stevethemanjordan

Pointless stats. I love them.

I never stated so. But if we're comparing the two, I'd say Prestia is more creative with the ball and seems to have more poise which generally means a 'better user'. Bet yes, neither has elite foot-skills or speed.

Crouch doesn't add anything to our list that we don't already have, so no. I'd be astonished if we targeted him. Great users and a bit of speed is what we are after. Crouch is neither of those.

Woewy to come back as an assistant coach.

Was my favourite way-back-when. And I still love him. But I do fear for his future at the club. I agree with Hemmingway however. Now that he is playing AFL footy and his body is coping, I think the next progression for him is to really work on his power/acceleration over the off-season in order to give himself an opportunity to be part of the future. I'm hoping for him. But looking at Brayshaw, Oliver, Petracca, Viney etc. It's hard to see where he fits in.

That'd be 'Jack Viney'. There's no arguing that we have some really good young talent that will take us for a ride. They're nearly all midfielders. And we need to be smart about who we put in and around them. If we can land someone like Hurley next year and inject a couple of pacey and classy disposers in the back-line and wings over the next one or two seasons then I can see us challenging the top 4 in about three or four years when our core group will have played around 100 games. As Buckenara has said, it's those two elements that we are sorely missing at the moment. Foot-skills and pace. The fact that we have top-end talent in Brayshaw, Petracca, Salem, Viney, Oliver and Hogan won't mean a thing if we don't assemble the right players around them. They will only take us so far. The Hawthorn model is a modern day template that should be used for all clubs who have a bottoming out period. Inside/outside players who can use the footy. I don't think we'll ever see another side who are as damaging with the ball as they are when it's in dispute. Hawthorn stand alone in that category. During their golden years, nearly every player in their side was damaging by foot. Compare that to us a present and we have a handful of players who are damaging by foot. I'm just happy we've built a foundation.

Let's be honest. We're downhill skiing big time. We've beaten one side in GWS who are obviously a much better side than us.. All other sides we've beaten have been either massively hit by injury or were in horrendous form. Or both. We lost to Essendon and we may possibly be the only side they beat all year. So that does say something about 'where we're at'. We haven't taken any scalps and considering we have an extremely tough draw after the bye, I want to see at least two games that we can win when we're not supposed to. If Carlton can beat Geelong at Etihad and Freo at Freo with the list they have, then I expect to see us beat Adelaide at home and Freo interstate. We need to beat St Kilda at Etihad. Must in fact. Gold Coast and Carlton we simply must beat. And if we can hold off on a flogging from West Coast, Port, Hawthorn and Geelong and instead take it up to them then I'll be pleased. There's a lot of talk going on in regards to where we are 'heading'. I'd like to back that up with some solid performances against some decent teams. None of this beating up on Collingwood/Richmond nonsense when they're down and out. Yes we've played some great football throughout games this year. But we haven't been awe-inspiring in any one game. Positives have come from young players and the emergence of Viney and Gawn. Greater depth has helped too. The second half of the year will be a a true test. And one worth watching.

Has time on his side, but for a young player at this point in time there's more to dislike than like at this stage. A non-negotiable for our team over the last couple of years has been competitiveness. And with that comes aggression and intensity. O-Mac in my eyes resembles Watts (early-days) in the way he plays. I don't see a huge amount of urgency in his game and that's one thing that I really dislike at the moment. We have nobody else to play presently so clearly he'll keep playing. But I cannot see a backline of Frost, O-Mac and T-Mac all in the same side if we're going to see further progress with this group. Those three share far too many weaknesses.

Clearly this health issue has held him back. His talent, desire and commitment is unquestionable. He is the classic 'give him a pre-season and watch'. I have no idea if the thyroid issue contributes to the following, but from last ear to this I've always thought he could shed a few kilos. He just looks unfit. If he can strip back like Hodge and Lewis did when they were carrying a bit in their early days, I think we'll see an enormous lift in output.

How good is demonland today. I love Jack Wats.

I similarly can see a move further upfield later in the season/next year to a wing. The only thing that holds him back and which a fairly significant weakness at present is his disposal. Aside from that he has a lot going for him.

Hibberd as others have stated would immediately be our equal best and most consistent defender alongside Jetta. (Tom McDonald is still too inconsistent for those who may bring him up). Along with possessing the MFC prerequisite card 'competitor', he also has a damaging laser-like left foot. And I think it's an understatement to say that we lack kicking skills in our back half. Get him.

Will agree that he contested more solidly yesterday. His kicking is fine and has never been a problem, it's a decision making thing with him. Unlike his brother who is dodgy at both decision making and kicking. Still think people are far too easily pleased and are kidding themselves if they think we'll have a future backline of Frost, Tom and Oscar McDonald. We played a rabble of a side yesterday with forwards White and Cox down on confidence. We come up against Sydney next week with much more capable forwards who are smarter and will make us pay every time we turn the ball over in our back-half. Sure it's all good experience for Oscar but clearly he still lacks urgency and physicality around the contest which is why he gets pinged with it and out-marked. In a perfect world, he'd still be plying his trade at Casey. But we are short of quality KP defenders. Would rather reserve judgement until we play a team of substance. Sydney at Sydney will be one.

