RalphiusMaximus

The bad. Trengove's sling tackle. When will he learn???

With a bit of luck add a young Viney to the group in a couple of years too. It's beginning to look a lot like Geelong.

But why has nobody mentioned his goal yet? I agree with the rest, but he also has quick hands and can crumb. It was a hell of a snap with no time and no room to maneuver. I think we have a winner here. I can absolutely see why we took him second round.

Good: Rivers 30m spoil to the boundary with added flattened opponent for good measure.

I'd say Jurrah started really badly and probably got a real rev up at quarter time. His efforts early on were pitiful. He actually pulled out of a contest and tried to run around to get the handball when he was the only Melbourne player with a chance of getting to the ball. Fortunately he picked up as the game went on. Despite his three goals, I can't put him anywhere near the best with his early soft efforts.

I think we need to get representatives of as many religions as possible to perform blessings/curse removals/exorcisms and whatever else they can think of. Clearly we have been cursed at some time and this is showing now more clearly when we have a list that may be capable of taking us to a flag. I suspect this may date back to the glory days of the 50's. Perhaps a jealous rival club?

Funny thing about that. I would love to see either one of them take over. I actually don't have anything against Bailey as such, but I think he may be unable to do what needs to be done with the playing group. He may be better suited to a development role than senior coaching. What i have noticed, as others have mentioned, is that Paul Roos seems to be paying a lot of attention to our playing group and has been looking at the strengths and weaknesses of a lot of our key players. I too am beginning to wonder if it goes beyond journalism and into the realms of research for his next job interview.

The Casey review had far more interest for me. Gave Gawn a big wrap. Tom McDonald as well. But hte really important one was this: I have high hopes for this kid. Obviously he's lost a fair chunk of the season through illness, but I think he may be a big part of our backline in a few years. Quality pickup for us.

I don't think he should be defending them. It was a pathetic display of soft footy. What he needs to do is go out and publicly castigate them for being so damn soft. Make damn sure the world knows that he does not accept performances like that. Shielding the players won't make them go any harder at the ball.

My problem with this is that you are creating a 50/50 ball within scoring range of their goal and well outside range of ours. The numbers are going to catch up with you on this play and they will get more scores from it than we will. It's the same basic objection I have to setting our zone at half back. We are setting up at the same area they want to set up, creating a 50/50 situation and making them more likely to score than us. I think if you want to see how to break down the forward press, look at how Collingwood play when they kick out after a point (man, it hurts to say that). They kick to a marking target near the boundary around 50m. This player immediately looks to dish to the runner who is always going past him. If the runner looks to be covered, he will hold the ball, allowing the runner to draw off nearby players as a decoy, swing infield and kick long across field for the switch. They do it almost every time. It is mechanical. They have drilled this play so hard that there is no thought involved. Your marking player has one decision to make. Is my runner covered or not? This is a team that is properly drilled, unlike our own. They know exactly what the play is and how it will unfold. We need to be the same.

Honestly, I think the next couple of weeks are the best opportunity this season to blood some kids. They are games that are all but lost anyway, our injury list is almost as long as our list of available players, so why not admit that they are long shots, throw in some kiddies while we do a little mid-season rehab/patch up on some of the senior players, and let them take the game on. At worst we loose badly, and sorry to say we're already doing that. At best we uncover some serious talent and give a big scare to a couple of good sides.

Not a chance. They play to our biggest weakness. They get their goals from a fleet of small fast forwards. We have never been able to cope with that. Our backline is set up to deal with tall KPPs, not a mosquito fleet. They will move it quickly through the middle and run rings around our lumbering giants in the back 50. This is going to hurt folks.

I saw that. My reply to CC? It's not Carlton who disrespect our club. It's our players.

