Dr. Gonzo

Now Swan is contesting his tripping charge, what are the odds he gets cleared?

Yeah anyone who thinks we would have just absorbed the Hawks players and changed back to the red & blue Demons after 5 years would have been in for a rude shock. It would have ended in legal battles that would have shattered the already politically fractured new club. The old Fitzroy crew took Brisbane to court just because they wanted to change the kind of Lion they had on the jumper, do you really think the Hawthorn component would have just let us change back to the Demons and get rid of the yellow? Not to mention our entire history would have been wiped (go and check how many flags are recorded in the history books for the Bribane Lions).

Oh please, if a player can't cop a spray from a coach we might as well just all give up. He is a paid professional athlete getting paid very good money to run around and kick a ball. He's not a primary school kid FFS.

I was only 14 at the time but can remember reading the papers about it as well watching the voting meetings on Talking Footy or whatever it was. There may have been vitriol shown but they were trying to destroy our club so of course people were emotional. Would love to see footage from that night if available (from both Camberwell Civic Centre & Dallas Brooks Hall) as well as news clips from the time - would make an interesting doco (in the style of 30 for 30) particularly considering the Merger Match in R22.

It is dangerous shoving someone into the benches but on viewing again last night there was nothing in it. It wasn't a full-on push and Maxwell never really lost his footing. Mountain out of molehill.

I tend to agree but why did Brown make that move towards him just before Sylvia turned around and clashed heads?

Well he got 1 match for the Fasolo one and not the Maxwell one so what does that say? Interesting reading the article on the MFC site about the report/suspension saying he was given 225 points reduced to 1 match with a guilty plea but also says, "He has no existing good or bad record." Surely if he has no existing bad record that means he has a good record doesn't it? I've given up trying to understand the clowns at AFLHQ.

Pretty sure they clashed heads, but the contact was initiated by Brown - Sylvia was in front of him looking upfield when Brown inexplicably decided to run directly at Sylvia in an aggressive manner (the ball was stationery up the ground so not sure why?) - Sylvia turned around to double-back and his face clashed right into Brown's head. Probably not "suspension worthy" but I don't know what Brown was trying to do - if Sylvia didn't turn around he could've very well cleaned him up from behind.

Collingwood's third goal (when Thomas kicked to a free player in the goal square) came about because Clark was blocked off the ball from competing in the marking contest - if you watch the replay you can see him with arms out asking the umpire "WTF?" There was another incident I saw where Green was blocked at least 10 metres off the ball by Maxwell in the second quarter going into our F50. I'm sure there were many others that I missed (by the way none of these were even brought up by the "commentators").

Kennedy breaks his jaw - no suspension Butcher fractures his back - no suspension Brown breaks his nose - no suspension Either someone at AFLHQ really hates our man Col or he is the unluckiest player alive.

Jamar & Moloney both had ordinary patches last year as well (Jamar moreso than Moloney) so it's not just the new game plan. As to the game, there were two things which really stood out to me; 1) Collingwood's desire to continually run and rpesent options for their teammates all day meaning the ball was sat in front of them while they were 5 metres in front of their opponent allowing an easy uncontested mark. Meanwhile our players stood around like statues for most of the day meaning the ball was kicked on top of their (and their opponents) head allowing the easy spoil/mark from a third man up who outnumbered our players and made it appear as though we were kicking to 2-on-1's all day. 2) The Collingwood players' structure around the contests was impeccable and had our players looking daft particularly in the first quarter and a half. They threw the ball around like a hot potato while our players ran around like the nerdy kid gassing ourselves out while the bullies toyed with us throwing our ball around. They knew exactly where they had to go and exactly where their terammates were going to be and just opened up the play brilliantly.

I think the end does justify the means, so long as there is no permanent injury (such as crippling a guy). We didn't win yesterday however I don't think it was because Tapscott crunched a player. Also doesn't mean in the future I would reprimand one of our players for doing whatever they thought was necessary to help get the team over the line. It's a non-issue as far as I'm concerned, the way some are carrying on you would think he went berserk Mal Brown or Robie Muir style. He crashed into a guy sitting under the ball, he didn't start throwing haymakers left, right and centre yet some on here are acting like it was the biggest heel turn since Hulk Hogan joined the NWO.

Fair enough, I want a win by any means necessary.

Give me a spell the bloke was winded and back on the ground after a couple of minutes he wasn't king-hit behind the play Hall on Staker style. He was already committed to the contest and was a bit late so what else should he have done? If he didn't turn into it he would've likely clashed heads potentially resulting in a much worse injury to himself & Fasolo. It happens every week it's only because it was against Collingwood that it's received so much publicity.

He cost us two goals in the first quarter, and possibly one of our own when he dropped a mark against Wellingham. He left Jolly to spoil then didn't kill the contest and Jolly left on his own kicked an easy goal, he also skirted a pack 10 metres out from the Pies goal allowing them to get the ball and another easy goal (this may have been the one that "hit the post").

Say if we were playing in a GF - would you not want the players to do everything they could to get the win? I would want our players taking the opposition players out of the game by any means necessary. I would hope our club learnt its lesson after 2000 but apparently not. The only thing that matters is getting the W anything else is just noise.

He had groin problems pre-season didn't he? Maybe this is ongoing or maybe he didn't get the miles in his legs pre-season that the others did?

He was a liability yesterday. Couldnt work Jolly out and Jolly just outsmarted him in every facet of the game.

Why do people care how it is viewed by opposition supporters? Of course if the shoe was on the other foot I would be filthy because I support Melbourne not Collingwood. That doesn't mean I don't want our players to exhibit that behavior though, of course I want our players to hurt the opposition and don't want our players hurt. This is sport, there is nothing logical about it, it is emotional. Support your players and team and never apologise for them to the opposition FFS. Do you think the Pies fans were all up in arms at Brown breaking Sylvia's nose or Wellingham jabbing Magner in the guts? How about Essendon fans after Fletcher sending Tapscott into the fence last week? Do you think they care that Wallis sent an 18yo Green to hospital in the 2000 GF? Stop being so goddamn soft and support your club FFS or go and watch tennis or polo.

Could it just be that he is struggling more than most with the increased training load? If its not this and he's not injured then he should be dropped because he is severely out of form.

There's a difference between pick 30 or 54 and a ready made young player like Beams, Sidebottom, Caddy, Dangerfield etc

Of course, isn't that the point? I hate the Collingwood players that wear black and white and the players of any other team when we play them for that matter. I didn't realise we were trying to appeal to opposition supporters when we go into battle.

Apparently the cheer squad was going to knit our banner in a tartan crochet as well but canned the idea when they feared our players would struggle to negotiate it.

Yeah he was when he came on and has worked as the sub a couple of times, he's just one of our perennial "let's give one of our under-performers to another club for one of their guns" that I thought deserved to get a gig in the carousel with Bate, Davey, Morton etc It amazes me that people think we can offer a player we don't want because we think they're not good enough for us while we are a bottom side and a top side will take them off our hands. It's not the old days where you can pull the wool over opposition eyes, millions of dollars go into this nowadays. You want to get, you gotta be prepared to give.

I've heard that too, couldn't claim it as fact though.