dimmy

The only reason I would drop Fitzpatrick would be for team balance. Need him as a second ruck (Grimes as an alternative) Maybe Matt Jones for Tyson. Dawes for Pederson (but reluctantly) Maybe after the bye. Toumpas needs a few games to get into the tempo. His disposal is getting better. The game gets slower , the more confident you get (See Pendelbury) We must have a really good side if Grimes cannot get a game.

I am a Watts fan a bit, but I get frustrated with him sometimes. Great tackle on Varcoe . However I do not think the players use him well enough as a transition player ( Watson said at one stage " Watts is available, should use him" What did we do go across the other way . Brayshaw is better than Hogan (and I think Hogan is terrific) BOTH FIRST YEAR PLAYERS. A lot of posts have said Oxley should have benn manned, however we should have put the ball into decision makers hands to take it into the Fwd 50. i.e., Watts, Bayshaw ( Galett (2) Fitzpatrick Goals) and Toumpas once he gains more confidence. Maxy Gawn provided a genuine TALL MOBILE ruckman today ( Jamar was good until he shrunk) and give him credit , he has not played at this level all year. JAck V wins hard ball and I think his disposal is improving ( will check stats) ANd we have the No 2 draft pick up our sleeve, putting some bulk on. Tmac fought back really well after sh...h...e start. Frm match reports we have Omac showing promise ( and heart) The future is good

Common thing for modern coaches not to speak to the players straight after the game, because they then have to spend the rest of the week+ backtracking for something said in the heat of the moment (and sometimes out of context)

I have highlighted this issue before,. But I dont want Jack Viney to be held up as THE CAUSE. He is still a kid learning. He is a seeball get ball player. The coaches will refine his decision making /skills as he goes along. Think back 4 + years and we were all complaining about Nathan J . Look what he has turned out to be. I thought we may also have learnt from making Jack Watts as the saviour of the club before thrusting such responsibility onto a young bloke who has a ton of heart.

AS disappointed as I am about today, we got rolled by talented kids who show the differnce when raw talent is well coached as distinct from middle of the range kids are well coached. Just sheer talent from GWS unfortinately. The AFL must be very happy. Next they will reverse the Draft order and we wil;l be really stuffed. As PR said at 1/4 time we need to lower our eyes into the forward line plus learn to kick just reasonably straight. Think I will leave the country and join the budgie smuggler led invasion of Russia.( got as much chance of succeeding as wqith the Dees at the moment)

Give the Captaincy to Viney ????? Ad nauseum we hear about the MISTAKE of giving the Captaincy to Grimes & Trengrove and now we want to throw another kid to the wolves. Jack Viney is a Ball getter, needs to work on his disposal (look at how Nathan Jones has developed from a 2 grab to one grab player with strehgth (and heart). Then Jack could be considered.

At last some people are sticking up for Watts.( Roos has a role for him ,now our players have got to use Watts for him to fulfil that role. He is not Jack Viney's substitute) Our greatest ever player in Robbie Flower was a skills machine (and had to play virtually 200 games to play a final). Alister Clarkson was speaking on 774 earlier in the year when queired as to how players coming into Hwthorns side all play their role and the club is patient with their development. His comment was that Hawthorn were lucky to have a consistent coaching panel and each new player continues to get a clear message throughpout his development phase. Compare that with what our players have put up with in the last 6 years. On another topic the traders want everyone out and start again after 1 year of a new coaching structure even when we acknowledge we have improved.

Are we really looking at things properly. The new people (our saviours) are going to have to spend another year getting used to the "Game Plan" Why would we be even thinking about trading people who have actually got skills just for draft picks ? Another year of Speculation. Why would you trade Trengrove, Grimes and in particular Toumpas ( even though he hasnt played for 6 weeks). Next we should trade Hogan, he hasnt done anything this year !! Watts is being set up for a role. Wait until we have players who can get it to him when he is not so high up the ground and consequently he has a role similar to Gibbs, Suckling, Burchell, Enright,Kelly . I think our biggest problem is getting positive rather than numerical clearances . We get the ball but do not control the exit ( Jack Viney is the classic case with only 50% usage %) Get Jack's % to 70 and then you will see the value of Watts ( who is already averaging 18 possessions with high efficiency). I mentioned in an earlier post that Jetta,Howe and Watts or Trengrove should be the people with ball in hand coming from half back area. We also forget trengrove is a good ball user and Dom Tyson is still really a 1st year player. What I am saying is dont go throwing the babies out with the bathwater !!

What does it say about pur successes : Mc Donald , Jetta (this year), Howe, Viney ( WIP), Dunn . Toumpas had hip problems and is about to start his second pre season Do not think we have seen the best of RIley Yet ( Injury)

Tommy Mac, Neville Jetta & lyndon Dunn & Jermey Howe are our success stories of the year. Tommy held Merrett all day until he had to go off . Never ever doubt Jordies efforts, its just the skills. He tries too hard. Blease vs Bail : No brainer Bail The ball should be in Jettas, Howes or Watts hands coming out of the backline . Give them room , but they must work hard to ensure they are at the contest, not jogging along 2 yards behind it . And I do not mean Howe or Jetta . Gut running required for Watts Disappointed by this loss because we handed it to them

What about the blokes sitting right under their noses : Jade Rawlings or is he not interested. He has managed our Defence and developed a cohesive unit . Has served a very good apprenticeship. Alternatively Daniel Cross : Maintains high standards repecred throughout Club and Football. HAs had Roos for 3 years (at end of 2016). Could retire end next year or play a Giancirac...role next year.

