xarronn

I'd be amazed if Neeld 'killed' Toumpas. Neeld was gone by mid season of the Toump's first year. He had Roos for two years and Macartney, Goodwin and Plapp for 12 months and of course Hinkley for 12. Neeld was bad, but he hasn't influenced Jimmy for nearly 3 & 1/2 years now.

I like Pedersen and I can't reconcile this comment with what I saw. Selfish acts? Which ones? There may have been a lack of vision or error of judgement in the kick for goal which he missed, but selfish act - Nuh. As for pulling out of contests, - you will need to describe them, because I just saw a player who hit hard and played his role, didn't star but did little wrong.

Undeeterred is right, he said that 5 Years ago. We have 10 players from 2012, 7 players from 2013 and another 8 players who have been in the system with other clubs at least since 2013, but many much longer, eg Lumumba and Vince. That's a total of 25. However, the irony is that many of the players who have been a mainstay, (or played big roles), in the team for much of the year have only been in the system for two or less years - Oscar, Wagner, Brayshaw, Oliver, Petracca, Vandenberg, Stretch, and this week add Neale-Bullen and Weideman.

Watching hawthorn get beaten is never boring for me. I'm loving it!

Casey Scorpions ‏@CaseyScorpions now Kingy! He's had a day out. His fourth goal and he pushes the lead past 100 points. Well right on cue, maybe only DL but quite a performance.

Not that it makes much difference to your point, but for the purpose of accuracy, Jesse is 21, born January 1995. He's been with us since 2013 when he was only permitted to play in the VFL. I was surprised to see that he has kicked 39 goals in 18 games this year. What's even more surprising is that in the last 4 rounds in which he has played, he has kicked just the one goal, (against St. Kilda).

What you have said OD is spot on. JKH is not ready for a recall, his match fitness alone would be a liability. Pederson, kicked one goal, directly assisted in two others, took 5 marks. It's a pity he'll probably be dropped when Hogan comes in. If we had enough speed and mobility around the ground, it would be interesting to see whether Hogan, Weideman and Pedersen would stretch their defenders or cramp our forwards.

What a great bump DD. This thread was obviously created after we were thrashed by Essendon. That was indeed a dark time for dedicated supporters, (and of course not the first time we had that experience even if we started with the game against Geelong in 2011). It's a real memory jolt to look at the team which played in round 1 that year - dee-luded included it in a post in this thread. (Trengove and Dawes were injured and aremissing from it), but only 4 players in that team played yesterday. I guess disappointments often don't allow us to view things clearly. If you really love the club sometimes it feels like it's cheated on you, (even if that feeling does pass within a day or so). I didn't read every post in the thread but the originator, (Benson), had a change of heart within about a day of posting. I can remember exactly the same return of optimism after a couple of days. Great opportunity to put things in perspective - thanks DD.

Didn't look open handed to me, and it turned Watts' head which indicated it had force, It will be interesting to see how it is adjudicated because with his record at least 1 week would be mandatory

What did he say?

That's damn right! It completely slipped my mind because it was so unexpected. Today is about this magnificent performance. But, - could we add more to the Roos legacy and send off by achieving 3 or more this season? This glorious win now opens up that possibility. Would be great for supporters, sponsors, players and 2017 memberships.

Although, - there is this quote from him on the AFL website: "The weights coach is putting a lot of work into me," Weideman said. "I still have a pretty skinny frame at the moment unfortunately and I will put in the hard yards, especially over the next few pre-seasons, and hopefully fill into my body and see where it takes me."

I don't know who he is, but he surely must be mature age by now!

I'm not surprised, you mentioned GWS and GC, but this is the first time I've ever seen WCE included as a club that shouldn't be part of the National competition. It's a club with over 50,000 members and essentially represents the city of Perth. A generational plan is not essentially about converting supporters of other codes, its mainly about offering an option to younger generations. The Swans went to Sydney 34 years ago, Kieran Jack and his brother were born after that into a League family.

Yep, that's right, along with Riley. Many people were very excited about both, (and Newton the following year), but we haven't had the success that Sydney manages to have with their recruits from other clubs. Although, its probably more to do with the higher quality of the players they recruit.

Heard on SEN with Andy Maher and Brett Anderson that Geelong are into Tom MacDonald. Makes sense, Lonergan will be 33 next year. He's not a free agent, so they would have to trade for him.

