tiers

How did they get their first goal? Over use of stupid handball and then we [censored] it up. One, two and then move it on so at least if we give it up, which we will given our forward entries, we give it up down the field.

Clarko built his team with the shrewd and cunning trade to get a high first round pick for a bunny player in the early 00s (was it to draft Hodge) and then had the guts to select both Franklin and Roughead in the same draft and build a team around them. Remember it took years and it was only the catties stumble and fumble in the 2008 GF that they should never have lost that set the dorks on their way. The threepeat took over 10 years to arrive. There is no quick answer. It takes time. A coach needs to pick, choose and coach his team for success.

Weed and Tmac for me. Start with them and leave them to work it out. It's obvious the coaches can't.

If he doesn't play or coach, leave him alone. The board should provide additional match day coaching support for goodwon. He needs it badly. It seems that there was no tactical response to the catties go slow tactics. Such a lack of response is a serious failure and needs to be purged from our coaching panel. Who was it who said "don't think, do". Get him to coach from above where he will at least get a birds eye view.

Now playing toiges. What next, playing freo on Rottnest Island? Or filth on French Island. I hear Fiji is clear of covid and looking for tourists. A lightning premiership as outlined above is surely more and more appealing by the day. The constant changing and adjusting of the draw is harming our great game and messing with my mind. Better to have an exciting, if somewhat different, lightning premiership season played in Tassie (or NT) than this farce happening every week where we are the mercy of politicians and false positives. Gil, bite the bullet and show them who is boss.

Lever suffers from a poorly organised team defensive game and a fear of relying too much on those around him. For him to play the game we want he needs to know that he will be backed to attack the intercept and that he will not be embarrassed by his opponent getting free. It is also true that he has not played much in the past 2 seasons and he is still finding his role. It worked for him at crows and it worked for swannees in 2005. Goosy, ask Roosy.

All midfielders. It seems we can't stop a goal or score a goal. Gawn to ff.

And we lost by only 3 point with more scoring shots, more inside 50s, fewer clangers, more clearances, more hit outs, more contested possessions and more frees. Hate to think what would be said if we lost by double the margin. And what if the last shot a goal had been a bit more to the right. It's not the players, it's the lack of a coherent reliable system. Dock the pay of the coach until he works it out.

In another thread, I suggested the following player management system. They are now talking about recovery times and turn around times for the players. If it is to be a problem (as Zorko says) then change the format/concept. Each team has a squad of, say, 36 players and their respective game times are rationed by quarters. For example, over five games in three weeks no player can play more than, say, 16 quarters, the equivalent of four matches each calculated as 22 x 4 quarters per game x 5 games = 440 available quarters/36 = 12+ average. Does this mean that players will be rested for whole games? Yes it does unless there is another way to manage the loads. Perhaps play some only 3 quarters in a game, rotate by quarters, pick a side as horses for courses (eg. stack with defenders against high scoring opponents). Rationalise positions - who needs a ruckman unless playing against Maxie? Who needs a permanent full forward if dusty or danger play in the goal square? Inside players v outside players - think of the choices for the coaches. Get rid of 666. Think of the excitement in each game as these moves are played out. Mcgoose and dwayne would soil themselves. Bruce would spend the whole game asking silly questions like doesn't he, wouldn't he. For 2020 season only with a self destruct button. But when 2020 is the asterisk year, let it be for the footy not the virus.

With all the dramas about positive tests, hubs, quarantines, self isolating, forbidden movements etc etc etc I think it is time to revisit a plan from early April. Managing multiple teams in multiple states with flying and travel issues, I propose again the following. Build a hub in Tassie. Tassie which was already socially distancing itself from the rest of the world, seems like a good starting point. Send 18 teams with coaches and staff to Tassie, wait 2 weeks then start training for a lightning premiership season based on a truncated series of matches. Every team plays every other team once (there is of course no home ground advantage) over a short period, say two games a week with minimum 3 days rest with a new game every night for the season to clean up with the TV viewing (just like T20 cricket). If the season runs into spring and summer, so what as it never gets too hot in Tassie and there is no international cricket season to protect. Top eight teams make the finals and an express final series to be played for the premiership. If the virus is under control, play the GF on the G on any day of the week so as not to upset the precious cricket crowd. We will of course be gentle with the surface of the drop in wickets but all those studs would only aerate the soil. Non-stop footy every night on the telly, saturation coverage in the media and around the bbq and cooler (if we are allowed), the locals can attend in club colours (they will also have been in quarantine) and a season to remember. Who would go back to the old ways? It's yours Gil. I'll let you work out the details of times, duration, number of players in the squad and on the bench, payments etc. But no change to 18 on the field although, like in the old days, the forward and back pockets are for rest and the resting players cannot chase the ball but can only attack the ball if it comes to them (they will need their rest). Royalties welcomed. 10% of my cut to the MFC so long as I get my 2020 MFC/MCC scarf. I got my scarf so 10% donation to MFC gladly donated.

