titan_uranus

Great ins. Valenti is very unlucky to get cut after just one match. But you have to ask, why did they play him at all if they weren't prepared to give him an extended opportunity? 3 of the bench will be Jones, Bennell and Jamar. The last spot is a raffle between the remaining four, but I feel that we absolutely need a second ruckman, Jones is a given and Bennell deserves his spot. For mine, I'd prefer to see Cheney or Maric. Petterd I think comes last of the four in terms of performances this year. I just have a liking to Cheney. I certainly wouldn't be disappointed if Cheney played over Petterd or Maric. I won't be surprised if there's a late change or two (Rivers and/or Frawley).

That'd be good I reckon. Test out Rioli's defensive capabilities. Make him accountable when we've got the ball. Plus Davey has the speed to keep up with him.

IMO, these are the games we are a chance in: HAWTHORN - MCG - No ST KILDA - GC - No COLLINGWOOD - MCG - Yes, based on previous years' efforts and Collingwood's crapness in 2009 ESSENDON - Etihad - No, we suck at ES and Essendon is well in front of us this year BRISBANE LIONS - Gabba - No WEST COAST EAGLES - MCG - Yes PORT ADELAIDE - MCG - Yes, PA's only win against us here was by 5 points in a year when they made the GF and we came 14th. GEELONG CATS - Skilled Stadium - No SYDNEY SWANS - Manuka - No, we travel poorly RICHMOND - MCG - Yes NORTH MELBOURNE - Etihad - Yes, but we do suck a lot at ES FREMANTLE - MCG - Yes CARLTON - Etihad - No ST KILDA - MCG - No Count those up and I come to the conclusion that we're a chance to win 6 more matches this year. If we win half of those we end up with 4 wins.

Frawley on Williams if he plays. If not then Whelan might get him, but that match up hasn't worked for us over the years. Warnock on Roughead, Martin on Franklin. And since we have to play Martin on Franklin, we must bring in another ruckman.

I wonder if you're one of the many who referred to Carlton after that infamous match as 'Carltank' (people here still do). A lot of people on this site would be considered hypocrites to suggest now that tanking is in our best interest when we savaged Carlton over supposedly throwing that game.

Frawley, Rivers, Green and Wheatley are all available this week? Wheatley will come back through Casey, surely, but that means we might be able to bring Rivers and/or Frawley back this week to help out in defence. Frawley would be a good match up for Mark Williams I think.

I saw him last year during the home and away season and I thought he'd be a certainty to get drafted (but I didn't see the GF though).

Richmond needs to part ways with Wallace and bring in a caretaker for the remainder of the year. All this speculation and innuendo and focus on Wallace and his future at the club are taking their toll. IMO, it would be best for the club to just let him go and end all the crap.

Adelaide - Walker Brisbane - Rich Carlton - Robinson Collingwood - Anthony Essendon - Pears Fremantle - Hill Geelong - Chapman Hawthorn - Rioli Melbourne - Davey North Melbourne - Ziebell Port Adelaide - Tredrea Richmond - Nahas St Kilda - Dal Santo Sydney - Shaw West Coast - Kennedy Western Bulldogs - Higgins

Whoa... ... That's a lot of words. My head hurts.

Yeah I know, that's why I questioned it. Good on you for accepting you were in the wrong.

Are your sources the HUN? This (the fact that she bragged) has been talked about in the media. Hazy, you've presented your argument in the best possible fashion, and you may well be right. But to make assertions about Roost It of that manner is way out of line IMO. Resorting to insults, hmm, maybe you feel you're losing the argument now? I'm not a mod, so I can't actually stop you from doing anything, but I just think you shouldn't have made that particular comment. FWIW, I take the view that Coglin shouldn't have gone to the media, regardless of Stynes' comments and whether or not they're true. But I respect your argument.

Our kick-ins seem to have no pattern and no set up and hence no consistency. This is why they range from good (we scored 3 goals from kick ins) to woeful. You look at teams who do well from kick ins and they seem to have a plan. Examples are Brisbane (either Drummond or Johnstone) and Essendon (Fletcher).

I didn't mean that you can rely on stats. What I meant was that, if you don't see a game, and you pick the paper up, basically your only option when assessing the game is to look at (all) the statistics. This isn't the best option, obviously, but, coupled with a knowledge of the players and their positions/possible match ups, it can at least give some insight into performance. But the overall problem remains that statistics don't take into account each individual passage of play.

It will be interesting to see what happens this week in regards to Maric. I guess you could say he's warming Wonna's seat, but there's no way that the three of them are fighting for one spot. I'd leave Maric in for one or two more weeks to give him a bit more time at AFL level.

Agree.

Yeah, but can you remember the last time Federer beat Nadal in a lead up tournament to the French? Despite Nadal's supreme form at the moment, I think Federer might have as good a chance as he's ever had to get the French Open.

My first thoughts exactly.

I hate it when a player kicks a goal then runs off. Especially non-midfielders, who really shouldn't be needing rests all the time. If you're dominating you shouldn't be coming off the ground until you need to.

Federer beat Nadal on clay! http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,2...14-3162,00.html

This is a debate that could rage on for days. The simple fact is that we have little other way to judge a person's performance than on his stats, especially if we don't see the game. Many stats are misleading (and I would agree with Freak's argument that the effective disposal statistic is terribly misleading) but I would say that some (e.g. score assists, contested marks and contested possessions) can be a lot more concrete.

I dunno about Maric. It's a bit of a conundrum for me. On the one hand, I think there's a lot of potential in him. But on the other hand, he's shown very little in his 3 matches to date. I think I'm placing too much value on my expectations of him and not enough on what he's actually doing.

So when BT says we should aim for the PP it's 'snide', but when you create a thread discussing the results that we need over Round 8 to secure the wooden spoon, that's fine?

Yes we do. Have a bit of faith HT... We'll beat Collingwood if their injuries last for the next 3 weeks. Our team v Bulldogs would have beaten their team v Carlton (I think any team would have beaten them). People have mentioned how hard our draw has been: we, the wooden spooners of 2008, were given a 5 week period in which we faced each member of the 2008 top four, plus a trip to Perth in the middle. If that's not the toughest 5 week run a team could get I don't know what is.

Have a look at Waite yesterday. Maked on a lead about 45 metres out, then had the confidence to wheel around on his right and kick the goal. I too get frustrated when Miller leads, takes the mark, then spends the next 5 seconds looking backwards/sideways for a handpass, and only then does he finally turn around, by which time the opposition has moved into their defensive setting. I've been impressed by Miller's leading and marking this year, but as a CHF he has got to have more confidence in his kicking, and absoultely needs to move the ball on quicker.