dimmy

There seem to be whipping boys even when we play well and win (Coaching group were reasonably happy with first half, but we failed to convert and ball movement in the mid/fwd lines) Iam am extending Goody's words in his press briefing. SO : How come it is OMac's fault for every mistake on the ground .There are criticisms of his marking (but not Petraccas). I must admit there were a couple of times in the first half that I thought the Knockers may be right, but overall he was playing on either Lynch or" 2 metre pete" so Frosty and OMac really did their jobs teamwise. He had 11 1% and some people are being praised for massively less than that. If you want a high flying KPD who carries the ball 50 metres ( like Jayden Hunt ) , and kicks it 60 ( like David Neitz) at least 10 times a game , be prepared to pay 2 Miliom $. So be thankful we are grooming blokes like Frosty & OMac. Our paucity of Ruckmen means that we have taken our main KPD out of his best area and have two "äpprentices" back there. Let us be fair to them. Jetta and Hibberd' have tightened the defence up really well. Our paucity of Ruckmen means that we have also taken our main Fwd line ball distributor out of his most effective area. Jack Watts is not a natural ruckman and has competed extremely well in that role for some weeks. Over that time he has assumed a "more than fill in role". I agree that he may have got a rocket at 1/2 time, but I also feel a few teamates were informed he was on the ground, makes good decisions and is our traffic director into the fwd line .so why was he not being used Clarrie is in front of Jobe Watson at the same stage of his career and could be anything. Petracca needs to take a leaf out of Nathan Jones/Clarries book because he could be anything. I was a bit critical of his input yesterday until i saw the replay and started to notice how stats can lie because he put really good pressure on when the ball is in his area.Just need to get more of it. Nathan Jones. If he was Cyril dangerfield,, Bruce McAve... would have him as an All Australian. I just feel that the wider football group do not quite appreciate how he has shown enormous loyalty and committment to the Club. He has grown massively as a leader.. Peddo is our whole hearted team man. When Gawny comes back a fwd line with Peddo deep and Jack Watts high Half Fwd and Hannan and Gartlett crumbing and running we could be anything. The future is bright !!!!

I must admit I am a Watts, OMac,TMac fan (some people think I am a masochist). I have also been a long suffering follower ( 60+ years) Watts has been asked to act as a 2nd ruckman for extended periods this year. When he goes back to the Fwd line he is buggared (no rest), so cut some slack on him for the current situation. Because of this we are virtually playing a forward short for endurance. plus he is the bloke you want to have the ball in his hand at high half fwd. He still has enormous skills when he gets the ball, but he is not a bash and crash player. OMac : work in Progress. He was left on Brown who is bigger and stronger, plus was getting the ball lace out to him. There was too much clean ball coming towards them. A couple of times it was someone else in the contest so a review of the rplay may change some opinions. OMac is not perfect, but has enormous potential. He just is not ready to look after their spearhead yet. TMac : See Watts above in relation to time off the ball. He had to then go down and assist in defence. Difficult task !! We may have won clearances statistically , but not quality. That comes from a dominant ruckman. If you translate Goldsteins HO to Advantage to our blokes he has given them 15 more chances to take the ball away cleanly. The role of the dominant ruckman has become more important this year with no 3rd man up which is where Watts, Tmac and Pedersen would excel. I am an optimist in that the current situation is going to be good for us in the longer term. Let us face it we were not going to challenge for P'ship this year but we are developing as Goody days. Petracca is spending more time in the midfield as is Hannan( who is getting more comfortable at AFL level) as per yesterday. Tyson was good yesterday as well. Salem is a lot tougher than what I gave him credit for.

