Dr. Gonzo

Don't worry mate I've been self-medicating for years It is so frustrating just watching them continually make the same errors. It is on the verge of insanity. How many times did Dunn take too long from the kick-in after a Saints behind, chip to himself, run to the right hand side and kick to the flank 60 metres out only to see a Saints player mark it or a Melbourne player drop the mark and the Saints pick up the crumb and send it back inside 50? How many times do we just bomb long into the forward 50? Sometimes we did it when our forwards were leading up the ground for the pass and the only player back was a Saints player. It's like they look up, see the Saints player by himself but in their minds they've already made the decision they are going to bomb long to do it anyway and kick it straight to the opposition.\ When we do bomb it in why do we rarely kick it to the advantage of our forwards? Ok if you're going to bomb it in to a pack fine, but at least kick it to the side our players are standing on to give them the best chance to at least compete for the mark and lock the ball in or create crumbing opportunities. How many times do we handball to a player within a metre of the player with the ball who is being worn like a glove? How many times do we handball in circles putting ourselves under pressure instead of trying to get a chip kick in to take a mark and steady ourselves? How many times does a player run past for a handball instead of laying a shepherd to clear the way for his teammate to take a clear possession? How many times does that player then receive the handball only to run straight into an opposition player and quickly hand off again to another player under pressure until they turn it over or get tackled for a ball up? How many times do our players compete with each other for the mark only to spoil each other or drop it only to see the opposition with a player or two down waiting for the crumbs to clear it away? It happened continually against the Pies and again yesterday against the Saints. A couple of times we had 3 or 4 players going up with only 1 or 2 Saints and the other 2 or 3 Saints players just waiting down for an easy ball. It is utter stupidity. Gawn is almost 7 feet tall, why can't he mark? Hogan was on fire, all they had to do was kick it to him one out and he would've kicked 10 yesterday. Even after Delaney went off we couldn't get it down there for about 15 minutes in the last quarter. I was furious with the last 41 seconds but the entire game to that point had been so bloody frustrating, same as the week before because of the repeated idiotic decision making. Skill errors are bad but I can handle them more than making the wrong bloody decision again and again and again ad infinitum.

This is so true - they just continually take the wrong option. There was one instance, may have been in the last quarter - we had the ball on the half back flank after finally working it out of defense. We had got a player with the footy to be able to take a clear possession. Instead of going to the loose man in the centre square which would have opened up the ground for us to launch a forward 50 entry we go back to a player on the boundary who is under pressure! WTF is with that! Of course he was subsequently tackled and the ball either turned over or resulted in a throw in. Sometimes its seriously like they don't want to win or are the biggest bunch of idiots with the lowest footy IQ's going around. They never play the percentages and rarely play on instinct. They take the wrong option a vast majority of the time and its going to give me a bloody stroke. They switch into the middle when the player is under pressure and then ignore the loose man when he's on. It drives me bloody insane.

He would've kicked 10 yesterday if we were able to get it down to him with some kind of efficiency without handballing in circles a million times and turning it over consistently. He had to roam up to half back to get the ball on a few occasions because our inept defence/mids couldn't clear the bloody thing.

Someone on BF was talking about the Bombers players being mentally broken by this WADA thing. They said over the last two years whenever they've had bad news off field they've come out fired up on field. However this year is different because they finally thought it was all over before dragged right back down. They were compared to Theon in GoT - he was held captive by Ramsay and tortured but what finally broke him was when he thought he'd got away, only to be dragged right back in again and it finally broke him mentally. It was the fleeting hope which was subsequently crushed which was the final nail. That's what this club does to me. Fleeting hope with 41 seconds left only to be pulverised by epic idiocy, 4 errors in 20 seconds that cost the game. Number 1, not manning up in the centre and locking it down. Number 2 not flooding the back line. Number 3 not killing the ball and letting it out the back. Number 4 no one in the goal square. All in 20 seconds. [censored] this [censored] club. I am furious and the platers should be gut wrenched they let that slip away. Absolutely pathetic.

