nutbean

I watched "in bruges" on the weekend.. anyone seen it ? well worth the watch

I watched the tactic used against him last year early on - especially during a slow kick to position - he wasn't just conventionally blocked - he was restrained from running at the pack from behind in almost a shepherding type of movement. It will always will be hard to stop him jumping if the ball gets in to him quickly but the slow build up into the forward line where a pack has formed makes it easy to counter him.

To get a full understanding on how much the Lions realised how much of a gun Rockcliff was - these are the picks in the draft the Lions took BEFORE Rockcliff. Household names such as Keiran King, Bart McCullough and Aaron Cornelius. Brisbane passed on him in their last selection in the main draft and picked him up in the preseason draft ! Rory Sloan was Adelaides 3rd selection - they preferred Shaun McKernan before him. Point well made Autocol.

I have no explanation as to why but I just really want Toumpas to make it. ( i want everyone to make it but this kid especially)

I look at it a different way. I think the reviews that these experts give are correct but are only a snapshot in time. They are describing what these players are like at TAC level. A competition that is age limited with little emphasis on defense. The experts get it fairly close on who will go at what pick - again - the snapshot in time. Where the S comes in is they have little idea on how it will translate into an AFL career, whether the players will step up, whether they will progress, whether the strengths will stay a strength and weaknesses ironed out. All you need to do is a retrospective draft analysis of the last 10 drafts to figure out that the experts have no idea on how these kids will actually go in the big league.

We must have different memories.. I loved Barty's hardness but I don't believe he ever got his kicking right. It always was a major flaw in his game. Some players will turn the ball over, but Grimes, like Bartram before him do it even once a match when it is under zero pressure and costly - it is deflating and momentum killing.

Agreed - his disposal is very good. The point is still relevant that many mids D/E suffers as they are getting quick, drop the ball on the boot kicks from congestion. Watts does get the ball more in clear space meaning he does have more time to dispose. I will repeat , that I like Watts having the ball in space as he is more than just a good disposer of the ball, he can be a damaging user of the ball.

he is an inside mid and at 88cm it makes it much easier for him to get in and under

I think he is was in danger of becoming a one trick pony on the forward line and showed more versatility to his game when he went back into defense.

Sometimes..and a lot of the time it is horrible delivery into the forward 50 with Dawes taking on 2 or 3 opponents.

I think finally we have "decent" people working for the club. Whether they are ex players or not is immaterial to me. I just want the best people.

I saw the picture of Mitch Clark at Geelong training and i think the proof is in the pudding.

Further to this. You don't have to be in the leadership group to be a good leader. Lumumba arrives at the club and already it was reported that he took hogan aside and talked to him about positioning(?). Now he may get into the LG but I would hope this sort of behaviour would continue irrespective.

why oh why did you have to remind me of that game. .....Horrific

The giveaway was that his car was a Ferrari and he was still on 2nd year draftee wages with us.

Disposal efficiency % is a horrible stat to quote in isolation. inside mid percentages are always going to be lower as they rush kicks out of stoppages. Backmen in the main should have a better % as they do a lot of chipping backwards to unmanned teamates Watts efficiency doesnt surprise as he gets a lot of kicks where has time to dispose of them. Grimes is a whipping boy as he tends to turn over a bit when there is no pressure on at all. He should not be on his own and singled out. I am not critical when balls are turned over under pressure. But three players come to mind who turn it over and miss targets under relatively little or no pressure. TMac, Terlich, Grimes. There are others. People kept quoting Bartrams d/e% which wasnt bad - but he would make horrible clangers ( almost momentum killers) under no pressure at all. Did two against Stkilda a few years back which swung the momentum of the game. It is not the qty of kicks that miss the target- it is when you do them, where you do them, and under how much pressure you are under when you do them.

Yes.. we need to be fitter Yes ..we need to be able to run out games Yes.. We need to make fewer mistakes when fatigued But being an elite runner does not necessarily make you a good footballer. The knock on Grimes is his disposal and being inspirational in a running test isnt going to fix that. I hope he can improve his kicking as I do like his endeavor.

He really does get to where the ball is. That's the big plus. What he does with the ball a lot of the time is the big minus.

I'm with you. But I want to see Grimes and Tmac win the kicking drills, Watts the boxing drill and tackling drills and Howe win the involved in the game for 120 minutes drill.

I'm a lemon sucker- I always get that way in December. (been a bad nutbean so santa wont be paying me a visit)

What did surprise me is when we had games in the middle part of the year that were really close - a kick in it - I would have swung Howe forward. I thought he was more involved as a backman but we you only need 1 goal to win a game then throw Howe forward to try and take one hanger and kick one goal. ( interestingly - midway through season 2013 when he was playing forward I did notice numerous times that when a pack formed and Howe stood at the back of the pack ready to leap his opponent would scrag, block and basically impede his ability to jump at the ball. He can be easily shut down if he becomes a one trick pony)

Winning games week in and week out. Watching players steadily improve week in and week out. Being in the papers for all the right reasons not the wrong reasons Not turning over a coach every five minutes Have quality players from opposition clubs wanting to join us Having our players not wanting to leave the club for premiership opportunities because we are also in that window. Having players drafted actually become great footballers not just ok footballers. After all of the above - then I will get excited about drafting in players that may or may not make the grade. ( oh yeah ...and after a premiership too)

What I noticed was that Howe was rarely if ever outmarked this past season. To the extent, his prowess at marking is so well known that on occasions I saw forwards going the spoil on Howe.

Each to their own. I think he had quite a good season and saw enough intercept marks in the back half to think that sending him back was a good move. Was he exposed a few times - absolutely. I think it was his forward line upbringing where he didn't have to mind a player that caused the lapses but overall I thought he was ok. Having said that, we will not improve with players like Howe remaining "ok". He needs to do a lot more and be a lot better as do a lot on our list.

I am sure the club tried but that is why I was so keen to give up pick 2 or 3 for an established midfielder. There is nothing like exposed form to lessen the risk when bringing new players into the club. Even though Tyson has few games under his belt, he showed enough to suggest that he could make it in the big league. There should be few surprises with Lumumba and Gartlett - we know what we are getting. I recall we all got excited when we got a father/son selection of another dashing wingman turned back pocket in Chris Johnson. Lets hope the young Stretch has more of his father in him than Chris Johnson did.