RalphiusMaximus

6 hours ago, CHF said:

• It’s just hit me. The realisation that the best player at our club could be a 35yo mother of two, if we had one.

Ours is 32

9 minutes ago, A F said:

I don't understand the praise for Sparrow tonight. He's a young kid trying to make his way. He took a really important contested mark at one point, but other than that he did very little.

Why are we crowding our midfield set up when it's clear as day that Brayshaw is damaging (and has proved to be A grade) when he plays in the midfield and is completely lost when he's outside of it.

Playing Sparrow also meant that someone like Petracca played less midfield minutes tonight in order to give Viney and Gus their minutes as well. It doesn't make sense unless they're trying to keep the mids fresh.

Sparrow looks really uncertain to me.  He's capable, but every time he gets the ball he immediately looks for a senior player to give off to rather than trying to make something happen himself.  Once he gets it into his head that he's allowed to try things for himself I think his game will improve out of sight. 

Was also really happy with Gus in the second half.  Did Viney cop a knock or something?  It looked like he was off for a lot of the last and Gus thrived with the inside role. 

WTF is Langdon doing?  HE sees the turnover on our HF line and for some idiotic reason every single time he starts stalking forwards towards the ball carrier and leaves his man wide open on the wing.  How many times have they gone over his head tonight? 

So at the opening bounce Viney is held off the ball to the point of being dragged to the ground.  Without a call, Sparrow comes in to try to get the ball Viney would have, is tackled and wrapped up and it's HTB to Port.  WTF are these Umpires doing? 

I really wish Jackson would just take the shot himself.  He's so intent on passing it off that he's ignoring his opportunities.  He was wide open there with all the time in the world to wheel and line up a shot, and he passed back out of the 50 to a teammate under more pressure than he was. 

No HTB for Melbourne... 

And saying that we get one finally. 

Lockhart is showing a lot of fight.  We have a couple who are putting in and trying to lift the team. 

FMD, Viney bombs to the Hoff in the goalsquare... 

Got away with one there.  Good contested work from Brayshaw. 

It's not looking good.  There's no spark there tonight.  They're going through the motions but the tackles are half-hearted, they're not crashing in to get the ball and disposal is loose.  We won't win this one. 

1 minute ago, Mazer Rackham said:

I spoke to Steve Hocking after the game, who disagreed. Although he did ask for clarification as to which ones were the umpires, and what sport was being played.

 

Bearing in mind the umpires don't know the rules they're refereeing to, it was a pretty good go. Walk a mile in their shoes: what if you were asked to referee a sport where you didn't know what you were supposed to do? If they get some guidance from higher ups at some stage, they might give it a really good shot eventually.

I suggest giving them each a copy of the  rules and telling them to adjudicate the game according to those rules. 

Those last few minutes, the umpires did everything but kick the ball themselves to prevent us from scoring again.  Inexcusable. 

OK, I just have to vent on my one great complaint from this game.  Bloody Max Gawn.  He could have had GOTY sewn up and he passed it off.  The guy roves his own hitout, breaks a tackle and runs the ball out of the square.  All he had to do was take it to 55m or so and belt the hell out of it for a goal.  Why did he do the team thing and look for a pass?  Why? 

5 hours ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Anyone else notice some of our midfielders (Oliver, Petracca, Bennell, AvB) prowling in our d50?  Hawks didn't follow them; not sure GCS did either.

Interesting.  I wonder if this contributed to the space our forwards were finding? 

Quite happy about that.  This was everything that we've been crying out for in our side. 

It seems like they're finally getting the balance right in the side.  The addition of Langdon, Bennell and Pickett give us some pace and skill to compliment the raw grunt, Oscar down back frees up Lever and May to play their natural games and Weid plays a more traditional full-forward game than T-Mac which helps the forward structure and gives us a moving target.  Some of the passes to the lead were sublime today, none better than the bullet from May that bounced of Jackson's chest. 

It was very interesting seeing the more senior players going out of their way to give goals to the first year players.  Even the Weid declined a set shot directly in front of goal to give Jackson a freeby. 

I'm also thrilled with the vision Bennell is showing.  I don't care if he's not enough of a contested beast for Goodwin.  That's not what he was hired for and trying to turn him into another inside animal is pointless.  He's in the side for the damage he can do with the ball, not for his tackling and contested ball-winning.  His hand pass through a mob of Hawks to create a goal was sublime. 

3 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

I wanted him over Pickett in the draft when the word got around that we were after a small forward in the first round.

Time will tell, but hopefully both will be guns and provide X-factor for the fans.

He looks good, but his pace isn't great.  That will hurt him as a small forward.  Tough as hell though. 

Cody Weightman.  Amazing mark and goal from a first-gamer. 

It's also worth saying that OMac and the Weid made a big difference to the structure today.  Oscar frees up May and Lever to play a more attacking brand and having Sam up front means we have someone contesting in the packs which means that the blind kick in hope isn't quite as disastrous for us as it normally is.  Well worth persistingwith both of them. 

Is it just me or was Kozzie trying to set up Bennell all game? 

1 hour ago, Greendale said:

He ran under the ball a few times and let Ballard mark it. I think with some confidence and consistency that shouldn't be an issue though. The whole forwardline certainly looked better though with a tall target down the line.

He didn't run under it.  That was just BS from the commentators because they weren't game to say he was pushed in the back and not given the free.  There were three contests in a row where he was shoved out and they marked behind him.  Not a peep from the Umps. 

46 minutes ago, DemonOX said:

The umps were horrific. 
 

One in particular when Rankine was caught cold by Langdon when he tried to run around after he marked it and the ump called it high. Should have gone to us. 
 

There were others but I can’t remember them atm. 

And the random one outside the boundary against Oliver that nobody knows what it was for... 

10 minutes ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

• Played against Melbourne and the umpires tonight.

Seriously?  The Umps were searching for frees to pay to GC all night.  That free to Rankine on the boundary...  WTF?  And the two dodgy frees to give Ellis his second goal.  Then there were all of the HTB decisions they paid to GC that they refused to pay to us...  The umps were a disgrace all night. 

6 minutes ago, Steno said:

T McDonald - was rarely sighted

I see what you did there.  He doesn't though. 

20 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

It's ok now that I've backed the Sun's the Demons are sure to get up. You can all thank me tomorrow night

Thanks for that. I quite enjoyed it. 

Think outside the box and play it in the USA.  Try to nab some of those sports-starved supporters. 

Put my tablet down and relax? 

1 minute ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

There is a chance Clarkson will be politely asked to 'retire' by the Dawks at about the same time Goodloss is out of contract. If he was gettable in 2022 . . . do we want him?

Honestly, I'm not sure.  He seems to have produced a lot of great assistant coaches which suggests that hie methods work.  On the other hand he might be a bit of a spent force by now.  He's been a senior coach for a long time. 

I was under the impression that the concern with Pert was that he would try to micromanage the FD (apparently he did that at Collingwood?) and mess with things he shouldn't.  He doesn't seem to be doing anything like that.  I don't mind him working behind the scenes to try to keep the club functioning.