binman

It is rubbish we play thte every year. Do an exspenive fact finding trip to the us to work out equalisation strategies and send a lowly club to a ground where all away clubs struggle to win (and whose fans can't get in). Go figure. And od please visualise a wattcha talking willis about gif. We go there because it can't cope with a large crowd?

So do. I agree with others that he has been disappointing this year, (but had his best couple of weeks the last two) but i hate dees players voluntarily leaving.

I took the kids to that game and sat behind city end goals. No cover and didn't realize it was going to rain. Blimey we got wet. It sheetedvdown. Had to leave at half time. The toump played well

Disagree. I reckon there is every chance he will be an A grader. He is competitive, self driven and has the tools.

Also a good call. Watts did it a couple of times didn't he. In fact he was surprisingly strong when getting tackled, holding the ball and then still being able to get a handball off. There was a few examples where he got caught and i though oops he is gone but he was able to give it off. I heard Stan Alves criticize Watts for his laconic style and lack of physicality, in reference to the tackle he got caught in in the last when trying a baulk. Honestly i wonder if some of those commentators watch the same game as i do. This was a match to highlight his improved physicality and intensity not to lament their absence. And as for the tackle he go caught but i for one love it when he takes them on and i reckon he should do more of it.

Good get, i noted that as well. It caught my attention because he had made an earlier where in our back half he hand-balled, whilst being pressured, to someone too close who immediately got tackled. It occurred to me that perhaps a coach had told him to take the tackle, which as you say he did in that instance (and i think still got it off?). The play i loved from the Toump was his shimmy in the centre square that wrong footed a would be tackler and gave him time and space. Great stuff.

I can't believe i tipped Melbourne. Crazy stuff. Not because of any hoodoo but because they have virtually no injury concerns and we have 5-6 of our best 22 out injured (and Tyson coming back from injury). I have said it for years but the number of players out is the single biggest determinate of a team's success, yet amazingly is often minimised with the culture long being to not blame them for poor performances. Obviously clubs down the bottom are hurt more by injuries to best 22 players, but all clubs struggle with them. So i guess both this week and last can be seen more positively.

As i say it beggars belief Miller wouldn't have checked the time left before he ran out onto the ground for what i assume turned out to be the last time. I'm guessing he didn't because otherwise surely he wouldn't have needed a message from Roos. I wonder what his last message from Roos was by the by (it should have been if we score tell them to flood back - and if it wasn't it is also on Roos).

Spot on. Vince said the players assumed there was 5-6 minutes to go and unfortunately the runner (Miller) was stuck out on the ground. Before running onto the ground surely Miler would have checked the time and therefore would have known that after Howe kcked his goal there was barely any time left. In which case he should have made sure players knew too and could get back. I suspect however that he din't check the time and had no idea, perhaps also assuming there was 5 mins left. If this is the case it is a huge stuff up on the coaches behalf. If not (ie Miller knew aprox how much time was left) its on Miller. Still even if the players guessed there was 5 mins to go they have gone super defensive given only 2 goals had been kicked that quarter. Unbelievable. Well sadly not. The way i deal with such a loss is by thinking we will end up with a higher draft pick that we otherwise would have and down the track when it really matters we wont be so stupid (a great learning experience for the young uns).

And if so i hope he's not dyslexic

Saty a query. Did any of the drills today involve forwards bringing the ball to ground against the extra defender? I reckon Roosys comments in the after game presser about players not listening, whilst said with fairly limited heat was his version of furious. No wonder he bellowed if the players ignored advice at training.

A random question, which i thought i'd ask here rather than start a new thread. I'll be in Berlin for a few weeks from next week. Does anyone have some ideas about the best way to watch footy overseas (oe ven in Berlin). I checked out the AFL site and it is $12 a week for live games which is ludicrous (how moronic is that in terms of promoting the sport - it should be free!). I have an AFL live pass which enables tablet live viewing and access to replays but i assume i will get geo blocked. Thanks in advance for ideas.

