titan_uranus

Disagree that insipid is too strong a word. Often it's used out of place but our performance against Adelaide was nothing short of insipid.

We won't win the spoon, West Coast will. But that's not to say we won't get close. On current form we're no better than 50-50 in the four matches that have been identified as 'winnable' (Essendon, Sydney, Richmond, North Melbourne). Win 2 of those and we'll be 6.5, which should be enough to finish above West Coast. Bottom 4 is still likely, which would be disappointing I reckon, given we were 3-2.

No he doesn't. He is just OK as a defensive-minded forward. But not that good. It's not like he completley nullified Fisher. And the week before he had the job on Johncock, which didn't work.

So Bate kicks four goals when we almost never went inside 50 one week, then has a bad game the next week and some want him dropped? Jeepers. In: Bail, Sylvia, Jurrah Out: Grimes, Bartram, Jetta Bail for Grimes is a direct swap in that Bail will give us the run off half back we'll lose without Grimes. Can't play both Bartram and Cheney in the same side. Bartram has had his turn, is a complete liability with the ball in his hands, and Cheney wasn't worse than him. Jurrah might not be ready, in which case it might be Morton coming back in. Jetta doesn't get enough ball and I'm not sure if we need him and Bennell in the same team given they're both quite low possession getters. Spencer and Rivers are another two I'd be looking at.

The last time Essendon was embarrassed (ANZAC day), they came out the next week with renewed vigour, smashed Hawthorn, and began a 5 week period of 4 wins, including Hawthorn, St Kilda and the Bulldogs. Should be an interesting game for both teams.

I'm with Kit Walker. Just because another team got spanked by Adelaide doesn't change anything about our performance a week ago. It was insipid.

The lows are still too low for me. I reckon we should be past putting in performances as bad as the Hawthorn, West Coast and Adelaide matches. And we still haven't worked out how to start matches and quarters. But how many other botom 8 teams could push Collingwood to the line twice, almost pip the Dogs, and match it with St Kilda for 2 and a bit quarters?

One of the few times I've actually cared about a player from another team being injured (Tom Longeran and his kidney was another one). Michael Voss broke his leg early on in his career and we all know how his career ended up so hopefully Barlow comes out of this OK.

This is the best news I've heard all week. Beats Brazil losing in the World Cup.

So he's identified the problem and says we need it to stop. This isn't the first time that's happened. In fact I'm sure he's been quoted at some point on this in each of the last 4 weeks. Nothing matters until we actually play a decent opening 10 minutes and quarter.

He reads the play well. He is a good long kick (not a short one, that to me is clear. Same as Grimes. Neither of them are good short kicks but are better over distance). He's a good mark too. I agree that he has a lot of areas to work on to reach the heights that some on here assume he will reach. But your criticism of him isn't entirely valid.

Morton dropped! Wow! Did not see that coming. I must say, dropping Morton but keeping in players like Rivers, Dunn, Miller (but he might go) is a bit rich. Bennell and Cheney (finally) are in so there must be at least one more out. I'm tipping a final bench of MacDonald, Scully, McKenzie, Miller/Spencer.

You mean Schneider. Don't think Rivers has the strength to go one on one with Kozi. And I don't think Garland has the height for Stanley. Warnock to Stanley, Frawley to Koschitzke. Rivers out.

Actually now that I think about it, I don't think I come here for 2+ hours a day. 1-2 would be a more appropriate measure. I just went for the largest choice as I thought that'd be appropriate. Either way it's an inordinate amount of time.

2+ hours a day when the site's going strong*. Like Nasher, 45hg and HT have hinted, at the moment the decent discussion is lacking. *Or when I have exams.

Disappointed in Junior being 1-2. That sounds like he's pulled up sore. Maybe went too far trying to be right for Adelaide.

I don't like Grimes taking them. For starters, his short kicking sucks. Too many turnovers from him when he goes for an option 15-20 metres away. He's a superb long kick, but he turned it over 3 or 4 times going short. Second of all, it puts him at full back, when he is best at half back breaking the lines. If Davey happens to be down there, then yes, I'd give it to him. But in the main I'd like Garland to take them.

At the first bounce Dunn was taken by some other Adelaide player, but he purposely followed Johncock, who had gone to someone else (Bate maybe?). Johncock tried to move away but Dunn kept at him. Of course I don't know for sure, but it looked like it, and it makes sense given he played the same role on Shaw on QBW.

People who question why Watts can't keep his feet: he's running around on two matchsticks. He's top heavy. Once he strengthens his legs he'll be able to support the relatively heavier torso/shoulder region. Until then his centre of gravity is a bit too far away from the ground. His core is weak. Also, he played a lot better yesterday than he had for the last few weeks. His best game since Darwin I'd think. Which isn't saying much, I know, but at least he went forward from QBW and not backward. How come you're not a mod anymore?

In: Sylvia, McDonald, Cheney Out: Rivers, Miller, Bartram MacDonald keeps his spot on the back of his last quarter. He has to be instructed to play the entire match next week like he played that fourth quarter. Gave us run, aggression and a half-decent kick coming out of defence. Rivers can't kick. Twice OOF under little pressure. Not good enough, and someone has to make way for McDonald and Sylvia. Plus we've too many defender/talls in the team, so swapping one for McDonald gives extra run. Miller doesn't do anywhere near enough. Bate managed 4 goals and I saw improvement in Watts. Bartram's disposals kill us. Time to reward Cheney for his efforts at Casey. I'd also look at swapping Jetta for Gysberts or maybe Bennell. Warnock will probably get Stanley next week, and he has to dominate him or he risks his spot in the team in the long term.

What gets me is that we should be past the point where we have uncompetitive performances like that. I didn't expect us to win yesterday because we're an inconsistent young team and we were interstate. But I certainly expected a better performance. By now we know we are good enough at our best to match it with even top 4 teams, so seeing games where we struggle from start to finish, and against teams like Adelaide who aren't tracking much better than we are, is annoying.

If we play like we did against Adelaide (a performance similar to the West Coast and Hawthorn performances) we will struggle to win another game. If we play like we did against Collingwood/Bulldogs/Port Adelaide we'll beat Richmond, Sydney and North Melbourne and will push Essendon and Port Adelaide. i.e. we're inconsistent.

I saw improvement in him. And I saw more effort from him than from plenty of other players. It wasn't a brilliant performance, hardly even a good one, but I thought he at least showed something compared to previous efforts. To me that's overselling Dunn immensely. He was meant to do a defensive job on Johncock, but old Stiffy had a good game.

Midfield was crap. Thus we didn't get inside 50 enough. So we lost.

Why the Dunn love? Don't get that. 6- Bate 5- Frawley 4- Scully 3- Grimes 2- Garland 1- Watts