RalphiusMaximus

I loved that today. Everyone put in. We kicked them when they were down. I even saw a few players shepherding for each other which is virtually unheard of for us. As an added bonus I saw an effort being made by our midfield to try to hit forward targets instead of just bombing every time. Also, What a game from Timmy the Bull! No goals, but plenty of quality work crashing packs and fighting at ground level.

They had the MRP guy on the news talking about this. He said the force is irrelevant and the only thing they look at is whether it was deliberate or careless. May got off because they decided he was careless. Both Curnows look to have done it deliberately, so they will probably be done for a week each.

I could be wrong, but isn't he a point guard?

Beat me to it

Why was Day not cited for the late charge into Salem's back? Honestly, of the two I think that was the more dangerous action. He wasn't even close to being in the marking contest, lined him up, ducked the shoulder and hit him right in the middle of his back. Especially given the "NicNat rule," a guy of his size and weight, moving at that sort of speed could have caused a severe injury. We're bloody lucky Salem is a tough bugger who shook it off.

Regarding the Weed, I don't see him being dropped. My take is that he has progressed at Casey to the point where they can trust him to play a role at AFL level, so putting him into the seniors now is an investment in the future. Sure, Pedersen is better than him right now, but will he be by this time next year? This time building chemistry with Hogan, McDonald and Gawn is going to pay off down the track and the team is at the point where they can carry him as long as he keeps putting in the defensive acts. It's easy to point to his low disposal count, but if he's not winning the ball, he's making sure that his opponent doesn't take the mark either and he chases and hassles them once it hits the ground. That means that while he's not really a winner for us yet, he's not a liability. I'd also like to apologise to Lewis. I was calling for his head a couple of weeks ago, but his last two games have been exactly what we need from him and this week he was working all the time, coaching from the bench, directing and leading on the field and generally provided great value. This is what we hired him for.

One thing that is really cheesing me off right now. I was just watching the Geelong Collingwood game and listening to the commentators raving about what a great backline combination Howe and Dunn are. What amazing discoveries they were by the Collingwood recruiters, who would have thought Dunn would turn out this good when Collingwood gave him a chance... They make it sound as if they were recruited out of the bush leagues by the savvy Collingwood recruitment staff, not already established players who played a substantial amount of football with Melbourne. How about acknowledging that Dunn was developed ad persisted with for years at Melbourne to become the defender he is today?

Clarry is just a freak. He had a couple of moments today that left me utterly dumbstruck. On in particular where there was a bouncing ball in the midst of three opponents. I was sure he was going to be nailed, but he summed up the situation and just accelerated through the pack, took the ball at a sprint and broke clear before they could get a grip on him. It's a small thing but the speed of thought and making the right decision, not to mention the burst of speed, were really eye-catching.

Last week I complained that we didn't stick the boot in and make it a percentage booster. I guess the coaches must have said the same thing because we certainly did it this time. I still hate the way we deliver the ball into the f50, but that was a quality game.

Quality game today. You have to accept that they were tired and there's another six day break coming so we may have a hard time up north next week. We still did everything we needed to. Never looked like we weren't in control of the game. Gus continues to show us that his mojo is coming back and it's great to see. Oliver is a freak, but he needs to kick more often. He's actually a beautiful field kick when he decides to use it. Spargo continues to impress. The three roaming tall forwards is working nicely right now. I don't know that the Weed is ready for AFL just yet, but he's showing signs and it's probably worth persisting with him. I have to agree that ANB is probably closest to getting the chop. For a while he looked like he was going to step up to another level, but he's fallen right back again.

He should never be in a position where his impartiality CAN be questioned. That's what a well-run organisation would do.

He was reaching for the GWS player. Ump got in the way.

"Integrity Commission" ?

It's just another thing that a professionally run organisation wouldn't do. It's not about questioning the umpire's integrity. It's just a bad look to let this happen. The better option would be to have him umpiring other games so that these questions are never asked.

Geelong brought their own umpires tonight. GWS look soft as [censored].

