8 hours ago, Rusty Nails said:

IN:  May, Viney, Macca & Baker

OUT:  Smith, Sparrow, Melk & Gus*

*Managed

Viney to play a down & dirty lock on Selwood

Harmes to run with and off Danger

Lmfao Viney would be spent by quarter time with amount of running Selwood does.

If Hawkins had pulled him to the side and taken some of the impact with the  ground himself instead flattening him the outcome might have been different. Should be charged with no duty of care.

16 minutes ago, doc roet said:

If Hawkins had pulled him to the side and taken some of the impact with the  ground himself instead flattening him the outcome might have been different. Should be charged with no duty of care.

You have to hand it to Hawkins he always checks the condition of his victim to make sure he has done a good job. Such remorse. Steven May's eye socket was a work of art and h e admired it from close up.

Such remorse has probably saved him 6 weeks this season. The AFL should wake up to this serial offender.

Edited August 15, 20214 yr by Cyclops

1 hour ago, demon3165 said:

If Hawkins got rubbed out for that then the AFL is a joke nothing in it pure football accident.

He sure has a lot of accidents then doesn’t he. It’s a reckless and negligent act that he didn’t need to do. In every definition of the dangerous tackling rules - which you may remember we paid a 5 week penalty for. 

6 minutes ago, Cyclops said:

You have to hand it to Hawkins he always checks the condition of his victim to make sure he has done a good job. Such remorse. Steven May's eye socket was a work of art and h e admired it from close up.

Such remorse has probably saved him 6 weeks this season. The AFL should wake up to this serial offender.

4 minutes ago, CYB said:

He sure has a lot of accidents then doesn’t he. It’s a reckless and negligent act that he didn’t need to do. In every definition of the dangerous tackling rules - which you may remember we paid a 5 week penalty for. 

Hate Hawkins all you want, but I'm extremely confident if it were a Melbourne player who had laid that tackle you'd have been livid for a suspension.

The bigger question to come out of this week's MRO is why did Hawkins get nothing but Zaine Cordy, who did the precise same thing, got a fine. They're either both fines or they're both nothing. Again, the MRO is a broken failure.

I've never been a fan of Smith, but I thought his first half was very good yesterday and his second half non-existent. Perhaps that was the result of the heavy collision with Hibberd(?). However, I saw enough to see that if he's fit he could be a useful medi-sub because of his versatility.

Nevertheless, assuming May and McDonald are both fit, they should both come in for Smith and Melksham respectively. Viney is a condundrum. At his best, he's an upgrade on Sparrow and Jordon, but in his last game he seemed to be struggling with pace and strength as seen by him being caught with the ball so many times. I hope the enforced break has been good for him, so I'd pick him, probably in place of Sparrow, who should become the medi-sub. 

8 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

Hate Hawkins all you want, but I'm extremely confident if it were a Melbourne player who had laid that tackle you'd have been livid for a suspension.

The bigger question to come out of this week's MRO is why did Hawkins get nothing but Zaine Cordy, who did the precise same thing, got a fine. They're either both fines or they're both nothing. Again, the MRO is a broken failure.

Correct. MRO been broken since the introduction of fines.

A trip was one of the most severe offences and you got 2 to 6 weeks. Now it is $1500. Players are not deterred.

Edited August 15, 20214 yr by Cyclops
Typo

12 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Hibberd was not fanatastic today but I didn't see anything wrong with his game.

If TMac is to come in could it be Melksham out or is it Jordon.

May for Smith and Viney for Sparrow are almost certainties.

It looked to me that both Hibberd and Melksham were playing for their spots and were trying to hard. Hibbo, nearly took out Smith early in the 3rd and was directly involved in 3 of those 4 goals they kicked quickly at the start of the 4th, the Murphy goal he was his direct opponent but then dropped out the back of the pack by 3 or 4 meters which enabled the quick snap goal. It looked to me that he dropped back hoping to be feed the ball so he could move it out of defense rather than stay closer so he could impact his opponent if he got the ball. I think if Rohan comes back Smith would be the much better match up.

So I'd go: May, Viney and TMac in for Hibberd, Melksham and Sparrow. 

15 hours ago, leave it to deever said:

Yep Smith unlucky.

Jack lucky.

He's come along way Smitty, extremely unlucky.

