nutbean

I realised that it was a quote from the letter not yourself. I also realise I am arguing language. However as I said, when anyone wants to make a comparison it is important that comparison is appropriate and whilst there have been a lot of atrocities ( too many atrocities) committed in the name of Nationalist aspirations and "freedom" comparing anything to Nazi's is not appropriate as nothing has come close to them. We have numerous examples of regional ethnic/religious/race cleansing. We have only once in modern history seen an attempt at global religious cleansing.

it was 1948. I have no quarrel with labelling Irgun a terrorist organisation - no better or worse than Hamas and Hezbollah, IRA etc - any organisation that has no qualms about killing innocents for political gain. i have no problem with denouncing their methods. I always have an issue with throwing the word Nazi as a descriptive - in modern history we have not had a collective whose philosophy and political agenda was to completely eradicate a race/religion/colour or creed of people from the face of the earth,. Most terrorist groups, as abhorrent as their methods are, usually make their agenda territorial. ( ie removal of peoples from their "land"). The nazi's are in category of their own and nobody in modern history has behaved like nazi's. ( small disclaimer - there are some small nutjob groups who have the eradication philosophy but not the size or relevance to be able to do it - the Nazi's will always be unique., hopefully, in that they had an horrific ideology with the machinery to make it happen)

Howe to my mind is (was) similar to Jack Watts in that he picked and chose when to go and when not to. Howe's last season at half back with us was not too bad and watching him at the Pies shows he has further matured and progressed - whilst still loving to fly he will contest at ground level/ loose balls and spread. Never did that as a forward - flew for big marks, was worked out and blocked and that was that. I still dont think that Howe hurts opposition with his disposal which can be iffy. Watts to my mind still hasn't progressed from his earliest days - when he decides to impact he is good and with ball in hand is great. The problem still is that he is selective about contesting. Lazy ? disinterested ? I am not really sure but he still doesn't impact contests when he should be. Fritsch on the other hand, basically goes at the ball when it is in his zone in the air or on the ground - a good pair of hands, he makes good decisions and is very neat by foot. Whether he will make it or not ? Hard to make pronouncements after 5 games ( and after being badly bitten previously by announcing that Juice Newton was the next messiah) but he has all the weapons to do so.

I have given him a tick for getting talks happening - but the pen I used was filled with erasable ink . Happy to make it a permanent tick when there is some concrete progress. ( the question is when exactly do you make a tick permanent - I seem to recall some Nobel peace prizes being handed out for a Israel/Palestine peace accord - hmmm)

Putting in the big disclaimer that nothing has yet been achieved with meetings between North and South Korea, credit should be given to the Trump administration for exerting enough pressure/influence to get North Korea to at least talk. I don't think China's pressure should be underestimated either. I truly think that Donald is bat-[censored] whacko but he has had a hand in getting this initiative as far as it has gone so it is a tick for him.

I’m not sure what playing in September has to do with this argument and whether or not we will. All i am seeing is pretty much the same as he gave at our club. I’m not seeing a miracle transformation. I wish him well but the first six games away from us has not seen him find a hunger for the ball that he didnt have with us for a large percentage of his career.

I hope we get the best man for the defensive coach job and if that is Col Garland then so be it. Success is not obtained by hiring good blokes that have been loyal. (having said that - leaving for family and personal reasons - I hope whatever it is that has taken him away from his role works out ok for him)

Here is my handling of out contract players/ rumours of comings and goings. Every player on our list is a Melbourne player right up until the time they are not. (this keeps my head from exploding - you're welcome)

Maybe i saw something different. I thought his first quarter was good. To me he always looks like he has time with the ball in his hands. After quarter time he got the fumbles along with the other 21 players.

