RalphiusMaximus

GWS are showing their originalty before the game. Playing Hells Bells before the bounce...

Jones is Richie Vandenbeg. He's a leader, he's spent years setting the example for the kids in how to train and put in effort and he's fought a losing battle while trying to single-handedly carry the midflield. Now, though, those young kids he set an example for have moved past him. He's no longer the first choice in the guts and he lacks the weapons to really impact a game in any other position. Vandenberg stepped aside as captain because he was no longer providing real value to the team. I think Jones can still give value, but he needs to play smarter and recognise his limits. It's also probably time he let go of the captaincy and focused on his own game to get the most out his last few years. As for the game today, I fully accept that the teams that do well in finals are often a bit slower starting the season and then peak in the second half. I do wonder if we're not seeing another shift in the dominant tactics though. For a long time it's been the hard contested ball winning sides that dominated. Even before the AFL made their latest raft of unnecessary rule changes we were seeing a bit of a [censored] towards more pace and outside run again. The sides that have done really well this round have all embraced that style and worked really had to outrun their opponents (kind of like the side Dean Bailey was trying to put together). The two big questions are firstly whether this style will continue to pay off as the teams full of hard-nuts get their act together, and secondly whether Goodwin has the tactical versatility to come up with an effective counter to this style of play.

VERY impressed with that recruit they had paying HB. Great kicking on both sides, set up some goals with his precision, stopped a lot of our forward moves with his reading of the play and to to pit off he took on our three best forwards 1 v 3 and pantsed them. Watts his name again? ?

Not a terribly impressive analysis. I'm pretty sure I have three more concerning things: Poor kicking skills Fumbling in tight spaces Terrible plan for entering the forward 50 All much more worrying than individual players.

I should add to these comments that I said something very similar during the pre-season last year, and look how that turned out. I still think our ball-movement into the forward 50 is the worst in the competition and we score through weight of numbers rather than good play, but it can't be denied that we DID score more than any other team in the competition last year. Imagine what our scorelines would be if we attacked in a competent fashion.

Edit: oops. Didn't read properly. Thought you wanted the game AT Casey.

That was pretty terrible. The result doesn't worry me, but the way we played does. To summarise: Our disposal was horrible all game. Even short chip passes under no pressure were off-target; For a side that's supposed to be all about contested football we were badly shown up in those areas; We repeatedly saw players decline to give the obvious pass and go themselves, only to be caught; Even when passes hit their mark, we fumbled; We persist with pointless bombs to the hot spot; Brisbane worked much harder; Our tall forwards don't take contested marks. Theirs do; On the bright side, AVB, Brayshaw and Oliver are loking ok and we didn't miss the easy set shots as we used to. Also, JKH's injury looked nasty.

I am in qualified agreement. His kicking at the moment is really only reliable out to 30m or so. Within that range he is excellent. I don't consider this to be a concern though, so much as a work in progress. Jack Viney was similarly limited early in his career, but as he got fitter and stronger, he worked on his kicking and his range increased. Give Spargo a few more years and he will be nailing 50m goals.

Anyone else noticed some oddities in the replay on Melbournefc? Like the way the second quarter is actually the third quarter?

What are they showing in the tent?

He needs a beard.

Again, a cynic might think there was something more than a hamstring niggle in this. How long do they wait before finding a reason to keep Tommy out of the game as well?

Call me a cynic, but I wonder how many of the rehabbers will suddenly be fully fit once the AFLX draft is out of the way?

They might create antimatter, or maybe invent fusion.

Funny thing. I caught up with a co-worker today and he was talking about the street party they threw in his neighbourhood. He met a young couple who recently moved in, the Kents. Dean chatted a bit about his footy, that his shoulder is almost as good as new after that injury. He also said exactly what you have, that it was a three year deal vs one year and with a baby to think of he went for security.

The entire point of the Cat B rookie is to take a couple of years to work with them and teach them how to play. A slow start right now isn't really an issue. We'll see in time. About all we'll get this pre-season is how much of an athlete he is.

Jesse Hogan to realise he hates it at Freo and demand a return to Melbourne. ?

You're not a sorcerer? Mine began with The Greatest American Hero whose title character was named Ralph Hinkley. Through many years of message boards, games and chats the name evolved due to other members having already claimed the name Ralph, until the current version came into existence.

I signed up for the free trial last night to watch the Asian Cup. It was good quality, only stopped once and there were no issues with signing up or getting the stream started. On the NBN front, I spent a lot of time looking into satellite plans since the fibre will never reach my house. There aren't any available that meet my needs. Last month I switched from ADSL2+ which was getting up to 800Kb/s to Optus Mobile Broadband. I'm now seeing 20Mbps speeds all day with no dropout issues in bad weather. For anyone else with really crappy phone lines killing their ADSL speeds, I highly recommend checking it out.

Anyone else notice a fairly glaring omission in the team they named for us?

Head in the lap of a pretty girl. Good on him.

I just don't like their version of our best lineup. For a start I'd have Frost filling the third tall defender spot over Oscar. Also, with the need for pace on the outside I'm not sure that Jones is still first choice in the midfield mix. He could well be coming off the bench. For that matter, Lewis could well struggle to get into the side at all. Still, it's very nice to see such positive coverage of the team.

I've been wondering about that myself. One of them is my Dad's Christmas present.