Edited August 15, 20214 yr by Win4theAges

15 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

Hate Hawkins all you want, but I'm extremely confident if it were a Melbourne player who had laid that tackle you'd have been livid for a suspension.

The bigger question to come out of this week's MRO is why did Hawkins get nothing but Zaine Cordy, who did the precise same thing, got a fine. They're either both fines or they're both nothing. Again, the MRO is a broken failure.

Hawkins dumped in the tackle but did the umpire even pay a free kick? It was hardly dirty play worthy of missing a final.

Selwood running past the ball and bumping the head last week was a much worse action even though there was no concussion.

You hit the nail on the head with the biggest issue with the MRO being inconsistency. Stars get preferential treatment and the system is completely relaxed in the finals.

21 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

I've never been a fan of Smith, but I thought his first half was very good yesterday and his second half non-existent. Perhaps that was the result of the heavy collision with Hibberd(?). However, I saw enough to see that if he's fit he could be a useful medi-sub because of his versatility.

Nevertheless, assuming May and McDonald are both fit, they should both come in for Smith and Melksham respectively. Viney is a condundrum. At his best, he's an upgrade on Sparrow and Jordon, but in his last game he seemed to be struggling with pace and strength as seen by him being caught with the ball so many times. I hope the enforced break has been good for him, so I'd pick him, probably in place of Sparrow, who should become the medi-sub. 

Goodwin said Smith was cramping in the third quarter. The VFL has been off, so he will be better for the run. He is usually one of our best runners.

9 hours ago, Cheesy D. Pun said:

I think it's a tough one. 

It's similar but nowhere near as brutal as this which received 1 week in 2018:

Natanui dumps Amon

What should Hawkins have done? He's running at full speed then has to lay a tackle. There was no second motion.

I'd be furious if one of our players was suspended for that.

He did not have to lay a tackle.

Protecting the player with the ball is the number one priority.

He did not do that.

Let me repeat, he did not have to lay a tackle.

The ball was long disposed of when Hawkins dumped him. He should have released the tackle when the ball was released.

44 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

He did not have to lay a tackle.

Protecting the player with the ball is the number one priority.

He did not do that.

Let me repeat, he did not have to lay a tackle.

If one of our boys was hunting a defender with the ball, then stopped and let him run off, I'd expect the coaches to give him a week's rest anyway. Surely, you're laying that tackle everytime?

To be clear, I'm not 100% sure it's not worth a week but his choices are limited in that scenario.

If we're asking players not to tackle a player with the ball, then we need to provide an alternative.

Apologies if this has been covered..

Hibberd still fumbles...he makes me nervous

 

Effectively finals have come a week early for us along with Port and the Bulldogs. And with no clear indication on the finals bye positioning, the complexities for Goody and his selectors are even more paramount.

One thing about finals is that you rarely change the side, except for injuries, so this week is the last chance for any slight tweaks and also to get our best 22 on the park. Effectively we are picking our GF side, should we get that far, because as I said, you don't mess with structure in finals and you back your best.

But what is our best 22? 

The big thing this week is that three of our best 22 are most likely back - Viney and May certainly, T.Mac most likely.

That means a decision of the three outs is also way more meaningful as normal.

The obvious one is May in for Joel Smith. Yes Joel played well until Hibberd smashed him and for once the anti-Joel lobby didn't move into overdrive - but unfortunately he's up against an All-Australian in May. He remains a very handy back-up for our three tall defenders, but he's not getting the gig now unless one of Lever, Petty or May is injured.

The other two are tricky. Viney is clearly in and T.Mac will be if he's fit, but which of Sparrow or Jordan or Bowey or Melky misses?

To me until Jaidyn Hunt returns, Bowey's spot is safe. We could move Angus back into our defensive seven but I wouldn't. We need Angus to continue on the wing and negate and provide safety. Sparrow is a more attacking player with a better kick, but he is yet to really assert himself on a game. Down the track he may become a regular, but he's not quite there yet, so he's out in my view, although I'd be happy with him being the sub through the finals because he can offer more options with his size and his willingness to take the game on.

Then it gets down to Melky or JJ. 

JJ's issue is that with Viney back, he's forced back out to the wing more and he's not a natural there. JJ is a quick release handball offensive conduit. He's not confident yet with taking the game on when he's in a mark/kick scenario which happens more often on the wing, but he's brilliant with his handball and he works his butt off defensively. He's the safe option, but he's not the best option at this stage of his development.