Viney's effective dispoal rate wa 50 % which in effectively 10 times it went to our advantage ( but you have to admire his endeavour for such a young bloke. Actually Jermey Howe and Jack Grimes were our most effective disposals for us. Grimes @ 88% 17 disposals Jeremy 21 @ 82. Nathan J was also effective, but not in kicking to our Forwards advantage. That is why we do not score so well.

As Roos said in his Press COnference , we are not running lines to supprt the people downfield. Look at how Geelong, Hawthorn & Sydney move the ball AND back each other up. How many times does Corey Enright receive a handball out in the open and then away he goes , because Geelong have confidence in their team mates to be around the contast. We drop off too easily and sort of think " I have done my bit, I'll have a rest for a sec". This weakness only shows up against good sides.

I suppose Demonland has to have a whipping boy. Grimes, Garland and Frawley seem to be the current ones. According to the MFC Stats site JAck Grimes stats are Avge disposals 19.3 per game @ 78 % efficiency ( Yesterday 17 @ 88.2% plus 6 tackles and 2 1%ers.) Frawley was mentioned as one oour best. He held Hawkins to 2 goals despite the good quality ball coming in. Likewise COlin Garland did his role on Bartel fairly effectively. Compare this with Jack Viney ( yes I know he is only 19) and I am not knocking Jack VIney because he has heart and is improving . Jack V had 21 Disposals @ 50 % which indicates he has an area of his game to work on. It also highlights how difficult it is for our Forwards to "shine" when the disposal efficiency is so low. Mentioning another whipping boy in Jack Watts , PAul Roos stated in his Press Conference that Jack has a specific role to play, and currently players around him are not playing their roles so it makes Jack look BAD. I think he inferred all the Forwards were not able to do their role because of the lack of effective delivery ( and support) into their area. ( And I do not neccessarily mean lake up all the time)

We did not have a Motlop

Agree , he was a positive today. With confidence he is still settling into the ones. Takes time to feel comfortable and develop the "soft hands" that improve skills and decision making. Tackles like a tank.

I actually enjoy watching Geelong and Hawthorn play, because they attack and support each other. I hope the coaching staff show our players a Geelong or Hawthorn replay every week, to show them what is possible by having confidence in each other , gut running and delivering the ball. I am jealous, but our decade of arrogance is coming "soon"!!!

Learnt today : * Riley who did a lot of good hard stuff today (barring a couple of mistakes) , but showed a lot of hardness in the crunches. He is still settling in !! ( Confidence) *Jack Watts is not strong enough to be a 2nd big forward, nor does he seem to over involve himself. *Contrast the delivery to Geelong's Forward line with delivery into ours. *Geelongs ability to gut run through the lines which made that delivery possible. *Jack Viney continuing improvement ,Midfield has a couple of hard nuts with him now in Jones , Tyson and Riley. Makes our midfield competitive. Just need to get the finishers around the ouside . ( will move ball quicker) *Garland's and Grimes job on Bartels,Johnson . *Frawleys , Tommy Mac and Jordy Mackenzies 1% ers *Geelongs capacity for the finishers in Motlop,Johnson etc and the way they move around the packs. * Have admired Rohan Bails effort and dash, but he really does let himself down with disposal. Needs confidence to steady.

Let us put today in perspective. Geelong are coming off ( and still contain) elements of possibly the best team seen in the AFL. Our bllokes are coming off the floor. I notice that in the 3 word assessment failed to take in : * The quality of ball coming into the forward line * The pressure on our backline ( I cannot accept that Frawley was disinterested as alleged ) nor can i accept that Grimes is a liability. At this moment some people are too intent on consistenly scapegoating Grimes, Garland ,Frawley ( because of ....) and Mc Donald. Consider we contained Geelong to near enough 100 points today, which is a huge improvement on recent times. Need to keep things in perspective when playing top 5 sides.

Tommy Mac stands tall, doesn't give in and has some handy scalps.e.g he can run with Riewoldt (except when he has two corkies), Franklin and last saturdya night stood tall again. His 1% are valuable because the blokes against him are scorers. We need to support him. Just a few weeks ago everyone was saying how well the defence knits and now we tear them down . Frremantle scored less than 100 points and a lot of them were through turnovers further up the ground. Let's be fair.

In all the discussion we have been very negative. So we lost, but the side we were playing were R-up last year and are in the mix this year. Tommy Mace stood up again and improved with his disposal. Efort & PAce not a problem . He is also not afraid to carry the ball-... Frawley is not asfraid to run with the ball and preaents himself well. They should get videos of Cyril and Bruest ,Eddie B and BAllantyne (I hate saying this) and show the smaller forwards where to position themselves when the ball comes into the big blokes. JKH, Kenty or whoever should be within 10 yards of Dawes,Pederson and be in good position to take the crumbs. Too often Jack V STOPS rather than taking the game on when he has a mark. Nathan is a little bit similar. Dom T takes the game on and will learn (he is only new!!). Bernie is our quality man . Nobody could fault the forwards on Sat night because the quality of ball coming in was not as good as it can be. There is hope !!!

Maybe we should run a rotation between JKH, Salem and Dom B. Big season first up.

I think Roos has his successor right under his nose, when you consider how well the backline has shaped up > Jake Rawlings : Think how improved TOmmy Mac, Dunney, Jeremy Howe and Nifty Nev are this year !!!

Tommy Mac standing still or running . Dean Terlach when he is running Jack the Grimes when not under pressure Jordie when he is under pressure Spence Seriously : Watts,Watts, Watts, Salem,Howe, Dunn , Jack G (when he concentrates) ,Dawes

There is too much consistency inaccurate kicking against us. I think it is planning. Looking at MFC Website ,the 1% category which indicates pressure (to me) showed that it was led by the 6 defenders. May be a reason for their kicking. Good pressure leads to perceived pressure.