titan_uranus

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.

No. Despite the crap timeslot and how much I hate twilight games and how much I hate the AFL for making twilight games, the club needs support, and I would go no matter what.

32,998

It is a bit OTT to be calling for us to draft his brother, but we are all entitled to be excited about Grimes' performances. I think, given that he has only played 3 games, what we've seen gives us all the more reason to talk him up.

Yeah the crowd was poor I thought. The 'threat' of rainy weather might have kept some at bay, but still, we need to be showing up to these Saturday games if we want to get more of them.

Yeah, fair point, but you get my drift, right? Just because he saw Grimes' game differently to most others, doesn't mean we should be slamming him for doing a crap job of a three-word analysis.

Petterd is not a forward. As a result, he isn't having as big an influence on games as I think he could be having. He should be played up the ground. But since Bailey seems to want to play him there, then we have to judge him on his work as a forward, which hasn't been that good. I'd prefer it not to happen, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him out of the team next week.

Great read. Thanks WJ. This is one reason to get even more excited. There's a heck of a lot of talent there, and we're managing to put 4 quarters of football together without them. Agree that the 50m penalty was there. No surprises that it was Dunn who kicked the ball. There was a lot of crowd noise, though, so maybe he didn't hear the whistle. As for the free kick, well, that was a disgraceful decision. There was minimal contact that was neither high, nor in the back of Boyd. Morton was making what seemed to me to be a legitimate spoiling attempt. Boyd felt some contact and fell forward, fooling the umpire. As someone in front of me said, this isn't netball. Contact as minimal as that shouldn't be punishable in this game. We shouldn't blame the umpires though. There were plenty of decisions in the first half that went our way that probably weren't there. It was just poor umpiring all round.

Why is Spencer playing reserves?

Oh boy. Bruce in a handball competition. If YM was here, I'm sure he'd have something to say.

The only certainty to be dropped is Dunn. He is a waste of space. Bennell should return. Any other changes should be made based on availability. Not sure if Green or Rivers will be right to play this week. If they are, then Petterd may well come under scrutiny. He just doesn't seem to get anywhere near enough of the ball. I personally think he's been played out of position for a lot of this year, but if it came down to dropping someone, then Petterd probably heads the list. And we have got to look at bringing another ruckman in. Jamar won't be right this week (will he?), so Spencer should be in line for a recall. We're playing Hawthorn, which means we're going to need Martin down back to play on Franklin/Roughead, especially if Rivers doesn't play. Edit: Spencer probably won't be right, so hopefully Jamar is. I'm the same. What I saw of Valenti yesterday did nothing to make me think he's going to be retained into 2010. But I'd rather see him getting a game over the likes of Dunn, Bell and Newton, who we've seen enough of now to know that they aren't our future. No way Cheney will get dropped. If you're desperate to find a gap and you're prepared to drop someone after one game, you should be looking at Valenti. But neither should go.

Freak, the Demonland clock is way out. Have a look at the Demonland time, then have a look at your watch or your computer's clock. Right now Demonland tells me it's 10:58, when in actual fact it's 11:32. So you should add 34 minutes onto Joeboy's post (meaning he actually posted at 5:18pm) Also, could people please lay off Joeboy. Sure, he made some wrong analyses, but the point of this thread is for him to give his views on each player in 3 words, and for others to do the same, thereby opening up discussion on the game.

HT, I assume you didn't go today, because he meant what he said. We played well enough to win the game today, we weren't given a chance by many (if any), and we led by 22 at one stage. We looked out of it at times in the last quarter but didn't give up. The 'handball merry go round', as you put it, has been there every week this year, and for a lot of last year, but we didn't get smashed, and we kicked 15 goals. We played much better football, and we could easily have won.

I couldn't believe Bartram got the kick in. He signalled for the target to come closer to him, then proceeded to kick it over their head. Jeepers...

Were we at the same game? Sylvia was OK, but to say he was better than Davey is a bit rich. In fact it's unfair on Davey.

Bartram - not so good Bate - finally, something decent Bruce - didn't do much Cheney - a tough nut Davey - best yet again Dunn - weak and useless Grimes - star in making Johnson - good around ground Jones - a good game Maric - disappointing effort again Martin - not a ruckman McDonald - never gave up McLean - disposal is lacking Miller - went completely missing Moloney - our best midfielder Morton - another great effort Petterd - didn't do enough Robertson - not his best Sylvia - must do more Warnock - gave his all Whelan - proved critics wrong Valenti - shouldn't have played I doubt it. I just don't think he's going to make it. Probably will get another go next week but from what I saw today he just couldn't impose himself on contests. You're right, he was. Joeboy was wrong to criticise him IMO. He showed composure, good skill and a willingness to get the contested ball. Unlike some... Dunn should have been dropped, and really, really, really should be dropped this week.