Just for a bit of perspective on our season so far I thought it would be interesting to see what people predicted for the first ten rounds before we had played a game. Results to date: Round 1 Sydney Draw 84-84 Melbourne Round 2 Hawthorn Loss 77-122 Round 3 Brisbane Win 82-71 Round 4 Gold Coast Win 159-69 Round 5 Bye Round 6 West Coast Loss 52-106 Roung 7 Adelaide Win 149-53 //spotted by Happeninghunts Round 8 North Melbourne Loss 83-124 Round 9 St Kilda Loss 86-106 Round 10 Carlton Loss 46-93 Looking back at This Thread it would seem to me that we're not all that far off what was expected. I look at my own predictions and see that we have three losses that I thought were 50/50 games in West Coast, North Melbourne and Carlton. Looking back I was probably a bit ambitious with Carlton, but I thought we were a very good chance against the other two. I also have us down to win next week against Essendon, which is highly unlikely at the moment. Still, we are sitting at the lower end of my "Acceptable" range. I'm just wondering how everyone else thinks we're looking when you compare it to your predictions at the start.

Let's keep it simple. 3 words. No F***ing Spirit!

And at the moment we have neither.

Totally agree. If nothing else it would be more readable without having to figure out who you're talking about each match. However, the ratings seem to be quite fair.

Honestly, I think the best ting to do with Morton is to play his as a forward. He's looking lost as a midfielder, and we really don't need him there. Put him at CHF and tell him to run his man around, take marks and kick goals. I'm pretty sure he can handle that. He's played the role before and been respectable, but the coaching panel have been determined to have him as a tall mobile wing. It's not working, so rather than ruin a talented young player, lets try changing things a little.

It's funny how one of the huge crippling negatives in having Jamar injured has led to such a big positive. Martin has thrived on the added pressure and responsibility and his ruck work is improving as we watch. Huge bonus. Jack Watts seems to have figured out that he is bigger and faster than most of the guys on the field. He's not so shy of contact any more and he's using his pace better. Still needs work, but he's another one who's showing signs. Tapscott is every bit as good as we were told by those who had seen him play as a junior. His defensive work was suspect to begin with, but he improved rapidly. Kicking is as good as any in the side. Maric is one I had written off. To see him come into the side this year with more speed, more fitness and a better workrate is great. He's turning into a very nice forward pocket who can push into the midfield and have an impact. Those are the big four for me so far. I'm really hoping to be able to add Gawn and Howe in the next few weeks.

Stef has been particularly good at the center bounces. If he took some of them with Jamar in the goalsquare it would make a hell of a quick clearance-mark-goal combo. Scary to be a fullback with that facing you.

I like the concept. My concern is the involvement of the umpires. It takes one careless block for a high contact free to be paid. Hit someone head high or in the chest and it's off to the MRP. I just have a horrible vision of umpires paying soft frees in our defensive 50 because one of our players hit someone high with their back while sheperding. Of course, in all of this is the notion that you work hard off the ball to help out your team mate, and that's something we have seen very little of this year. So many of our players seem to be prima donnas out there and only put an effort in if they are a realistic chance to get the ball in their hands. How many of the run in to create space for a teammate or buy them another two seconds to get a good pass off? It's all part of the soft culture we seem to have developed.

If Gawn comes in the Newton isn't needed as a second ruck. Bennell was soft all game, so off with his head. Petterd is a straight swap for Howe. Trengove and Scully would be swaps for Evans and Nicholson I would think, although I would prefer to have both rookies in the side.

I think a very important point here is he can't possibly make things worse. So hell yes Dermie, come on down, run a few masterclasses in what it means to be a forward in the AFL, see if you can have even a little of your mojo rub off on these kids.

It was a bloody awful kick and he decided early that he was better off taking it on the bounce. Then he took his eyes off the ball before he had it and fumbled, allowing Betts to move in and pick his pocket. Terrible play by both parties.

Clean kicking to targets seems to do the job. Having a good target outside the zone to use as a long option, fast movement of the ball. All of these are helpful. Can you pick which ones we don't do?