4 points could have been 4 goals and we may have thought differently about him. The issue for me is that last weeks kicking was an aberration not this weeks kicking. From the day he stepped through the door he has missed the most gettable of goals. So having a small forward that cant kick is a small forward that is not worth having. The shame for me is throughout his stay with us he has shown that he can get enough shots on goal. He just cannot kick straight. (what is worse - as a supporter your heart just sinks when he misses such easy shots - you do wonder the impact on the team. You work so hard to get opportunities to score to have the end kicker not able to convert). Therefore he has no value as a small forward. He is not a midfielder and he is not a back. Therefore he has no real value period.

it is an ugly look though wouldn't you say ? I don't like it. The zone around the mark should be protected from all.

That old chestnut of a response. Why bother having laws at all - a law will never stop everyone. Because you can't stop it completely lets do nothing at all..... So here is the answer to your question. You legislate as we did in Australia. Our laws targeted a certain type of weapon. Did it rid it Australia of all of these weapons ? Nope but every one these weapons that is out of circulation is a good thing. I would have zero problem if all guns were made illegal in the hands of the public but I understand that there is a necessity for farmers and i have a personal distaste for hunting but that is what it is. However does anyone really have a need for a AR15 ?

You can't downplay 40 possessions a game - but i would still rather Oliver's 25-30 possessions than Mitchell's 35-40 possessions.

Clearly there is something more than form that we're not privy to ? Clearly ? I would have Brayshaw in the side before ANB and Melksham and line ball with Tyson but clearly the selectors just don't agree with me.

I dont believe in gifting games but until TMac gets back I think we are tall forward light. Therefore someone needs to play there. To me the choice is three 1/ Frost - he aint no forward 2/ Pedersen or Weid - we have seen what Pedo has to offer and he can be good - he was underwhelming the first two games. We have seen Weid and he has shown the odd glimpse. So for team structure we need either Pedo or Weid - since we have no Tmac i prefer to give the Weid a crack - if that is gifting games so be it. ( although his form in the two the last two weeks, albeit against weak opposition has been good)

I suggest he might be on the radar with 5 goals on the weekend. Yes the opposition was poor but your still have to kick them. ( Hunt according to reports on here did not play well against the same poor opposition)

I reckon we are one tall down in the forward line. With Hogan running far and wide (and I see this as his role - he is a natural CHF rather than a stay at home FF) , I really see only two options to the second tall - Pederson or the Weid. The Weid is the future and I can live with some inconsistency to get some more game time into him.

I also think that you need to mix it up. Bomb long, hit up leading forwards. feed it wide. If you are unpredictable it keeps defenders in two minds as to what to do. Bomb long too often and defenders sit back and spoil or mark. Against Richmond we need to be very mindful as Rance just loves the long ball coming in regularly. He needs to be made accountable and run around.

Firstly, it is dangerous strategy with a small forward line as good intercept/marking defenders will have a field day. We went in on Saturday with only one genuine tall in Hogan and he played further up the ground. I would like to see a second tall in the forward line and you then you always try to hit up a leading forward which we did quite successfully on Saturday but if that fails then you can go long. The key is to have a tall deep to bring the ball to ground.

correct. You want him scaring the hell out of defenders when they have the ball which he is doing. Number of possessions for him is unimportant - it is shots on goal. If he has 7 touches and kicks 3-4 goals you would be delighted. He is doing just fine.

The positions listed usually bear little resemblance to how they line up on matchday. I do look at the 22 and think that either Frost plays forward which I don't like (and don't think will happen) which means we are one tall forward light. Gawn may spend more time up forward which he can do but it robs us of his best value and our back up rucks may then get worked over. If we go small in the forward line we have to be disciplined and not just bomb the ball long.

not sure what one i was looking at but this one doesn't even have Mitchell of Hawthorn in the team and he was sensational (a bit critical of him - he gets it a lot but doesn't tend to hurt you - he was fantastic on Monday - go figure). I watched the North game and that is why I am not a fan of ratings - pretty simple who was a more valuable player - Hogan v Waite.

Hogan is on the bench. So is Tom Mitchell !

I think you may have defined being a Dee's supporter.....

been there, done that - didn't work when we tried to turn him into a forward before so I'm not sure why it work now ?