deanox

Ah that's no good. I thought he was the best small forward option.

WJ it looks like on the whole pretty disappointing from the guys who should be pressing for selection. With Kent out, Bail really needed a big one but looks like he didn't. Also are you missing the disposals for Toumpas?

Footscray are reigning premiers and Casey finished 2nd last, last season. However we have been in good form and are looking like a genuine competitor. Without knowing the sides intimately, I'd suggest 3.75 is overs in a two horse race. If we win this you won't see those odds again this year. That being said, this is our first genuine test for the season. What are they offering for the line? Given the rain, and the low likelihood of big scores, that may be a better bet.

Jackovich kicked 71.57 in 14 games in his first season. He also kicked 50+ in the reserves.

Toumpas had been playing half back so could be an option to replace jetta. I agree that bail is the front runner for Kents spot, with Jones an outside chance. Match ups are separate and i wouldn't be surprised to see pedo come in for Kent instead. Would still give us something around the ground (unlike Spencer) and provide back up ruck.

DubDee, it's not the exact same situation but have a read on sone of the stiff going on in American footy and NHL. They are doing lots of studies on concussions effects. In short, yes concussions are much worse for you than limited to just the immediate and obvious symptoms, repeat concussions are dangerous and knowing when someone has recovered is difficult. It is unknown and there is long lasting damage.

Honestly i think Dawes is a victim of stagnation through the midfield and of the half back line. He isn't a string one on one contested mark and needs to be on a lead. We didn't move the ball well last week which meant he was rarely in good position when wet kicked it to him. He needs to help the side by running and leading and presenting repeatedly. That's the only way he gets the ball. It may be more work but standing still and calling for it won't help him. If we move it quickly to him his value improves. Simple. I agree though that he can work on softer hands and timing his jump.

I actually don't care about the hands/marking. What i need to see from him is smart football. Leading patterns that work with Hogan. Even if Dawes is not an AFL star, through his work rate and effort he can be extremely important. If they keep getting in each others way and get close enough to allow their defenders to peel off and spoil then Dawes needs to lift his game.

Many professionals regularly attend seminars or events out of hours to learn about their field. I know I do.

I reckon no change this week. Roos will give them a chance to respond. There was something not quite right. You can't drop everyone and some of the worst were usually our best. As a result i think he'll back them in. But i wouldn't want to play poorly this week.

rpfc do you have any thoughts on my previous post? I agree there is a problem but really feel that a blanket raising of the draft age is a poor way to fix it.

Update, here is the tribunal verdict: Contact between Collingwood's Taylor Adams and the Adelaide Crows' Brodie Smith from the fourth quarter of Saturday's match was assessed. Smith had the ball and handballed to team mate Patrick Dangerfield. As Smith was preparing to release the ball, he was tackled by his opponent Adams and taken to the ground. As Smith was going to ground, high contact was made to Smith with the knee of Collingwood player Travis Varcoe, who was seeking to place pressure on the disposal of player Dangerfield. It was the view of the panel the high contact between Varcoe's knee and Smith was caused by circumstances outside the control of player Adams and could not be reasonably foreseen. No further action was taken. Video of the incident here: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-04-13/kod-crow-may-play In other news, Ballantyne was rubbed out for 3 weeks for this: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-04-13/mrp-comes-down-on-ballantyne . Now don't get me wrong, I don't really like Ballantyne, but I'm not sure how many options he had here. His arms are out as he runs towards a bouncing ball, ready to pick it up, it bounces to his opponents arms and to avoid imminent collision he protects himself by turning side on to brace for contact. I'm not sure what else he could have done in this situation, I know I would have done the same. He could potentially drop the should low and rugby style tackle him, but that involves a significant change in body position in only one step. He could spin out from the contest but a) that isn't AFL, and b) at speed that increases his own risk. He doesn't lift an elbow, or jump off the ground.

Wouldn't surprise me if that were an off-season diet. Allowing them to bulk up and slim down, but then moving to the carbs and extra energy during the season.

Yeah the ground is always much harder for cricket season. And there is normally a longer gap between games. This theory has merit, but unless we hear from a club or two explaining players were particularly sore, I'm not so sure. I read that Howe came up sorer than expected, but not sure where or source.

Again, while I agree with the premise of "getting the best players on display", I don't agree this is the way to do it. Why not? a) raising the draft age will probably see some potential players move to other sports. Some players who are ready to impact won't be able to (Hogan and Brayshaw are great examples). b) the state leagues aren't very good. The standard is much lower, training 2 nights a week isn't enough, the standard of coaching and immersion isn't there. Young players are more likely to stagnate for a year than develop like they can in the AFL system. If we want the best players on display, another option is needed. The best option I can see is a combination: Have a genuine 2nd tier competition which means these young kids can get development at a level on 10-20% below AFL, rather than at 30-50% below AFL. This competition would consist of the next best in the country, they get paid to be part time players (20 hours a week), rather than be full time something else and train twice a week. It will consist of the next best players and the best up and coming kids who are ready at that level. Large squads to enable development, and selection based on performance (i.e. teams can bring talent in and out during the year from any level if it deserves selection), allowing cream to rise to the top. This is combined with reducing primary list sizes. This means means clubs won't be able to draft 5-10 players each year, and they won't be able to pick speculative kids and develop them for 3-5 years, hoping they turn good. The draft age will raise naturally as clubs are forced to pick guaranteed players, not potential players. With a list size of say 33-35 you need to have only players ready to perform at AFL level, this means an 18 yo midfield gun or a Hogan type forward, gets drafted age 18. But a Watts plays 2nd tier for 2 years, despite potential. Any LTI can be replaced with a temporary signing from the other leagues. In this way players get drafted only when they are ready to hit the ground running. The best are on display each week. Drafting hit rate increases for all clubs. "Development" is less of an issue. Clubs that take a punt on young kids will really take a risk, and due to the reduced list sizes, the difference between the best clubs and worst clubs will close, as the good clubs won't be able to top up with young developing talent while still having a dominating best 22.

