deanox

im not sure i find it disturbing, but it feels to me like the group is going to challange no matter what and that PG doesnt want blood shed. he is trying to make sure the next admin is responsible enough to take the reigns and then he will step back. but i think they are effectively taking over. i think they (both sides) are trying to make it as seamless a transition as possible...

as long as: there is no blood shed, the new admin have some buisness knowledge (not only a pile of ex footballers), the new admin will get along with the afl, and the new admin are mfc people (not afl directives) we should be very happy with this. im not sure if gardner wants to go or not, but there have been rumbles, and i much rather we move him on a little early to allow proper succession flow on than he leave abruptly or he is challenged.

i'd love for us to field a go it alone side. i really hope we do. if not, as much as i respect the vfl teams and their traditions, i hope we have a seconds side rather than an alliance. i feel for the sides in the vfl, but for my club i think we need the best. thanks for the memories and the good times sandy, i'll always have a soft spot for ya

i really dont want to see any of the KPD used forward. rivers should stay where he belongs. he is our best defender, and we need him there. garland is developing promisingly, lets let him settle before we attempt any switch. warnock and carol couldnt play forward imo, they are genuine punch defenders. carol can mark but has worse disposal than miller. i like the sylvia option, like green up forward, but stronger one on one. he is a player who will need a bit of space however. he is not a crumber, which means if he plays out of the square he needs to be 'the tall' with wonna or a god forbid yze next to him. let him run and mark, he follows his own ball well, but has no idea about reading it off another pack. i can see miller playing closer to goal. i think he has struggled up forward when neitz and robbo have been the main targets. playing out of the square on his own may suit miller, and allow him to snare goals from distances he can kick. the way i would go is start with miller deep and sylvia just out of the square. wonna floating close to goal also. run bate and dunn on the 50. i would love to see how this works; we may be too short, but i think putting jamar or PJ up there is futile...they aren't forwards, and dont see to know where to go naturally. if the original option fails PJ to go to the square and either miller or sylvia out, depending on who was getting it. but i think this week will see one of jamar or pj line up at FF.

you reckon our players have the brains??? you're kidding right? standing next to each other, flat footed and calling for handballs?

i dont care who we pick, as long as they are the best... BUT... i really dont think that our draft selections are going to bring people through the gates, or make us money unless those draft selections win us games, and eventually win us finals. i dont care how good a player is, unless te team is winning the player wont have done anything off field to make money. once you start winning, the off field stuff can be boosted. but lets get some perspective here. we are on the bottom. with a couple of seasons exception we have been down the bottom for 40 years. winning matches and finals is what is important. the rest will take care of its self.

the afl are dead set morons forcing teams to wear clash strips. it is not to do with clash stirps, it is to do with advertising and merchandising. if the afl came out and said this i dont think there would be too many problems. but the whole clash thing is a joke. on tv it was terrible to watch, especially once players went into the sun and it got blurry. our traditional red and blue, with us wearing blue shorts and red socks would not get confused with the saints at all today. add silver on the jumper or white in the shorts and it could get messy. there was never a need for clash strips in the past, have things changed in the past 10 years except? yes they have. interstate sides have added fancy new colours and designs that look great in an office but blur from a distance. the simplicity of strips, yolks or hoops have been lost with fancy new designs. the recent addition of extra strips, white or black borders between colours and around numbers and extra sponsors logos make the jumpers harder to tell apart at distance. the simple answer? make the jumpers use 2 or 3 colours only. no little details like borders. and broad geometries only.

i've been watching on tv because i have to run off to work, so i'll post my thoughts here quickly. channel 7's coverage is a disgrace. they have been running full adbreaks after every goal. what a joke. we are not trying hard enough to win the footy, we are worried more about negating st kilda. we have no forward line - this is our biggest problem. the delivery into the forward line may be shite, but you can see the ball carriers look up, hesitate, realise there is nothing on, and just kick it long and high to a hot spot. we need another tall forward desperately. if newton can walk he should be playing next week because we are hopeless up there. likewise, once the ball drops they are just running it out of there without any pressure. umpires are shite again. 10-3 free kicks at one stage. not sure final count. ball had 6 at this point. what chance do we really have? holding the ball frees are just as bad as last week, and are paid sporadically. the afl are morons. i still dont fathom how they designed this stadium - it is horrible. it seems like not a thought went into it. we were crucified by the sun in the first quarter, players dropping marks all over our forward line. close the freaking roof if you cant get it right. i have been impressed with garland again. he appeared to line up on reiwolt and he didnt kick any goals on him. any goals he got were someone elses fault ie wheatly was manned up on him. yes he had goal assists however, again i dont blame garland as other players should have been accountable for their men. our shining light today imo (even if its about as bright as a small flickering candle).