Can't see us winning 5+ more games. We've had an incredible run with few injuries to key players and our second half of the season is very difficult. Our backline is still very dodgy. We are lucky that Collingwood are genuine poo at the minute because good teams would have absolutely punished some of our back-play yesterday. You can't play finals with a backline of two McDonalds and Frost as your key pillars.

Burgo.. *cringe*

Missed it completely. I sometimes forget about my username. Well spotted though.

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Viney has a knuckle injury doesn't he? Whilst having surgery suggests lengthy recovery time in order for the bone to fully heal, I imagine the risks involved in breaking it again are less than other areas of the body. He'd have to hit somebody again with his hand or someone would have to kick his knuckle or something for further setback. I feel like it's super important for him to play this week for a must win game for us. He can miss next week because I can't see us beating the swans in any way. And then there's the bye so that's two weeks off. Yes, I'm a doctor. Viney plays.

Or it's simply that we lack so much backline depth and quality that we have no alternative? Look at what we know: Dunn isn't rated by the coaches for reasons we can guess. Your lover-boy Garland is incapable of playing the way a bloke of his experience should. T-Mac has been incredibly up and down this year. We've had two debutants become mainstay flankers in Hunt and Wagner. We've had Oscar playing games because the coaches refuse to play Dunn. We lack depth and quality. Just as we did with our midfield not long ago. Simple.

Again, Cloke and Cox loom as extremely dangerous for Collingwood.. I'm already having nightmares about it. One of them could possibly kick 8 goals.

I reckon I could give you a more accurate and on-the-money- assessment tbh.

I just see the whole thing as one big familiar story. A few years ago, we had the same problem with our midfield: Due to the lack of depth, experience and talent etc we were playing guys who simply wouldn't have been playing had circumstances been different. McKenzie, Bail, Nicholson. We know the story. The same now applies to our backline. It's clear the coaches have lost faith and trust in past regulars in Dunn and Garland. Which leaves us with who? O-McDonald and Frost. Both of whom are miles off the pace. Miles off. And it's simply because we have no other options. Our lack of quality KP defensive players is awful. Will hopefully be addressed by year's end and it won't be a problem next year. The fact we have Hunt and Wagner as another two really inexperienced backmen also makes life difficult. Tom McDonald's job has also become less simple as he is shouldering a lot of the load and is making bad decisions simply because I reckon he thinks he is the lynchpin and therefore tries to fly for spoils when he doesn't need to go up etc. It's a shambles back there. Of that, I'm aware.

The fact that the ball spent more time in our forward 50 this week compared to last was also down to the weather which obviously made it difficult for clean ball handling and kicking. Even for Hawthorn. So I'm not sure one could argue that we were 'better' in applying forward 50 pressure this week to last when the games were played in completely different conditions.

No idea what's going on within the club in regards to Dunn and the refusal to pick him on the back of playing well at VFL level and also on the back of two average games from O-Mac. I feel annoyed and frustrated that Roos hasn't come out and said anything about what it is Dunn needs work on. You hear about it when others get dropped. Garland, Watts etc.. As a member and supporter of the club, I think it's important we know what's going on when things of this nature occur. Especially given that it has now been several weeks that he has been overlooked. The selection of Frost ahead of Dunn has me even more dumbfounded given that Roos has yet again owned up to 'not having made enough changes' as well as admitting a 'lack of experience' in his boring post-match presser. Considering Garland, (our most experienced defender) is out with injury, one would think Dunn would be a direct replacement given the like-for-like experience and also Dunn's VFL form. (Which is again something I consistently hear from Roos). What msg is this sending Dunn? At this point of the season, I'm just genuinely confused and irritated by what Roos says during pressers and especially post-match interviews. I value the guy highly and believe he has done much of the steering of the ship over the last couple of years in regards to the state of the club. But as to game-day selection, tactical and strategic implementation during games and game planning in general, I have to say I believe that like Malthouse, Roos' time as a modern day AFL gameday coach is up. I've heard contradicting statements game after game during this season and the general theme after losses appears to be, 'we could have done this or that better at the selection table'. It's not good enough. It's actually pathetic. This week we have a backline of O-Mac (who is just way out of his depth and is in poor form), Frost (who is an athlete and has literally played two VFL games in defence) and T-Mac who has had a very inconsistent year. Is Roos trying to make a mockery of our chances at winning? Even if our midfield break-even, watch the ease at which Hawthorn's forwards score goals in our defensive 50 thanks to going with inexperience and bad form over experience and good form. It's almost as if I'd written and posted in a losing formula to Roos and he has gone with it.

...here we go...