Nasher

The same holds true though, doesn't? Michie will receive his DCM and the Casey B&F at about the same time later this year. If you want people to believe your logic, you should be campaigning for him too.

If one of those easy misses becomes a goal, the ball goes back to the middle, so instead of Harmes or Vince doing a dud kick in that comes straight back in, we have Viney and Gawn contesting again. You're then on a totally different path of reality. We have no idea what would have happened, we might have been thrashed as you suggest, or we might have lost by less or even won if St Kilda hadn't peppered the goals. It's an invalid argument, because a goal puts the game on a completely different course to the outcome, compared to a behind.

Did Brayshaw get caught "a couple of times"? I recall once (the HTB before 3qt), and he was totally and utterly filthy about it. I don't count times in traffic when receiving dud handballs from teammates.

I hate this argument. The margin should have been what it was, because that's how St Kilda played and the score they kicked. You can't make up a magical margin that you think we should have lost by, then tailor your argument as if that was the outcome.

All the other players on our list are just the same are when they walked in the door? It's obvious that all our players have improved. Jetta was delisted three years ago. Harmes played Casey 2s in his first season. I do see the words "consistently" and "recently" in there. The improvement in Watts and Gawn were not consistent: they simmered along very slowly for a lot of years, then exhibited massive step changes this year and last year respectively. I don't think too many players get that much better throughout a season, as energy is drained. The biggest improvements occur between seasons, so it was this year, so it will be next year. To claim our players aren't improving in any way other than usual is just garbage. You guys have just got to stop with this "everything is stuffed" attitude after losses.

Equally nauseating in both directions I reckon faulty. I do reckon it's hard to be objective when you're still furious over a poor loss though, and many start focusing on the worst case scenario, when the range of possibilities is much greater than that. Yes, the positivity goes in to overdrive after good wins too. I just struggle to relate to forecasts of doom that don't at all reflect the trajectory of our season at all, and I did truly not enjoy the surge of negative emotions I felt when I did that post.

Zero wins for the rest of the year. We're hopeless. Carlton have gone past us and West Coast will beat us by 150. We haven't improved one iota. Sorry guys, just testing out what it felt like to do a post like this. Feels a bit yucky actually.

I didn't see it that way at all. I guess we'll see.

We had a couple of holding the balls against us that I was ready to hit the roof over, only for them not to be paid. Odd feeling - a bit like building up for a huge sneeze only for it to pass at the last second. I thought the umpiring throughout the game was generally horrible, but a non-factor in the result.

If you scale the "Disposals" and "Fantasy Points" statistics against the players' time on ground (which gives you a rate at which they are being accumulated compared to other players, rather than a total), Kennedy ranks 4th and 5th in the team respectively. I know that doesn't definitively say anything, but it does suggest Kennedy's very limited impact could be due to the fact that he spent a paltry 65% of the time on the field. He can only shoulder as much of the load as he is being asked to. I thought after the game that he should be the first dropped, but after looking at that, I'm not sure. If I felt I could sit through the horror of this match again I'd watch the replay and keep a closer eye on his touches, because I don't remember any particular soft efforts or terrible kicks or anything like that.

When have the MRP rubbed anyone out for that? The one Vince got away with earlier this year was worse. I reckon the MRP in the present incarnation are generally under-penalising, but that's just gut feel. Free kick as paid, that's it I reckon.

Yeah, probably

It's threads like this that make me consider if a mandatory cool-down period is required on the forum after losses, even if on a poster-by-poster basis.

As a rule, I think the onus is on the person making the assertion to back it up, not those refuting it. Anyway, I deleted my previous post because it came across more aggressive and standoffish than intended.

Exactly. And the team we beat there plays there about as often as we do.

The post (of yours) that initiated that discussion was deleted, and when I do that I delete every response as well. Nothing wrong particularly with your most recent post, but when you initiate a discussion by calling another poster names (even if you think it is a timid one), expect it and everything after it to be removed.

That moment when literally the only person that backs you in a thread is long-time troll, Bluey. I'm closing this - not because I'm against people posting stupid ideas, but because this thread so far shows no signs of holding any civilised discussion.

I'd settle for just winning at this stage.

I would like to see Harmes playing forward again, too. We can all see his is as hard as a cat's head, as they say, but he's too cruddy a user of the ball to be used as an attacking half back flanker. He did his best damage as a forward who tackled, marked and hit the scoreboard. Increase the responsibilities of the youngsters in the middle - Brayshaw, vandenBerg, bring Oliver back etc, recall Stretch, and use he and Vince as those midfielders receiving on half back. Push Harmes back to half forward and Kennedy to Casey.

I haven't given this much thought yet, but on first reading I think this sounds about right. All three changes improve our side. The outs were our three worst players. Spencer marks at VFL level it seems, I'm not adverse to trying him as a forward/second ruck at AFL level - I love Wattsy but we lose a ruckman *and* a crucial forward when he's in the middle. It might not work - so be it. In Oliver we add clearance strength and Stretch I thought was looking really promising as an outside ball user before being dropped. So many other possibilities though. Pretty long list of players who were terrible to choose from this week.

Gosh that was disappointing. I felt so confident that today was the day and the side only built that up in the first quarter. Just such a massive let down. Great to see Angus Brayshaw back. I'd started to forget. Had that one unfortunate moment just before 3/4 time, but other than that was excellent, hard, fast and clean all game. Shouldn't be left out from now forward.

He's still a failure because...?

I already posted this in the preview thread, but North losing to Port has kept us in touch with the 8, even if barely. A win also puts us a game clear of St Kilda, Collingwood and Richmond. This season isn't dead yet. Screw our record against the Saints and at Etihad, now is the time to show we're better than these pretenders and put them to the sword.

The stakes have been upped with Port rolling North today. You'd think Port and ourselves would be keeping a close eye on that 8th spot with North having fallen away so badly (how good has it been?). Need to win now to a) win one of our remaining "very winnable" games, b) stay in touch with Port and c) put one of the other teams in the same wins range as us a game behind. Simply must win this one.

Ah well, different strokes and all that. I love his stuff.