binman

All good points. It is really noticeable this year how well schooled other teams are on where gawn likes to tap it. And the good mids are really taking advantage of it. The lions being the best example. Teams are tagging Oliver and he simply does not seem to get a free for being held and impeded at centre bounces. Umpires seem to hate him, I suspect because he is lippy. Which is yet another reason to have professional umpires because that should not be a factor in making a decision. And viney is such a woeful kick teams are ok to let him free.

Appalling decisions. Made more ridiculous by the fact that if a bigger opponent was rucking against him there is zero chance either of those decisions would have been paid. Ruck man have been do that for 150 years. As Maxy said #itsruckcraftbigboy

Could not disagree more. I'd drop him for that decision alone. I was livid at the ground when he chose to play on. I could not believe he chose to do so. The clock was only on 26.30 i think (or at latest 27.30). Massive amount of time left. He was on the 'right' side for a lefty and only 25 meters out on slight angle. Simply had to go back and slot it. Time was not an issue, and he should have known that and even if it was worried about time he still should have gone back and just taken 15 seconds and slotted it. Huge error and one made i suspect because he missed an absolute soda ealrier in the game. Mentally weak decision and unforgivable in the circumstances.

Jetts was not ready. Some critical errors.

But you've made your position on omac crystal clear and made the above points hundreds of times. Nor a single poster on demonland would not know your view on omac. So why kerp sinking the boots in. Why keep bagging him. I could care less about Elegt's comments. You are spot on, he is a troll. But you aren't and i respect your opinion as I understand from your posting history. I can't understand how you can bag elegy and continue to bag omac so vociferously. It has a strange personal element.

Not trying to pick an argument DD but given your relentless criticism of omac you don't find this comment somewhat hypocritical?

Exactly. Pies also only have 4-5 of their best out. And as you day have good depth, we dont and so tbey can cover injuries better than us.

Added strength is the key i reckon. At the moment he can't match the big boys for strengthen and gets pushed off the ball far too easily. A couple more years and two more preseasons and he'll improve this big time

Yes but our back six looks good!

Mm let me think. Why would he do that? Might it have something to do with the fact that for most of the season we have had 2-3 of our first choice defenders out injured?

Surely now lever and jetts us back he goes to the hf or wing. I'm not surprised about the differential in DE forward and back. I reckon kicks from the back half are harder as they are often under much more pressure, both mental (I miss this they score) and real (high presses, manic inside 50 tackling and congestion). I'd love to see him and Salem delivering the ball inside 50 and taking some set shots.

Why? No forward has kicked a bag on him this year. Not even Jenkins, who if you believe dl destroyed him. Sure he had the better of him but only kicked 2 (and 4 the nex week on one of the best defenders in the AFL).

I can actually see Petty not coming up and Omac coming in and standing Shache (or perhaps Naughton deep). Lever to play the intercept role and May standing Naughton or Shache but licence to attack. Salem to play up the ground. Frost on Dickson. Not sure where that leaves Jones though. Even if Petty comes in not Omac, with Jones at HB we have 2 too many defenders so perhaps neither will play.

And it's not just to t ial numbers of injured players that is so remarkable. It is how many of our nominal best 22 we have out. For much of the season in any given game we have had close to half of our best 22 out. Even with jetts and lever back this week we still have a third out (melk, vdb, tmac, Joel Smith, kk, jeffy, hore are best 22 and stretch is on the bubble). I have said numerous times but it bears repeating. No club has had a run of best 22 players out with injury. Not even close. Nor did any club have anywhere near the number of post season surgeries. Not even close. These two issues are facts. Critics of our game plan and coaching might prove to be correct but it is simply not possible to make an accurate assessment of either with what has happened to us. Supposition yes. Definitive no. Look at how pies have gone when they lose their best forward. One player our and suddenly they can't convert inside 50.

Great minds ....

Agree. With all the carnage this year Hibbo has flown under the radar in terms of his performance not getting much critique. In addition to the issues you note he has lost yard of pace (probably a combination of his injury issues and age), which takes his main weapon away and he often sell teammates into trouble with quick release handballs.

I have been really impressed with his game in the last 4 or so weeks since he has gone to the half back position. His kicking and decision making has been excellent. He is quote attacking on often takes on the diagonal kick across the center lane that creates goal scoring options. He also is quite calm with the ball in hand and prepared to hold onto it rather than just dish off which often just creates problems (hibbo does it a bit). Neat side step too.

The big 'evidence' for them was Brayshaw saying it was a 'defining' win. And they didn't give all his comments, which provides important context in so far as he said the players were exhausted and he was as exhausted as he had ever been in a game of footy. They were desperate to win, remained composed and overcame their exhaustion. So what if he used the term defining win. What peanuts. And again I loved that Judd suggested to carp or Damo they didn't understand the impact of being down to one rotation on players. I just watched the second and third quarters again. Our field kicking and kicks inside 50 in those quarters were the best they had been all season. Most of our 7 goals in the 3rd (and tmacs poster from 30 out dead in front) were a direct result of excellent kicks to free or leading players or kicks to advantage. The 'connection' was first class. They stayed in touch not because of dosposal errors by us but they got a some goals we might have stopped (silvagni's two on petty come to mind)

I enjoyed Saturdays game and will enjoy the rest of the season. Lots to play for, not least of which is senior AFL experience for players like Lockhart, dunkley and petty. Easy to forget that the first two were not even in the AFL system in February. Dunkley was playing under 18s this year. No better marker of the issues we have experienced with injury. I actually think we are a very good chance of winning this week, which is exciting. As old see noted, without final in the picture each game can be enjoyed in isolation. And I plan to do do so.

Agree on all points. On short shots in addition to losing momentum on his rum in he leans back. Would love him to back himself in and go for goal more often. As I hav2 said before goody should encourage him to do so.

Either way he didn't kick over the man on the mark!

Hit the nail on the head rusty. Leaving aside the game style, in very simple terms we get the ball inside 50 enough times. 3rd i'n the league I think. That number is a touch inflated because it often goes in, straight out and back into a crowded 50. But still our forward line has struggled woefully - small, medium and bigs. Part of that is the much referenced connection issues, which is mainly about rubbish kicks but also issues such as spacing and leading patterns. The above partly shows how critical some players are to systems. I read here that remarkably melk is still right up there for goal assists, despite not playing for, what, 8 weeks? He is critical in terms of that last kick inside 50. Hannan was important in this regard last year and hasn't got back anywhere near his best this year, after coming back from injury On the fatigue issue I would contend our poor fitness is as a result of our crap preseason not our game style. Sure the chaos, crash and bash style is physically taxing (and might be a factor in that spate of preseason surgeries) but the chip and spread style requires players to run a lot of ks in a game to spread and provide multiple options and leads. I suspect that is why the pies have hit a bit of a slump ie players are tiring (I was wondering if they are doing a hard training block atm to get ready for finals).

Judd said we did well to win with 3 on the bench and asked Damo i t( i think, but maybe it was Caro) if he understood the impact of being down to one player on the bench (and on that Hore was out for 3 and bit quarters so we were down a rotation for a big chunk of the first half).

Salem has been our best, for sure. And by some margin. But has had a couple of games where he was off his game. Hore has played well every game I reckon.