I won't be there today, not because of the game being at Docklands but because of the ridiculous start time of 4.40 on a Sunday. If it was our home game I might have relented but it's a ridiculous time for footy, especially for those of us with young families. The AFL wants the fixture geared towards TV so I'll be watching this game from my couch. Sunday twilight should be preserved for WA games where it is still mid afternoon, there is no reason other than TV we couldn't have played at 2 or 3pm today. Hope we win, but I'm not confident. If our mids can play like last week we should give Hogan, Garlett, Pedersen, Howe and Watts enough opportunities to score but Bruce has been in great form down the other end this year and Riewoldt always kills us. Let's see what happens. Go the Mighty Demons!

I dont reckon we need to turn this into a witch hunt. There's a number of players who could feel aggrieved and I'd be surprised if it wasn't the same at most clubs. It's the nature of the beast and with Goodwin coming on board in 2017 it makes sense the club is trying to build the list to give us the best chance at success under his stewardship. Roos' job is to sort the wheat from the chaff, develop the culture and set the standards and structures to lay the foundation for Goodwin to build on. Some players like Terlich won't he getting much of a run, others like Jamar might be pushed aside for new talent to develop. It happens even in successful sides like Hawthorn (see Brad Sewell for instance).

Will be interesting to see who takes Bruce - he's been far more dangerous as a goalkicker for them this year than Riewoldt so I wouldn't be surprised to see TMac start there or get moved on to him if Fitzy/Dunn aren't getting the job done.

Spewing. Oh well, realistically he would've ended up at Hawthorn if he cane back to Vic anyway.

Salem got injured again? That makes me sad

That was well before my time (I was born in 1982) but I still love watching old footage like that regardless of the teams playing but especially considering it was our halcyon days. I was able to get that copy through trading with langers who sometimes posts here looking for old games. His collection is monstrous and it would be good if the clubs or the league invested in storing this old footage - unfortunately neither seem to give a crap and many of these old games are only available through personal collectors. Channel 7 also threw away or taped over a majority of their catalogue which is a crime in itself - I can't fathom how the only copy that exists of the 64 GF is old newsreel type footage.

Frost continually worked him under the ball and he wasn't able to counter. It wasn't helped by us continually bombing the ball on top of him instead of putting it out in front. He'll learn, he'll get better.

When the [censored] will we beat these [censored]!! So [censored] sick of losing to them

We had 4 in a row from 2004-07 but it's been slim pickings other than that. We need to show up today (supporters and team) otherwise the AFL will be within their rights to seriously question this game as an annual fixture.

Tommy McDonald is on On The Couch as well

Baffled with dropping Spencer after his last two weeks also.

I'm baffled Howe can get a game ahead of him. Is it true he only had two handballs to 3/4 time last week?

Exactly - Spencer has been good/OK the last couple of weeks, why would they bring in Gawn who has only had one decent game at Casey in the last month or so?

I don't like this team selection. Naming all of Gawn, Spencer and Fitzy? Granted not all will play but we can only really afford one out there I think. After Roos said earlier this week some players aren't mentally tough enough to get over the past and there will be delistings at years end etc the only omission is Bail? Surely he's not the only one with past demons (excuse the pun). I know this isn't the final line up but sheesh.

Roos needs to stop with this negative [censored] about continually blaming the past. Focus on the future.

Come on, you can do better than that.

What did he say that is incorrect there? Sure it might make you uncomfortable to face up to reality and the fact there are multiple perceptions of all events and their consequences, and for some it may even challenge their worldview. But what is factually incorrect about that statement?

The Eagles played at Geelong then 3 weeks in a row at Waverley. Factor in travel by plane then out to the wastelands and back and theres no excuses for us especially with the week off. We would've done the Pies if Sumich kicked that goal though and Lone wouldn't have missed the Semi!

Again, I think it's important to remember that while there may be some abuse or neglect occurring, it is not endemic as politicians and the media sometimes like to make out (for instance when the NT Intervention was undertaken), there are non-indigenous communities where it occurs and the government does not intervene on the scale it does in indigenous communities and these issues are largely borne of poverty, not race. Therefore addressing the underlying issues in the community (indigenous and non-indigenous alike) is the best way to prevent these horrors and horrific living standards occurring in the first place.

So basically A&TSI's are over-represented and the statistics don't actually confirm abuse or neglect has occurred. I'd be interested to see their definitions as well as case studies because from anecdotal evidence I've seen in media reports there are still forced removals happening unrelated to abuse or neglect.