Chook

It's pretty silly, that's for sure. Hey Neeldy! Ever heard of giving a player a run at it? Because he can defend like nobody's business.

You won't find a bigger Neville Jetta fan than me, but it's probably good that a guy who hasn't played any football for three weeks isn't just given a spot. Still, I wish we'd just play him anyway.

If you're so keen to tell us what's NOT wrong with him, then why don't you tell us what IS wrong with him?

If Blease couldn't get a run against Carlton's mosquito fleet, I don't think he'll be in contention this week either.

Are you implying our club is restricting Magner's ability to ply his trade through a lack of funds? Surely that would be something Magner would want to take up with the players association?

Did I fall asleep for a week?

Captain And Lacking Form

Ouch. But how can I know I won't like reading something if I don't read it? And as for the conspiracy theory line, you might be certain it's true, but no-one else knows what you know. Until we do, a little bit of skepticism is a good thing.

Interesting (and perhaps a little convenient). I think we all agree that he's not in our best 22 at the moment, so there may be a few minor positives to take out of his injury (for us and for him). He himself needs a bit of a rest anyway.

It just goes to show what a turnaround in attitude and buy-in can accomplish. My problem was with the nonchalant way he approached his kicks (and really a lot of his game). He has totally eliminated that now and has started playing with Nathan Jones-like ferocity. It really shows.

No, but you are very prone to exaggeration. The fact is that it would be pointless to have Grimes out for 8-10 weeks without taking advantage of the chance to elevate James Magner. And as for the captaincy issue it seems obvious that since Trengove and Grimes were selected as dual captains, the obvious way to allow the remaining fit captain to play the role he is used to would be to designate a replacement for the injured player. No conspiracy theories here please. I like the dual captains thing anyway because it allows perhaps our best leader to continue speaking to the players while someone else deals with that stupid coin-toss rigmarole.

I agree. I think people are seriously overrating Tappy's game this year. He has definitely improved, but not to the extent a lot of people think. If he can clean up his disposal a bit, he switches from being a turnover merchant into a contested footy king. Let's hope he can do it, because he has the potential to seriously add a lot to this team.

The more I think about all this, the simplest answer to Jack's loss of pace is his stress fracture. It must have been bothering him last year (which contributed to him slowing down), and now that it's been largely treated he still has to manage it which is stopping him from regaining what he lost last year. It remains to be seen whether or not he can return to where he was (let alone surpass it), but provided his leadership qualities are good enough he should remain co-captain for the foreseeable future.

That source seems less credible than Wikipedia, so I'm not holding my breath on Paul Roos becoming our coach. I'd support it, but he's one of the only coaches I'd be prepared to axe Neeld for.

Nah, that was definitely a miss. Later on in the game he did the exact same thing but kicked a goal instead.

See my post earlier in the thread. The AFL has designated red a "dark" colour. The Bulldogs can use it because their clashing colour (white) is a "light" colour. Silly I know, but you asked for an explination. That's as good as it gets for the AFL, I'm afraid.

Not only did Nicholson play better than Rohan Bail last week, he's also only had one game in the side. Give him at least another run before putting him back on the Casey merry-go-round.Surely Bail should be dropped before him, right?

Most Improved: Colin Garland by a mile. His output this year is far and above what he was giving us last year. Max Gawn is another candidate, but two games doesn't give us enough info to be certain. And besides, I'd still take Garland over him based on performance this year. Gone Backwards: Sam Blease. He showed great signs last year, but seems to have fallen away a lot. Tom McDonald makes some really glaring errors that tend to stick in your mind, but he is an absolutely rock solid defender. No way should he be the recipient of this award. Surprise Packet: Definitely Matt Jones. With him and Nathan in the side, it really is a case of "keeping up with the Joneses" for our otherwise Z-Class midfield.

He was also one of our best against Essendon, who are by far the best team we've played this year. Another one of his best games came in our only win of the year. In fact, his only other really bad game was in Round 3 against West Coast.

Shannon Byrnes was pretty terrible on the weekend I'll give you that, but he was one of our best against Brisbane and has been for most of the year. You don't drop your senior leaders (or anyone for that matter) on the basis of one poor game. That's a recipe for "in again, out again" shenanigans that totally disrupts your team dynamic and cohesion.

That's a slippery slope you walk on though Jaded. If you pick the player over the coach once, then who's to say you won't do it again...and again and again and again? Let's not let the sheep herd the shepherd here. I'm not saying that's happening, but it very well could.

The AFL has ruled that red is a dark colour and white (obviously) is a light colour. The Bulldogs get to wear red because their clash (white) is against other light teams. Ours (navy blue) is a clash with other dark teams. Until the AFL either abolishes aways strips or rules that red is a light colour, I'm afraid we'll be stuck without an all red-and-blue strip for the rest of eternity. #burndownaflhouse

That is one of the most poorly-written articles I've ever read. Year 10 stuff at best there.

Like that time we met Port Adelaide and won?

I agree. Not only did he kick a goal on the weekend, but he also provided a lot of defensive pressure. I remember four or five occasions where he forced a Carlton player to kick to a 50/50 contest (or worse) simply by following through with his chase all the way up to the final moments of the kick. Quite a few of our players don't do this simple one percenter, and it is one of the major reasons our opponents are able to hit targets so frequently.