rpfc

What's Buggs form like in the VFL? Oh, right...

Threw me with the non-sequitur there... All he has to do is play his role in a final and he will be value that is hard to replace - he doesn't have to win the Norm Smith...

He is slow, he goes to ground, he provides the odd Vince-ian howler of a disposal. But he is a leader, tough on the footy and uncompromising in contests. And I disagree with your assessment of the decision to recruit a Lewis-type. Forget the 'list' and talk about the 'team' - we have a team (and a midfield) that is very young, has no experience with being consistent, let alone big games like Sunday, let alone finals like we should be playing in September. Jones and Viney were asked to do everything when it came to that aspect and it was over and above what they could provide. Especially, if the worst happens and they both get injured, which they ended up doing. Viney looked so laboured when I saw him up close against GWS and he is a fighter and Jones is a warrior but they need to build on what they personally bring and focus on that. We have to think of the opportunity cost of not getting Lewis.

About 5 years ago...

Doesn't excite me, but would be acceptable as a replacement player for a small forward not in our top 15 players - or as the kids call it - depth.

Why is getting dropped the extinction of a player? Form comes and goes, habits get worse and they get better. These are universal truths for footy. And they are truths in a vacuum, but there is no vacuum with Watts. Everything he has done, or hasn't done, since the beginning has been overblown and treated completely separate to the reality every other player lives in. I would say he has been poor in 7 games this year, played his role in 3 games and was in the best 5 times. And that isn't good enough, and that is why he is dropped, but if he can get back to the form he had for Rds 12 and 13 before his hammy he might help us win a final. In 2017. In, like three weeks... That would be good, yeah?

I was wrong once.

Not convinced of either of those things. Weid had a couple of ripper tackles. Great. What will define whether he stays is whether he played the role intended for him in attack, his defensive positioning and pressure, and his form with the footy. The same goes for Watts. I only saw Weideman on the weekend but I went to that game knowing he wasn't ready for it and that was the case. Even when he did a couple of good things - he would follow up with a howler. I don't mean to talk him down - he is a kid. But if Watts put in the kind of performance Weid did this place would be frothing. If Watts displayed enough of the habits he needs to show - he plays. We are 11 and 9 - let's stop [censored]-ing around.

Maybe, or maybe the MC will emphasise winning and bring Watts back after he shows what he needed to show. There should be no spite at the selection table.

That low left foot kick that went 50m to a running Harmes toward the city end was just the best piece of skill from anyone on the day. That is why he comes back so quickly - he is so talented. If he can stay on the park for the next 5 years he will be valuable. Whether that is in the guts or on a flank. The thing about him playing HBF is that it is the easiest position on the ground by far and he will be able to play that role easily.

I don't think some of you can think clearly when it comes to Watts. Three months of good form is erased in 3 weeks of poor form. Idelogues have no place in Match Committee - unless the players see him as as egregiously 'soft' that some of you here claim so vehemently - he should come back in if he shows the right habits in the VFL. We have a great opportunity this year and I think Watts is best 22 and I hope he gets back to the form of the first 3 months. Sue me.

Pedersen has been rubbish his last handful of AFL games and got dropped in the meantime. But most fans don't see much other than the tall blonde bloke... I'm glad he is back in some form, but I don't see the need to put down Watts just to prop up Pedersen. Especially when it is arguably BS.

He was better than his stats suggest, but he was structurally an 'out' kick today and nothing more. There was no marking and movement into space and certainly no link play. If Goodwin is a realist and if Watts can lift his form then Weideman is out. I know they are not the same type of player but we don't have a replacement for Hogan and Watts can be more effective than Weideman. If we are to do any damage in a months time, it will be with Watts in the team.

We are a player or two down for a quick kick forward because we don't want to just do a 'quick kick forward' - they have an extra player or players on the periphery of the contest that are supposed to kick it over the line that is now 'down on Melbourne players.' It is basically putting an emphasis on our execution of hands, winning the footy, and getting the ball deeper into the forward line. It is frustrating when we panic and kick it to an undermanned HF line but that is not the plan, and that needs to be worked through - either by discipline and commitment to the game plan or by abandoning it as you say and going back to one-on-one footy.

No, Viney and Oliver don't need help in the contest to win the footy - they need players on the periphery to get it to. It is the right idea, I just think they make it so overt with the set up that it is now easily defendable.

Only supporters who argue for Watts not to be dropped get called 'apologists'... I didn't think Salem should be dropped. Am I a Salem apologist? I think Goodwin had had a terrible fortnight, perhaps we could drop him for Justin Plapp for a week. All those who disagree with me are Goodwin apologists.

It is not 'an extra 2 down back' it is an extra two coming off the defensive side of the square and allows us to have extra numbers on the periphery of a contest. And it only lasts for a few seconds until they reset forward of where the ball is. It is very smart IF you don't bomb away and IF you win the footy. Goodwin's biggest mistake last week, ironically, was not having a loose man in defence in the first quarter. As TT says above - going to it always at the same time is a problem.

IMO IN: Hannan, Stretch, Brayshaw OUT: Frost, Salem, Harmes I wouldn't have dropped Frost and Salem from what I saw last week, but whatever... I do remember, not a month ago, when our backline was vaunted. Now a Match Committee has flinched and we wait to see what the effect will be. Brayshaw is class and Harmes is not. A down few weeks is not enough for me to not put the acid on a senior player like Watts to give more and save Weideman from a game that I don't think he is ready for.

lol No, there is no grand plan with the inability to finish off an inferior opponent and the coaching howlers against GWS. We are a team entirely capable of winning the next three weeks and from what I have seen the last few weeks - it will be in spite of our coaching staff. So no, there is nothing 'brilliant' bubbling beneath the surface. It's escaping gas...

Football becomes an escape in years like the one Hogan has had in 2017. Certainly not a job that you can throw yourself into and dedicate yourself to - and that is how anyone improves in anything. I don't think we can read anything into 2017 for Jesse Hogan.

I was trying to politely point out how tactless it is to simply waive away those life events (aside from the collar bone) in the critiquing of Hogan's year. He either gets a pass for having a sick father, dealing with his death, and then dealing with cancer - or no-one gets a pass for anything in life.

Sometimes the present doesn't work out as you plan...

Really? Hogan has lost a father, had surgery relating to testicular cancer, and broke his collar bone. Some excuses...

If we win 13 games and miss out on the finals on % then that is a very impressive failure. But does it really matter? What repercussions will occur if we don't make the finals? Public apology? Wholesale delistings? Mark the season with whatever grade you want. It won't change the attitude toward 2018 and the future, which - I have to say - is the brightest I have ever seen at this club.

As I said in the Jack Watts thread - there is some shielding from the wind on the grandstand side but you don't take that gamble against a great midfield because when you turn it over you will get smashed with the wind assisting in opening up the ground right down the middle. The fact that Goodwin said 'we butchered the ball' is the most frustrating part of this. Of course we did, Simon, both teams did while trying to kick through a 20 knot breeze. You didn't prepare properly and arrogantly thought that you could instruct them to come up a narrow region of the ground against the wind. You screwed up.