RalphiusMaximus

Umpire's wearing his yellow and black undies tonight.

Are you blind? Jetta never got his hand on it.

Don't bother paying the mark or anything ump.

So Tyson's playing a bit better today.

We get the first five and it's even tougher.

Only if we do it. I also noticed that the handball that missed it's target wasn't paid even though Vince was pinged for it a couple of weeks ago. Very poor umpiring.

And try to remember that the goals are quite tall and you don't need to kick it at ground level.

Not his fault. Umpire needs to Shut the truck up.

Umpire caused that. He was yelling pointlessly and Tommy thought he'd called Play On.

Now THAT was a bit better.

We're taking dumb options and fumbling too often.

The current cap has achieved what they set out to achieve. Further changes are completely unnecessary and just highlight the backwards approach of the commission in believing that they are there to be in charge of the game rather than to facilitate it.

The Pies have gotten progressively worse under Bucks. It's about time they admitted that they made a mistake and moved him on. 4th, 6th, 11th, 12th and currently 14th. I even heard a Collingwood supporter phone SEN and raise this. He said that Malthouse always had the team performing to the absolute peak of their potential, while under Bucks they seem to be performing at the lower end of their ability and are getting steadily worse. I'm guessing he's ignoring the early Malthouse years, but certainly later on it's accurate. They also discussed how Cloke is being shown up because he doesn't have a concrete structure to rely on and can't read the play well enough to know where to position himself without one. Under Mick they were rigidly structured and it worked for them. On the Cloke topic, I wonder if he might be at Freo next year? He's 29, but he clearly likes a structured gameplan and Ross Lyon could give him one. Freo are desperate for a quality marking forward which Cloke at his best can provide them. I could see them offering him a 2 year deal on decent coin to hold down the forward line while McCarthy matured a little more.

I've backed the Bombers :D

I'm happy for them to take time with him. AFL-level fitness is very hard to attain and I doubt if he'll actually be there this year. They always say it takes draftees a few years to reach full AFL fitness and that's more or less where he's starting. Every game he plays with Casey he's going to be improving his base a little. If he comes in during the second half of the season then it's a big win.

Roos. I can guarantee he won't be coaching next year.

Trenners has a really quick footy brain. His pace may be average, but he's quick to read the play and quick to dispose of the ball and he has a great feel for the game. That's where he gets so many touches. If he goes for a run through the middle he'll probably get caught, but as long as he's moving the ball along quickly he'll be fine. Think if Tyson was a bit quicker-thinking.

The Toump! What a run-down tackle! Toump was the guy being tackled, in case anyone was wondering

Did someone have a word to the Umps at 1/4 time?

The umpiring in the Port vs Geelong game is a disgrace. I don't think even the Eagles get this sort of home-ground advantage.

I did watch it, first time this year. The above pretty much sums things up. He said there were a bunch who were doing well at Casey, they didn't want to mess too much with a winning team, so minimal changes. The panel were generally tipping the Dees to win. As one of them said, they're just playing too well right now. The only other thing of note on the show was the interview with Alex Rance. One, he presents really well. Two, he was plugging an eatery which I assume is affiliated with the RFC, but some of the food they had on the table next to him looked pretty damn nice. Anyone catch the name of the place?

Bit of a stab at a few posters over here too.

Sorry, I just had to point that out. The article on AFL.com doesn't say how they arrived at that penalty, but given that the MRP graded it as careless conduct with severe impact, it would be consistent with a four week penalty + 1 for bad behaviour. I'd love to know for sure though. They have said repeatedly that the effort to drastically reduce injuries, and in particular injuries with long-term effects, is aimed at maintaining junior numbers. With other sports growing in popularity, as well as a general push away from sports across the population, the AFL has identified this as a crucial part of their long-term strategy. We've all seen reports of clubs being forced to close down because they can't field a team anymore. They are trying to make the sport more attractive to parents by reducing the chances of their children being hurt at any stage in their footballing life. It's sad in a way that the rationale is so sound, because it has been used to justify some stupendously bad decisions (see the poorly thought-out rule changes they keep coming up with).

There's a move you can use when an idiot grabs the front of your shirt trying to look tough that would be perfect for this situation as it turns it into an arm lock in your favour. I'm sure the club could find a martial arts instructor who would be happy to work out a safe and AFL-friendly version to teach the team.

I think one of our posters has access to the champion data stats. I can't remember who it is, but they would be the best person to ask. I know that's not very helpful without a username attached, but maybe someone else will read this and say "oh yeah, that's [insert name here]."