gsmith12

I attended the camp at Maroochydore and to suggest that Jack was anything but super fit is ludicrous. He trained with vigour and displayed his usual class during match practice.

I was very surprised at his omission at the weekend.

12 hours ago, picket fence said:

Who the [censored] is in charge of Skill development ( I.E) Kicking and or Forward coach because unless they change Hogans style he will always be very very hit and miss! Have spoken about this aspect many times. Seriously this bloke cannot kick!

Change now or be danmed for all time as a "Coulda Been"

That's what I thought about Kennedy a couple of years back.

42 minutes ago, Redleg said:

That's twice he has been concussed in the opening of a game. The third time he barely lasted a quarter when a ball was kicked into the back of his head. Unbelievable luck.

I hope they give him a month off.

Angus is an important cog in our foreseeable future and must be treated with kid gloves.

5 Seasons with Ballarat Swans in BFL in the mid sixties then 4 seasons with Horsham in the Wimmera FL incl a flag in 1970 coached by Gary Hamer. Some notable ex VFL playing in those days, Roy West, Des Dickson (mongrel) with Stawell and Russell Crowe with Warracknabeal. Finished up coaching in the Horsham district league for 3 years before the body gave out. 

12 hours ago, Dappa Dan said:

 

 

You said improvememt over one season. Jamar was a joke for years, then went bang, All Australian. Makes sense to me. Pedo was pretty meh with some flashy moments. Now he's better than ok with some flashy moments. Not All Australian. Still the third tall/ruck option. Played a few bad games this season too. I love him, but calm down.

Said no such thing -

"In my 60 years of following this great club I cannot recall any player improving as much as Cam Pedersen has in such a short time."

Facts tend to help.

13 hours ago, jnrmac said:

Please ....... 9 years?

Exactly.

2 hours ago, SPC98 said:

I played Juniors, school football at St Pats College Ballarat, then senior/reserve football in the Hampden League.

Now playing football for the Malaysian Warriors in The South East Asian Competition. Good competition with a lot of expats, we play games in different countries every month and have some pretty strong rivalry.

Say hello to Paul McCalman for me.

He would be rapt with the Roobaggers form.

Excellent news but not surprising given the family history with the Demons.

Well done Jack.

Let's hope this influences some more early contract signings.

23 hours ago, Ron Burgundy said:

Poor umpiring decisions cost us the game against North.

 

Absolutely they did, The Goldstein free together with a blatant throw missed by the official which led directly to a North goal, both in the last quarter.

3 hours ago, Diamond said:

Tonight I watched a great comeback by the Saints to be equal to the Roos within a minute and a bit of the siren. Much as I dislike both teams it is exceedingly frustrating to see a highly questionable umpiring decision in a ruck duel decide a game such as this one. 

The umpires have been given far too much latitude to make subjective decisions and ruin games. The latest rule changes, particularly the "deliberate" out of bounds rule have been interpreted and misinterpreted badly this year. 

Free kicks and umpires should not decide games.

Good, hard, fair play should decide games. Players should be protected by the rules from deliberate injury. Players who deliberately duck or dive into tackles should be penalized not rewarded. Otherwise what is the point of rules that are designed to protect them?

what do you think?

I was at the North game at Blundstone and witnessed a similar ludicrous ruck decision paid to Goldstein in the last quarter which influenced the result.

Umpires have been displaying incompetency for years and I don't see it changing any time soon.

Bunch of prancing nancies. 

On ‎5‎/‎1‎/‎2016 at 10:29 AM, fr_ap said:

Don't post here a lot - long time reader.

Reading some of the reactions to the game yesterday both on here and in particular the club's Facebook feed, I feel compelled to post as I'm just so sick of this club's supporters. And yes, I've been through it all so don't say I haven't done the hard time.

Today was an entirely predictable result and the sky is not falling in.