That provides an argument for continuing with Weiderman ,Frost , OMac ,Wagner and Hannan . Get game time and experience into them. Out of adversity we learn !!! Positives : TMac ,Pedersen, Hannan

Bit hard on Pedersen- against AA Ruckman Tyson : Better today Hannan : Best game/ Competitive OMac/Frosty: Learning . Some great efforts by both. TMac : Has enormous responsibilities Watts : Needs to impose more but efficient when ball in hand Jetta : Just as well we have got him Midfield : Forwards need better delivery Forwards:Somtimes you make your own luck Defenders: "Lace outs" are hard to stop Onballers: Hard day at office "Ruckmen": He is BIG!!!/and can play/Max is better

When look at it : No tall ruckman against best in AFL ( at the moment) has a massive impact on structure as you are playing catchup. Above had impact on our defence who were outmuscled except when Tmac went back there. Waite and Brown plus Mason Wood are pretty big people. I think alot of Omac "mistakes"belong to a few other people. He was not the scapegoat last week !! Key forward missing Umpiring bloody disgraceful . North won it by removing Higgins (and Bernie ) out of the Centre Square . Luckily Higgins did not have his kicking boots on.

Aren't Jesse (and us) have people like Josh Mahoney looking after things. Whoever brought him to the club should be congratulated because he seems to be the right person to deal with life's "hiccups". Good luck with Jesse in his treatment and well being.

I have gone through this thread and it is the first time for 5 years there has not been a call for one of the MacDonalds to be sacked. Hooooray !!

I am glad some posters haver acknowledged Neville Jetta. He is rarely beaten and is twrrific the wya he goes about his business. Overall a terrific effort. Good coaching to put TMac up forward. Gave us a real strong body -> better contests. Jack W has to have room to move then he becomes super effective. There was lot of Cyril tap ons during the game which do not show up in Stats columns. This can only be erffective if you have backup from other team mates. Well done all of you !!!

His game was outstanding last night. One of his strongest features is his decision making. First class.

I mean the arrogance of Geelong at their peak and Hawthorn who refused to lower their standards. Point taken.

I can understand the frustration of some contributors, but good things come to those who wait. Consider if Gawn went down in a year we thought we were ready to go the guts. We would have been gutted . Then when our designated second choice (was heir apparent until Gawn took off) also went down any side would be stuffed . No reflection on the efforts of Pedersen and Jack Watts & TMac but we are undersized especially under the new "No thrid man up" rule which has massively increased the role of the major ruckman. What we have done is : Develop copeing strategies by multi skilling some of our Mid-Talls i.e. Pedersen, Watts, TMac Developed our developing midfield to work hard on working to a losing ruckmman (again no refelction on the above) We had one of the most successful Premiership midfielders drop into our lap in Jordan Lewis. He will make the likes of Petracca, Oliver, Tyson , Billy Stretch ,ANB & Brayshaw terrific footballers. Developing Watts and Hogan and McDonald as BIG mobile midfielders. Been competitive but not quite winning despite some [censored] footy throughout some games. Had the chance to develop OMac, Weiderman, Petracca, Salem, Wagner, Hunt, Frost, ANB,Billy Stretch,Hoges , Brayshaw,Oliver, Viney & Tyson (still developing players but with some glaring skill deficiencies. (Taking some licence with this as I would not be able to play as well as any of them) Develop the mentality that arrogance brings. Bedding down our defensive setup by increasing the development of our forwards defensive skills. (That is noticeable over the last couple of years) I know these "shoulda/woulda" wins/losses are frustrating, but if we had played the whole game against Hawthorn like we did in the first 1&1/2 quarters we would have been belted by 10 goals. (Hodge is still a great footballer and brings people together so give credit where it is due.) Instead we only lost by 3 points because Hawthorn's experience in those situations has meant they win more than they lose. We need to learn from that and I am sure the coaching staff would be showing that to our players. When we gets all our eggs in the basket : LET THE DECADE OF ARROGANCE BEGIN

I agree . He is not the only defender in AFL history to have a fumble in the backline. Actually I saw the repaly today and he was terrific.

I agree wholeheartedly that the kids problem is the concussion issues. He is a really good kid and deserves support rather than criticism because he has not met the "standard"expected of him. Like wise we are now only seeing Salem starting to blossom , again in the face of injury and illness. Often there are issues outside the control of the kids whic is frustrating for them as well, but their health is paramount to their footballing.

