Chook

Ashton Hams from West Coast has built his game around being 5'10 and running at a slant, then whipping his neck back at the slightest contact. What Selwood does is fine by me because 1) he gets a lot of hard ball; and 2) he uses a technique that, even if the high-contact free kick didn't exist, would still get him out of a lot of tackles by brushing the opponent's arms over his head so he can escape.

For all those who want to see it again, here it is. Perhaps the most awesome smother of all time!

Oh. That's good to hear.

Two players can both be good at the same time. Darling's good performance has no impact on Cook's good performance, albeit at a lower level.

You're right. They weren't.

Crap thread.

Great to hear Jamie Bennell's doing well. Is he providing pressure, or getting lots of disposals, or kicking goals, or what?

If it's a choice between signing Jamar and losing him for nothing (as a result of his free agent status), then it's obvious we should keep him. But Jamar's got about 4 years left in the game, so he can still be a legit part of our future success, not to mention the things he can teach our developing ruckmen. Maximum Gawn's development would definitely be hindered with Jamar out of our club.

Yeah but Darling would have kicked 6, therefore Cook's a spud and always will be.

If we're referring to the same moment, I think he said "UP the f*ing the ground." I've got poor hearing, so I rely on reading people's lips more than most, and I'm pretty sure that's what he said. Of course, we might be thinking about different times we saw our coach cursing.

Jamar was definitely my no 7.

Extremely annoying all night, but ultimately irrelevant.

It was his first game back in over a month. Vision improves dramatically after a game or so. He is classy, and I'm sure he'll continue to tease us with that until he retires. I won't go so far as to say I expect classy kicking from Sylvia, but it happens from time to time when he can be bothered.

In that analogy, isn't the gun our kicking and our foot the scoreboard?

He had a good game in 2010 in the dewy atmosphere of Darwin. But certainly, he's no wet-weather player. He likes his snow crisp and dry or he just won't go skiing.

In contrast to round one, where he didn't seem to do anything to quell the Brisbane rout, he was extremely proactive all night tonight and seemed to really want to impact the contest. Just like any player, a coach has the ability to impact the contest, and Neeld did tonight. It's a shame we couldn't come away with the win.

Even on a night where everyone else decided to put in the effort of a normal AFL footballer, Jack Watts didn't (or couldn't) do so. He is either too unfit to be of any use, or has such a weak desire to impact games that he simply has no real influence on any contest except those in which the ball just happens into his area. It's a worry, for sure, but that's not to say he can't turn it around as he matures (both mentally and physically).

Shouldn't you be in the post-match meeting, Cale? JK, he has continued to improve week in, week out this year, which I love to see. Continued improvement is what developing players is all about, and Morton sure needs a lot of development.

Copped my wrath early tonight, but ended up in my top six players on the ground. Really learned quickly from his mistakes on Riewoldt, which I absolutely love.

It must be weighing down on him pretty hard to have made him so slow. I doubt he could beat Brock "the Turtle" McLean in a race to the pond. Austin Wonaeamirri must be licking his lips.

You won't find any argument from me. He's improved each game this year. As long as he keeps on improving, then he'll be worth persisting with. Every team needs outsiders, and although no team wants someone unwilling to get his own ball, Morton can really help us with his run and outside work.

From what we saw tonight, we'd absolutely destroy GWS. Those skinny teenagers would be cowering in the corner when faced with the physical pressure we applied tonight. Add Clark, Jurrah, and a couple of others to our side, and we'll account for GWS easily, and will probably pinch one or two other games along the way. You have to remember that we won't get worse this year, and we could conceivably get way better very quickly as we become accustomed to Neeldy's gameplan.

6. Bartram, for playing a blinder on his 100th game 5. Jones, for his sensational, almost "elite" first half. 4. Rivers, for being a stalwart in defence. 3. Magner, for going in hard time after time after time 2. McKenzie, for practically shutting down Goddard and tackling (and smothering) like a madman 1. Tom McDonald, who started off too conscious of Riewoldt, but ended up almost beating him. Not only did he play well on Roo, but he knew when to run off him and get his own ball, and when to help out his fellow defenders.

Effort and skills much better, and we seem to have a better understanding of when to go with our gameplan and when to deviate from it. Promising signs, but its very easy to just revert to old habits after a really tough, promising week. Hopefully the boys can back it up next week.

The fact that our worst players tonight are our three most promising young players (plus Sellar), is either very worrying or extremely good for us, depending on the way you look at it. It could be a sign that they're not developing properly, or it could simply be the worst night of the careers of three fantastic young players (plus Sellar) to come.