titan_uranus

Surprised with Trengove. On the Sunday Footy Show he said it was a bit of 'general soreness' and he smiled sheepishly when he said it. Quite surprised therefore that he's out for another week.

If this doesn't shut JJC and WYL up nothing will. You've got to say Ponting's haunted by Edgbaston of 2005. How much more do the conditions need to be tailored to bowling for him to bowl first? It's 27 tosses in a row now that Ponting's batted first. Pakistan's bowling unit is the best in the world, bar none. Asif, Aamer and Gul together work wonders with the ball, and Kaneria's not hopeless as a leggie. Beats ours by a long way. They'd be a top 2 or 3 team if they could find some decent batsmen. Salman Butt's OK, Umar Akmal is good, but the rest are fragile at best (of course, they're batting fine now...). Johnson's fallen a long way from South Africa last year. With Siddle on the way back, he's the one that needs to start taking wickets IMO. Hilfenhaus is a genuine swing bowler who's at least taking wickets, and Bollinger at the moment is bowling a much tigher line and length. Johnson eases the pressure with too many loose deliveries. I'd have Siddle back in the side (as soon as he's fit), so someone has to go. Edit: A good article: http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan-v-australia-2010/content/current/story/468343.html

Heritage-related... I'm thinking it will be something to do with the MFC insignia? Or maybe a return to the deeper red and blue of the jumper from the past.

My money's on Brisbane or West Coast. Tough draw, got Geelong in Geelong, West Coast in Perth, Sydney and Adelaide. Probably only 1 or 2 more wins for them. West Coast's draw is easy IMO, 4/6 games at home, Carlton, Brisbane, Port and North are all winnable, but they're a game and percentage behind everyone else. I reckon Richmond can win another 1-3 games. Can't rule out Essendon based on current form but at some point they've got to stand up, surely, and this is a team that's beaten St Kilda, Hawthorn and the Bulldogs, so I think they can eke out 2-3 more wins. As for us, well we should be good chances to beat Brisbane, Port and Richmond, and we're not that far off Sydney and North either. We should be more than safe. West Coast Carlton @ Subiaco Fremantle @ Subiaco Brisbane @ Subiaco Port @ AAMI North Melbourne @ Subiaco Geelong @ Skilled Stadium Richmond Collingwood @ MCG Adelaide @ MCG Melbourne @ MCG Carlton @ MCG St Kilda @ Etihad Port Adelaide @ Etihad Brisbane Geelong @ Skilled Melbourne @ Gabba West Coast @ Subiaco Adelaide @ Gabba Essendon @ Etihad Sydney @ Gabba Port Adelaide Adelaide @ AAMI Hawthorn @ AAMI St Kilda @ Etihad West Coast @ AAMI Melbourne @ AAMI Richmond @ Etihad Essendon North Melbourne @ Etihad St Kilda @ Etihad Carlton @ MCG Collingwood @ MCG Brisbane @ Etihad Bulldogs @ Etihad Melbourne Sydney @ MCG Brisbane @ Gabba Richmond @ MCG Hawthorn @ MCG Port Adelaide @ AAMI North Melbourne @ MCG

Cannot believe this thread. The penalty was perfect. He has no intention but to charge the player. He makes head contact, and severe contact at that. What I can't believe is that Andrew Walker got just a reprimand for his high bump. He ran over the ball with the clear intention to bump a player with his head down coming head on at him, and he makes high contact. Walker should have got 3 weeks as well. And Eric McKenzie should have got a week at least as well.

Can't see any reason to play him this week. Who does he come in for? Bennell was good on the weekend. He doesn't play the same role as Bate does. Can't take Moloney's spot either. And we might have Trengove and McDonald coming back anyway. 1 or 2 good games for Casey isn't enough.