Please let Weidermann Devlop !!!

The ball needs to be in Watts' or Salem's hands when moving into forward line because they are elite kickers,. Using him as the main ruckman takes that away. Too many close in handballs. Jobe watson at his best used the handball to clear the area. Show Clarrie some tapes of him because he is aclone of Jobe. Having said that Jack W benefits from a run on the ball because he gets involved. Good move to start with Jesse in Middle. Bigger body and gets him into game quicker. TMac complements these two (but not elite disposal) . That is why it is important to develop OMac/Hibberd and Sam Frost.

Watts : Can Tackle !! Skillset improving TMac : Strong and tireless Viney: Best Game OMac: Learning and improving Frosty : Attacking getting better Clarrie O : Earned Hodgey's respect (So he copped a bit!!) Nev: Had bit of Cyrilitis Cam P : Big Heart Jack V : Best game. ALL : Kicking needs working ALL : Too many circular handballs ALL : Forwards do better when ball is delivered properly Dom : Lower your eyes Hunt : Showed dash /Versatility Christian S: Quieter but Effective Jordan L : Nevous early/Excellent later Nathan J : As above Jeffy/Trac & Hoges : All came very good after half time ALL : Cannot give starts !!!

I possibly agree with JKH unfortunately he is not clan enough with his ball handling. Hannan shows glimpses ,but is still finding his feet. He is only a handful of games experience. OMac led us in 1% had 7 or 8 marks , 17 possessions against a side that has the remnants of a great side. Get off his back !! He has some weaknesses, but he will blossom into a really good defender.

Every footballer has some imperfections. TMacs good points far outweigh his weaknesses. DO you reckon the type of person he is would not be working on those issues. At least he is trying to set things up. I have criticism for Tyson who seems to "Bomb"at first instance. If we had 20 Tmacs we would be unbeatable (even with his occasional kicking lapses). Ther are a lot of clubs who o9wuld gladly trade for him !!!!! So be pleased he is with us. Umpiring : Disgusting and inconsistent both ways !!! They are confused with all the grey areas of the game.

One of my favourites. SHould be used as a role model to show to people what can be done against a lod of odds and setbacks. Loved his interview with Matt. Congratulations.

Well deserved 100 Games to a bloke who has shown class all the time.

Agree with you re: Jones,Salem (must get ball into his or Watts hands),Watts,Tyson ,Melsahm,Garlett,Vince, Pederson, Viney : Led way in 3rd Qtr OMac : 14x 1%s, high effective disposal %. What more can you ask? Tmac : Disposal /Decision making ?? Contribution extremely high Lewis/Vince : Didn't get reported Frost Learning his craft Tyson : Lower your eyes Petracca/Oliver : Centurion Tanks Team: Fumbled in 1st half / Played in 2nd half

I reckon Jack V is a "see ball get ball"player (and tries extremely hard. His problem is when he has to think his way through options. He then becomes hesitant. Just needs some more confidence.

We only got done by 2 points !!! Based on these ratings we got done by 186. Bit harsh on TMac, Watts,Hunt,Garlett,Oliver and Salem

Let's consider the size of Hawkins Vs OMac . Hawkins has monstered most defenders in recent years so be a bit fair on a developing player. Oscar & Tom had the most 1%ers indicating that spoiling is one of his main functions at this time. Three years ago people were saying the same about TMac. By the time we get into the window of opportunity we will have 2 great defenders in the McDonalds plus a back up in Frost (who is no world beater at this point in time.) .

I know my watching was on TV, but I cannot believe some of the ratings given. Watts : played with heart Plus a lot of skill. Plus should have silenced ALL doubters Neal Bullen : Put in all day OMac : Top 1% TMac & Jetta: Bloody terrific Stretch : Improved each match. Petracca : Provided a focal point Salem: a go-to machine Oliver : Involved all right Apart from their kicking I think today was one of the best efforts you could ask of a young still developing side. Proud of them