Mental Demons

I am a bit surprised that Prusss was not picked. On about $500,000 a game he is our most expensive player. Just looking at the teams, I think the Dees might win this one. We just have too many players that should win their positions. I think it will be an ugly game though.

If we win this game I will be surprised. Such poor selections make me wonder if we are tanking so North get a better pick. I can't see how we are going to kick enough goals to win. We might fall over the line because we are playing the crows but I would not be surprised if they get a run on and win. Poor outs and poor ins.

nonsense AvB has been close to our most unproductive in every game he has played this year. He adds hardness but his disposal is awful, not a good example for youngsters. What youngsters? we only have 2. Bennell can only last a couple of quarters and is not fit enough. Pckett has been picked a couple of games this year ahead of Bennell. Pickett has upside and has earned his place, he does not need Bennell for a mentor.

Nonsense Jackson is yet to take a contested mark and is yet to kick a set shot goal. These are not the skills to get a game in any forward line. Jackson was a waste of a draft pick as we don't need his best skills. He s a project player and will not have much to offer for 4-5 years. There were better ready to go picks. Worse than picking him the first place is playing him too early. It would seem that the powers that be want to prove he was the best pick. Nobody is convinced he is a player that will make our team better in a in a hurry, he is a passenger not a play-maker. I doubt he will get another run this year bar an injury to Max.

I agree we have done well turning lower picks into football careers. What we are really bad at is trading. They always see us coming. We overpay our way out of high draft picks. We pay too much for May, Pruess, Leaver, Langdon, Tomlinson.

I don't agree and I will be very surprised if Jackson is in the team next week. That is of course if there is anybody in our footy dept with a football brain. We were top heavy and Jackson does not do enough.

I think you can read what I have said. He took a contested mark, something Jackson is yet to do.TMac was much more useful and has experience. What did Jackson do?

The whole team was abysmal vs Port. Weid was ordinary for the second week in a row. Jackson was our most unproductive tall. At least TMac can take a contested mark and can kick a set shot goal. I did not mention dropping TMac, sorry if you don't like my opinion.

The first one to drop is Jackson. He is not an AFL player yet and may not be for 3-4 years. He just does not do enough and we lose a runner if we play Jackson as only second ruck because that is all he can be relied on to do. If Jackson wants a place in this team he has to be able to take contested marks and kick set shot goals regularly. We will continue to lose if we insist he is ready to play. Jackson should not have been in last week's team, while he didn't do anything wrong the only thing he did right was play in a winning team. To pick him vs Port and go in with three talls was stupid, no teams do it. Why we thought we could win doing it is coaching incompetence. Just dropping Jackson and adding more run would helped vs Lions and vs Port. A few fans here roared me down for suggesting TMac would be more useful vs Lions as Jackson is way more mobile. This is nonsense Jackson is slow and does not know were to go, this is not his fault. He is young and needs development. TMac was more useful than Jackson vs Port. Considering we were playing a runner down, most of the team were doing their best to adjust. If we make another change it would be more to have a look at someone than to relegate someone. The reality is that I don't think we have any better replacements on the sidelines. We lost it at the selection table and in the coaches box. It is hard for a team to get behind an inept coach. This is what I saw in our play. We were beaten by a much fitter and harder team who showed desire. Jordon or Bedford might be worth a look but apart from Jackson, I am not sure who should go out. We could try Tomlinson as spare parts interchange but I can't think of anybody in the team who is not better at their job than Tomlinson is. Bennell has to be able to go 4 quarters instead of 2 and needs to improve his defence and 2 way running. We looked soft against Port. Melksham and Harmes are not looking like the hard nuts they were in the past. AVB offers the hardness but not much else. I see only a couple of possible changes.

Nor did you.

When has TMac failed in the wet? When has Jackson dominated an AFL game on a wet or dry ground? I get you are a Jackson fan but he is a project player and does not offer much at the moment.

TMac has form and experience. I can't pick out one Lions player who we could expect Jackson to beat or a position he could win. I don't think we will win today because we can't afford to wait and see if Jackson can play in the wet. TMac has played good wet weather football. If we are picking players on their colt form we will lose. I am happy to wait and see but I think the Lions will win today.