• We came off a 4.5 day break and errors were made at the selection table for not refreshing the squad. Young teams struggle with short turnarounds. It was clear to all watching that from mid-way through the first quarter after the adrenaline had worn off that we were not covering the ground either in offence or defence. Lots of hands on hips/heads at the breaks.
• Our new game style is high risk, high reward, and extremely taxing. We played a team that had the speed to exploit this on their fast home track. Our short turnaround resulted in us looking sluggish and disinterested (I don't think this was actually the case and the effort was there).
• Our fortunes rise and fall with Max Gawn and he has often struggled against Hickey in the past. Mobile, tall tap ruckmen are his weakness, and Hickey is very much in this mould. Max is far more effective against the brutes/undersized rucks like Maric and Grundy (coincidentally when he starred). He's played 40 games and if he continues with his rate of improvement, it wont be long before he has no weaknesses at all.
• Our team is extremely young and one of the youngest in the league. Our half back line relied on two players who have played less than 5 games and they look to a 30-gamer (Salem) for leadership.
• We played 3 players with less than 5 games each which is a lot to carry when our 'experienced' players are 50 gamers. Petracca was overawed - hard for a first gamer to play in a team that was evidently tired.
• We don't match up well on the Saints in the same way we always match up very well against Richmond. Their midfield is quick (ours is not), their forwards are mobile and their backmen are experienced. To those who say that we should be able to play the same way against any team - an extremely simplistic view that fails to consider the variation of players/teams across the league. Anyone who has played any sport knows that there are always certain types of players/teams that you struggle against. Not to say we should just accept defeat - but needs to be understood.
• The saints only really scored on the counter/over the back - it isn't as if we were soundly beaten in every single area of the ground. We had one key deficiency they exploited, but we still kicked 100 odd points with about 10 passengers. This is progress and a simple fix.
• Until we have 100+ games into Trac, Brayshaw, Kent, Harmes, Viney, Tyson, Gawn, Kennedy, Oliver, ANB, VDB, Hunt, Wags, Frost, Salem etc. - we can expect to see this type of inconsistency. We will continue to have good weeks and bad weeks. The competition is very even and we saw today that a few passengers makes it hard to win. Our experienced players were poor, yes, and this is the most disappointing part. Don't forget that TMac and Lumumba were a big part of our good footy the last two weeks.

The overreactions on here, and particularly Facebook are not warranted. We did NOT lose because the players spoke of confidence and finals. What do you expect? If we are ever going to improve, we will need to learn to deal with increased expectation and positive media. It is part of the journey and to those saying that we should never say these things again - you are effectively wishing for another 10 years of misery at the bottom.

The reactions by our supporter base are a significant part of the problem with this club and believe it or not we do have an impact on each other and on the perception of the club. For us to be successful we need long periods of coaching stability and low player turnover, and the worst thing we can do as a supporter base is cry foul and force changes in this regard. There will be good weeks, there will be bad weeks, and we know there will be good media and a fair amount of bad media.  

I would think after 15 years of pain most would be pleased we are finally playing a reasonable brand and scoring. Apparently not. People need to understand that the majority of good sides never win a flag, and in all likelihood this side won't either. My hope is we become good enough for perhaps a 5 year period where we are top 4 and respected and I will enjoy this time if it comes. In the meantime I'm going to enjoy the ups and the downs and regardless of our performance, the moments and incidents that make the game and being an AFL supporter great (like Hogan's 7 today).

We are improving. Shut out the noise, stay the course and keep calm.

Rational common sense post which stands out amongst the nonsense I often read on these boards.

29 minutes ago, Deestroy All said:

Hardwick "they were cleaner, bigger and stonger."

I've said Richmond are soft for years, but still it's so nice to hear that. Rarely have we been one of those things, let alone 3. Against a team been building for 7 years. 

TGR will be bleeding this evening.

Don't ya just love it.

On ‎4‎/‎5‎/‎2016 at 7:36 PM, It's Time said:

You're right of course on both counts. Unfortunately I have to be back in Sydney Sunday night and can't spend 5 or 6 hours flying back. 

Did you catch up with any other Dees for a beer ?

1 hour ago, Nasher said:

See replies above! Good stuff Smithy - catch up next time.  I'd have sent you a PM to sort something out this time except I was pretty much unable to commit to anything. As it was it took all my willpower to drag myself to the footy - glad I did though!

