leehow

absolutely baffles me that ppl are blaming neeld for our performances. he inherited a list of front runners, who would turn up 1 in 3 weeks at best, had no defensive side to their game, and were destined to win 6-10 games for the rest of their careers. how many of you were calling for an overhaul after last year? neeld is looking at players this year, and seeing for himself what they can do. there will be some major changes at the end of the year, but until then, we are going to experience a lot of pain. hopefully though, its not as much pain as the players go through over the off season. if they thought it was hard this year, i think they are in for a shock next preseason. they will be pushed and pushed so that they realise what it takes to get to afl fitness standard. be great if they spend a bit of time on skills too!!

please let jack watts be fit this week. if i have to sit through another inept performance like that, please at least let me see a player that has the skills and vision required of an afl player. im sure if we were in finals contention he would have played tonight, but i dont think we can afford to leave him out. we need his skills, patience, and vision in the back line. especially next week, because i am sure that the ball will be down there at least 80% of the game.

watts was clearly hampered by a leg injury today. was looking to get off for the last 5 minutes of the first half but couldn't because the ball was in our defence so much. he will make mistakes at times, because our players don't work hard enough to get into space, and he has to try and manufacture something. needs to tighten up at times, got led to the ball a bit today, but he definitely wasn't running like normal after half time.

the ugly - sam blease's tackle on the members side, spun the guy at least 540, possibly more and still didnt get holding the ball. not sure what we have to do to get a holding the ball.

thought martins attack on the ball and marking were very good today. its a pity his kicking and decision making at times is terrible, because he has the potential to be a very dangerous player.

what im saying is i think he had more than that. i heard donegan and booth 3-4 times call collins' name when couch got the ball out of a pack

commentators been terrible, i reckon they missed 3-4 of couch's possessions and gave them to collins. same with the tynans.

while naitanui was fantastic last night, its way too early to call him a superstar. needs a lot more four quarter efforts before he gets that label. speaking of ruckman, carlton must be disappointed they got rid of sam jacobs. his ruck work tonight has been brilliant. jamar could definitely learn something watching how he directs his taps. he has put it on a platter to thompson about 10 times.

the point guard will generally have a pass first mentality, always looking to set a team mate up first, and then scoring himself if he doesnt have another option. good point guards will be like an on-court coach, knowing when to attack, when to slow the play down, what play to run, etc. jack at times can look slow and indecisive, but i think this is because he is a couple of steps ahead of most players, and he has to wait for a teammate to run to where he expects them to be naturally. once players realise that if they work hard jack will find them, you will find play opens up and we start to look like a much better team. i really like him behind the ball, because i think it better suits his strengths. he is smart enough to know when to stay with his man, when to go third man up and help a teammate, and with a bit more confidence, i think we will see him start to take the game on a bit more. when he does, i think we are all going to see a very, very good player.

melksham should get done too. punched trengove in the head during their scuffle on the boundary line. wasnt just a jumper punch either. was a right hook that connected.

obviously did himself more damage than first suspected when he ran into that tree

sellar to replace him according to patrick keane.

all depends on what role the coaches see him playing. if thats up forward, then yes you would expect him to bulk up. i think the first thing they need to work on is his core strength and strength through the legs. i think another preseason working on core strength will help jack dramatically. it will allow him to hold his ground better in marking contests, break tackles and not get knocked off the ball. i think with this, jack will start to win more one on one contests, and start to get the confidence to use his body more.

unfortunately i missed a fair bit of the game today because i was working. i did manage to see the contest where jack stayed down and warnock marked it. at the time i thought to myself, ppl on demonland are going to have a feast with this. what i considered to be smart, staying down for a crumb when there is already three players flying for a mark, others consider to be soft. later on in the game, the ball was kicked into the carlton forward line and garland, going back with the flight of the ball flew as the 3rd man up, didnt influence the contest and left his opponent eddie betts alone which resulted in a goal. now i understand betts and watts are completely different players, but if howe (i think) had managed to bring the ball to ground and watts been front and centre for the crumb, everyone would be talking about how smart he was to stay down.

