The Panglossian

The umpire was the dumb one. The touch was blatant.

Item no. 1 above. Rivers tackled him straight away, because he knew it was obviously touched in transit....directly in front of him, and an umpire. It should have been holding the ball.

What about how he fails to keep his feet in contests, i.e. goes to ground? How many dropped chest mark scan we tolerate? He’s never dominated a reserves game the way AJ did last match( admittedly v weak opposition)

Brereton got it right ( for once) when he said you reflexly clench your fists when intending to bump . May’s hands were open at the time of the clash.in an intent to grab the ball.

It was just luck that Moore didn’t rupture that guy’s spleen . I was hoping Freo would kick a high one to Moore in “ the hole”, and Treacy would rush in with his knee in the back , the way he did twice to Gawn in the pre-season game. Or perhaps Brayshaw would do a “ football act “ spoil on skunkhead Maynard , ending his career. Neither happened, but at least they lost.

L Actually , Xerri coat-hangered Lindsay in the first quarter, with 3 min to go. It was “strikingly” ( pardon the pun) similar to the Sparrow hit.

Ex Bomber David Shaw coached me in the Ormond College footy team in the late 60’s. He told us, if we couldn’t reach to spoil, punch the back of the head, because the player loses vision momentarily. I don’t think we did it. But Newman did!

18.11 wasn’t accurate enough. We might get 19.6 v Carlton. And….We must remember to pretend we’ve touched it every time they kick a goal.

I reckon that almost every dropped contested mark involves arm chopping by the player trying to spoil. Similarly, most contested marks are partly a result of clever blocking by a team-mate. Like with “ ruck-lotto”, every now and then an umpire will pay a free for a block or an arm chop. Collingwood still whinge about the block on Maynard when Dom Sheed took the GF winning mark. But it happens, unpenalised all the time. The commentators compliment the players on a “clever block.” Similarly, with pushing in the back in marking contests . A principle of our game is to play in front. But if you do, the guy behind gives you a shove, a nudge or a bump in the back and marks it as if unopposed. Every now and then an umpire will pay a push in the back, but nowhere near often enough, in my opinion. Are those marks recorded as “ contested”, when the man in front is just shoved out of the way?

I was just watching the Replay of the North game. In the second quarter, Xerri swung a forearm into Xavier Lindsay’s head, knocking him over with a glancing blow. Very similar to the Sparrow incident, but luckily ( for him and X),with no serious consequences. The fact that he’s done it twice in one game shows that it’s more than just an unfortunate incident. He’s aggressive and clumsy.

Who doesn’t!?

We were dead stiff. Definitely the better side in 3 of the 4 losses.

I have a weird feeling we’re going to kick straight tomorrow……18.6, or something like that!

I don’t think the Demonland pod can learn ANYTHING from the Deebrief. Vice versa perhaps…….a bit of sophisticated analysis rather than vapid attempts at humour.

It’s hard to take the Deebrief seriously. One of them has stopped watching games, yet still pontificates about what the club should do. One of them says he prefers watching the soccer. Every time someone drops the “F bomb”, they all giggle like school kids.