Left Field

You heading to the confidence shop?

The questions is not whether we want Cloke (obviously yes) but at what price. If he commands more than 10-12% of the salary cap, then this exposes us to exactly the same market forces that Collingwood are currently experiencing. Hypothetically, if you offered him a 3 year deal (and given the loyalty he is demonstrating currently), we would be mad not to expect him to play the same strategy in the marketplace again when that contract ends. But a 5 year deal risks him becoming ineffective in the latter years through age or injury. And don't forget, the game changes every handful of months these days. Who is to say power forwards will still be a factor as new game plans emerge? I am only for recruiting Cloke on reasonable terms. Therefore I am strongly against recruiting Cloke.

I saw Jones is a couple of practise matches a few years ago and his problem was as much trying to run into space, often across the rgound and not to his natural side. He then tended to fluff kicks across the flow of play, miss the target and gift the opposition a clear run at their goals. I think what has changed with Jones, as much as anything else, is a bit of composure and an understanding of his own limitations. Lowering your eyes to hit a short target in these circumstances is almost always better than trying to kick long to the (less likely) second target. Bail seems to lack confidence to me. His kicking action is average for a small player but not fundamentally flawed. He also connects OK on his left. But it the decision making that sometimes sucks. Think he would look better with more spread and up field targets presenting at him as well. But you are right, his kicking effectivenes (especially) is dreadful atm and must change for him to be a starting 22 player.

Bail is not an outsider - he just has pace. Agree his disposal needs work. Nate Jones has improved here so would not give up all hope of Bail getting better in the future.

Sam reminds me of Brent Harvey when running forward (and Russell Robertson when running the other way). As others have already noted, once he builds muscle, a tank and builds on his burgeoning confidence, he will be a very handy player. No downside to offering him a solid multi year deal.

GWS are tired & unmotivated. Many of the MFC group are playing for their immediate careers. Think we will win easily.

Yeah I think so. Bate was on Steven at the restarts - I think this means he was the match up (but I concede that might not be the case)....... From The Age today, in the third quarter This is most definitely when we lost the game.

The most horrible mis-match of the year in the 3rd quarter was left in place for at least 20 minutes. Matthew Bate on Jack Steven. My god, watch the replay. Steven was involved in lots of entries and scoring sequernces based on not much more than pace. Bate was left in his wake on a number of occassions. Who left that little match up go?

A direct comment to me from one of the FD team at the Swans catastrophe was to the effect that "some of the players are just not as good as we were expecting". This thinking has been set in place since the pre-season. Saving Jurrah (for his personal issue) these guys are all freely available. Hope we can work out trades instead of delistings.

Half right. If the coach thinks they are close to a flag, then instructions to the recruiters are surely modified in favour of developed players. Wallace, twice, was proven to be further from a winning combo than he was.

D'oh! I meant as a coach - butchered Footscrays list and then Richmond's.

Never been directly associated with a premiership, overly tactical (out of balance with being strategic) and a terrible revisionist in my opinion.

I like that the new coaching group has identified weaknesses and targetted change. There are lots of positive examples including: * Target and get Clark because we need a big forward * Change pre-season training regime to start building "gut running" capability * Emphasise defence as a foundation (did anyone else smile when the Bombers gave up 180 points on the weekend - they will fall behind us soon enough) * Move players around to (cover injuries and) build flexibility * Spill the leadership group and elect one based on pre-season imput * Drop name players if they are not performing The next test for the coaching group is to stick fat with their own rules. Grimes is growing in the captaincy and will become a terrific long term player for the club. But JT is out of form and out of confidence. His turnovers are becoming costly, his pace into and away from the ball is slowing and his body language is drooping. This is a turning point for the coach. Will he ignore his own rules for his new golden child or will he drop him to the VFL (as he did with some terrific long term club servants)? Will he review his captaincy during the off season?

Bloody hell Ray Hadley is an APPALLING swimming commentator. He has no expertise in the event (he is a radio celeb/former horse race caller/former auctioneer) but still manages to dominate when he has former Olympic swimmers beside him in the commentary box. Seriously, argh!

I am on the fence here. But, who has played the better footy over the last month? Brock McLean, James Magner or Tom Couch?

Geez I thought you meant Wona. Hang on a minute.........

Couple of things young fella. I never said anything about Dawes - go back and check. My comment was more about the "fine young man" statement - which sounds like you either know him or are some sort of psychic. So you are right in the extended sense of looking like a fool. Having said that, Dawes would be a big no from me. Players who get paid to work up the ground and sideways to create space for others are a dime a dozen. As they stay in the system and get worked out, they increasingly attract a specific defensive focus that causes their output to drop. BTW his output has dropped remarkably this year. At his size (and speed and agility at ground level), unless his overhead work is well above average (which it isn't) then he becomes the liability we can all see. Dawes is a medium speed, average overhead gorilla who becomes a liability when the ball hits the ground. Working hard and being effective are two different things youngster.

This post does sound very like Mark Neeld one of the coahing staff with a Collingwood background to me.......

Maybe a comma, or two, wouldn't go astray either JM.

Definite no. On the down and could not justify the coin in 2-3 years time (let alone next year when we will only be building).

Bugger - going to be a good outside player for sure.

You all must be thrilled that Bluey has made the trek across from ology :-) I posted elsehwere about Gaff at WCE. Was he not off contract? Has all of Scully's pace and endurance but can hit a target. Come home factor? Hoping he hasn't re-signed with WCE recently.

I do like Boak but will play hard to get and has had injury issues this year. Can't help but think we would have to pay a premium for a player whose best form was 2 or 3 years ago. What is Gaff's contract staus? We have inside grunt, we need outside spread with pace. Gaff is like Scully but he can hit a target. See also Toumpas.

Toumpas and Kennedy for me

I have been told, directly, that we will take players in the order we rate them. If Jack is rated 1 or 2 (likelihood?), then we would match the bid. If not, we will not. Simple.