buck_nekkid

I note that the Casey game is 2pm Sat. Emergencies can hop on the late night flight and suit up for Casey.

Looking at your avatar perhaps not!

Good luck to Jake Lever, for a safe and high quality return.

Wow. That was some fall for $7 million dollar man. I suppose running around in the VFL wasn’t to his liking? Payout for 19, no payout for 20/21. Gives them a mid year draft pick. Probably going to see more mid year retirements now the draft is in play.

He wasnt letting go of his luggage until he hit the Swan!

185cm ish forward, so could fill the missing small forward role until Bedford or Chandler develop. May have to learn our systems etc, but you would expect a fairly fast path when we have 5 players available for selection outside the 22 atm.

Thanks for the report and photos Saty. What is your sense of the vibe? And were they doing anything about forward connection and craft?

Weids ‘out for a little while’.....

Think about this backline, which cannot get on the park: Jetta, May, Hibbard Lewis (?), Lever, Hore. Hore is a first year player, doing very well. The rest cant get near it. We have no wings (should be hunt/baker/KK) We have no functioning small forwards (Jeffy is getting to some good spots, and Hunt should be back or wing). Melksham now added to that. Lockhart looks the goods, too. Our half forward flankers (Hannan and AVB) cant get near the park All we have is Max and some grunt bangers in the middle. TMac might be turning the corner, Weid is not seen, and Preuss is promising. So, ins and outs - who is still able to play 120 minutes??? We are at that level.

Looking at the game again this morning, some thoughts: A win is a win. It was a poor one, but we needed it. Sometimes this can be the making of a team, and their emotion after was a clear sign that it meant something to them. Hore and Lockhart were really composed and are showing up as great additions to the team. Our back 6 is now non-existent. Teams can waltz into 50 and score almost at will. The suns were something like 3 goals for 5 entries at one point in the last quarter. Our systems are rubbish and our personnel down there second rate. Without the first-choice defence, and without the ability to structure up in a meaningful way, our D50 is awful. Oscar MacDonald is not a spud, but he is struggling to understand his role (when does he leave an opponent, when does he stay? Is he a sweeper, or is he a zone defender?) He has no confidence, and too much is expected of him when there is nothing but pain regardless of what he does. Frost seems to have turned the corner - he still makes headless chook moves, but seems to at least have some confidence in what he is trying to do. We are doing really well to make contests, especially between the arcs. Our skill level from contests and general play is appalling. The number of bad skill errors and bad choices when in possession was off the charts. If we could only think we had 120 ‘last minutes’ of the game, we would get over 700 points per game! When Gawn was caught on the pine, we were at a disadvantage and this speaks to Preuss coming back in fairly quickly. We were particularly poor at contested marking. This was evident in both arcs. Jones was in really good form and used well. In the middle he still has grunt in bursts. Viney was actually pretty good. Worked hard at the coalface and justified his inclusion. Oliver was prolific, and he is so fast sometimes that I think he catches people out. He made a few glaring bloopers, too, but certainly was not alone. Our delivery into 50 and our inside 50 setups are simply appalling. We have no speed through the middle of the ground, allowing opposition teams to set up behind the ball and make it so hard for us to score. When we don’t take contested marks, and our disposal is terrible, all the work up the field is wasted. We stop and prop, we turn it over. All we seem to want to do is to make a contest. I worry for Kielty, Stretch, OMac (confidence), Garlett (maybe the conditions didn’t suit him?), Lewis. We will miss Hibbard, who looked like he rediscovered some form. Melksham will be missed - he wasn’t very accurate by foot, but he was really getting involved. He provides something up forward. We turned a few corners last night, and TMAC started to show progress. Without much depth at Casey, we are really going to have to slug things out for the next few weeks. We might have re-established the ‘brand’ of contested footy, but this has to be built on to actually mean anything. We have so much that is not going right at the moment, that we can scrape through. Against better sides, we will be torn apart (like the Cats game where we got pantsed by 80 points), unless we rapidly improve. However, I love the fact that we won a tough one, one we would have given up so easily in the past. Go Dees.

OK, its here. I think this is a really important one. Have we ‘turned the corner’ or was the hawks game just a blip? How we play and getting the chokkies is so important today.

Hopefully those 2 get up and I improve my woeful tipping.

Thanks DJ, my bad. I thought he had missed, and I saw him named on the ground. Travelling emergency wont be able to make it back and play as the 2:00 start time overlaps the GC AFL game, so whoever goes has essentially a week off. Not ideal for guys trying to push their cases.

Just for fun, I ignored form and tipped all the away teams. Better chance than applying logic to my tipping this year!

Good riddance. Honestly so out of touch, could only manage 57,000 viewers. New format and panel simply could not revive it. Front Bar has gone so far past it. Will not be missed.

I think this is a good stat - it demonstrates that as we win a contest and just bang it away, we are not passing to advantage. Our rubbish exits from contests are costing us at the next point in the chain. We have been poor in 1:1 , marking in particular, and in ground ball contests. It shows in the ladder, and in this stat

ANB not even an emergency for the ones.

Agree. He had a very average game.

I think the issue is the lack of any fundamental justice or transparent process for all of this nonsense. If this action is now acceptable, like Dusty's elbow, but Steven May's holding his ground is not, maybe that Stack kid should have been suspended for hurting Viney? There is no way I would want Oliver suspended for anything (even MMA style ground and pound), but it should not be up to me. It should be absolutely clear how these things are judged, and are scrutinised with due process. Ablett did not need to make any contact with Shiel. He did, and left the ground to make contact with both arms to the head. if this is now judged just a high tackle, OK.

Steven May got 2 weeks for holding his ground

.

Surprise surprise. gablett gets off. It was a blatant attack on the player, he left the ground, made contact with both arms to the head. the system is wretched and officially broken. One rule for the favourites, one rule for us.

Ground balls - sounds like that would hurt! ON a side note, I thought Trac really showed his value in this department. His strength in the contest and his ability to distribute was back, and I think it made a massive impact. (Won’t mention the pie floater attempt at goal...)

I wonder what would have happened if that foul mouthed Hawks TV 'personality' knocked May's beer all over him?

They are reporting off field issues, Drunkn. A few beers and home before sunset. In real life this will have minimal impact on his rehab or his training. I hope he is OK, and can get whatever is happening to him sorted. He is an easy target because he is a big name, on big bucks. People suggesting the trade was a bust are going prematurely. Still way too much water to go under the bridge to make such an assessment. He was recruited to do a job. When he is back on the park, we can judge him around that. Nothing to see here. Move along to the next outrage. Perhaps Ablett getting off because giving him a ban is a bad look for the game?