but other than that I thought we matched them well.

The scoreboard was clearly overwhelmingly in their favour but the difference between the sides wasn't as great as it would seem. There were little pieces of play here and there (and some questionable umpire decisions early which cost us) which were the difference. Early on, Brayshaw wins a free in the centre, gives it off to someone (Lumumba?) who kicks it forward to a leading Hogan. The ball is a metre too high and goes over his head directly to Richards. A better kick and that's a goal. Down the other end Dunn gets an iffy free against him to Tippett who converts (even though Dunn was adamant it was touched). There were multiple examples of these little things which added up. The biggest issue for us is figuring our how to break through the press coming out of defence and through the middle and how to maintain a flow on game without getting into trouble and turning it over. Freo and Sydney have both strangled us in this regard and we go into our shells. GWS did too in the second half which was a complete turnaround from the first half of that game. We started off well taking the game on against Sydney but once they locked us down we had no response. Get this rectified and it'll go a long way to sorting out the team.

Did you go to the game or watch it on TV ? (I'm not having a go at you either way). I know some people saw it on TV that thought we competed ok, but I was at the game and watched numerous times where multiple Swans streamed downfield with no Demon near them. Interesting how different people watch the same game and have totally different opinions on the match. I thought the game was disappointing from a Melbourne point of view, but that's just the way I saw it.