pitmaster

Huh? Ohhh idolised. Now I get it, as in revered.

Agree. It was an overly exuberant attempt to spoil.

Given the difference in recovery time we might need to switch a couple, and Tom Mac might need to be managed, but on form you'd have to stay with the group.

Really? Oh yes you can. As football followers you must follow the long game. It's always best to take a moment to breathe, think and compose yourself instead of lashing out. The wrist slashing on this website after a loss is often pathetic. I wear disappointment as heavily as anyone but nothing is gained by some of the headless chook behaviour seen here.

I like your sense of history.

Sean White was the hero that day. It poured rain through the first half and we could barely score a goal - had two by half time. But Sean was sent forward at the start of the third quarter and started hauling in marks, kicked two goals himself and spearheaded a nine goal second half. Great memories indeed.

Bull did a huge amount of work in packs and bringing the ball to ground. He will stay in. Those suggesting Pedo for Bull are mistaken - teams that win so well don't change unless it's absolutely necessary to cover injuries. Besides, Roos was interesting on Pedo during the OTC discussion last night. Said he could not maintain form at the highest level (although not in those precise words). Pedo will still get his chance this year unless we have the Tigers' golden run with injury, and based on what Roos had to say, Pedo will be OK for short spells but not a sustained run in the seniors.

Classic AFL inconsistency. AFL is a bogus organisation.

No, that's not likely. Neeld is talking about moving into sports administration. He can read the writing on the wall. I think part of his failure at Melbourne was the really fundamental failure to understand that not everyone can be taught or inspired in the same way. Different players (people) respond to different forms of support, challenge or encouragement. Neeld misread Watts completely for example. It was too much my way or the highway, too much hard man and Roosy saw through that. I feel for the bloke because I think coaching us took years off his life. I still remember him tearing up in the rooms after our surprise win over Essendon. No one can say he meant us harm, even though that was result of it.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/mark-neeld-quits-essendon-20180514-p4zf8s.html

Just quit as one of Worst folds' assistants. He did us enormous damage but I still feel for the bloke.

Rapt with the way we finished off and with the way the team is developing but keep a lid on it. With the exception of the Roos all our wins have been in the shallow end.

That should mean there's still plenty of value for those who sign up midway through the season (a form of behaviour I cannot understand at all).

Agree. Last year's was brilliant. I have an earlier, predominantly blue indigenous jumper which is OK but the design is too muted whereas last year's was a statement. This is not as good - looks a bit like a carpet. Perhaps if it held closer to the design of the original yoke rather than spreading the red all over the jumper it would have worked better.

The Pies performance against Rmond was aided by really deplorable goal kicking from the Tiges in the first quarter who could have led four goals to zip but instead made it four points to zip. The Pies always looked up against it, as we did, and worked hard, as we did. The post game hype had more to do with pre-season expectations (and selling the Hun).

It's not hurting Richmond.

Feeling vindicated about this today especially that line in italics: Goodwin is trying to ingrain a method of play that will work once T Mac returns. Of course, we'll only know as the year unfolds but as TMac gains more match fitness I suspect (hope?) those panicky posts about game plans start to disappear. Add Viney into the mix and anything is possible. I am amazed at the lack of recognition TMac's absnce received in the media, most recently from W Carey's piece in the Hun on Friday. BTW bush demon, Clarkson was only an example of a more experienced coach; not for one moment was I suggesting he would come over to the red and blue.

I rate Carey as a commentator. He is articulate and usually insightful, but this article lacks anything but the obvious. He is just going through the motions. There's more to learn about the team from this website than that article, and considering some of the fly-off-the-handle material on here, that's not saying a lot for the Duck's effort.

Pre-season I thought Viney was our biggest loss in the first third of the season, but the past two matches suggest I was wrong. Running Hogan far beyond forward 50 is robbing us of forward structure. It worked last year when T Mac was playing forward even though he seemed to be missed from defence. The strength of the strategy is that both T Mac and Hoges are running machines that can alternate in the forward 50 with the other pushing upfield. With O Mac growing into his role and Lever at his fifth attempt really contributing it's apparent that T Mac as permanent forward is a real prospect. The weird thing is that with our forward line not working at all that we keep playing as though we have serious targets up there. My guess is that Goodwin is trying to ingrain a method of play that will work once T Mac returns. Unfortunately that does not explain why we played down the line against Richmond, but it's my optimistic guess that this season will recover once we regain our structure. Maybe a more experienced coach (Clarkson) would come up with a strong alternative short term approach but I hope what's going on is what I said above...teaching the players an aggressive forward approach that will hold up long term.

Unbelievable what Hawthorn got away with last week. I heard Mitchell rebuked as well. Christ umpiring is third rate. Incidentally, two big differences between our game and North's pantsing of Borethorn were the fine conditions and North's conventional forward structure. I did wonder whether we outsmarted ourselves playing Jesse so far upfield once Kent etc stopped finding the goals. Brown really showed up Frawley and Sicily was exposed for the panic merchant he is.

Dees by 7

Tough on Fritsch who was still trying to make things happen in the final quarter against Hawthorn and who has contributed every other week. No argument otherwise.

Timely for selection purposes. Three year deal if I remember correctly. However I think it was always understood that the third year would see him ease into coaching. That now looks more likely to be sooner. He is far too slow now, broken hand or not. Don't expect to see a lot of him on field in the second half of this year. Trading lesson 101: the Hawks never give much away unless there is much to be gained (such as a rare commodity like a good ruck man).

I think you may be misreading what was Vince's attempt to adapt to the conditions. Hawks played them perfectly: get behind the ball and keep forcing it forward however you can. Punch, kick or just work it forward through hard tackling. Kicking off the ground is a valid adaptive tactic when the ball is greasy like a pig, such as yesterday. I wish more of our players gave up their preferred finely skilled play for some mongrel old-style footy.

Excellent summation although Salem deserves a mention among the best. The defence appeared fragile even in the first quarter when we were dominant. Inexperienced and unknown to each other, we need TMac back and down there rather than in attack where he was headed.