Chook

Tappy may have done a knee. Hopefully it's just a jarring injury and not a ligament problem. It if is, that may be the end of his AFL career.

The holding the ball rule though is fundamentally flawed. Players should be allowed to go for the ball unimpeded by fears that players who are second to the ball will hold it to them just to get a free kick.

I just did. You haven't been allowed to spoil the ball while making contact with the head since the 80s or 90s.

You know who invented the Jack Watts as creative defender role? Mark Neeld. It's Jack's best position because he's not particularly good at winning his own ball, and in the backline he has the space to get the ball from his teammates.

Cracking a bloke in the head is not a valid spoiling technique, as much as I wish it were.

As much as I hate it, Jack did give away the free there. Nothing he could have done, but the free was definitely there.

Dat holding the ball rule.

JACK WATTS!!! Good stuff. Kicking is his only real skill, so he'd better take advantage of it as much as he can. Also, notice the obligatory reference to Jack as a number 1 draft pick? Has any no 1 in history had so much importance placed on where they were drafted?

Has Sam Blease ever missed a running goal like that? He's like the anti-Bail. No endurance, heaps and heaps of pace, and can't miss his running shots for goal. Scores level. Let's not drop off please. We have to stay level (or better) for another hour.

The holding the ball rule is just atrocious. It has become a rule whose only purpose is to keep the ball moving no matter what. You're better off blatantly throwing the ball than diving on it (at peril of limb) in order to halve a contest.

Nev Jetta has been our best player by a mile today. He and Lynden Dunn are our only defenders who can hold their heads up consistently this year.

There is enough talent for any number of teams, as long as that talent is distributed evenly. Right now it isn't. Not even close.

If we win this game I'll stop posting on Demonland. </sarcasm>

Frawley kicks a goal to put us 13 points down despite everything. The first 10 minutes of the first quarter was good, and the last 20 minutes of the second quarter was also good. Keep it up and we'll be in the mix all day.

Why do the umpires pay incidental "hand-over the-shoulder" free kicks when they ignore blatant high contact frees on players who are down low with their head over the ball?

And Jack Grimes' only skill is getting a miraculous fist on the ball deep in defence after a long lead by his forward.

Watts' kicking is the only thing that's AFL quality. We have about 15 players who can't kick. Until that number drops, Jack Watts will be in the side no matter how limp-wristed he is.

Jack Watts could have totally cleaned up Robbie Gray there. Instead he's the one who comes out hurt.

But he didn't flop about like a fish...

Anthony Hudson deserves better than Alastair Lynch and Brad Johnson.

However good a defender Tom McDonald may be, surely he costs us more goals than he saves.

Tapscott showing something after what seems like a million years on our list. Good to see.

I think between one and two quarters of ok footy is the worst we can hope for. It's still pretty shocking, but at least it's better than the Neeld and Bailey days.

You expect too much. There are MANY first round draft picks who aren't even in the system anymore.

Would not have helped our disposal efficiency much though...