Melky's issue is that once T.Mac returns, we already have seven forwards who have served us well all season. So where does Melky play. He has to go back into the midfield rotation and spend some time on Angus' wing as well. We know he has a weapon with his kicking, but is he quick enough still to play on the wing and is he enough of a team player - does he work hard to get back, to pressure like ANB and Spargo do innately. His advantage is that for his size he's good in the air with body positioning and provided he doesn't give away 50m frees, he is way more dangerous than Sparrow and Jordan in this role. He could still play primarily as a forward but that means ANB or Spargo have to become more mid/forwards, something that we've seen a bit of lately anyway.

So ultimately it gets down to Melky or JJ missing out this week and most likely missing out on our finals series as a result. Which one would you go? I'd play Melky. Sorry JJ.

Edited August 16, 20214 yr by Deespicable
Word missing

1 hour ago, Fat Tony said:

Hawkins dumped in the tackle but did the umpire even pay a free kick? It was hardly dirty play worthy of missing a final.

Selwood running past the ball and bumping the head last week was a much worse action even though there was no concussion.

You hit the nail on the head with the biggest issue with the MRO being inconsistency. Stars get preferential treatment and the system is completely relaxed in the finals.

Agree.

The MRO box-ticking exercise is as big of a problem as anything. The box-ticking for what Selwood did should result in a suspension (i.e. even with little-to-no injury, if you run past the ball, bump, and hit the head, that should be a week).

1 hour ago, Clint Bizkit said:

He did not have to lay a tackle.

Protecting the player with the ball is the number one priority.

He did not do that.

Let me repeat, he did not have to lay a tackle.

That's not a good argument.

No one ever "has to" lay a tackle. 

Take the anti-Geelong bias out of the equation, and imagine it was TMac who was chasing down Joyce in our forward line with the game and top 4 arguably on the line. I maintain there's very little chance you'd be arguing for a suspension.

31 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

Agree.

The MRO box-ticking exercise is as big of a problem as anything. The box-ticking for what Selwood did should result in a suspension (i.e. even with little-to-no injury, if you run past the ball, bump, and hit the head, that should be a week).

That's not a good argument.

No one ever "has to" lay a tackle. 

Take the anti-Geelong bias out of the equation, and imagine it was TMac who was chasing down Joyce in our forward line with the game and top 4 arguably on the line. I maintain there's very little chance you'd be arguing for a suspension.

If he caused a concussion I 100% would.

We need to protect the player with the ball, that’s why the rules exist.

Out: Smith, Jordon, Sparrow 

In: May, McDonald, Viney

I think Melksham has the X factor and the foot skills we have been missing. Very happy with him in the side the last two weeks. 

Unfortunately I see Jordon and Sparrow coming out to make way for more experienced players 

I believe that Clarry needs a rest - has played 106 consecutive games after all, not including pre-season fixtures. Noticed he was uncharacteristically jogging to a lot of contests yesterday and not chasing (never mind what the commentators were saying). He may have been granted an in-season rest, and told not to go hard. Still, I think he's one player who could come back positively after a week off. I can't remember the last time he wasn't in the votes. 

Gus into the guts for a start that leaves Rugby player out May and TMac in could try another for the wing position Rivers, Spargo?

9 minutes ago, FritschyBusiness said:

Out: Smith, Jordon, Sparrow 

In: May, McDonald, Viney

I think Melksham has the X factor and the foot skills we have been missing. Very happy with him in the side the last two weeks. 

Unfortunately I see Jordon and Sparrow coming out to make way for more experienced players 

This is the part of the issue this week. I'd like to see Melky having another week but understand if he's not included.

Tough week for the selectors. 

 

15 minutes ago, FritschyBusiness said:

I think Melksham has the X factor and the foot skills we have been missing. Very happy with him in the side the last two weeks. 

 

4 minutes ago, roy11 said:

This is the part of the issue this week. I'd like to see Melky having another week but understand if he's not included.

Tough week for the selectors. 

 

Melk is a role player now...with Stewart out there probably isn't a role for him.

As for X-factor...if that's code for not getting the footy very much then he has it in spades.

To be fair, the role he plays means he's not going to get a lot of it.

If the Dogs win and we are locked into top 2 and rest players Oliver could miss out on the Brownlow. That said, maximising a chance at a premiership should be all that matters.