Can someone let me know why Taylor Adams isn't being looked at for his tackle that left Brodie Smith unconscious and subbed out of the game? It was a 360 sling tackle, which was performed after Smith had disposed of the ball. It was so late in fact, the next player to have the ball had already kicked it down field before Smith was knocked out. I'm not sure if he was knocked out by hitting his head on a knee or the ground, but regardless it was an illegal tackle that caused the injury. Trengove got 3 weeks for less. And regardless of the Trengove decision, the trend has been that any action which "causes injury" gets rubbed out. Surely in every way the AFL should be punishing this player (i.e. due to causing injury even though it was accidental, due to head is sacrosanct, due to illegal tackle, etc.). I'm not sure on what grounds this isn't looked at. Surely if this is an "accident" then so are many head high bumps?

Is WADAs appeal window the same as ASADAs? I.e. 21 April

I'm not so sure it is the consensus. I'm reading a lot of comments about how we are too slow to compete with fast teams, which I disagree with. Lot's of comments that we went too tall and top heavy and thus didn't have the run, which may be true only because we also had an under done Bernie Vince and possibly a sick captain. The leg speed is not an issue at all. We don't need to draft players with pace. There was nothing wrong with the make up of the team yesterday (maybe we were a bit tall with respect to match ups, but if we put effort in we can make that work for us. We didn't put the effort in and it didn't work). I am often apologetic for the team after performances. Over the years we have had some sub-standard performances but often that is because they are sub-standard players. I won't bag out the likes of Terlich, Matt Jones, Dan Nicholson etc. for mistakes. They usually put in effort. If they aren't good enough it isn't their fault. But yesterday, we had 22 players who are good enough. Maybe not good enough for a flag, but good enough to compete at AFL level. And those 22 players put so little effort in that the opposition over ran us by over 80 points in the second half.

I strongly disagree with the notion that "pace" is the issue. The slowest bunch of footballers in the world look "fast" when they run together and move the ball quick by hand and foot. It is nice to have some flashy "pace" to break the lines occasionally, but that wasn't the difference yesterday. They didn't beat us because they were faster to the ball than us due to natural speed. They didn't have spare men around the contest because they were faster than their demon opponents. They didn't have options moving forward because they used their blistering pace to break away. And we didn't struggle going forward because we couldn't get a break from their fleet footed defenders. We did not compete. It was lack of effort. It was lack of smarts. It was a lack of leadership (which may be explainable by a fly or similar affecting Jones and maybe others combined with our young team). The "too tall not enough pace" argument can't be right either. Nasher nailed it. Does anyone really think the addition of JKH to that team means we won? When they got on a roll (which all teams will at some point) we did nothing. We didn't lock the game down. We didn't work extra hard to cut off their options. We didn't man up tight. We coasted. We jogged around, let them continually hit up easy targets. As a result they kicked goal after goal. Yet still we didn't put in the extra effort to shut off their momentum and give us a chance to regain ascendency. We waited for it to happen, instead of making it happen. But we missed all our shots at goal, even the free kicks, that would have given us a chance to reset. They smashed us at contested, inside footy, and we didn't run hard enough (nothing to do with pace) to stop their outside game. Given how much they smashed us outside, it isn't a surprise that the heads of our inside mids dropped. It was a vicious cycle where we all just gave up, and didn't put in the effort. Really disappointing. These guys get paid a lot to do a job they love, and they perform like that?

The article quoted indicates eligible draft year. Different than Hogan or viney.

uote name="Sir Why You Little" post="1071447" timestamp="1428620121"] absolutely agree OD Captaincy or not. Players still have to perform at a certain level. The 2 above mentioned haven't for a long time.

Am I correct in that he still isn't walking? i.e. moonboot/scooter? If correct that leaves him 6 months (end of September) to get up and running to the point where the club believes his foot will hold up. The fact that he is saying "oh won't play this year, not worth pushing for the last couple of games" suggests that his progress track means he'll be running mid year and theoretically able to play by the end of the year. Hopefully he can have a good hard block of training in September that convinces everyone his foot will make it back.

Frost to a wing/flank! Get his pace and aggression floating up onto the ball!

Reckon Spencer will travel north with the team? If he does, I'd expect a late change to bring him in. Otherwise I'd be taking JKH, who I thought was good last week and is the unlucky one to miss out.

Selection day, we'll know tonight! And a Saturday game means no extended squad either. How nice for a change.