Rogue

Injury payments would have had a bit to do with that, but I see your point. I imagine that whoever signed up Yze on his current contract is now gone. Stynes doesn't come across as the sort of guy who accepts mediocrity when you read his book, 'Whatever It Takes'. I think 'why you little' nailed it - while your assertion is that we were respected, we didn't have the winning culture that 'why you little' bemoans the lack of. He's pointed out salient reasons why - ie. our capitulation to Carlton, twice.

Indeed. White looks most dangerous going forward when he's cruising down the opposite side of the centre circle to the ball carrier, and can take a mark as he pushes into the 50.

So you agree that Jamar's our #1 ruck?

I would have been embarassed to be clapped off after that performance.

Listed as 'ill'.

It's easy to talk about accepting mediocrity etc, but the fact of the matter is that we were missing almost half our best 22, and after moving on depth players at the end of last year and focussing on youth this year - to the detriment of Holland, Yze, etc - we were always going to have short-term pain. Can you explain what you mean by your implication that we're accepting something less than winning? How would we go about not accepting the loss last night? I support the broad direction we're going in terms of list management, and recognise that there will be more low points ahead.

I agree with this, and your comments on White.

Longer, according to those who've had a similar thing. However, they haven't had the benefit of AFL-quality rehab etc, so who knows.

A touch over 2 goals p/game (assuming he misses a few with injury or whatever) in a team where he is one of the targets isn't a huge ask. Which tall forward is going to be taking opportunities? We don't have too many other targets, with Robertson out for at least a chunk of next season, and Neitz now retired. When forward, Holland would have been playing third wheel behind Neitz and Robertson much of the time, while Miller has generally pushed way up the ground before this year.

There's ~200 points difference, so they'd have to have huge losses. ...and this is if we win as many games in the next three weeks as we've done in the previous 19.

Yes, I was at the NAB Cup game down at SS too. It was almost boring it was that bad.

If you want to make money from reserved seats and such, it's better to have demand exceed supply (or at least have that as a possibility). I know what you mean, though - it'd be frustrating to miss out even after forking out for a membership. How many were at the Melb v Roos NAB game? It seemed fairly busy then, and would have been pretty miserable if it had been a bad day (ie. during the middle of footy season).

Interesting POV. I hope you're right Who's Robbie Hyde?

Almost half our best 22 unavailable for selection, coupled with a youth focus that meant depth players were moved on last year, and others are overlooked for selection this year, mean last nights game isn't surprising. I do think that if Geelong were missing as many players as valuable to them as those we're missing, it would have been much closer.

Hawthorn were terrible a few years back, and their skills looked as bad as ours have this season. They're now entrenched in the top four.

Criticise the performance, not the person - that goes for players as well as 'posters'. My 2c.

It's based on which player has spent more time rucking since White was left out of the side. Indeed.

Thanks for the 'reviews', guys - always interesting to read about how the guys go at Sandy.

I don't think so. Given our percentage difference, we'd probably have to win our last three games (versus WCE and Richmond at the 'G, and Port at AAMI), while WCE would have to lose every game. edit: didn't see your above post when I hit reply. What type of player is he?

That's what you get for leaving early Relative to everyone else, I thought Frawley looked alright in his first senior game in a while. That was embarassing. I'd say much of the roar was from Cats supporters.

Sounds like an incident vs Geelong in round 6(?) when Rivers blasted White.

Indeed - it's disappointing. I remember that, as a kid, I wanted us to win every game possible, regardless of whether we were in the top four or bottom four. How things change

That was often the case - our forwards got sucked up the ground, while Geelond defenders stayed close to goal. Despite the extra numbers around the ball, Geelong often went forward anyway. However, when we did win the ball, we'd often have to stuff around with it as we were outnumbered in our forward line. In example - On one occassion, Buckley had the ball around the middle, ran towards CHF, and had no one to give it to as he was the Demon closest to our goals. I think he ended up losing it while attempting to bounce, got abused by a Demons fan next to me, and Geelong cleared the ball. I'm sure that, just like many other times where we handballed the ball sideways etc, reflected poorly on the individuals, but it's tough when the only guys to kick it to are wearing blue and white.