Just now, I'va Worn Smith said:

Well, I guess you duck, when you bend over to pick up the ball.  Notwithstanding, he was hit in the head and was concussed.  So that's OK is it?  Bugger me dead if it is. 

If he was tackled, in the same movement - as described above - then perhaps you might have an argument.  But it wasn't a tackle, it was a bump, where he was hit in the head, by his opponent's hip. 

10 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Could not believe my eyes that we decided to bring in Melksham off the back of no performance last week over Bailey Laurie who was BOG by a length with 35 disposals. Is this the true definition of rewarding form? Why on earth are we continuing to gift games to Melksham when there are guys at Casey who are who are constantly busting their [censored] week after week with zero reward. People may think it's a joke bit you can't tell me there is some genuine bias by Goodwin here with this one.

McDonald is genuinely a cooked footballer. Some got sucked in by his performance last week against a WAFL but no more from now on He should be purely for depth if we are decimated with injuries. This spot now should be between Schache and Brown. 

Again, we lose Lever and pick Tomlinson who's not even a like for like. If Daniel Turner can get games based on the blokes who plays a similar style to him (Lever) then when will he? What's even more of a joke was that selection committee had the audacity to fly Turner up as an emergency.. genuine pisstake? Now is the time where we need to start seeing whether Turner is up to it.

Melksham played as the 3rd tall forward and when we moved the ball he looked as likely as any of our key forwards. BBB struggles to stay upright in the dry, I’m completely fine with that change. Not sure why you’re comparing him with noted key forward 180cm Bill Laurie.

I wasn’t impressed with Tommy Mc and he’s just about impossible to pick again any time soon, but if Schache’s the answer we’re probably just as stuffed. His VFL form has been good not great and he’s still iffy at the contest. How long has been on an AFL list without getting a regular gig?

Totally agree on Disco, but the plan looked fairly simple. Use Tomlinson on the resting rucks. He towelled up Lobb, surely he won’t struggle too much with Phillips and Draper? That allows May to play full back and Petty to play as the interceptor. 

Disco also had 1 game back from a 3+ week lay off, it’s not unreasonable for him to play a second VFL game. For his own sake as much as the teams. His second ever AFL game going in underdone? That’s not a recipe for success. 

1 hour ago, rpfc said:

Stagnant and no spark and joy and The Engine (Spargo, ANB, Chandler) was impotent and hampered of course with injury. Even before the 50+ mins without a goal, we piled on in two flourishes and were trash around that.

Look arrogant tbh. And waiting for someone else to do something.

This is what happens when you are off, you get punished in this league.

100%. We got shown up early, put the foot down for a bit at the start of the 2nd to kick 4 in a row and go a couple up and thought we'd done enough. It's frustrating because you'd think seasoned players would realise you need to step on the opposition's throat until any resistance is snuffed out otherwise you leave yourself open.

Credit to Essendon they came to play and came to play 4 quarters. They ran harder, outworked, outsmarted and out toughed us. 2nd wake up call in a month hopefully it's the last one we need 🤔

State of Origin > Gather Round

4 minutes ago, adonski said:

Does anyone actually know what Sparrow's role is?

Doesn't win the footy 
Doesn't use his size to impact defensively - 1 tackle off 10 centre bounce attendances 
Isn't a link up player - 0 marks
Isn't a forward
Rarely hits above 65% time on ground
Is there any particular reason we carry him every week? 

Also - so much for Pickett & Rivers' added midfield minutes, Rivers had 4 centre bounce attendances, while Pickett only had 3. For context, Jordon as sub had 3.

Yes, Lyon's mentioning Sparrow in the same breath as Tim Watson (must be the no.32) after the 2021 GF is looking a bit silly. Hasn't come on. Pity, I like him! But it might be worth looking elsewhere. His form doesn't demand a game. We have too many B-graders, frankly.

3 minutes ago, adonski said:

Does anyone actually know what Sparrow's role is?

Doesn't win the footy 
Doesn't use his size to impact defensively - 1 tackle off 10 centre bounce attendances 
Isn't a link up player - 0 marks
Isn't a forward
Rarely hits above 65% time on ground
Is there any particular reason we carry him every week? 

Also - so much for Pickett & Rivers' added midfield minutes, Rivers had 4 centre bounce attendances, while Pickett only had 3. For context, Jordon as sub had 3.

AFL ap says Rivers had 0 CBAs? 

As for your comments on Sparrow, he really struggled today and he's still finding his way, but I reckon he might make way for JJ and we'll tweak our CBA set ups.

When Sparrow gave away that ridiculous free kick with the sling tackle, you could tell he was frustrated by his day/performance. 

20 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Time to be serious now.