If we win, its legit. If not, then it's an asterisk.

With the changes in personnel over the summer its too early to know. Picking up two hard running wingmen and possibly a rejuvenated Bennell to add to a midfield of Oliver, Petracca, Viney, Jones, Harmes, Salem, Brayshaw and others, the promise of Pickett, Rivers and Jackson as well as the return of Hannan and AVB, gives me heart. Plus all are fit and, apart from Jones, none are old. The window is ajar and we have to find the way to fling it open and climb through. 2020 is almost gone due to too much disruption against WC and drons. Go dees.

It used to be called a walkover. Take the four points and move on.

Re the picture. Our great game is too broad to be captured on a tv screen Sometimes when at the ground and high enough in the stands it is possible to read the play over the whole ground. Even half the ground is too big for tv. It's a function of the shape of the screen relative to the shape of the ground. TV works better for the inferior sports that are played on grounds that at the same shape as the tv. That's why our great game is so much better to watch at the ground. Better still in the stands. As for the so called expert commentary - the best has been Dermo who is prepared to describe what is happening on the ground but sadly the producers rarely match the picture to his words. The rest are just noise.

Too many words. Too much thought. We started well, forgot what to do and just fell over the line. The solution. Stick to our structures and patterns and don't worry about their's. If we are better, we will win. If not, we won't. It was a demon failing in the past to play to the oppo's game. Should stop and play our own game.

From his first game, Clarrie showed that he was playing a level or more above his peers. He is that good. Until his coaches and team mates adjust (they have had three years already so hurry up) he might not reach his true potential. He can't carry a team on his own. Earlier match winning stars such as Voss, *ird, Mitchell (both), Dusty and *udd have been able to maximise their value by having team mates who read their game and ran to the right positions to receive. Until he gets more support at the dees, Clarrie potential will be restricted.

Why mozz them now? Be patient.

Kick, handball. Kick, handball. That is the eternal quandary. Let the ball gatherer decide especially as Clarrie wins most of his possessions in close with limited room to move. He is so good at winning the ball that it is incumbent on his coaches and teammates to learn play to his strengths, not some arbitrary ratio of kicks, handballs. Successful teams in the past played off their strong players, eg Williams and Mitchell. And Clarrie is a better ball gatherer than either under pressure.

I used the other diminutive taken from the Tom Jones song "What's new ............"

I innocently used the diminutive of cats - sorry, didn't mean to cause any grief.

It's true that it is too subjective and relies on ancient memories. I learnt the world's greatest game as a boy in the park and at school in the 50s and 60s when the great game was simple and pure. It was a game of territory and contests. Kick to kick with movement and scoring. Pick one game from the 80s, say first final demolition of roos in 1987, and one game from the 10s, say beating the [censored] in 2018, and watch both and compare. Both were first finals after many years of disappointment. 1987 wins hands down (and not just because of Robbie). Fast, direct footy to contests. No zones, no mauls and no interfering umpires. Just pure footy. Love it.

After Robbie and RDB does is matter?

I have commented after the replays have been shown on how much better the game was then as a spectacle. No rugby style mauls, no tiggy-touch-wood frees for perceived jumper pulls, quick whistles and ball ups for the game to flow, no silly little requests to nominate a ruckman, no commentary by the umpires, no 30 second delays for goals, no mouthguards in smelly socks or groins, no kick down the line to encourage circular flow, no time wasting, no easy stats, down the guts footy and multiple one-on-one contests, no stupid over the top 50m penalties for having a toe nail over a imaginary line, proper kicks ins to encourage a contest (the current system favours those teams who are favoured by the luck of the scoring kick), ruckman who jumpto tap the ball to advantage rather than manhandle each other for no benefit to either team. That enough for now but our great game is overumpired and overcoached like all those other inferior sports that are too offensive to be named. Long live footy.

This game reminds me just how good G. Lovett was. Unrelenting run to the ball and lace out disposal. Also Andrew Obst who had the best hands at the club before Clarrie. Shocking Hocking was a sniper. Lots of good images from the game - ruckman both getting off the ground at boundary throw ins, umpires who kept out of the spotlight and blew the whistle quickly, no rugby style rolling mauls, goal umpires who looked like officials and not like kids, umpires bouncing the ball every time, quick clearances from the centre square bounces, no "down the line" crap, very little "circular footy" with switches, genuine one-on-one contests at most marking contests and finally a win for the dees.

How many games have we lost when we had many more inside 50s than the opposition? Far too many. It's not the bombs that are the problem. It's the lack of any strategy to keep the ball inside the forward line if it is not marked. It's also not the effort at the marking contest that matters, it's what happens after. Even Neita didn't mark the ball every time. This has gone on for too long. Goody, time to find the answer.