RalphiusMaximus

And now he's going to wind up a Magpie

I'm really tossing up on the Bombers/GC. Could be an upset brewing.

This is simply getting more games into him. No senior match, so no opportunity to play him there. He's been improving through the season and getting senior games, so I'm not at all worried. I doubt we'll see him in red and blue this year though.

I will say one thing. If we stopped making the slapstick turnovers through the middle of the ground, we'd be coming close to winning a lot of the games we're getting smashed in. On QB our turnovers gave the Pies more than the winning margin in points. If we had not made such stupid errors and even half of the aborted forward thrusts became scores we won that game. It's not that we are a terrible list or that we're badly coached, it's that the same people time after time are kicking the ball directly to the opposition and causing them to score against us.

We are losing more often and by more because the people playing in our side this year are significantly different from the ones playing in our side last year or the year before that. Many of them are playing in different roles and it has been clearly demonstrated that the large margins are largely due to the midfield turnovers which continue to plague us and are a direct result of a gameplan that asks them to kick rather than handball and run. Many of the players I have listed were not playing senior games under Bailey or for most of last year. Some are still not playing senior games but are becoming dominant figures at Casey when they were previously barely commanding a spot. In all I can see the improvement as individuals. The team improvement will come with better co-ordination and more confident passing. So Jones has improved, but you don't think Neeld can claim any credit for it?

I'd be more than a little tempted to swap Dunn for Davis for the next game. Similar size, but Davis is a better defender even if he isn't as good a kick. We need to remember the match-ups too. Tom McDonald to Reiwoldt again. Garland to Wilkes/Meister whatever he calls himself. Who then takes Kosi or his replacement (I don't know who they are regularly playing as a forward these days)? Pedo, Seller? I doubt Frawley will be up for it, although it would be very nice if he was. The core of their midfield isn't terribly quick, so we could get away with playing Magner or Couch in there. The other option would be to play a lot of pace and try to use their lack of pace against them. One thing that does concern me is their small forward options. We have nobody who can stand Milne, and they then have a coupe of newer guys like Siposs, Steven and Saad who can hurt us. I like the thought that Neeld will follow through on his thought of dropping the senior players who keep burning us with poor disposal. We could well see Dunn and McKenzie dropped for this match. Along with Dawes (big assumption there), that would give us three clear outs. Out: Dunn, McKenzie, Dawes In: Davis, Magner, Gawn This puts a huge load on Fitzpatrick to play as a pure forward with Gawn resting forward and second ruck, but the saints don't have a great defence so it could work for us. Magner gives us more grunt than Jordie in the middle and helps Jones with extraction, and as stated above, Davis a straight swap for Dunn in defence. There is a temptation to find a spot for Jetta, but I think he needs to put in a few more big games at Casey. Strauss was pretty poor on the weekend, so needs to step up and earn a recall.

Don is a great right hand man, but not a President. He was perfect for quietly keeping things moving while Jim stood in the spotlight, but now that Jim is gone he is being shown up. This is why he is looking for a new figurehead to take over from him so he can step back to what he is good at. The problem there is that it will still be the same board doing the same things, just with a new face.

I think it's been well and truly answered, but lets go anyway. Improved: Garland Jones Sylvia Davey Jetta Blease Watts Evans Fitzpatrick Gawn Howe Strauss Spencer Stagnated: McKenzie Nicholson Dunn Frawley Magner Couch Worsened: Jamar Unknown: Davis Tynan Taggert I'm no doubt missing some, but that's the ones that come to mind immediately. I have not included the players who have been added to the side this year since they don't have any existing form with us to compare.

I honestly can't decide. In the short term I think they would both strengthen the midfield, but I can't see that much long-term for them. They are both just a little bit off what we need to be a really good side. Bringing them in for the second half of the year would give us more ball-winning in the middle, but less pace and run. This is one I'll happily leave to the list managers to decide.

He was saying that they are doing ok, the players Viney drafted. That he did a good job getting them in. Can't argue that given that two of our late picks are second and third on the disposals for the team this year.

Terlich article Good little read. Again, says that the people taking shots at the club don't know what goes on in the club. Very positive and thrilled to be playing in the AFL. Wants to help the club back up the ladder.

SO, senior players who have been turning it over too much. Jordie Dunn Jamar Pedersen Jones Taking them all out of the side could well improve our disposal efficiency, but it would kill our ability to compete. Who do we have to replace them? Davis is about due for a run, he could come in for Dunn but his kicking is worse. Taggert as well, but there isn't a direct swap in that lot you would make for him. I don't think he has ever played as a HBF before. Couch into the midfield in place of McKenzie? Probably about the same impact, although I trust his kicking more. We have nobody who can ruck like Jamar, although Gawn seems to have a better impact around the ground. PEdersen/Sellar, little difference. Jones is our best player, but he has been missing his targets lately. Even so, no way would you consider dropping him.

I'm pretty sure it's nerves making him miss those marks. He seems to take them at Casey. I say he's best as a forward/second ruck. In time we could well see Gawn as ruck 1 with Fitz playing spare tall forward and second ruck. Both have some work to do to get there, but it could be well worth the effort.

Dunn really needs to sort himself out. He's been really careless with his kicking recently. He has a good boot, but he needs to use it properly.

You do know they're gone already right?

Merge with the Neeld must go thread please Mods.

There's so much love because we've seen what he can do at Casey. The dropped marks are basically nerves, and the more games he plays the less we will see of it. He's hellishly fast for a guy his size, as we saw when he ran away from a couple of mids today and slotted the pass down the throat of a leading forward. He's a good overhead mark (despite what he's done the last couple of weeks) and he's 2m tall. He's been regularly getting 4 and 5 goal hauls at Casey, dominating both forward and in the ruck. What we want to see is an extended run in the seniors to work the nerves out and show some of that ability. Right now is the ideal time for this since we're short on tall forwards.

He could be talking about Jones.

This is what I've been saying for quite a while now. You can't blame the game plan or structures for massive losses when we see these sort of numbers week in week out. You can't defend a turnover because your entire team has run off their men to create attacking options. When the turnover happens they are all caught out of position, allowing an easy score. If we can eliminate this one glaring flaw from our games we will see far closer results, especially since it will also translate into more scoring opportunities for us. As someone else said, he will be lucky to play this year, but nobody really knows.

I found this a very interesting comment. Do we axe the guys who keep turning it over and have a team with next to no experience or stick with the older, harder players and cop the clangers? Personally, I would love to see the "Baby Demons" hit the park later in the year and have a crack at it. You never know, they might surprise a few. Certainly Taggert needs to get a run at some point, probably Davis too although I doubt he'd help the clanger situation. I don't think we'll see Barry this year. Tynan hasn't convinced me. Couch a possibility.

Outperformed Jolly around the ground today. I think this was one of his better games this season.

I've been trying not to comment given that it really didn't have that much impact on the result, but they did give EVERY 50-50 call to the Pies. Watts called for holding at one end, Cloke gets a free for a nearly identical wrestle with Garland at the other. Davey ridden into the ground and is called for holding the ball. Numerous borderline high contact calls given to them, few if any to us, and when Cloke nailed Garland on the jaw it was play on. Then there were the non-calls... Edit: frees 21-12 their way according to the AFL stats.

Frawley not planning on leaving just yet. Says he's happy where he is right now. Interesting that Grimes admits to being worried about how a captain should play when he first got the job. Not what you'd expect from someone just sticking to the party line.

Incidentally, am I the only one who loved the 50m penalty Garland gave away? Just hurled Cloke face-first to the ground to emphasize his point to the rest of our defence. Beautiful.

That would make more sense, wouldn't it.