Neil Crompton

Good question. Certainly his cricket ability does not relate to football. But the fact that he was selected as Australia’s captain says to me that he has many qualities that would translate to football, or any sport - such as player respect, an ability to manage, relate to and direct his players, able to read a game and make decisions accordingly, lead by example etc. Just my opinion.

Probably a big call at this stage I know, but basing it on recruiters comments on him, his leadership qualities ( Capt Aussie U19 cricket team) and his highlight real - and a gut feel.

Great to see AVB and McKenna ready to play again. Great perseverance by these 2 and the fitness guys to get to this point. If they stay fit they will, at some point, be welcome additions to our top 22.

The condemnation of the team this past week reminds me of post round 23 last year. Back then we could do nothing about it. Luckily we have almost half a year to do something about it and redeem ourselves, if we are good enough. We shall see how hurt the players really are.

Have a look at how many times in the last 2 weeks Hogan has led and poor disposal has either sent the ball over his head or has fallen short. There are not too many forwards who can excel under those conditions.

Not sure I follow your thinking on team selection this week Werribee. Last week you said Vince and Lewis cannot play in the same team ever again. Yet you are bringing Vince back in this week to play with Lewis. Last week you said that Petty must play. This week you’ve kicked him out and said Keilty must play. You no longer have a relief ruckman, as you’ve dropped Weideman, and you’ve dropped J Smith, who I think shows good promise. And I think we have enough mids with poor disposal without adding Baker to that list.

When Jetta and OMac have bad days, as they did, our backline is a mess. OMac having too many bad days of late. If he doesn’t mark the ball, I panic. J Smith worth giving more game time. He will be worth it I believe (not much alternative any way). Petty nowhere near AFL level yet, and it showed. He may well get another go, but it will be his last for the season if he doesn’t lift his game. Frost the most likely to be selected if Petty goes. From reports he has played reasonably well in the 2’s. He has always been a heart in your mouth player, but again, not much alternative to him. ANB and Tyson make too many basic skill errors to be left in the side. Lewis makes errors as well but he gets so much more of the ball than ANB and Tyson, due to good positioning, and more often than not hits his mark. He should stay, the other 2 need to go and improve their skills elsewhere. While I have never been a great fan, Stretch has earned is way back into the team, and I think Spargo needs to return. While not a high disposal player, he, like Fritsch, makes the most of each and every one of them. As a last change, I’d like to see Hannan get a spell in the 2’s. His output has been no where near what we require up forward. Given our 3 talls, I’d go with Garlett to replace him. But the biggest changes have got to be a smarter game plan going into F50, and considerably better disposal from 90% of our players. It’s these 2 areas that allow opposition teams such easy access into their forward line. We can all but hope.

Personally I like the rage. It gets the anger out of the system. If not for Demonland where else would that anger be vented?

Out: - our forward line coach - our backline coach, - our skills coach, - our game plan coach. Fix them and we will be good!

Even if we manage to win this game, our coaches and on field leaders need a huge kick in the you know where, because our brand of football is terrible. We have no intelligence nor skills on field. If half way through the season we can show this standard of football against a bottom team, we should hang our head in shame. Forget the umpiring, it’s our fault.

So disappointed in this side. As a supporter it’s hard to take when this team promises so much, yet delivers so little in the big games that count. We should have had the game won by half time given the amount of inside 50’s we had, so there is simply no good excuse for us losing this match. It was not the umpires that beat us, nor the opposition, we lost it because we played dumb football.

Oscar has been pitiful

That’s my point. His weight does not necessarily stop him from having a tank - as per Wines. I think Petracca’s problem is between his ears. He needs a serious wake up call now, or he’ll always be that guy who threatens to have a brake out game - and this blog can not afford another one of those.

Ollie Wines is 97-99kg. You think he should lose some weight to be able to play well?

Normally I’d ignore posts like yours DrD, but not this time. While most people here would find it sad that JW’s form has warranted his dismissal from the team, you seem to take pleasure from the fact that this justifies some supposed statement you made about him. Feel good now? Jack has played over 150 AFL games - how many have you played? Sure we wanted so much more from Jack, but he couldn’t give it consistently, for whatever reason. So what? That’s life. Jack has had to take shite like this for way too long - from people who’s only claim to fame is that they are able to post a blog on demonland. Jack has accepted all this with complete dignity. I’m sure most of us here only wish him success. Perhaps if Jack had been drafted at pick 20 none of this bs about his ability and expectations would have transpired. Perhaps it’s the fault of the recruiters who simply misread his capabilities, and us supporters who needed a hero and simply wanted it too much. Good luck Jack - hope you make it back to the ones soon.

While I agree with Tier that these stats need definition, and that stats aren’t everything, but I also believe they can provide insight to how a player is travelling. Using Petracca as an example, I think the stats pretty much sum up his performances to date, and why, given his ability, we want so much more from him: - top 5 for Clangers - bottom 5 for disposal efficiency - top 3 for turnovers All the other stats he ranks average within the team. For a player of his potential, average is not good enough. The only stats he ranks in the top 5 are Clearances and Contested Possessions. I am hard on Petracca because he has so much potential, but he is yet to consistently stamp himself on a game. Maybe time for a wake up call.

With premierships comes recognition and credibility. After 53 years of disappointments it’s no wonder we don’t have any. And who cares anyway? Credibility doesn’t help us win games. And continuing to win games is all we should be worrying about.

I would hope they go with Joel Smith, as I believe his skill set would best compliment , rather than tinker with, our current backline system. With Smith you get both a tall (191cm and a great leap) and an athletic runner, and he appears to be coming into form with Casey. Talk of Pedersen playing back is just silly in my opinion; Frost has had many chances and has blown them all; Petty is nowhere near ready; and unfortunately I just don’t know enough about the form of Keilty. As such, i think Smith should get the chance to show what he can do at AFL level.

Watching Tim Smith have set shots at goal on Sunday for sum reason reminded me of Neitz and his bouncy run up. Might be just my memory playing tricks, but maybe someone has some video to compare the two?

I’m sure our football team and their coaches would care less about having “media recognition”. A mature and confident side has belief in themselves, their teammates and their coaches - and therefore do not need validation from the media. It’s only the supporters that seem to require this recognition/validation - from the very same media personalities that are so often bagged on this site. Why would you seek acknowledgement from someone you don’t respect? It simply wreaks of our insecurity resulting from 53 years of premiership drought.

What a fantastic performance overall. And after watching the game again via replay, all I can see is upside, because we made a number of fixable errors that cost us during the game - although obviously not a lot!. We gifted the Crows goals (think Salem twice) and butchered goal opportunities ourselves (think tmac and Hannan). Certain players disposal are works in progress (think Jones and Brayshaw - especially Gus - and for this game Salem). Unfair criticism after a great win? Maybe, but fix these skill errors and we become a premiership side.

Given our injury level is so low, it got me thinking about team make up if all players were fit, AND if all players were currently playing to their best of their ability. Who would be in this team and in what position to best suit the side? It’s a little bit harder than it sounds I think, because if all players are playing to the best of their abilities, then the more skilled players would have the advantage I believe. Anyway, here are my thoughts: Jetta OMac Hibberd JSmith Lever Lewis Hunt Jones Salem Melksham TMac Petracca Wiedermann Hogan Garlett Gawn Oliver Viney Int: Fritsch Brayshaw, Hannan, Vandeburg Emerg: Tyson, Harmes, ANB, Spargo Vince Like to hear your thoughts.