Cheap Seats

Agree, As much as i hate to say it, credit to the dogs, they played well. Oliver, Gawn and Tracc were all down on influence on the game, regardless of what actually happened their better players had a better run. Dale, Treloar, Bont and Smith cut us up when it counted. And with how badly we played in teh 2nd half, we still should have won.

Well i won't go that far, after last nights performance i can't say i disagree. It is actually not the umpires fault, it's AFL house and their interpretation of how they want the game played. But the most frustrating thing about the interpretation is, how do you have wildly different interpretation in the one game>

My thoughts pretty much mirror these as well, annoyed the dogs were allowed to stay close, which you can directly attribute to the quality of the umpiring. But when you sit back for s a second and analyses in the cold light of day, we did butcher opportunities late and the dogs played very well. English held Gawn to minimal influence and Clarry went out of the game in the 2nd half. On top of that we missed shots and made mistakes (May). It was a completely different game to what we normally play (high pace and quick ball movement) and we did pretty well considering. As bitter as it was to lose, it wasn't all bad news. Just very frustrating

It all helps. We failed to finish the but equally the umpires helped them gain momentum. Umpiring remains blight on the game

All good mate. Appreciate the info Go dees

Thanks SWYL, any news on Gus or what's holding things up? I do find it strange players would consider leaving now.

What

Shouldn't Danger just be focused on shortening games and the season to keep his career going?

Interestingly looking at the ladder we have conceded the least points against in the league. Us, Freo, Cats and Port are the leaders. I'm not champion data by any stretch but compared to the league we seem to hold up quiet well. Obviously last Thursday night was an outlier conceding 90 points. We know the kids are elite at clearance and we know when got our defence is elite. The problems seem to be related to mids not hitting the scoreboard and inefficiency inside the F50 and or locking it in for repeat entries when getting it in there. I'm not 100% sure what the issues are and if it relates to personnel or connection or fitness (intensity) but maybe a combination of all? Will be interesting to see how the next 6 weeks play out but if we don't bring intensity for contest each week we are vulnerable defensively with the way teams move the ball now.

Not sure if it's been asked, but what impact does the new head off fitness play in this? We seem to be a little off the pace this year defensively and offensively.

Although only one game Weid didn't do too badly as the 2nd ruck vs the crows either. Will be interesting to see how they throw the forward line together for the next 6 weeks

I agree with your point one dee. Personally though I'd like to see us play more quick emails and force our kids/attackers to start using them rather than bombing to contested talls. This is easier said then done and we will still need talls like brown/weeds etc. But I want to see more pacy smalls like Chandler, Bedford and kozzy in the same forward line. Obviously nibbles fritcsch and Spargo roles need to be considered but of we have more aggressions and pace we might fix a few issues

All good mate, I understand nothing is set in stone and lots of water to go under the bridge. Thanks for the info. I'm glad we're looking in to the issue of forward half representation. I always knew TMac played a role but wowee have we fallen off a cliff dramatically without him.

Very interesting Nev. I'm actually not against the move. Gives JVR a chance to develop while we use TMac Brown & Walker short term. There is no hiding from it now our forward half is a shambles atm

100% agree

Tex and Lever get along well from memory? How times have changed

He layed some ripper bumps on Thursday. Was great to watch.

isn't this as simple as player effectiveness scale? All this does is rate players by categories (which aren't listed) and say these players are elite in a particular category. I don't think it is anything lose our minds over. For example J McGovern is a prime example of a player whos had a lot of work and is likely very good at what he does. I doubt anyone would be surprised that he is leading a defensive category. It really comes down to interpretation or lack of.

To be fair, Last year we didn't beat the pies, and we were lucky to beat the Swans. Freo we played very early in the year. So for all the over reacting we might not be that far off where we were last year. Time will tell post the break.

Not sure what is worse, Losing to the pies, or losing to the pies because the American import had his one good game a year against us.

It is either something to do with the CBA being negotiated and they are waiting for clarity on salary cap etc or he is genuinely up in the air. Either way its not worth losing any sleep over.

I largely agree with your analysis. I would like to add a few other things we are not doing from last year, and i don't know what the solutions are. - Unable to hold the ball in our F50 - getting rebounded and counter attacked far too easily - Unable to intercept - not enough pressure on the ball and being rebounded out of F50 and counter attacked which is against the slow play mantra we want and losing contested situations and ground balls. - Poor F50 connection - finishing and converting has been terrible - Drop off scoring opportunities - fumbles and poor skills combined, as well as stars not having an impact. I think for a while we were getting away with a few things which are being exploited against really good side. A lot of media focus has been on defense, which is our main KPI but our lack of class forward has been really telling. No only are we unable to score regularly but the ball is getting rebounded quickly for opponent scores. I am not panicking as we have had injuries, form issues and structural issues, but gee whiz it is a throwback to 2020 where we won a ton of the ball and couldn't finish.

Mitch Brown worth a crack?

On a side note - it is a joke how Gil and the yes men at AFL house think there is no conflict in appointing Brad Scott as head of umpires or whatever made up role he does. Its hard to find this sort of corruption outside of politics And i am sure if Gil was asked about it, Brad would have been the perfect yes man to take the position. How dare we question the leagues motives or integrity.

The funny thing about the inconsistency with the dangerous tackle is, the AFL can't even get the consistency with striking right. But to answer your question La Dee - it is just more confusion on an already dubious set of ""standards" introduced at Boy Club central.