Lance i have a question for you as an EFC supporter. Well to be honest a comment that i'd like your views on. I've posted this before but i reckon Hird and Little (and i guess the board) made two bad mistake in regard to the WADA appeal. The first is that they should have been preparing the players for the potential that WADA would in fact appeal. For example by ensuring they were psychologically ready through discussions and possibly by engaging psychologists. If WADA ended up not appealing then no harm done. Secondly they compounded the first mistake by acting so shocked and surprised when WADA did appeal (i for one simply do not believe they 'did not seeing it coming'- i mean Little in particular has been around the block a few times and as a shrewd businessman knows all about risk management no doubt). This simply could not have helped the players deal with the situation and i find it pathetic Hird is now saying that the WADA cloud is a factor in their subsequent very poor form. For me this one more example of the clubs terrible management of this situation and i'm really surprised they have not been criticised for how they managed the WADA appeal. I would be furious if i was an EFC fan. Your thoughts?

I reckon they could have been bold and tried fitzy on cloke from the get go. Yes he is inexperienced as a backman but he is a big boy and could match cloke for reach and almost also for strength. McDonald then could have run of white, with dunn floating

I 100% agree xarron with all of the above, in fact was going to post similar comments so you saved me the trouble. Well reasoned comments and more balanced than some of the DL regulars. Keep up the good work lu

You are a gun kc

Yes, i guess so. Unless you started the walk on Swan street at the close of the VFL game

Willis what are you talking about? Make it a maggies home game and it is 200 metre walk across a bridge and oval to their home ground. Sheesh, it's a 4-5 minute walk. the VFL game would finsih at 2:20 giving people an hour to mosey across to the g. Perfect. I'd love it.

Jesus, take a chill pill OD. The VFL should have made this a Collingwood game and scheduled it for 12pm next Monday. Perfect given the dees game starts at 3:20pm. They'd get 2-3 thousand people to it, easy. Make it an annual event. I for one would have gone. Channel 7 could have also broadcast cover it. Unless of course the VFL has no interest in promoting their comp.

HH (presumably with a straight face) comparing himself to Richard Dawkins. Pure comedy gold. I reckon this thread has officially jumped the shark.

It's just so crazy it might work

Which will mean the debate that has been swirling since the hawks fans booed him will continue. Which will please goodes and others who believe the related issues need to be discussed. The beautiful irony is that such debate will frustrate the hell of many of the dimwits who are booing. Another irony if booing continues is that it won't be about playing for free kicks.Well played adam

I think he thinks you should shut up.

A few comments on this post PD. The first is that i agree that like any community the Aboriginal community needs strong leaders, a point Micky O made in the article i linked previously. And i agree with him that Adam Goodes is showing this leadership (as is Micky O for that matter). The second is that, it is my view that we can't simply draw a line in the sand and move on, so to speak. Healing has to occur, on all sides - Aboriginal people and the rest of us. Until we heal we will never be able to mature and grow as a country. We will remain stunted. Reconciliation will never truly occur and Australia as county will be the worst for it. Healing requires a frank and honest reflection on what has happened in the past. Not wallowing but revisiting.By not doing so we will never be able to move on - and by we i mean all of us. This need to reflect and accept what has happened in the past is why the current Royal Commission into institutional sexual abuse is so important. That Royal commission is relevant to the view that people should move on from the crimes against Aboriginal people in the last 225 years - leave it in the past, its nothing to do with us etc etc. Some might argue that people know about the abuse in the Church and in other institutions, its all in the past, it wasn't the current church and institutional leaders who allowed it go on, the guilty have been charged and prosecuted, most are dead etc : so why is a new Royal Commission needed, can't the victims and their families just move on? You only need to listen to the survivors of this abuse, their testimony and their reason why it was so important to both testify and the to RC occur to understand how vital proper acknowledgment and clarity on what occurred is in terms of enabling healing. Just as importantly the process helps to ensure such crimes are less likely to occur in the future. What's that quote about being doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past if you don't learn the lessons? Rudds sorry was a step in the right direction, but only a step. None the less it was one of the most significant days in Australian history and will be remembered as such.

Me thinks there will some posters who will have a a somewhat visceral reaction to that clip. Fashionable lefty and all that. For what its worth waleed is spot on