Dockett 32

Our new crop including Frawley, Grimes, Trengove, Watts, McKenzie, Tapscott and Scully aren't poor at all, rather the opposite, but I think its unreasonable to expect to make the 8 if you can't win a game at Etihad. (Interestingly we have two more there for the season West Coast and Richmond TBC). What would have most peoples expectations have been about our chances in these two games at the beginning of the year I wonder? I know what mine were. We should be showing improvement now, with the playing roster we have and we should be winning games at Etihad. To have not have won one game there under the current Stewardship does nothing at all to enhance their reputation.

"At least we had a crack on Friday. We just found that the harder we tried, the worse it got. We literally had no answers." That's the way you saw it Akum which is ok by me, the way I saw it was differently in so far as a number of our senior players and key drivers didn't give a yelp in a very important game,( Jamar, Green and Silvia for starters) the Bulldogs had done their homework very well on us and kept the game close and when it became evident we were playing the game on the Bulldogs terms, I will agree we had no answers or seemingly no alternative plan.

Just in case you didn't notice Scoop, Essendon just took our spot in the 8 by knocking over the previously undefeated top side while we got belted by a moderate outfit below us. Credit where it's due, Essendon deserve their moment in the sun. We haven't earned ours yet.

and "C" haven't been taught the acceptable result at Etihad is a loss.

"No doubt there are some games coming up we have no right at the moment to consider winning." Ok I'll take the bait. How does the above comment compare to Essendon's thought process last night? Anything and everything is possible in football.

If we expect to get anywhere soon we should take note of Essendon's win last night and it is high time we started to follow suit. Their list has been decimated by injury yet they managed to play tough hard inside football at Etihad whilst our effort the night before needs little discussion. The good news is that the players and coaching staff have the remaining games to show the club something special. Get on with it!

"Eventually you're going to have to go when it's your turn and crack in." +1 and keep doing it repeatedly until it becomes very regular , habitual and instinctive. Certainly at Etihad anyway. There's not much fancy stuff happening there tonight either, so I think you may be onto someting about smaller bodies and lack of space at the joint. MCG a slightly different proposition perhaps.

I think if our (or anybody's I suppose) smaller, quicker and more skilled players get space to work in, they can be very effective. We've shown this a few times this year. Bigger bodied top sides don't provide that sort of work environment however and the law of physics then takes over and we get monstered. Perhaps we would have a 'plans b & c' for such a circumstances.

Just watched the Tigers get hammered by the Blues. Carlton's bigger bodied mids given first use by their rucks, not to disimilar to our effort last night. Our ruck effort was the worst we've had for many a long day.

JT a very strong leadership contender, every inch a team player and a quality young bloke to boot!

I didn't think he was disgraced either considering his time at this level. Sometimes I forget he still has hid "L" plates on, as I also do with Trengove & Watts.

I don't think Jurrahs right.

Just home and bitterly disappointed like everyone else. So Eade watches how Collingwood smashed us and emulates. Surely we must have expected this and our tactical response was? When we so deperately needed leadership from experienced players in a 'clutch game' Jamar 2 kicks 4 hanballs and one mark? Their big bloke totally pantsed ,embarrassed and threw him around like a rag doll. Extremely disappointed with his effort tonight. Felt their rucks were mean and nasty like they should be and just dominated us winning it from the stoppages. Greeny no influence whatsoever. Gysberts, Silvia, Jamar,Jurrah fail to run the game out? Where they fit?( A couple of them did not appear right to me.) Frequent Nicholson and Morton basic skill error stuff ups were very costly and just shouldn't happen. What are our football department thinking? Losing games like that is a good way to 'cook your own goose'

"I think that we are missing another CHIP sized defender, Garland is good but dont think he can handle a Buddy or Dawes when required, Rivers will benefit from being the Maxwell type marking floating across definately in our best 22 i believe" If you really have this worry then whip down and watch the Scorps one day and I think your concerns will disappear.

Seems West Coast have also joined the Geelong and Collingwood " big boys " club and it doesn't appear to be doing them any harm. I also note some want to ditch the 194cm Morton??? We already have 9 at 180cm or under with Viney to come at around the same mark. Not saying they are bad players necessarily by the way, but they just can't match it physically over the full course of a game. You can only play a few quick small outside players for balance and run ( to many and you get monstered against the likes of the above three teams not to mention Hawthorn and Carlton. Whilst the latter reckon we are bruise free , I tend to disagree, we have just been to small in a number of games and left ourselves vulnerable). 195cm+ please recruiters and 185 or under only if you find another Rioli and even then you have to cut another small to make way.

It wasn't a bad read. Add in the 2008 draft Watts, Blease, Strauss, Bennell & Jetta ,the 2010 draft of Cook ,McDonald, Davis plus a couple of handy Rookies and the future is starting to take shape.

