SaberFang

I wonder which loss was worse? 100+ points to Hawthorn, or 70+ to GWS? EDIT: Or the likely 100+ thrashing coming up to the Gold Coast? Oh, wait, nobody cares about Gold Coast.

Anyone criticising Roos either has a very short memory, or zero idea about the modern game. Was he on the field today? No. Did he draft or recruit half our list? No. Did he get us into the mess we're in after years of [censored] drafting and [censored] development? No. Did he do pretty much everything right from the moment he got in the door, including spending a year teaching players how to defend? Yes. Is it his fault his players are seemingly incapable of following basic instructions or putting in EFFORT? NO.

He doesn't because he's lazy, doesn't give a [censored], and clearly has both feet out the door as Frawley did by this time last year. Just fark off Howe. You believe your own hype, but your clueless reaction to Roos' spray at your pathetic lack of effort says everything that needs to be said about your deficiencies as a footballer.

Have no idea what the deal is with Pederson not getting a consistent game in the ones. He's miles beyond Dawes and gives it a crack, at this point in time. Roos doesn't seem to have much love for him.

I've said since round two's changes, dropping players from a winning team to accommodate Dawes when he wasn't even match-conditioned was a thoroughly ill-advised decision. We had a perfect balance against the Gold Coast in our forward line, and we haven't once played the same team since. Staggeringly disrespectful to the playing group, and basically contradicts what Roos has been saying about "banging down the door".

Agree that we need PJ to come out and make a stand, reassure us... something, ANYTHING. Because right now (and after the GWS thrashing) all I see is a doomed club that will fold by the next broadcast rights agreement.

My free time on a weekend is far too precious to waste describing what I feel right now.

I'm not sure Neeld truly overruled that decision. Toumpas was rated highly, but he was never a contested ball winner, and has rightly not just evolved into one. The infuriating thing about that pick isn't just the obvious players we missed, but that taking a player like Toumpas was short-sighted given the trends in the game styles that were dominating the competition. It's also infuriating that he's never taken the next step, if he even has one to take. We continue to be miles behind the league when it comes to trends.

Arguably the fixture was also favourably weighted for us towards the end of the season, when we usually finish extremely poorly (see last year). AFL were probably trying to give supporters hope leading into 2016 with some very winnable games.

Take it to the next level, ANB. Got big wraps on this kid if he can make the ones. Huge competitor and a massive upgrade on the likes of Bail/M Jones.

The fall is Toumpas is just criminal. We can't [censored] up those top draft picks, they are so, so crucial and you only get one a year. Every time we screw up a top 5 pick, it essentially pushes us a year behind everyone else. The competition can rightly tell us to go [censored] ourselves every time we outstretch the arms, because we are continually given the best draft picks and we continually get them criminally wrong. The game was heading heavily towards contested footy winners; it was an extremely short-sighted decision to take a 'cream on the cake' player like Toumpas, especially considering the deficiencies with our F-grade midfield (hard ball winners).

Ridiculous comment. Is Roos out there on the field playing like a pee-heart? Alastair Clarkson couldn't do [censored] with this pathetic list. Don't forget just what Paul Roos inherited 2 years ago and how much he's trying to turn it over every chance he gets (sadly only once a year).

Pressure and intimidation. Is it really that hard? [censored] me dead.

I hear there's some gems at the top of the draft we'll have unrivalled access to: the next Toumpas, Watts, Scully... can't wait to see who we pick!

The players turn up just awaiting the inevitable thrashing, so why should supporters bother getting their hopes up? Mentally weak and pathetic leadership across the board. I'm off to enjoy this beautiful Autumn day, which so rarely fall on weekends. Just look at that sunshine!

Watts asks to be sent to Casey. Hogan wants to play against the reigning premiers. Both get dropped. Hmph.

Gotta wonder how much patience the AFL have with us, if today goes as badly as we're all dreading. Worse still if the flogging is greater than last year's 50 point mess. It shows we're not making any progress psychologically under Roos after a second pre-season, which is hugely worrying. We'll be paying the price for years of inept development, recruitment and drafting for years to come.

Who's the [censored] who thought Freo/Syd/Haw was a great successive run to give us at the start of the season? Talk about completely destroying any confidence we gained against Richmond/Gold Coast (especially now they've been proven fairly inept by other teams).

Hodge basically laughed at Dawes' comments and said he told others about it at the club to pump them up. Says he expects plenty of players to mention it to him today, basically saying it's a fait accompli we will be shat on today and the comments are laughably stupid. Also that using GWS as a barometer is pretty dumb, considering how much talent they've been given for 4 years running.

We're resting Hogan for next week, doubt there's anything suss there at all. And as for Watts... that's very honorable if true and not just Roos protecting him like usual.

Yeah, we're definitely resting players for next week now, just like the Bulldogs when they played Hawthorn. The coaches know exactly the tripe we're going to serve up today. The coaches gave them last week to make amends for the Freo match and the players failed spectacularly.

Dunno, seeing Essendon lose is pretty entertaining.

Yep, noticed this too. Essendon are, annoyingly, very dangerous in the way they continually tap, scrap, knock and punch the ball forward. They have a desperation to keep the ball moving towards their forward line (where all their crumbers are roving) and prevent it from ever being static (which would allow easy possession for the opposition). We do NOT do this, ever. In fact, we rarely show any desperation at all, perhaps except the final minute of last year's Essendon match. We've had it ingrained in our players to always maintain possession, which means chip kicks and handballs, even if it's to players under pressure. Is this working? Well, not against the best teams, that's for sure.

And there's the game! Thank you Higgins/Ziebell you legends!!! Hilarious to hear the total deflation in all the commentators. Nobody is talking and Bruce sounds flat.

OMG NORTH YOU ARE INFURIATINGLY [censored]! Why the hell does Essendon keep getting ridiculously flukey goals while North miss set shot after set shot!?