mo64

But his selection is still dependent on others on the list, and what they have to offer. Even if he gets back to his best, others may be playing at a level that is superior to his best. I'll ask you this. What is Garland's role in the backline?

I agree. Over our 2 NAB Cup games, I've actually found the umpiring interpretations easy to predict. If you go to ground and don't dispose of it, HTB. If you handball to a teammate and he gets tackled without prior opportunity, HTB. So in other words, if you keep your feet and and if you don't handball to a teammate under pressure, you'll be fine.

Like all our backmen in the 1st half, Garland was able to rack up easy possessions because there was little to no forward pressure by the opposition. As Stevetheman pointed out, he doesn't look to do anything creative once he gets the ball. Even at training, I haven't seen him take the game on, despite having acres of space and no pressure. Watched the 2nd half again this morning, and Garland was bl##dy ordinary, as he was against Freo. Garland isn't a great lockdown backman, and offers little on offence. IMO, it's time that we looked at other options.

So how long do we persevere with him when there are other options? It sh#ts me when numerous posters are questioning a player's value to the team, then the player in question is then categorised by some as a "whipping boy". What's the point of having a forum to discuss the merits of our team if you can't make criticisms of players?

Watched the 2nd half replay this morning, and one of the highlights came from Ben Newton halfway through the 3rd quarter. Took a mark with 5 metres of space, and played on. Had pressure coming but had the confidence to drill a 30 metre pass into the middle, which broke open the play, and a goal resulted. Of late, I've rarely seen Garland or Grimes look to do something similar. If it's a coaching directive due to their limitations, then we can't afford both in the backline, because neither of them are lockdown backmen. My preference is for Newton and Lumumba to rotate between halfback and on the ball. Along with Jetta and Salem, we'll start to create more goals from defence.

I've noticed at training that all the players seem to have been instructed to kick the ball with a perpendicular leg and face your teammate when short passing, rather than hooking your kick a la Luke Hodge. The benefit is that the margin of error is decreased, and less chance of shanking. The downside is that you get less power, hence it travels slower to your teammate. The other downside is that the kick is easier to smother, as it takes longer to get the ball to your boot. I question how this kicking technique will stand up under pressure.

Clearly Roos is in the minority, as he doesn't share your opininion. Fact 1. Played just 9 games in Roos 1st season as coach. Fact 2. Started as a sub in the club's first competitive hitout against Freo. Aside from Spencer, only available player with senior AFL experience to not start on the ground. Fact 3. Every player has a specific role. That doesn't preclude them from getting involved in the play.

Has a familiar ring to it. Just like Scully, Trengove, Gysberts, Tapscott and Blease would surpass Nathan Jones.

Spot on. It's easy to make excuses like "we took our foot off the pedal", but that's contrary to what Cross said was discussed at half time. I took more positives out of our loss to Freo. I'm still concerned about where our goals will come from. So many of the 1st half goals were under no pressure. Can't recall any of them coming from winning a 1 on 1 contest, but at least we had some crumbers. Happy if we get 35 goals out of Hogan, but I'm worried that he'll use himself as a bettering ram to make a contest, because we don't have any other marking options in the forward line. Dawes, Pedo and Gawn have shown nothing, and Fitzpatrick isn't up to it. Howe needs to play up forward as a 3rd tall, and we'll have a huge reliance on Garlett, JKH and Kent for our goals. Our backmen were given a free ride in the 1st half. No forward pressure by the Dogs. Let's see how they stand up in round 1. Still a huge reliance on Jones and Tyson in the midfield. Love Viney's attack on the ball, but needs to be cleaner when he gets it. Newton is good in traffic and has good disposal. I believe that he and Michie are playing for the same role because they are both one paced, and Newton is well ahead at this stage. Criticism of Toumpas was harsh. Really liked his game, and I don't mind seeing a player get caught if they're taking the game on. M. Jones, Bail and McKenzie really don't offer anything, and unfortunately Jones and Bail will be in our round 1 team. Jamar is are only true ruckman. Would prefer to see Pedo play as a 2nd ruck, because at least he can be used as a link player. Get the feeling that Frost might be used as a forward/2nd ruck.

