RalphiusMaximus

FMD they're even Handpassing to the Hot Spot.

I have to say it. Jones is a liability. It has nothing to do with his skills or his body. It's all between his ears. He's playing stupid. He's making idiotic decisions repeatedly and it's costing us goals. I also have to take a shot at the umpires. There have been a few absolutely disgraceful decisions in there. The high contact free against Lockhart on Selwood when he tackled him around the waist was a particularly fine example. The multiple clear throws by players who were clearly in the umpires' line of sight also stand out to me, in particular the one inside our 50 which should have resulted in a shot on goal. And finally, why the Hell do our layers refuse to take shots? If you get hte ball on 50, FFS TAKE THE SHOT! Hitting up the hot spot is the same as turning around and kicking the ball towards the opposition's goal.

Not that i'm saying "I told you so" or anything, but our players keep fumbling, they are missing kicks and every time they hit up the "hot spot" they are outnumbered and Geelong take the ball out with ease.

I also have to say that over the entire round the umpiring has been really poor. I was reminded of that when I just saw a blatantly incorrect call for a throw against GWS. Even though the frees went our way against Port, there were far too many bad calls both eays and far too few for Gawn given the beating they gave him behind the ball.

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 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.

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

Honestly, I hope we don't see or hear much from Mr Pert. The less we hear from that branch of the club the better off we are as it indicates we are stable and running smoothly.

I'll be happy to play finals again. Finals is a bare pass. Top four a good pass. The GF would be awesome. I don't think it's reasonable to demand a top 2 finish given how much luck and other factors can influence the results. One unfortunate game could be the difference between top two and not.

May just gave Goodwin a huge tick. Said he'd never spoken to us or even considered us until he had a hat with Goodwin at the end of the season. Loved that Goodwin was all about what the club can do to help him get the most from his game and the values they are trying to hold in the playing group.

This guy is exactly what we want in terms of ability. He's a bloody good size for a mid or flanker, quick and has actual foot skills. We just need to see if he can get his head right. Still would have liked Martin though. ?

I'm not too fussed with this trade. Sad to see Jesse go, but ultimately we were given an on paper value of around pick two for him. We got slightly more than Freo got for Neale (pick three roughly). Ultimately we hit every Mark the club had set for trade period. I am fascinated by the journey of pick six though. It started as pick five at Freo, was downgraded due to the Lynch deal, traded to Port, then Brisbane, back to Freo, Melbourne and finally Gold Coast. Will we see stove again? Will Adelaide make a late play for it?

I would have liked to see him kicking bags for Melbourne for a decade. Now, I wish him all good fortune in his personal life and none at all professionally. May he prosper as the highest paid player in the lowest ranked team.

May - A player who fills a hole that has cost us multiple game this year. KK - Was pick 5 in 2013. Looks a bit of a Morton, given his pace, skills and lack of contested game. That being said his brother has turned into a bit of a beast for Geelong, so maybe there's something there. Pick 23 - Who knows? Last few pick 23's have included: Will Walker; Alex Witherden; David Cunningham; Pat McKenna; Matt Crouch; Marco Paparone. In other words, a mixed bag, but a couple of good ones here and there. Overall, I'd feel that we probably got a bit less than Hogan is worth, but it would be a solid return in terms of getting what we wanted out of the trade period.

If Melbourne "buckle first" I'll be furious. We are asking for a fair price for the best young forward in the game. If Fremantle don't have the nerve to follow 5hrough, they can go to hell. I'd be thrilled to keep him.

Pretty sure we were supposed to get compensation for him going to another club.

Not even a nice baked cheesecake with whipped cream and berries on top?

Don't forget Dom "Steakknives" Barry.

Here's one article. And another. And another. And what he actually said...

I don't know that he ever directly said that. Wasn't it reported by the media as the price and attributed to him? He did say something about the price being one of the biggest ever paid.

Honestly, while I don't want us to get screwed on the deal, what I really don't want is for Fremantle to profit from their shenanigans. The thought that they might get 5 and 18 for Neale utterly disgusts me. That we might then take less than that for Hogan defies all logic. The only acceptable outcomes for me are that they back down and let the trades happen at fair value or they see their entire trade week collapse leaving them with nothing.

Also it needs to be noted that the delivery to our forwards in those games was substantially poorer than our usual low standard due to the increased pressure on our midfield. No forward in the History of the game can kick goals when the pass he's supposed to get on the end of goes 30m astray and lands in the arms of an unmarked defender.