We love the place, did the west coast in 1968 and this was our first visit since. Been waiting for years for a Dees game to coincide with a short holiday.

One highlight was a night in a B&B at Little Swanport staring at an open fireplace with a nice bottle of red. 

Easily pleased in our old age.

A few comments/observations after a couple of weeks in Tassie.

You need rain.

Blundstone Arena is an excellent stadium particularly for those shrewd enough to gain tickets to the Ponting stand.

The public are a friendly lot.

Boags is the better drink on tap.

Why no four lane highway between your two major cities ? Farcical.

Why no water restrictions in the South of the State ?

Some of the boutique wineries in the Tamar Valley are great. Shame they don't produce enough to share with the mainland.

The coastline in the east is stunning.

Surprising number of businesses do not accept credit cards. Dodgy ?

You need rain.  

On ‎4‎/‎1‎/‎2016 at 6:28 PM, DaleDee said:

Hi gsmith. The trouble is that a lot of the stands are taken by north members or cricket TAS members. The mfc also reserved heaps of seats (apparently they've sold about 1000) in that part of the stand.

There may not be much left to choose from.

I doubt the game will sell out so it would be fine to just rock up on the day. You would probably find yourself standing on the hill. Not a bad spot to watch from but not very comfortable.

Depending on how close to the fence the seats in bay 11 are, they might be the best option. Alternatively you could contact the club and see if they can assist.

Thanks again DaleDee, I did contact the club and although the original allocation was sold out they applied for further tickets. I received a call today offering tickets in the Ricky Ponting stand bay four. Much cheaper than the AFL were offering as well.

Quite satisfied with the result although after Saturday's abysmal effort maybe I should be holidaying at Cape York rather than Tassie.   

2 hours ago, Deestroy All said:

Just saying g'day Smithy, enjoy your trip and the win mate. 

Cheers DA.

Thank you DaleDee, I would be more than happy on the hill, not the wife however.

Is there plenty of car parking available ?

My wife and I are travelling to Blundstone Arena for the round 3 clash and I need some help re ticketing.

The only tickets available online through the AFL seem to be in bay 11 which is stuck in a forward pocket.

Which parts of the ground provide the better viewing and are tickets usually available if you simply rock up to the ground.

Any assistance would be appreciated. 

Number 5 is Alive !!! (again)

Rightly so, onya Mae.

The man was a hero for many in my generation. He could play in the ruck and up forward but he was peerless when he was at full back.

Those drop kicks would often hit the centre of the ground and of course, he was always a feature of the World of Sport kicking competition. I can still see Bruce Andrew with hair neatly parted in the middlle, lifting the board to show he was awarding Tassie 9 out of 10 for one of his kicks.

Vale Tassie and condolences to his family.

We were fortunate to have so many we could call a hero in those glory days. Tassie was certainly one of them, a gentleman, a great player and one of the greatest exponents of the drop kick. Tassie was one of the best afield in the 1964 GF, a memory I will always cherish. RIP.

Greetings Smith!

Just chiming in here on the back of DA.

Good to see you post - it's been a while!

You'd be loving the cricket at the moment too.

Howdy Rowdy, just returned from 6 weeks in Europe.

Achieved a life time ambition of seeing a test at Lords.

Saw every ball bowled at Lords and Edgbaston and loved it despite our capitulation in Birmingham.

A real experience and I'm still wondering why Clarke did not bowl after winning the toss at Edgbaston, one of life's great mysteries to me.

Take care.

So you're not a Kyrgios fan then?

There are a few of us that would appreciate if you did post now and then, mate.

Glad you're well.

Love his tennis DA, not so much his mouth, a poor man's McEnroe.

G'day Smithy, good to see you posting, how are you old fella?

I am one of the happy ones with Krygios, I don't mind a bit of lip, as you may know, and the kid can play.

He might not have Marat's loveable temper, but I don't mind some attitude on the court.

I'm fine thanks DA read a lot but don't often post.

Far too much negativity, aggro and cheap shots on here for mine.

Love your work DA, keep punching mate.

Happy with Krygios ?