And building a team via the draft has worked?

Maybe Kent stayed in Perth to start contract negotiations with his new club.

I never understood the rationale of Misson's comment. A bottom club would turnover between 22-30 players in 3 years. By the third year, half the players on the list wouldn't be at the club. Darren Burgess at Port Adelaide was able to markedly change their fitness levels in 12 months by increasing workloads from day 1.

Your idea of facts is conducting a straw poll of the person standing next to you and their 4 year old kid. You don't know how many people left in disgust. You don't know how many memberships or how much merchandise could have been sold. And it wasn't a normal Monday session, because it was a public holiday, which lends to greater accessability for supporters to attend. Just accept that you are a supporter like everyone else, and you are not privy to the inner workings of the club.

Exactly. Seems as though they interpreted 12.00pm on the training schedule to mean that the players would be on the ground at that time. My initilal impression was that the FD stuffed up, but that's not the case. Unfortunately I doubt that any of the employees would have a degree in football administration.

If you hadn't noticed, we've been a shambolic club for the past 8 years. We all want to see the club being successful on and off the field. If they can't get the small things right, what hope have we got. People are peeved because they care about the club, and these small things matter.

It must be a coach's instruction, because it's something I've noticed at training as well. Only player I've seen regularly kick the ball on his non-preferred foot is Garlett.

That was my initial take, which is why I was taken aback. But as Sweet and Sour Dee said, I think it was more of a dig at his former club. Personally, assistant coaches shouldn't concern themselves with club politics at a new club. The reality of sport is that coaches get sacked, and all of them will tell you that the club panicked.

What does this mean?

That's just not true. Unlike Saty, I have no emotional attachment to any player, hence I don't dislike any player. But if a player isn't playing up to a standard that will help us improve, why wouldn't I point out their shortfalls? I've always liked Grimes and garland, but the fact is their current playing standard will not help us improve. That's just my observation. You and Saty constantly point out that everyone makes mistakes. That's true, but when the likes of Tyson and N.Jones get involved in the play 20-30 times, a few errors are bound to be made. At training, the likes of Spencer and McKenzie would be barely be involved in 5 acts during match sim, so if they make 1 or 2 basic errors, it should be brought to attention. It's no coincidence that they were the only available senior players on our list who weren't part of the starting line-up against Freo. And yet you and Saty keep telling us how well they're training. The coaches obviously don't agree.

Freo kicked 2 legitimate goals after half time so that wouldn't have taken too long. Dunn just didn't get involved in the play for whatever reason. To say that he was too busy marshalling the troops is laughable.

And vice versa. I suggest that many posters have differing opinions to you as to what makes an AFL footballer. How you can glean that on television is beyond me.

You can do both! Most supporters, excluding yourself and TDI, realise that your defenders are equally important to your attack as your forwards or mids. Grimes, Garland and McKenzie offer little to nothing when it comes to creativity, and that impacts on our scoring potential. And why do you think that Mckenzie doesn't seem to be part of our midfield plans, when in your eyes, he's such an effective lockdown player?

Sue, I realise that Fremantle is a port, but they are called the Dockers, as opposed to Port Melbourne.

Spot on. Let's not kid ourselves. The missed targets and turnovers that I've seen at training continued in a practise match.The intensity level will further increase when the real season starts, and that's concerning. We've still got too many players that can't play two-way football, and need to be weeded out of the team. And they're the same players that struggle with ball in hand at training. They include favourite sons in Garland and Grimes, and we can't afford to keep carrying out of form players. Something has to be done about our forward line and backline structures. Can't have resting ruckman or Pedersen on the ground with Hogan and Dawes. When fit, Howe needs to play forward as a marking option. Similarly, we can't have 4 bigs in the backline. Dunn, T Mac and Frost is enough. Need another running defender to go along with Jetta and Salem. On a positive note, Newton, Lumumba, Frost, Hogan, VDB and Garlett all made contributions. Our clearance work was pretty good against quality opponents.

Viv Michie needs to dye his hair blond, wear white boots and Keith Greig ankle guards. I never notice him until I see the number on his back.