We don't need 2 rucks, the Lions are going in with one part time ruck. Jackson is quick for a big guy, he is not quick and there is questions over his endurance. Jackson has only proved he is a ruck. TMac has taken a mark and kicked a goal this year, Jackson is yet to do that. I doubt Jackson will be quick enough to get a tackle today. In few hours we will know. Win or lose Jackson will not be a factor. Tmac has better form at being a game breaker.

A wet track is a big equaliser. Agility is not as much of a factor. I am sure Tmac would beat Jackson in a sprint and with endurance. On a wet ground Jackson will reduce our mobility and I think that is a bigger issue. The Lions have run to burn. Jackson is yet to kick a goal from a mark. The more Jackson has to run the slower he gets, more so in the wet. Jackson won't be more agile if he can't get to contests.

It has been raining for the last day or two. It will be a very wet track. I think Jackson was the wrong choice over TMac. We know TMac can take a mark and kick a goal. He is also more mobile and can play back, forward or in the ruck. We don't need two specialist rucks on a wet ground. I Have changed my tip and think the lions will win now.

I hope picking Jackson ahead of TMac on a wet track does not hurt us. I think Tmac offers more mobility experience and versatility. Jackson is quick for a big guy but like many basketballers he is only quick for 10 meters after that he moves like a dinosaur, more so in the wet.

I don't give a stuff about what your paternal common knowledge is. One tackle a game is not a performance game. it does not score or win games, If he was better at it he would have a much more solid place in the team anyway. That has never happened. He only got a game because of his endurance but it does not mean he was able to use it to best advantage. His disposal sucks. The reality was that he was better at running than most of the list. It does not mean he was good at it. I suspect he would have had a much shorter career at any other club. It is pretty lame, to try and make a point about a typo, get a life.

My mistake , others were talking about ANB. I would not be dropping anybody from last weeks team. I think we will win comfortably V Hawks. They are playing like crap.

When was ANB a leader of pressure acts? What does it even mean? Did we win those games with his pressure acts? One soft tackle a game is nothing to boast about and as I said the only other team he would get a run in is more of a basket case than us. No trade value = not much to offer. Who would you drop for him out of a winning side?The only reason to play ABN is no other choice, he is only depth.

ANB has never done that in the past who would you drop out of a winning team to give ANB another go at it? ANB is a running linkman who is a soft tackler and has poor disposal. Most of all, he is not a good reader of the play and is often not where he should be.

It is not rubbish. There is only one club that would take take ABN and that is the Crows. The reality is ABN has more experience than are reflected in performances. ABN has had years to cement a place in our team and he has never really nailed one down. ABN would not solve any problems for the crows his skills are borderline AFL at best. We could be saying the same about AVB and even Hunt too. The difference with AVB if he was able to string together a few more games his limitations would be more obvious. When he has got a game he adds grunt around the contest but he is fragile and his disposal is ordinary. I doubt any of these guys have shown enough to get a look at another team. They are not much help for us and will not be in a successful Demon team in the future. We need upgrades on all these guys.

ANB is not a natural forward and has been very hit and miss when asked to play forward. Cozzi has more score involvements and adds defensive pressure to the forward half. Cozzi also knows where the goals are. In some games I have seen, ANB could not find the goals if he had a map. ANB' biggest natural talent is his endurance running and not as much help in the forward line as Cozzi's burst speed. Unfortunately ANB's run rarely ends in a goal. ANB's tackling is soft and his goal kicking is crap.

Agree with this and would be surprised if there was any changes. These guys got the job done. More to the point we have nobody to replace last week's worst players. Melksham has been awful all year . There is nobody in the wings who can do what he does as well or better, no matter how badly Melksham plays. The hope is he comes good at some point. Sort of the same for May who let through his usual couple of easy goals+ but lost the plot so bad he had to be moved out of the backline to mitigate the liability. May seems to kick much better on the run. The more time May has to think about it the the worse his decisions and disposal is. May is not the right guy to do kick ins. I think Jetta has seen better days but he does bust a gut. He uses his experience well but I think his games are numbered. There will be games this year where others may be more help than Jetta is. If there is a forced change for TMac I would bring in Brown.

It sort of does because the teams that beat us do it by rebounding from half-back.

If he was worth it he would be playing for the Suns. The Suns have recruited many that have gone past him. I just don't think we have room on our list for this type of player. With the shortened lists I suspect we will have to cut some on our list that offer more than 2 meter Peter.