i meant under bailey we were winning some weeks. but i agree, i cant see us winning for a long time. what i am looking for is an improvement in our structures, our intensity, and hopefully starting to take the game on a bit more and get a bit closer in the uncontested ball stats. i

i've given up reading the papers and listening to footy on the radio. with so many ex-players and journalists looking for a story, the amount of pointless articles is incredible. do you think neeld and the coaching team dont know about the problems that we have? yes we have gone backwards since the sydney game, but there is a reason for it. essendon went through the same thing after they got rid of matthew knights. they were a team of downhill skiers who won very well some weeks, and got smashed others. that was the path i think we were going down. while it is incredibly frustrating at times (most of the time) watching the demons, im confident that neeld is going down the right path. our defensive side was terrible, and he has made that a focus, and it is something that will take time. fitness will play a big part in it, as will a bit of time. coming from a basketball background myself, i understand that zone defence and the structures they are trying to implement take time to learn. we have looked stupid at times this year when the opposition has a free man, and one of our guys leaves his man to to go him, only for him to kick the ball over his head to his man, and so on. this is something that will improve once our structures are better, and when players know exactly what their role is, and when to go. its not something you can put into practice overnight, so unfortunately we just have to be patient. as for people questioning trengove and grimes being appointed captains, it is 4 games into the season, give them some time. there was obviously an issue with our senior group, which neeld identified straight away. we could have gone down the same old track, and left one of them in charge, or we can make the bold decision to give it to a young guy. time will tell whether we made the right decision. i think we did, because i didnt see too much leadership from the older guys last year. and if they cant handle being overlooked for the leadership, which in part was decided by the players, then they should move on and give someone else a go.

i am amazed at some of the criticism of jack on this site. sure he isnt the pack crashing big marking key forward we were hoping for when he was drafted, but he showed some big improvement last year, and has plenty of upside. he has just turned 21 for a start. we havent even started the season yet and people are writing him off. give the poor kid some time and im sure he will prove plenty of you wrong. freak, your comments are ridiculous. to say that he hasnt even shown glimpses in three years just shows your lack of footy knowledge. i will readily admit that he hasnt set the world on fire, but there have definitely been glimpses. the 3 goal game against richmond would be just one example. i think if given the chance, you would find 17 other teams that would happily trade for jack.

jack darling walked into a west coast team with a forward line of kennedy, lynch, le cras and one of cox / naitanui. he was left with the 4th or 5th defender every week. he did have some impressive games, but i think its a bit unfair to compare the two considering the forward line, or lack of it, that watts has had to contend with. i would also think the delivery from west coasts midfield might be slightly ahead of ours at the moment. darling definitely has watts for physicality and attack on the ball, but i think given time watts will improve this area of his game dramatically. he made some big inroads last year, and now after a couple of quiet preseason games he's being questioned by everyman and his dog. i wish people would just give him time, not everyone is a jack darling or joel selwood, and able to walk into the game and play from day one.

that was my point ben-hur. people are way too quick to write players off. just because darling had a quiet game, doesnt mean he is not a good player. just the same as watts shouldnt be written off after a couple of quiet pre-season games. or gysberts, cook, etc, etc.

couldnt agree more sue. jack darling definitely didnt live up to the demonland hype either.

not sure what you guys think recreational drugs do, but they are definitely not performance enhancing. while that doesnt change the fact that its still against the rules for them to take them, i cant see how they would have made them play any better.

i like the idea. i think he can be a very dangerous target down forward. he is still learning the game, but is going to be very hard to match up on because of his height and speed. his presence down there also means watts, green, jurrah etc should get an easier match up. if he can continue to improve his kicking, then i think he could kick 30-40 goals.

i watched jack a few times when he was a basketballer, because he played at the club i did, and it never looked like he was working as hard as others. i think he is one of those players that in match type conditions always seems to be doing things easy, and that gives the impression that he isnt working hard. i expect to see very big things from jack this year, and i think a lot of supporters will be pleasantly surprised.

im not talking marathon runner, and he definitely hasnt shown what you would expect a number 4 pick to show. but he does have plenty of attributes that can make him a good player. he can run all day, he can mark, he has the ability to find space, a good kick over distance. you say dont use height as an attribute, but that is one of his. he is fairly tall, which gives him a flexibilty others dont. there are a lot of negatives, his attack on the ball has been questioned, his kicking over short distances can be average and he hasn't been able to find a permanent position, whether it be on the wing, or back or forward. there is still time though, and im hoping the change of coach can be a fresh start for cale.

while i agree that its been said thousands of times, and that cale has a lot of work to do, there are a lot of different types of runners. just because cale can run all day doesn't mean he will be near the top in a 3km time trial. i would expect him to come into his own over a longer distance.