Chris

Myke didn't just get a reprimand for his bite, he also got a free kick, a 50 metre penalty, and a goal! If I was him I would go around biting everyone as he has clearly come out in front in that deal!

The whole bit about not needing to practice goal kicking is absurd. every player should have a set routine for set shots that is their default. If your routine is strong enough and you have got it ingrained enough then it doesn't matter the situation or how tired you are the routine will over ride all and you should be fine. Jesse is one who changes his routine within matches, he needs to settle on a routine that works and doesn't limit him and then stick to it. One of my old coaches favorite sayings (not football and she was an Olympian so knows about high performance) was Preparation Prevents Poor Performance, Perfect Preparation Prevents Poor Performance Permanently. She was very strong on routines for everything from training to pre game diet to game day prep etc etc.

It is worth watching, we played well for the most part and you know the result so you should be fine.

Bill James from the Tiges has to take that cake. Played 1 VFL game and it was a winning Grand Final back in the 20's.

This $1 membership is only available if you agree to sign up next year as well. I haven't paid up this year as yet for various reasons but may well take up this $1 membership and then sign in next year just so I can go to the Suns and Hawks games. I have only made it to the GWS game so far this year but was thinking of going to these games anyway so it works out well. I am sure there would be other lapsed members who would be thinking along the same lines.

I noticed listening that he never really said it was the right call, he just said there was justification enough for him to back the umps decision. On another umpiring point, I note 2 eagles got fines for rough conduct in the last quarter, you wouldthink that engaging in rough conduct would get a free wouldn't you? One of the not frees cost us a goal as well as it blocked any chance of Gawn contesting a mark they took that they goaled from

Not quite. We can still make finals, it is incredibly unlikely and involves the Saints and Port losing a couple they shouldn't and the Roos losing everything, if we then win everything we make it. Fairly confident the boys can book holidays in September though.

It seems to me that Bernie and Jones have decided they need to be tougher to lead the team. I noticed it with Jones last year and this year where he gets in peoples faces more and holds people down after tackles. Bernie has been doing it all this year. He constantly pins people down after tackles and gives them some lip. I don't mind it from time to time and when warranted, and actually think it is a good thing, but I have thought it has been a little over the top this year which can detract from its effectiveness. He has also given away a few silly 50's at really bad times and needs to know when to reign it in.

That's not Dodoro, he would want both first and second rounds picks from this year and next, and 2 gun midfielders!

The other option was have someone who can kick a 55 meter goal just bomb it over the top. If the ball wasn't wet and Bernie leg wasn't hurt then this may well have happened.

I think a lot of that was repeat entries which caused issues. We weren't good enough when the forward line was open and we were almost to good a locking it in our forward half. This meant our forward line was rarely open and was mostly blocked full of WC players. We do need to find a way around this though, maybe being more patient around the middle and working from side to side to draw out their players and then going back in when it opens up a little. We seemed to just bomb it back in once we got it back. Being patient isn't our strong suit normally though and with our mistakes could have been costly.

You seriously accuse me of twisting things and then post this tripe. Not even worth this response.

Not twisting at all junior, actually being consistent in what I am saying. You simply refuse to actually accept that there is an argument there to be had. And yes, Jade Rawlings is partially responsible for the performance of the team, as is every coach.

Clearly you haven't actually noticed the changes at our footy club. Almost the entire list has been turned over and most of the team has played under 50 games, many under 20. We are now less experienced than we were when Roos started yet we are winning far more games and have doubled the percentage. What Roos said he would do is put together a coaching group and list than was there for the next coach to work with. He has done that very very well. If we already had these players 3 years ago then I would agree with you, we didn't. Roos has changed this club massively both on field and off, what we have now is a great group of young talent that is developing well, to expect the youngest team in the league to win all the time is stupid and unrealistic. If our senior players had developed as I am sure Roos hoped they would (Dunn, Garland, Grimes, Dawes) then I think our Win Loss ratio would look very different to what it does. They didn't, they aren't getting played, and we are going with the kids who will play the right way.

This will also be mine. If we do bolt up the ladder you would be very harsh not to give Roos any credit, to do so would also ignore the reality of the matter.

Sorry I started it. Just get sick of the 'the dogs have done in 1 year what we can't do in 3' argument. It really is comparing apples with oranges and ignoring any history at either club before their incumbent coach was there. Back to TMac. I hope he stays, he is great defensively but does have deficiencies offensively. Hopefully with the other defenders developing around him these can be hidden more in future.

Roos, he is the head coach, he is in charge. Macca will get some of the credit but he will still be there doing development behind the scenes. You simply can't throw out the influence of the previous coach, either good or bad, when a new coach comes along. To say Macca didn't have a big influence on the young group at the dogs is silly. If we do bolt up the ladder next year would you seriously say that Roos is a dud and has done nothing and that Goodwin is brilliant?

Exactly my point. I have never said he is a good senior coach but to ignore the development aspect of what he did at the dogs is wrong. You will also note that I said Beveridge has done an outstanding job.

Could have been one of many reasons. He may not be a great senior coach, the club and players may have become impatient, the senior players didn't like him (which I don't think they did), could really be anything. One thing is true though, Macca is rated as one of, if not the best development coach in the country. Can he be a senior coach, who knows, the evidence says maybe not.

Beveridge had the years of development under Macca to build from. It wasn't his instant success, it was Maccas slow build that he has benefited from, and done an outstanding job with. Goodwin may well do the same next year after 3 years of Roos development, lets hope so.

Agreed, but as with everything in a team one mind set may not do it. Some people may get nervous, may focus on the opposition too much and forget about their role in the team, others may focus too much on their role and forget the opposition. There is a fine balance that has to be reached and in a team sport you need all members to not only know what that balance is for them individually but also how that fits with the team. I am confident it will click at some point but I wont be surprised if it takes a few years for it to be a solid attribute of the team.

You are right that we don't know how to win the close ones. That really isn't surprising as it is often the last thing you learn as you can't learn it until you have improved enough to be close. Learning to win is also one of the hardest things to learn, and one of the best ways to learn it is by trial and error, Saturday was an error, if we learn from it we move on and try again. We may find a lot more errors in how to do it before we find the solution and as it is really a mental thing we as supporters will not really be able to tell what the error was.

T Mac, wasn't horrible under pressure, he did well under pressure, it was when he wasn't under pressure that he was horrible.

Learning to win at an elite level is one of the hardest things to do for anyone. Listen to almost any elite athlete in an elite sport and they will say things like 'it is much easier to win once you know how'.

Probably because if we did we would get the mass of posters complaining that winning is the only option and that by seeing improvement in a loss is part of the problem as we would be accepting mediocrity. It isn't worth the fight. Every sane person saw a great effort today from the boys with some obvious issues that will be addressed in time.