bing181

Having read a few of the post-debacle reports around the place, wouldn't surprise me if this was a minimal-change week. Perhaps it's more Roos style: making the players accountable, giving them the responsibility for getting back on track (as opposed to bringing in players from the VFL) etc. etc. We shall see.

The Guardian. Say no more.

One of the things that was 'supposed' to happen this season was having a fear-of-god forward line: Clark, Dawes, Hogan. Once that fell in a heap, we were always going to struggle big-time getting winnable scores on the board, Roos or no Roos.

Ah yes, but our ladder position is not determined by our wins and losses ... it's determined by our opponents' wins and losses.

Me too. Coupled with PJ's reference to a "poison" culture. Tanking is but one part of it, and I can't see that in what he's saying, Roos is sheeting it all back just to that. Tanking, poor development, a lack of senior players, some bad luck (Clark, Hogan, Jurrah), a revolving door of coaches and systems ... It's going to take more than a season or two.

See #3

I know, I know. I mean, why don't they just go back to training Tuesday and Thursday nights after work. There's a reason all clubs start training in October. If it didn't make a difference, they'd all start training in February or March like in the good old days. But it does make a difference, and if you miss out on that training, you miss out on that difference.

Not a bad idea, even if there have been comments about his defensive work, but Harmes is a rookie. Not sure of current upgrade status or possibility. Jetta has one, but can't remember if Georgio is still on the main list or not.

Plus having to restructure the forward/back line around both McDonald and Pedersen being off for a large slab of it - Frawley went down back when McDonald went off, and Pedersen was already off in any case, so there goes 2 of the 3 who should have been in Dawes' vicinity. Hard to be too creative as a coach when KP players are off and you've already used your sub.

Accept what you want, but for some of us "hurts like hell" and "finishing some arbitrary number on the ladder" are not joined at the hip. Put it another way: I'd much rather finish last but not have to sit through yesterday's debacle, than finish a couple of (meaningless) places higher up the ladder, while putting in the shocker that was Sunday afternoon at Etihad. Our non-performance yesterday says more about where we're at as a club than the ladder position, and THAT's why many of us put "don't care".

We'll be OK ... gallant loss, and in it until final quarter. We only go to pieces in matches we should win, not matches we should lose. If anyone's interested, dig out some of the recent interviews from Michael Rogers - Ozzie cyclist. 2 stage wins at the Giro and one at the TDF this year because at the ripe old age of 34 and after quite a bit of soul-searching following a suspension, he's stopped being scared of winning. Sport: It's a lot between the ears, and it's the weight of expectation that's killing us. Tapscott, Blease out. Maybe Pedersen (nose?), and I'd see what happens this week with Tommy Mac. Was off the ground for treatment at 3/4 time, then for a slab of the last quarter - something's not quite right there. Gawn and Cross in, perhaps Mitchie, but they could also be interested in having one last look at Strauss. Start JKH, then Riley or Mitchie sub.

Discussed in the Poll thread, so no point going on with it here. In any case, you're both a) distorting the figures - only about 1% of Demonlanders even bothered with that poll - and b) misrepresenting their meaning. Though given so very few people even bothered with it, that probably sums up its (in)significance.

27.74% of people who took the poll, just over 1% of supporters on this site. Neither being a majority.

Agree ... and not helped that both T Mac and Pedersen were off for a large slab of the last quarter (injured), and our 3 man forward line (Dawes, Frawley, Pedersen) was reduced to one when Frawley was moved forward to cover for T Mac. On top of which, and with Tapscott already subbed out, rotations almost stopped - I saw a few get waved back on when they were trying to come off.

16% of the time. Though even if he gave it back 30% of the time, he would have done better than a lot of them today.

I'd be asking Blease the questions, not Dawes. When you're running past a teammate under pressure, surely you should be looking for the handball receive ...

Perhaps, but still learning the trade. I'd cut him some slack, especially as you can't question his endeavour. Time's up for a few of his fellow travellers though.

I don't know that it's a half ... though the bottom handful are doing a good job of dragging the rest of the team down to their level (to put it politely).

Anyone who berates the selection committee for not picking Blease should be tied to a chair and made to watch that match on a continuous loop.

Because injured players sit around with their feet up, or pop interstate to visit their family? A bye is a period off. No bye, no period off. Injured or not, it's still up at the crack of dawn, and days spent at the club.

Harmes coming along nicely ... 22 possessions, 8 tackles ... though going by the stats, everyone seems to have put in today.

Casey Scorpions ‏@CaseyScorpions 38s Great win by the boys! Scorps 13-14-92 def Blues 6-14-50. Gawn, Fitzy and Besty all kicked 3 majors.

Good coaching starting to pay off?

Cross listed as emergency. Along with Gawn and Jones. Terlich in, bench Kent, Blease, JKH, Riley. Tapscott and Blease get one more/last chance?

If anyone can find a competition that's anything like as physically (and mentally) demanding as AFL where there's a 22 game season with no breaks, I'd be interested to see it. If we wanted to limit the games to 80 minutes (rugby) or 90 minutes (soccer), perhaps ... Resting players throughout the season is fine in theory, but I don't know that current lists are big enough to keep both a firsts and some semblance of a reserves side ticking over. Not to mention, very few players manage every game in a season in any case, and I can't see how team structures, training and meetings etc. would work with say a third of the players away for half a dozen weeks of each year.