buck_nekkid

Can’t believe the bluebaggers supporters. They beat druggies and now they are up and about. One supporter couldn’t get his mates to go to a match- now has 6 seats for Sunday and about 10 idiots that want them. I dislike playing Carlton, and hope we smash them.

If they lined up like that it’s a full Demons starting 18! (Don’t think they will, though)

Line by line we should smash them. For every quarter we play, I think 3 goals better to the Dees. That’s a 72 point margin if we plat a full game.

Viney straight back in. Goodwin says ‘playing Carlton is like playing a bottom VFL club. The run against these magoos should get the last of the rust off. Zurich, our wonderful sponsor, is offering a special on life insurance to any Carlscum player if they pay up (in a brown Visy bag) before the bounce’. ambulance officers, afraid of ice addict attacks, are flooding out of Collingwood and will be on standby at the G.

To use a Masterchef idiom: they are the garnish and not the hero of the dish. They wander in, scoff some grub, and Jonesy says “tastes good, dunnit?” Rest of the show is about short pockets angry George, look away and I’ll eat you Matt and totally irrelevant Gary yelling at the poor bastards, and some cooking in between watching people rush around for no reason and recaps.

I’m not one to play the man, but what sort of [censored] idiot are you? I asked a reasonable question because I don’t know of any issues and genuinely would like to know. Your trite response speaks to the worst type of posters: you pretend to know something, but want to revel in your superiority rather than answer a simple question. I am ‘working it out’ by asking.

What issues?

Play at Casey until it clicks again. I love that he is not an automatic ‘in’, and he has to fight with a stronger roster to deserve his place. We lack real foot speed, which he brings, but he has to bring manic tackling, getting in the right positions and thoughtful delivery (not just banging it on the boot, which seems to be the flaw he needs to overcome at the moment). Demonstrate this at Casey, and an opportunity in the firsts may open up.

One thing to remember is that these guys are doing repeat maximum sprints, then they shoot for goal. Look how hard they breathe in their 30 seconds - if they have a set shot. Kicking a goal under this physiological duress is a significant challenge. Unless they are training to kick under these conditions, its no surprise their technique changes and there is a lot of missing. Further, snapping goals is different from set shots.

There has been a lot of commentary that we have only beaten weaker teams (which is correct, because if we beat them then we are ‘stronger’ on the day...). Personally, I think this is actually a good thing. Here’s why. we tuned up the gameplan over the summer, and the JLT allowed us to implement a version of it and look like top 4 material. we played less than ideal footy and took the points in a couple of games. Playing for 3/4, with a defensive press way too high, Maxy not hitting to advantage and terrible inside 50 connections. we were slaughtered by the Hawks. Wake up call. we played ok versus Richmond. A bit rushed early, but the third quarter was some of th3 toughest contested ball I have seen in footy in a while. so now we have a few ‘easy’ games in a row. Thank god. Over these games we have seen: the back 6 start to work. Lever to begin to show some real skill, and Lewis now being the general. Jetta rediscovered his form. tmac is back and building. Forward connection still needs work, but forward pressure is manic the big 4 have had a couple of games to work together. the midfield are growing. Salem and Angus in particular. viney is about to return. i for one am glad we have had this run to build skill, strategy and structure. The confidence of a few wins now might encourage the team to bring this style, refined and practiced over the ‘easy’ games, into the harder stuff. The coaching staff have made the adjustments and drilled the plan, and the players are seeing the rewards. This little period could be the making of the team. If we went straight into harder contests with no trust in the gameplan or each other, it could have been messy. It sure looks like these games have allowed a different sense to emerge. I am keen to see us kick over the blues, and set ourselves for some more serious challenges that will test our ability to keep playing our game.

The Curnow boys (a recycled Jedward) should be punished, and should have to lick a Razor Rays head for 10 minutes each.

I take no joy in the demise of anyone. He was a poor selection as our coach, but I assume he did his best. I hope he is ok on the back of this.