What did you see to make that judgement RGRS? I was at the game, - but you don't always get a clear view. I also listened to the game call on my headphones. I checked the stats, - and of course we all know they can mislead. I asked my mate who watched on tv. Between me, my mate, the callers and the stats, there's a reasonable chance I got a fair perspective. Matt Jones is no champion, but no way does he deserve to be dropped. I saw him play a pretty reasonable game without many errors. His stats were 21 disposals at 90%, with 1 clanger and 5 tackles. There are a number of improvements he's made this year, but one that may have gone a little unnoticed is that he is no longer giving away those ridiculous, (and multiple), frees where he fell into his opponents back when tackling. On this year's basis, there may be more improvement to come. He could end up being a great story.

http://www.sportsfan.com.au/mcveigh-refutes-thompson-claims/tabid/91/newsid/205788/default.aspx?cid=SF_LOWDOWN_AFL_article_mcveighrefutesthompsonclaims_290716

I can never understand this kind of view. It's as though north of Canberra is a barren rock for Australian Rules and the code has no right to exist there. That any aspiration to make ours a truly national game is only because the so-called 'suits that run the AFL' are on a power trip and they are wasting 'our' money paid by 'real' supporters. As mo64 and others have pointed out, without the northern states and the extra games, he media deals would be far lower and the game would lack the resources necessary to remain healthy. Two specific points I want to make: 1. In the era of professional sport, young people often choose to play sports for the opportunity to make a career, (and one as lucrative a possible). Australian Rules only has the AFL, the other football codes, cricket, basketball etc have the whole world where players can aspire to earn a living. The money offered in the AFL has to be competitive. To do that the game has to have as big an audience as possible. 2. When the AFL signed the first big Rights deal back in 2006, it had a huge unexpected windfall and it had to make a choice: Blow it on the present and short term, (mainly on even greater salary increases to players), or invest it in the future of the game. The Commission decided to invest in the future and it got the unanimous agreement of the clubs to do so, (including the draft concessions). That investment in the expansion clubs is just 7 to 8 years old, - the commission expected that it would take a generation at least and it budgeted for it using those funds. It also knew that there was a need for second clubs in NSW and Qld to create a critical mass of opportunities to achieve the goal of Northern growth. Interestingly there was more change in the first 70 years of Australian Rules after the rules were written - the VFA formed in 1870, the VFL broke away from the VFA in 1897, Richmond joined, University withdrew and then the 1925 expansion with 3 new teams joining. Then it stayed like that for 57 years and some people think that's how it always was and so should never change.

I agree with you Fifty-5, I reckon both players will last longer than OD suggests. However I had a look at our list and I was surprised to see how hollow it is at the older age levels. Of 12 players who are 26 yrs and 6 mths or older, only 4 have played regularly or even played at all this year. Vince, M Jones, N Jones and Garlett. The other 8, Lumumba, Pedersen, Dunn, Garland, Dawes, Grimes, Spencer, Terlich do not look like they will be significant contributors going forward and certainly not leaders. It's possible all will be gone by the end of 2018. But it seems understandable to me now, why some of these players were given contracts which seemed incomprehensible at the time. We would have had a list of babies otherwise, at least our new recruits can play in a successful VFL team with some hard bodies while they are developing.

Didn't think a mere LIKE was enough commendation for this and your previous couple of posts.

And that's the nub of it, we are not yet a good team, (at least not consistently). And the reasons are all those which have been put forward so often, - youth, inexperience, belief, etc. Nobody who is giving those reasons is arguing that we are now a good team, just that there are indicators that we are on the path to becoming one.

I am extremely disappointed that we didn't win, we bloody well should have, but there is no way that today's performance proved we are a spiritless club. Short on skills - definitely, but not short on spirit today.

I'm not trying to support Roos statement, because I don't know if you can attribute it to Lyon, but in the interests of accuracy, the comparison in terms of performance and success of the two teams is chalk and cheese. St. Kilda did finish last in 2014 with 4 wins, but that is a far cry from our performances: Last in 2008, 2009 & 13 A total of 17 wins in 2008, 9, 12, 13 & 14. A near record smashing in 2011, and huge losses in other years. No more than 8 wins in any Year since 2006, (so far). I know we have many new players, but even they have not really experienced significant success. Belief, must be a problem with this team.

Pretty sure its been mentioned on 'Land that he has a contract for 2017