binman

Question: 'Oscar played again after being dropped because Steven May got injured, not on the back of form at Casey. So if it weren't for Steven May's injury, Oscar would still be in the VFL and the 'myth' would be a truth. Would it not?' Answer: Apparently not

Love it. Angus looks so much cooler

On trading bennelle im not sure where i stand. On one hand I respect the Intel and view of psd that he remains a massive cultural risk. On the other hand if he could get back to something near his best he is exactly the sort of player we need. I remember watching him destroy us at the g early in his career and thinking I was watching a player who become the best in the league and a genuine legend. So much talent.

Supposedly we got rid of watts (a sublimely skilled player, who makes good decisions, kicks goals and one of only 2, maybe 3, elite kicks in the team) for 'cultural reasons. And if we got bennelle (a sublimely skilled player, who makes good decisions, kicks goals and would be one of only 2 elite kicks in the team) we would be getting a player who the suns traded for 'cultural' reasons (and allegedly has not settled down much in WA).

Crows or swans a chance of finishing 17th. Huh?

I wonder how many people who support us getting bennell supported us getting rid of Watts

Several posters said Omac would not play again for us. They didn't qualify their statements with 'unless May gets injured...'. So yes a myth. I wasn't comparing Omac and Weed. I just mentioned the two in the same post.

The old exception to the rule trick. That's the third time I've fallen for that this week

Egypt?

There is no doubt we dont have good depth - and certainly nowhere that of the pies. Or for that matter of wc, tigers, cats or gws. But to be realistic you need sustained success over 6-10 years to build good depth. We're years off having good depth, which is another reason injuries have caused such havoc for us. A good comparison is the lions. If you took 9 of their best players from that side their lack of depth would be exposed.

Excellent post skuit. Really good point about the challenges for a young team backing up after a deep finals run. In addition to the physical impact and any corrective surgery they have one less month of training which makes it harder to reach peak fitness. I suspect for older players (up to a certain age perhaps) the impact of that month is less as is the physical impact of being smashed for 26 weeks. Look at the teams in recent years who do back up - cats, pies, tigers and west coast. All have older lists and all have been playing finals for several years. The one premiership team that fell away in the last five years was the dogs who not coincidentaly had a relatively young list. I suspect this factor is a key reason why the giants have struggled to go all the way. They have had a young list (not so young now) and have been an as smashed by injury. Come finals time they have run out of gas. I think that they are better placed now as they have a much more seasoned, hardened list and it is for that reason I like them for the flag.

Give it far more weight and attention - in your opinion. Not mine. No one has argued that it is the only factor, least of all me, but it is the key factor (In my opinion). And as I have said many times it an issue that makes it extremely hard to assess the true impact of issues the penny hennys bang on about relentlessly (game plan, the coach etc etc). Consistently leave out more important factors - do you mean like me banging on for years that our foot skills are appalling and we should have been putting a premium on drafting in elite kicks not contested ball winners (and not trade out our best kick)? Or banging on about the need for outside speed? Omac myths going just fine too Steve. Like the one that was swirling here after he was dropped that he would not play again for us. Or that every goal a forward kicks is as a result of an omac error (Bruce says hi). On omac why will selection be interesting? As i have noted already if May comes in, omac comes out. Simple. I'm more concerned about weed than omac given we have a surfeit of defenders and bugger all forwards. IIRC you were a big weed fan and I might be wrong but you were bullish about him becoming a gun for us. Where do you sit now with weed given his horrendous form and not holding a senior spot this year?

Of course it is a factor. Fair dinkum what is so hard for some to understand that if a player does not build his fitness base preseason he won't ever get to full fitness before season's end? A fact that i'll bet London to a brick that burgess is at pains to point out when he takes over. Apply this maxim to a third of the playing group and you have a recipie for a team that can't run out games and is exposed at the end of quarters, second halves and most of all in the last quarter. All season. You know, like occurs with us. Or rather than ignoring a well known fact (the season long impact of interrupred preseasons) perhaps you are in the camp that our evident lack of fitness is misson's fault? The camp that sees symptoms (eg lack of fitness) but gets the cause wrong for all manner of issues (eg problem scoring) The pies had a stellar preseason and so fitness is less an issue for them. And so they will run out tbe game better tban us. Go figure

Reminded me of one of my favourite Greg Champion songs (an underrated musical treasure)

It is not possible for me to disagree with this post any more than i do. Scratch that. On reflection I disagree with this post even more than i originally thought.

I hvave one question. Can he kick? Very well that is.

Looking forward to Spring fellas, particularly as footy in Spring is a write off. What day do people feel the spring kicks off (not the carnival, just the day where the spring horses start coming back)

Agree on all counts DS. His kicking is a worry but he reads the play beautifully. I'd like to see him put on some muscle and get a bit stronger, but that will a happen naturally as he is stil youngish and will fill out a bit more. Important he gets some games with May i reckon - they should compliment each other really well

And thank (insert preferred deity) for that. The way he came off i was sure it was a knee. Jut looked like the classic not much in it sort of incident where acls are done. I felt sick for him and to a lesser extent the club. After he came back on i stopped caring about the result. That was win enough.

Dazzled my point is they have other options. If they thought he was as bad a player as you do they simply would not pick him full stop. So it stands to logical reason they don't share your assessment of him. They have another option to the ones I have already noted. Put keilty back there. I'm guessing you might say that's not an option as he is not up to it. The club seemingly share that assessment. And guess what they have not picked him. Just as they wouldn't pick omac if they didn't think he was up to it. But they do and so pick him. Much to the chagrin of some. I watched his AFL pro video last night and it was revealing. 10 reality good spoils - way more than lever. Two set up scoring chains.he laid strong tackles and hit some good kicks under pressure. That's what the club look at. As i said he played his role He has his limitations and has not been in great form this year. As I have said he will go out when m is back as frost is ahead of him atm

No other tall? What about our other kpd tbat you want in the side to develop. You know petty? He is no forward and needs time down back and playing on reiwoldt would be great for his development. But sure no other t walls if it suits your narrative.

This perfectly sums up how ridiculous much of the criticism of Omac is on this site. You are bagging him for 'letting Josh Bruce run amok' whilst conceding you don't even know if he was on him! And sure he made a disposal error that cost us a goal. But maybe you missed the memo that said we conceded 87 points from turnovers. In case you did miss that memo a heads up that Omac contributed 6 of those 87 points (that 'pathetic' handball). And everyone's new golden boy Frosty coughed up 2-3 goals and our highest paid player 4 goals and at least one more because he couldn't make a basic spoil. But sure let's pile on Omac and give the other two a free pass. Demonland at its analytical best.

I don't. Quite the opposite. We don't need to overhaul our game. So boringly simplistic to think we need to make major changes to our game to be competitive.

I'm not sold on Petty i have to say. Particularly as a forward.

I'm feeling a very strong sense of déjà vu