The club needs to start making decisions some serious decisions on the likes of Melksham, McDonald and Tomlinson moving forward and how by giving them games benefits us at all moving into the future.

Could not believe my eyes that we decided to bring in Melksham off the back of no performance last week over Bailey Laurie who was BOG by a length with 35 disposals. Is this the true definition of rewarding form? Why on earth are we continuing to gift games to Melksham when there are guys at Casey who are who are constantly busting their [censored] week after week with zero reward. People may think it's a joke bit you can't tell me there is some genuine bias by Goodwin here with this one.

McDonald is genuinely a cooked footballer. Some got sucked in by his performance last week against a WAFL but no more from now on He should be purely for depth if we are decimated with injuries. This spot now should be between Schache and Brown. 

Again, we lose Lever and pick Tomlinson who's not even a like for like. If Daniel Turner can get games based on the blokes who plays a similar style to him (Lever) then when will he? What's even more of a joke was that selection committee had the audacity to fly Turner up as an emergency.. genuine pisstake? Now is the time where we need to start seeing whether Turner is up to it.

I've really liked what the selection committee have done this year, I really do. But these 3 are simply not the future at all and can't be relied upon every single time a player goes out. The age is shoeing out in big games and it's costing us.

 

Being a bit harsh on those three with the whole team playing so poorly.

Personally, I wouldn’t have started Melksham and when Brown comes back I think he provides more than McDonald to compliment JVR and be dangerous deep when Gawn comes back. Tomlinson is depth for Lever so no problem there. We just can’t compete when we are so lacking in spark and dare.

21 minutes ago, Deemania since 56 said:

' It is where they are given and when.' 

Fully agree - it is almost orchestrated. We are left wondering: 'WHY?

It is sports entertainment these days. Umps are not immune from the narrative or the theatre.

Our showing today was as listless and perplexing as this Alan Vega live performance. 

27 minutes ago, I'va Worn Smith said:

He was hit in the head by his opposition's hip.  He did not duck, he picked up the ball.  It could not have even been conceivable, that it was holding the ball, if he did not have possession, after bending down.   He was not caught in a tackle, he was bumped in the head.   He was concussed FFS. 

He wasn’t picking up the ball though, he took a mark off a dees player from half back then ran off the mark towards the forward line.  Redmann was running at him, spargo then stopped and tried to change direction, ducked his head toward redmann to try and evade and Redmann collected his head with his hip. 
 

It was holding the ball all day long and Spargo unfortunately put himself into a bad position. There want anything Redmann did wrong if you watch it again, 

51 minutes ago, BoBo said:

The tackling especially! Just no intensity today 

Yep so many broken tackles ☹️

10 minutes ago, adonski said:

Does anyone actually know what Sparrow's role is?

Doesn't win the footy 
Doesn't use his size to impact defensively - 1 tackle off 10 centre bounce attendances 
Isn't a link up player - 0 marks
Isn't a forward
Rarely hits above 65% time on ground
Is there any particular reason we carry him every week? 

Also - so much for Pickett & Rivers' added midfield minutes, Rivers had 4 centre bounce attendances, while Pickett only had 3. For context, Jordon as sub had 3.

Sparrow’s a defensive running machine, he consistently blocks the corridor and covers off for a midfield that isn’t great at that.

They haven’t used Pickett much in the middle the last 2 weeks. Maybe it’s a matter of match fitness after missing 2 weeks, I don’t know. Maybe it’s because we desperately need his speed forward.

Rivers is part of the back 7, he’s only getting 1 rotation on ball per quarter. Until we have a midfielder who can swap back the other way it’s silly to expect more than that.

1 minute ago, rpfc said:

Being a bit harsh on those three with the whole team playing so poorly.

Personally, I wouldn’t have started Melksham and when Brown comes back I think he provides more than McDonald to compliment JVR and be dangerous deep when Gawn comes back. Tomlinson is depth for Lever so no problem there. We just can’t compete when we are so lacking in spark and dare.

Agree with most of this, but surely Turner is depth for Lever. He's the interceptor that can play on a tall. Tomlinson, like May, panics when the ball hits the ground in D50.

2 minutes ago, BoBo said:

He wasn’t picking up the ball though, he took a mark off a dees player from half back then ran off the mark towards the forward line.  Redmann was running at him, spargo then stopped and tried to change direction, ducked his head toward redmann to try and evade and Redmann collected his head with his hip. 
 

It was holding the ball all day long and Spargo unfortunately put himself into a bad position. There want anything Redmann did wrong if you watch it again, 

So getting a whack in the head, which gives you concussion, is OK is it?

