RalphiusMaximus

I know exactly what that looks like, but as I have just posted in the Sam Blease thread, he made a truly abysmal effort that resulted directly in a shot on goal. For a fresh player who is supposed to be fast, being burned off and failing to chase his man who ran the length of the ground to take an uncontested mark in the 50 was a terrible effort and deserved to be noted as such. I'll add a point to the Ugly incidentally: The drunk yobbo Melbourne supporter sitting near me who hurled a constant stream of abuse at LJ. We don't need people like that following the team.

Funny to see this level of positive feedback. I was quite disappointed. I agree that he made a couple of good plays, but I found his work rate sadly lacking, especially for a player coming in late in the game. I'll highlight one passage of play that really annoyed me. Sam's opponent got the ball in the Dogs' defesive 50, passed it off and ran on down the wing. Sam chased him to around the def. 50 line, then stopped and jogged slowly through the middle. His man kept running around the boundary and took a mark inside 50 for a shot on goal. At this point Sam was about halfway down the ground with his hands no his knees. How is it that a guy who was drafted for his ability to run and who had played less than half the gametime of his opponent was outrun so comprehensively? I don't care about his kicking at the moment, but if he gets another run this year I'll want to see a hell of a lot more effort out of him.

Good: Trengove Watts McKenzie Bad: Blind kicks forward Handballs to opponents Not even trying to win the ball at ground level Our tall defenders being outmarked by midfielders Not bringing Warnock into the side to sit on Hall again Ugly: The Umpires Sam Blease's effort Mindless player bashing on this forum.

Honestly, I thought the biggest difference between the teams last night was that only one side wanted the ball. In contested situations, our players repeatedly stood back and let their opponents get first touch and then tried to tackle them. There were only a few occasions when they charged in and fought for the ground level ball. It was a return to the "bruise free" style of game that drew so much criticism after the Carlton game. I don't know whether they were intimidated by the bulldogs' attack on the ball or simply lacking in endeavour, but it was a sad thing to watch.

This excites me. I can see him working well as a sub, but I honestly don't care as long as he gets on the ground.

I think Davey needs to find his Flash again. Play him as a forward pocket with instructions to chase and tackle as hard and fast as he can. It was this element that earned him a spot in the side in the beginning, and it's the element we've most missed from his game recently. I think the backline can handle having both Strauss and Tappy playing. It might put pressure pn Bartram, but long term I think they are both ahead of him because of their kicking.

Unbelievable. I've just finished watching the game and I honestly don't see what everyone is complaining about. One bad kick right after he came on. That's all he did wrong. He took some good saving marks in defence, ran hard to provide an option and collected 8 disposals in just over a quarter on the ground. It wasn't a highlight-filled effort. He didn't come on and kick five goals or collect 19 disposals in a quarter a-la Scully, but he was solid and broke up several attacks that could have hurt us. Seriously, some people on this forum need to get a hobby. They can't be happy with a good win, so they need to find a player to pick on. Now that Cam Bruce has moved on it looks like they've all decided that Morton is their patsy. Pathetic.

Deja Vu!

"Fall from grace"? Is that what you call it? I thought it was just a bunch of hacks sitting in their homes typing furiously about him on a fan forum because they no longer have Cam Bruce to complain about. I know he's struggling a bit right now, but all indications are that the club still see him as a promising player with a clear place in the future premiership tilt.

I wouldn't mind seeing Warnock come into the side. His form has been good at Casey and he absolutely spanked Hall last time. I jMac is out then I wouldn't mind seeing him take the spot. No real need for other changes.

33 scores and only 11 assists? So the other 22 were players taking it cleanly from the ruck, running to 50 and bombing? What exactly do they count as an assist anyway?

I feel your pain. Perhaps I should become a Collingwood supporter so I can justify becoming unempolyed. I'm sure the fine print on that deal said we got to keep Pia...

Strauss again? So many people seem to want this guy to fail. I really don't understand why. He's doing a pretty good job and has yet to reach his tenth game. Leave him in the senior side for the rest of the year and see how much he improves.