'Have a look at their list. What does it teach you? Don't hold onto not quite rights hoping they come good. A clean out is needed at that club.' Totally agree with all that. The cleanout route is the one we have taken and its a brave one for a while and is the first stepping stone. Hawthorn, Geelong, Collingwood sometimes Carlton and West Coast on their day just monster opposing teams with their unrelenting, fearless, endeavour and bigger bodies. They also then have 1/2 a dozen non stop elite runners a piece. It was evident tonight. On a slightly different tack, whilst probably all the other clubs are trying to wedge a few of our younger and uncontracted players,I trust we are also plotting and scheming heavily right now for next year and for free agency time for what will be the icing on our cake.( Lets not get too hung up or side tracked on the other 'hand wringing' 35 odd page thread which I refuse to subscribe to. We have Viney and compenstation as plan B for that number if anything adverse happens and I would be surprised if Scully couldn't see where we are headed and with increasing speed.) My point is that Hawthorn (seemingly effortlessly) manage to secure Gibson, Burguoyne and Hale who are all good fits for them along with Bruce and Cheeny for back up. Collingwood effortlessly get Jolly, Ball. Carlton Judd, Stevens before that, Geelong Ottens etc.These clubs know how to go about it and so should we. We can't sit on our hands with this sort of stuff and have to get involved for the right people. We have the basis to get ruthless and start do a bit of clever cherry picking. I look forward to us getting on the front foot like the top clubs.

"Just watching the Fremantle game and why does BT hate us so much? Could not sound any less enthusiastic calling Melbourne games and loves to take little snipes at our players (Last quarter when Nicholson kicks the goal to put us 50 points up, he says 'The Dees just love it when a game is like this', not sure what other people think of that but to me he's saying we are just a bunch of downhill skiiers which may or may not be true but he says things like this every game). Anyone else agree?" You can probably thank Danny Hughes.

88 point loss with three goal scorers. Probably what it looked like to Pickering I guess.

"Prior to the Adelaide game, Jimmy was asked how many wins did he think was a resonable outcome for this year... He said 10 wins. We have 4 and a half wins... There are 11 games to go...we are a chance to win another 5 maybe 6 games.....There is your 10 wins for the year...and the President is happy and Bails gets a new contract........ " Probably right and the bloke has got 10/11 weeks to do it, so I believe we should give him a fair go.

Win/Loss ratio is a meaurement method. Your position on the ladder at the end of the season reflects how you went against the competion, your previous season and nearness to playing finals etc etc , so I don't think you can ignore it. Having said that, the season is only 1/2 way and I would have thought 10 wins or there abouts at the end of the season would have been a reasonable target showing improvement on the previous season. ( Only bareley however, due to the favourable draw and 2 outings against the GCS). So in a sense that doesn't worry me at this time (It might at the end of the year). What bothers me right now is how we manage to get done by 88 points and that we only register 6 goals with only three goal scorers. That's just a whopping margin ,a huge black mark and the same yoke that's been hanging around our neck for quite a while. Ok the coach blames the midfield and signals changes. Nup. 6 goals with three goal scorers cant all be a midfield problem in my view. How about we compare the size, strength and grunt of the respective forward set ups of the top sides. We have a number of outside finishers, whilst Collingwood, Geelong, Hawthorn and others have big bodied types who can hold their ground, are capable of taking pack marks and are generally capable of using their size to exploit us with dish offs and getting people out of the road etc. The club has had 4 years to do something about this aspect ( trade, recruit, develop whatever) but as far as I'm concerned we are still going round with a massively disadvantaged (and primarily small) set up and still get beaten up regularly. I have the small man complex at the moment. Ok enough of the problem, I believe its time for the forward structure to be totally revisited. I exempt Howe from my tirade having played only two games, I would like to see some imagination and at the very least some new options considered. eg Maybe Garland back in Frawley sent forward , maybe Tom McDonald given a role in a new structure somewhere. But please no more of the same undersized key position approach and lets set about creating the model for the future. P.S. Recruiters more players over 195 please and preferably those that can also run. We have enough small quick blokes on the list for the moment.

Dunn - elsewhere Bate - elsewhere Petterd - MFC Morton - MFC +1

Probably could also throw Carlton with the lot you mention old 55. But you have to have a few challenges in life, just too easy to support Collingwood and the rest of them. I mean they are just are the safe option for the front runners. Supporting the Demons or Bulldogs on the other hand is a vastly different proposition and takes you to all sorts of new difficult places and experiences. Good for the soul!

If you have a problem with him turn down the volume.

Thankyou deeluded you are correct. Anyhow he was played ok for Sandy. Tommy Mac runs around and looks a bit untidy at times, but he has a crack. Some nice heavy work today. I like him too. Good size and I hope he comes on. Still learning for sure, but sometimes with these bigger blokes they can take a bit longer.