13 minutes ago, Jjrogan said:

To the naked eye, Oliver and Petracca played their absolute guts out in that last quarter.   Olivers last in particular was off the charts. 20 possessions. Petracca was throwing himself into everything.   In fact, the whole team never dropped their heads but Essendons marking and matchups were a problem for 45 minutes and wrestled contol away.  Fair credit to them.  

I think a loss like that will reinforce we probably need another key back in the draft.  

Why don’t they do that in Q1 where the game is in the balance? It really irks me. Clarry had 2 touches in Q1 and Trac wasn’t in the game. They have both come somewhat back to the field this year. Thankfully it’s early days but a kid at Pies in his 2nd season is still running rampant no matter what teams throw at him.

7 minutes ago, Clintosaurus said:

It is sports entertainment these days. Umps are not immune from the narrative or the theatre.

It is their contribution for an exciting - and often pre-arranged - level of such entertainment, perhaps. 

Tricky one, definitely ducked and hung the neck in a bad position too, but it wasn’t a high tackle, it was as a clattering in to.

Probably ok with the free against, awful umpire not to halt play.

Edited April 15, 20231 yr by DeeSpencer

5 minutes ago, I'va Worn Smith said:

So getting a whack in the head, which gives you concussion, is OK is it?

The rule has been for a while that if you duck your head, it's play on. 

I've still seen it paid as a free kick given he clearly collected Charlie, but Charlie also has a reputation for ducking his head, which didn't help his cause.

8 minutes ago, rpfc said:

Being a bit harsh on those three with the whole team playing so poorly.

Personally, I wouldn’t have started Melksham and when Brown comes back I think he provides more than McDonald to compliment JVR and be dangerous deep when Gawn comes back. Tomlinson is depth for Lever so no problem there. We just can’t compete when we are so lacking in spark and dare.

One thing the Pies do so well is continue to take the corridor on with carry.. we seem to hack kick out of 50 instead of run it out today. The Bombers haD a high press which would have buckled if we managed to clear through it and kick a couple of goals.

But their high press and pressure is our kryptonite - has been for a while.

Can you imagine the road trip home with @WalkingCivilWar ?  Stay off the Western Hwy

1 minute ago, I'va Worn Smith said:

So getting a whack in the head, which gives you concussion, is OK is it?

In the context that it happened yes. It’s not ideal but nothing illegal happened.
 

It wasn’t a ‘whack’ it was a collision. You can’t change direction, leading with your head whilst ducking towards a player running at you, after taking a mark, running off the mark, stopping dead, turning into said tackling player.

It was Spargo that put himself in that position. He could’ve kicked it, but he didn’t, he tried to evade whilst putting his head down. Redmann didn’t do anything wrong. He didn’t bump Spargo, he went to tackle him and Spargo ducked straight into the tackle.
 

 

3 minutes ago, Gawndy the Great said:

Why don’t they do that in Q1 where the game is in the balance? It really irks me. Clarry had 2 touches in Q1 and Trac wasn’t in the game. They have both come somewhat back to the field this year. Thankfully it’s early days but a kid at Pies in his 2nd season is still running rampant no matter what teams throw at him.

Oh please. Oliver’s been the most prolific player in the comp all year and gets tackled without it constantly. Daicos plays without an opponent at half back and has been shifted on ball or forward to beat tags, he’s a receiver more than a ball winning in the middle too, he’s also just really good. 

Petracca’s been up and down. Playing a lot forward, it’s a very long year. With Tracc I’d like to see more improvement in ball use rather than caring about his ability to get in and win it.

1 minute ago, Jontee said:

Can you imagine the road trip home with @WalkingCivilWar ?  Stay off the Western Hwy

I’m right here, you know. 

1 minute ago, BoBo said:

In the context that it happened yes. It’s not ideal but nothing illegal happened.
 

It wasn’t a ‘whack’ it was a collision. You can’t change direction, leading with your head whilst ducking towards a player running at you, after taking a mark, running off the mark, stopping dead, turning into said tackling player.

It was Spargo that put himself in that position. He could’ve kicked it, but he didn’t, he tried to evade whilst putting his head down. Redmann didn’t do anything wrong. He didn’t bump Spargo, he went to tackle him and Spargo ducked straight into the tackle.
 

 

FFS.  I give up.  In this current day and age, the head is sacro sanct.  The oppo player ran through and hit Spargs in the head with his hip.  That player did not have his arms in a position to tackle.  He bumped him in the head. 

Wow. It was obvious where this was going 30 seconds in.  zDid they think they could opine this one in?  The lack of effort in the contest was clear from the start.  Some real stinkers today - Tommo was a real negative standout today.  TMac low value, nibbler off, Spargo low value and Grundy was shaded. 

Hats off to: Petracca, Viney, JVR, McVee, Petty late and Oliver 2nd half.

Struggle street - the rest.. Mays worst game for the club.