Redleg

But his old mate wants to go to Carlton.

I think he will go to the Swans if he looks like being able to play again. As I said, Essendon can't really afford to match an offer and then have him possibly not play. With slightly smaller lists and with the carry on from last year, I don't think they can go through it again with him. If however he gets back and plays well, they might revert again to their normal hardball trading approach, that they are so renowned for.

Not that I am advocating to go after him, but if he hasn’t played then they won’t match offers.

I have been banging on about our poor disposal skill for years and to be honest was surprised we made a Prelim in 18.I didn't see it coming and we got there with chaos footy and a hard competitive edge. That is not the game now. Sides have us worked out ala the Cats last week. We have been beaten the last two weeks by sides who played well below their best, but they know they will get the ball from us in addition to what they get themselves and it will be enough to kick a winning score. We targeted the contested beast in recruiting and ignored the quick skillful player and in today's game style it is what is killing us. The stats show we get the ball quite well and are also the best in the AFL at giving it away. Viney turned it over nearly every one of his 18 possessions yesterday and it was probably the worst disposal game I think I have ever seen. That from a guy who works so hard to compete and get the ball. He is the perfect example of a hard nut without AFL level disposal skill. We gift other sides goals like no other. That is why we lose. Fix our disposal and we are ok. That probably means trying other players on our list who may not be ready, or recruiting them over the next year or two. Last, the Coach insists on a quick turnover game and with poor skill and a small forward line that can't be done and needs to change.

The Giants aren’t much better than us, they only got 18 scores from 22 inside 50’s.

And that could be the main problem. We all know that for a number of years we recruited only the contested beast, while the game was evolving to a game of precision disposal, to avoid the opposition scoring. We are now left with a lot of poorly skilled footballers, who can win the footy and get it forward, but not accurately enough to maintain possession, inside or near our F50 where the scoring is done. The stats don’t lie, we lose games weekly while having more inside F50’s than the opposition. That’s it in a nutshell. The problem is we haven’t fixed it in the last few years and therefore it keeps repeating. Fix that problem and select a better balanced forward line and we will win a lot more games. The fear of many on here is that Goodwin can’t. That is fully understandable, given the weekly repeated scenario.

And the way we are going, he will be the greatest player of all time.

We are handing North pick one. Watch that kid win 3 Brownlows and be the greatest player of all time.

Agree. Our use of the ball is the AFL’s worst. There is no system or game plan. That is not emotive rubbish, it is fact.

Well the players aren’t responsible for not selecting another key forward, to give us at least a chance of taking a contested mark inside 50. That is a joke.

What about the Vice Captain, disgraceful. Now the turnover king.

Disposal ha ha ha. Not under 10’s standard. Oliver not a disposal to us. VDB can’t run or take possession.

Wish I could draw it as an example, but I have seen guys allowed to run outside the boundary line for say 10-15 meters and then kick the ball into play and it it is all ok with the umpires.

What, you can run outside the boundary line, past the mark and keep running there, out of play until you kick it in and that is ok. I don’t think so.

Appears to be a new rule. Players taking a kick outside the boundary line, aren’t being made to bring the ball in over the mark, but rather are being allowed to continue on outside the line . Should be thrown in, as soon as they play on or kick it outside the line.

Ordinary last night.

Good luck with that one. There is a 30 year contract in place and works projected at the ground based on that income stream.

If we had King I would still be happy with the 3 we took last year. I really wanted Rivers and and am very keen on Petty and Jordon.

I know hindsight is wonderful, but I wonder how many DL’s would now rather Ben King than May. I am a fan of May, but wonder if we had Ben King and then kept Frost as a result of not getting May, if we would be better off, certainly so in the long term.

If Weid is not injured, then it is starting to get very concerning he has not been considered for the first third of the season.

I know how you feel, this season is tiring me already.

Well I certainly don't get stressed or upset watching Footy Classified.

That's interesting, as I find that Caro talks over everybody else and it is very off putting. Eddie was obviously only doing his Pie protection best. He is a brilliant TV operator.

Yes true except that Grundy hits to advantage and then follows on as another mid.

Tell that to the Pies, who actually have the best ruckman in the game. He is better than Max and without him, IMO, the Pies would struggle. Grundy starts most of their play and is the one player they can’t afford to lose.