was that two games in a row? or two games with 20 possessions? lol

maybe this is the problem. he matches up very similar with st kildas midfield. dunn has height, CJ has a bit more pace. perhaps we are trying to mix it up to make it harder for the st kilda mid field to match up on us?

buddy started in the ruck. then ran forward, marked the kick and kicked the goal. if it got to defence, he ran back there and played as a pseudo CHB. when buddy played at school, buddy played where buddy wanted.

thats 10.96 effective disposals for morton and 14.25 effective for palmer... it would be interesting to see time on ground stats, and other stats like goals and tackles...

he has had 20odd touches for two weeks in a row now. maybe not all 20 touches were great, but its an acheivement. im not sure CJ has ever managed that ? (although im not sure if CJ has ever played two games in a row!). he has some nice attributes; pace, daring, self belief. hopefully he improves his kicking and learns to sometimes take the first option...

bell did that for ages. in fact he still does it sometimes.

i am leaning towards rich or hurley. without having seen anything my judgement is not nessecarily valid, but i personally believe a gun KPP is the most important followed by a gun midiflder. ruckmen have their worth, but i think great mids make a ruck look better.similarly, mids have to have someone to kick it too. i dont think our midfield is our weak point, and i cant imagine there being many more KPP ready over the next 2-3 years that arent snapped up by a new club...

buddy only had a few touches, and kicked goals from outside 50 and from the boundary. that sums up how good franklin is. on a bad day, he still managed to scrape 3 goals together, and is exactly what i was getting at RE miller in joeboys 3 word thread. 3 goals as a poor-average game, while being well held is a fantastic effort. miller gets 3 when he has a great game. garland beat franklin yesterday there is no doubt about it. franklins class is what got him the goals.

but i think it mgiht have been made by the hawks. someone should put the good melb bits on there...

found one

anyone have fottage of some of that stuff? i was at the ground but up the other end, it was very clear... who normally do the videos around here? perhaps a highlights package is in order of some of the bumps and tackles, some of the unrewarded decisions and the 50meters so we can have another look? lol

i've been on him for a while now (i even advocated garland on buddy before the game ). im not sure if he has hit the point of being there yet- i think he has a while to go. but he is improving very rapidly. it is worth remembering that he seems to have what he has very natrually and seems to elarn very fast. he hasnt played much footy in his life so he really has to undergo a lot of development. he has many of the physical attributes that could make him a fine player. he has a few things to work on. but most importantly he seems to have the right attitude.

if he had managed to get his head right when kicking for goal he would have been a very successful player over the years. its a pity he struggled with that, because he would have been a dominant player if he had.

millers game was interesting because i believe he could have been the difference between the sides. how many goals did he kick? franklin (who i realise is current the best forward in the comp) had an average day and bagged three, and hurt us from outside 50. miller didnt do anything wrong, but i think if he had of bobbed up for a goal or two at some point in the game we probably would of won. it is very hard to win when your CHF doesnt kick goals, especially given one of the main reasons i believe we lost this game was because we didnt put enough scoreboard pressure on when we were dominating. he has shown he can play. for me the most important thing is trying to teach him to kick it long, so that he can directly contribute to the scoreboard.

well i got that one right didnt i

i dont think the stadium deal is the biggest problem. i think it is fixturing. how many night games do we get to help get sponsors on board? how many sat arvo at the g games do we get? (they seem to be the games that get the crowds). playing on sundays seem to get us lower crowds anyway. playing interstate games on sundays are even worse. this year we had a reprive but in previous years we have been stuck with interstate teams on mothers day! we get stuck with twilight fixtures and home games at telstra dome, all fixturing elements that kill our crowds, and thus our support. (ps fwiw this is why we get the money from the CBF, because the afl wants to maximise revenue by rigging the fixture and needs to compensate the other clubs, that they are talking about pulling the money should come hand in hand with evening out the draw.)

im gonna go out on a limb and say garland might get a run at some point. he has been shown a lot of faith the last coupld of weeks and there is a chance they were testing him out to see if he could run with him. he has the pace endurance and ground skills to go with franklin. he has the height, but not the strength. that means in any one on one situations where the ball si dropped on the contest a 3rd man needs to drop in. but garland could be an option. personally id like it to be frawley, if buddy starts at FF, because thats where i see frawley long term...