hardtack

Yeah, I heard that too... Three quarter time break at GWS game, it was mentioned. But if he wasn't named in the original side, how can that be?

Well, I suppose there's still a chance that Fitzpatrick might get the nod.

Maybe not having a tall target up front will force our mids to lower their eyes and aim for a leading forward such as Petterd, Sylvia or Howe.

Watching GWS at the moment is telling me that one thing I really want to see us do is to step up big time from what we did last week. GWS are presently running rings around the Bulldogs and that, I'm afraid, is putting our performance of last week into some perspective.

I would like to see Neeld trying a few different things such as the mooted move of Watts in defence on Reiwoldt. Also want to see them holding marks and not standing off their opponents giving them free disposal...I want to see them attacking relentlessly and the forwards leading to the ball rather than just having it bombed up to them; that simply won't work with no Clark on the receiving end. The last thing I would like to see is Howe learning to lead for a mark rather than coming from behind in an effort to take a flyer every time.

I thought "niggling OP" was a reference to olisik, the Original Poster on this thread.

Are you saying they'll introduce a new team just to keep us off the bottom?

Robbie "F"?

I have no idea who is being referred to, but could the hint be something to do with Robbie Williams? (that would be pretty cryptic)

In the past I have always been one of the more optimistic posters, but even I am predicting 17th this year. What have you seen so far that could make you think there is a reason for being optimistic for this year? In this case it is NOT a case of "being realistic" equating to mentally scarred (or did you really mean scared?)... it's simply a matter of taking the form from the latter part of last year and the opening portion of this season (when most of us would have expected us to be 3-1 on the plus side of the ledger) and looking at the downward trajectory we have taken.

Well, the following looks pretty much in the present tense to me: " loves the sound of his own voice. We don't want to hear u coach, we want to see it."

17th

Yep, those were four of the best possessions I have ever seen.

i disagree... he has been forced to face the press with all of the issues facing the club in the opening rounds of this season as well as a portion of the pre-season. He is also beholden to the press and the AFL to give regular pressers, as is every other coach. He probably eats, sleeps and breathes coaching, so I think you will find that he is a man of action as well as a man of words... just that you are only privy to what you read in the press... not what he imparts to the playing group.

Of course I'm looking at it from a results point of view... they lost by 21 points to a depleted Dogs side we should have, if not beaten, at least given a very good run for their money... but all we did was let them run away with it. Yes, there were moments (and I stress that word, moments) of intensity, but they were still too few and far too far between. I would argue that the only reason they could apply some intensity for a few minutes in the 3rd, was that they slacked off for a large portion of the 2nd. Many still held back from the contest, and many still looked completely lost. If they hadn't been able to show some camaraderie and enthusiasm given the occasion, I would have been far more concerned and disappointed... let's see if they can continue to do so without having to have an emotion charged event sparking them up. As I said, if they can run to within 21 points of the Saints, then I might start to believe that they are finding something. I really hope they do, but I'm not overly confident in their application or their ability to do so.

Sorry, but I just didn't see that at all last week (well, perhaps for a few minutes)... it seemed that they decided to have a crack in the 3rd and as a result let down their collective guard in the 2nd instead. Sure, there were individual displays of courage and grunt, but no cohesive team efforts... just terrible skill errors and judgement errors. So far this season, apart from Wet Toast who we all expected to do it easily, we have played the Lions, Toigs and Doggies into form. A 21 point loss to the Doggies in their current state, was NOT an improvement from the result the week before against the Toigs... on form, the Doggies are a much worse team than the Toigs. I will only believe we are improving if we manage to end the day just 21 points down on the Saints this weekend.

I see the captain's role as more of an off-field one, and on gameday, his role, apart from taking the toss of the coin, is probably more to rev up the troops and reinforce the coach's message during the intervals and regrouping the team during extended breaks in play. Once the ball is bounced, the captaincy almost becomes irrelevant in the course of play; every player on the field should be a leader!

Thanks for that Dirty... very encouraging news.

Thanks for that Dirty... how was Jurrah's demeanour? Did he appear to be enjoying himself and how was his kicking on goal? Did he look like someone who probably did enough to get a game at Casey on the weekend? (hopefully he matched the KPI's set for him on that score).

The global decline in whys and wherefores.

I suggest you look very closely at the footage above linked by Tricky... how you manage to see a "fair push" that deserves reviewing is way beyond me. He touched him, but he certainly did not push (you can even see him retracting his arms).

Sylvia was good to go last weekend... didn't play because of his deferred suspension.

Yes, it must be caused by the amount of time he is taking to wipe the dirt off the ball before passing it on. As was stated a few times in the responses, it is hard for Jones to dish the ball off quickly and effectively if he doesn't have the support of players running on to it... how often to we see him fighting for the ball only to find there is no one waiting in support.

Lets hope not... that sounds like a 4 to 6 week injury.

Travel well OD.