Why? Took Cheney 15 weeks, the majority of which were good games for Casey, to crack into the side. McNamara still hasn't cracked it. Bennell played well on the weekend. But apparently Maric is an automatic selection. Then ruck him against Pyke. Mumford's good, but he hasn't good Jamar's tank. He won't ruck all day. So just ensure that when Mumford's out of the ruck, PJ's in. Pyke's terrible.

Sydney to lead at quarter time by at least 3 goals.

It's just those ones where it's Jamar or Bate or one of the taller players and Davey comes from nowhere begging for the ball, then runs onto his right, has to stop, turn, and the play isn't as fluent as it would have been if the taller player had just kicked the ball themself.

Looks like he's playing midfield now, having been played up forward for a while but really struggling there. I think Morton or Dunn will go with him when he's in the middle. If he goes forward maybe Frawley. But apparently yesterday Carlton tried to rotate players through him which didn't work.

Is Green injured? It says in the HUN that he has a dislocated finger or something which will need to be assessed but I didn't hear anything about this yesterday. Maybe this explains why he was on the bench late. Also, am I the only one who didn't like seeing Green start on the wing yesterday? Last week he kicked 5 goals in a BOG performance as a lead up forward. For mine his best football comes in the forward line.

Can't see Bate being dropped, even though he deserves it. Bailey's been constantly talking about getting games into our forward line as a unit. He is a part of that forward line, so I'm thinking he stays. In: Trengove, McDonald Out: Moloney (inj.), Jones The danger this week is that our second half will shadow our first, and too many will ignore how unbelievably bad we were in the first half at the expense of our improved second half. Jones isn't a tagger's bootlace. And he's a liability with the ball. Jones to make way if McDonald's fit (which he should be).

6 - Scully 5 - McKenzie 4 - Frawley 3 - MacDonald 2 - Johnson 1 - Watts

He's playing well. If he wasn't Jack Watts, more people would see this.

Ridiculous thread. Singling out players who missed shots on goal in the fourth quarter when the entire team was insipid for a half is just wrong. The umpiring was fine. Of course there were some howlers, but that happens each week. We lost because we started like an amateur football team and only played decent AFL football for a half.

This move pisses me off. Last night we started with Morton loose in defence. A player we'd dropped the previous fortnight with (reportedly) the instruction to harden up. So we then give him the softest spot on the ground. And McPharlin, who was then loose for Fremantle, dominated the first quarter. It's not a good move, it doens't help us, and we shouldn't keep resorting to it.

Well what's the bet he flops next week? Yes, a good performance from Johnson. He finally used his frame and applied himself physically, which was nice. But he has to do this consistently.

Bate's spot in the team will most likely come under pressure this week. Hasn't had a good game for a while now (IIRC his last decent game was vs Adelaide 3 weeks ago). Jurrah has to get a little more team oriented. Morton has been consigned to a rubbish game by being left loose in defence. I want him up on a wing or maybe even forward.

Half time. Terrible half of football. Yet again we're let down by a total lack of leadership, no intensity, no pressure, laziness, no run, and ill-discipline. The kind of things you want to see each and every week, regardless of the 22 selected, the opposition or the ground. I expected a 10 goal loss, and that will come, but what we all want to see now is a marked improvement in the above areas.

Good post.

Yay! A goal! Bennell, caused by a Fremantle turnover.

Typical of a young side. We're inconsistent. It's to be expected. What I don't like is that IMO the lows are far too low, and the bad performances are dominated with terrible signs like a lack of intensity, ill-discipline, lack of leadership, laziness and turnovers. Our highs show we can play fast football and match it with the best, but the lows are just far, far too low, even given our youth.

So the two Collingwood games and the Bulldogs game count for nothing? Calm down. This is bad, but it's not the apocalypse.

True, definitely true. And the ones we do get are often wasted because either there are too many Fremantle defenders meaning our forwards have no chance, or the disposal is a shocker. But we'd at least be a little closer if there was some midfield pressure preventing Fremantle from easing the ball forward.

Inside 50s 26-16. We're conceding way too many inside 50s again.