Didn't see the game (yet) but He seemed to be a lot more involved with chases and tackling pressure through half forward. His disposal count is up too, which is a really good sign. The more often he gets the ball, the more magic he can produce.

Three Demons in the Team of the round Watts, Green and Martin all get nods this week. Nice to have a bit of recognition.

I was sick of it the moment it was introduced. Now, as then, I ask the same question. "How can they officiate the game effectively if they are not aware of what is going on around them?" They say that it is too much to expect the umpires to know that there are players behind them, but if that is the case they obviously can't adjudicate the game to an acceptable standard. Furthermore, I can recall at least one incident which proves that Umpires can be aware of players behind them. Anyone else remember the Ump falling flat just as Tony Lockett ran through where he was standing? One of the classic moments of AFL, and sadly never to be seen again with this idiotic rule.

Wall is a good quality VFL player, but I don't know whether he's up to AFL standard. We have a lot of people on here complaining about players like Bate and Dunn who are considered to be too strong for VFL and not quite good enough for AFL. I suspect Wall would be another. I really can't see a place for him on our side.

Quote from The Age: Looks like his teammates are getting to know what he can do. He's fitting in very nicely.

I really wonder what game people are watching sometimes. Strauss has been really good for us the last few games. He's beaten some good quality opponents, won plenty of the ball and is being used as the designated kicker out of our backline. It's not picking up cheap disposals when the other five guys are told to look for him to kick it clear and hit a target up field. His defensive game is 100% better than this time last year and his kicking is superior to most of our current backline. He does make occasional bad decisions, but experience will cure that. Let the guy play and enjoy the fact that we aren't turning the ball over by kicking directly to opponents on our half back line. Agreed. He was really prominent. He floated through half forward and the middle and was damaging with his disposals. It was a great game and just what he needed to get his confidence up and cement a spot in the side for next week.

I notice nobody has actually looked at the fixture when posting on this thread. Interesting. Of the ten games left to us, I can see the following: Tigers - mcg - 50/50 Bulldogs - es - 50/50 bye Power - tio - Win Hawks - mcg - Loss Cats - ss - Loss Blues - mcg Loss Eagles - es - Loss Tigers - mcg - Win Suns - mcg - Win Power - as - Win I can't see us dropping one to Port. They're just playing such bad football right now. I think the Tigers are on a really good run at the moment, so next week is doubtful, but I think we'll come home with a lot of momentum and roll them later in the season, particularly after the run of losses against top sides. the four game loosing streak is against the probable top four, a really harsh draw. Suns at the G we should win, although they will see it as a possible upset and will hit us hard.

Were you at the game? If you were you may have noticed how the majority of passes to LJ were too high, going over his head, dropping short or pitted him against two opponents. Sometimes several of these at once. The reason he didn't get more goals is because of the shocking delivery. You can't kick a pass two feet above his head and expect him to mark it when there's a taller defender in his back pocket. They just put the ball in his general direction and hope he can pull off a freak mark. Sooner or later we'll get some midfielders who understand that you kick a low pass to a leading target and he'll be kicking bags of 10. Watts had exactly the same problem today.

Strauss has improved out of sight compared to where he was last year. I have yet to see him beaten this season. He may not always have a huge impact on the game offensively, but he's shutting down an attacking option and he's working well as a designated kicker from the back line. He also didn't put any out on the full today that i noticed. My 2 cents: Jordie McKenzie - Under that pack. :D

Agreed.

I would like to highlight the assist he gave to Petterd today. The important thing to note is that Watts didn't give the quick dishoff that would have put Petterd under pressure from the defence. Instead, he took the ball and ran a few steps towards the boundary, drawing both men with him, then shot the handpass to Petterd for an easy, no pressure shot on goal. It's these little details that tell us just how well he thinks the game. I loved that little passage.

6. Martin 5. Watts 4. McKenzie 3. Green 2. Howe 1. Sylvia Lost of people hard done by not to get in. I also think my top three could have been in any order today. They were all brilliant. How good is it that we can have Green get 5 goals and 19 disposals and he isn't in the top 3 on the ground?