Be great to have Jeff in for the Adelaide (indigenous round) game, his auntie designed the jumper! Glad he has shown his class at VFL level and could be back in the frame.

There are several dimensions to this. 1. Leadership. As Oskar and Lever grow together, they can take more of Jordan’s leadership, and be the back line generals. 2. Roles. I see Oskar and Lever owning their roles. Upgrades for Lewis and Jetta in time. Can see Jetta being there for a few years, Lewis this and maybe some of next year. Can see Lewis’ role taken by a Joel Smith type, Hubbard to keep at it, and Hunt to refine his mojo. If not, Baker could step up. Tall defenders- Frosty and Keilty are in the wings, interesting to see if DK can go past Frosty, and what role then Frosty takes? as for the Jetta replacement, some of the suggestions re Dion and JKH might be good options for development. Otherwise we might be a bit light on in this department. The small defender for the number one small forward is a critical defensive role. we have a back 6 that seems to be working well at the moment. Building depth in all posts is critical in case something happens to one of them.

The coach has already declared him an ‘in’ in his presser....

In this game, I saw the value of some of the players I have thought played poorly previously. lever: getting to contests and hitting unbelievable targets under pressure, Lewis: his vision and redistribution to help us change lanes was superb Harmes: a big game for the lad. Our i50 count was incredible, but our ability to pile on scoreboard pressure was poor. We smashed every facet of the game, and nearly kicked ourselves out of it. building something interesting now. Lets sharpen our skills against the blues and then set to work on more significant opposition from here.

I think the poor sod who misses is Bernie. If everyone else comes up, then the natural transition is that Vince makes way. Didn’t he also sign on knowing he might play a lot at Casey?

Need to clean up i50 delivery, and not overpossess. Looking so much better, but with no reward yet. There are 1 or 2 players from the suns we need to get into, and they fall apart.

Watching Carlton now. [censored] they are bad.

I think we are 2 goals a quarter better. That’s 48 point margin if we play 4 quarters. Line by line we are a much better squad. The only thing that will beat Melbourne today is...Melbourne.

This. Our press was being sucked too high up the ground and we were simply murdered over the back. We have fixed this, and the defensive setup looks a lot better. I think the issue is offensive more than defensive. We don't look to use the additional space effectively by changing lanes or using width. The MCG may as well have been 20m wide (the members wing boundary to half way to the centre square) for the Cats, Hawks and Richmond games. We simply found no way to get out of this channel and could not attack with any speed or style. Richmond and hawthorn both stationed players inside when they were out, and outside when they were in, so they could use width to split the press. We don't do this, we just play 'stacks on' the contest. Whilst the endeavour is fine, the lack of MCG performance shows that there is some nous (even nuance) missing from our gameplan.

It’s not about Viney as much as about the team. If there is any problem, at VFL he can be put on ice and there are enough warm bodies and the stakes are not so high. If he plays 60, 70% and kills it, all good. But to get match touch after 6 months out of the game and allow him to be held back if he pulls up sore is both great risk management and in the interests of the team. It also means no travel, and sets a benchmark about team first thinking. If It was only about Viney, we would rush him back before he is ready and open him up to a poor first game, and the potential of reinjury. Remember that?

I like what you did there....

No, that would not be my logic. Past performance at the ground means what, exactly? Kicking 5 against the suns (who had a different coach, different players and a different system) means what? These two things would be very low on my list of considerations in selecting the team. Can he play a role? Will he play that role? Is he in form? Does he deserve to be there more than the alternates? He was dropped. If he has done what he needs to do, then consider him. To consider him because he did something in the past or done something at some geographic location really is flawed thinking. The sort of stuff I would expect of Mark Neeld, not Goodwin.

This is terrible logic. What about the time Jakovich kicked 13? Bring him back, too! the fact that he has had poor form recently has to be the main consideration, not an aside. We should gift games to no one, ever. Jeffy back in when he has earned it.