I quite like Hells Bells. One thing I will say though is that I hate it cutting to our club theme song as they hit the banner. The Grand Old Flag should only be heard when we win.

I notice the tackle count. ?

Interesting that the coaches couldn't agree on anything but Gawn and Jones. I guess it was a very even game.

I've now seen the game. A few thoughts: I think the umpires actually favoured us this game. It's hard to accept the evidence of my eyes, but I'm pretty sure we got the best of them. Spargo looked good. In particular he made good decisions. 1 clanger in his first game. Great kicking action. No issues with a set shot. Brayshaw and Salem are finding their feet at this level again. They're getting their mojo back and that is going to be a huge benefit for team balance and depth. Hellishly impressed with Tommy. He slotted right back in with hardly a stumble. Jetta has found form again. I was worried he was destined for Casey, but it appears I may have been a victim of premature relegation. The whole backline functioned as a unit and worked as an effective team. Great to see. I also feel it's worth pointing out that while we looked horrible the previous two weeks at times, our losses have been to three of the past four sides to win flags. As I got past my anger and actually thought about it, that's not as bad as I thought. We still looked pretty bad, especially against the Hawks, but at least we didn't get done by Brisbane or Carlton like that.

I can't agree with a lot of those calls Joeboy. Jetta played his best game of the season. So did Lever, Hunt and Brayshaw. Hunt faded badly, but Brayshaw had a big second half and looked to be getting his touch and mojo back. Weideman took four solid marks, laid five tackles and crashed packs all night. He needs to get his [censored] together when kicking for goal, but overall his game was solid and he showed the work ethic and appetite for a contest that we want to see in a developing KPF. Like Brayshaw, Oliver really kicked into gear in the second half. It seems to be his pattern to rack up 20 or so disposals after half time, and he added to that a massive body slam tackle on Dusty Martin. Can't ask for much more than that. I will give you ANB, Stretch and Garlett though. They were horrible.

Tommy to go back.

Four marks and five tackles from a developing key forward is pretty decent. That is what we want to see from him. It would have been nice if he slotted that shot on goal, but it was a decent showing from him.

Well, it was an improvement on last week. Honestly, we took it right to them for three quarters basically through raw effort. I take that as a positive. The shocking gameplan was still there,especially in the second quarter. I also wonder if the chronic fumbles were due to the perceived pressure they felt they were under due to Richmond's reputation. Overall, I'm far happier with this than I was with last week's effort. It's also good to see a few players standing up who were looking cooked. Lever had his best game for the club (all five of them), Jetta seems to have thrown off whatever was bothering him and someone gave Gus a good kicking at half time because he came out firing in the second half. Also very nice to see Oliver nailing Dusty in a tackle, Jones playing like a leader and Gawn dominating. Melksham kicking four was quite nice too. Also, I don't get the bagging of the Weed tonight. He shanked that shot on goal, but he also made his presence felt, laid tackles, took some marks and showed some really good hands. On the negative, THE UMPIRES! Holy Hell they were biased tonight. That spear tackle into Jones' back? How was that not called? Is it only a push in the back if it's in a marking contest now? The same umpire that paid multiple HTB against us in range of goals refused to pay any against them, even when Dusty took on three tacklers and then threw the ball to a teammate when he was caught. Also agree with the comment previously that they throw the ball constantly. And trip! I saw at three trips not paid, at least one of which should be a suspension from previous cases. Wagner was shyte tonight. Kent has done a Hammy again. Stretch and ANB came to the club together and probably need to leave it together as well. Still, at least they looked like they gave a damn tonight. Maybe if Goody can bring himself to admit his gameplan is shot and get someone who knows how to set forward structures properly we could see an improvement. Oh, and we need to get a specialist kicking coach.

I want a moment's silence at half time to remember Pia.

We need him to stabilise our defence. We have plenty of forward options, but they don't do us any good if we leak goals seven or eight at a time. TMac replaces Frost, Lever hopefully settles in as the third man up and either Weed or Pedersen plays as our second tall forward.