nutbean

So who will present Petracca with his number 5 jumper ? My heart says The Ox but my head says Jimmy Toumpas ( my head is really not much chop)

how funny was Roos - the look on Petracca's face when he thought he WASN'T going to get a gig this week was priceless. Well played Paul, well played....

I had small stoush on air with Brian Waldron on SEN about this and then we punched on off air ! He suggested exactly the same as Age and I pointed out that is was not the initial shove - this was the grappling straight afterwards. He then said I can't have it both ways - it is high contact. Off air I asked him some questions - when two players grab each others jumpers - where do the grab ? he conceded around the collar. I then asked when they push and shove where are their hands ? He asked for my answer and I said - they are high like Vineys are - but i said he has missed the most important point - the pushing and shoving and show of strength does not have the strength like a punch. It has insufficient force. I pointed out that the picture he is looking at was something that goes on every week ! He then said "I know what I see in that picture". I said " obviously you don't or you wouldnt have passed of that picture on air as the initial contact" He then said " You can't convince me" I said "I can't convince you because you are looking at a still picture instead of the TV footage of the incident. I also can't convince you because you are a giant knobhead" and then i put the phone down. A bit childish i know but i felt much better.

disagree with 2 out of 3 - have another look at the shove - I am not sure that Rance was expecting such a forceful response but it was ultra forceful ( See Steven Morris throwing his head back as he taken across the chest for poor acting) - Rance's act was out of character as he has not done anything like this before - does not excuse it in any way shape or form but I am not sure how you can label it not out of character when that is not the way Rance plays the game on what we have seen over many years - yes it was Rance that went down and he was taken hard on his neck but he did go in head first and you are spot on. I absolutely know that it is impossible to police but sometimes when umpires don't pay frees as a player has ducked his head, they should actually pay a free against for ducking the head. ( I know - impossible) - you are right - someone will end up with a broken neck. The trouble is that players have to bend down to pick up the ball and that puts the head in a potentially bad place so it is impossible to umpire. ( frustratingly so)

I think those days are gone....

I am not sure on this - it was pretty forceful shove by Viney. I thought it was hysterical that he then tried to wrestle and outstrength Viney - Viney giving away 16cm and 12kg and making Rance look like Cale Morton on a bad day.

"an eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind" - Kevin Gandhi (Bunyip U18 premiership fullback) I am completely lost on the argument that others do it so so should we. I have lost count of the number of times posters bemoan these type of actions and players and how these players are the "despised of the AFL" yet when one of ours does it - it's good. Again - unsociable football is one thing - what he did to Reiwoldt is not unsociable - it was unacceptable.

I am very happy with no one kicking bags. It gives the opposition coaches more headaches if we keep on doing what we are doing. Sit on Jeffy and Kent kicks 3 or 4. Put your best on Hogan and Watts kicks 3. Keep Watts and Hogan under wraps and Gawny floats down and kicks a couple or Pedersen kicks a couple as he did against Collingwood. Kennedy was quite but if you look at the possessions he did have - they were involved in goal scoring chains. Then we have our mid kicking goals - Tyson, Bernie and Oliver who has . A good spread of goal kickers works for me. ( just did a back of the envelope gathering of data - last year our mids kicked 43 goals. This season 5 games in they have already kicked 23 goals. - mids kicking goals is verrrrry healthy)

He is probably our only backman who can play body on body - most teams have someone in their forward half that Dunn is a good match up for - players that aren't too mobile. He doesn't offer any run but that is more than compensated for by the penetration in his kicking which is a weapon ( and the balance of our backline does run).

I have never understood the idea of a "defensive forward". You want all your forwards to be defensive but you want them to be offensive as well. The best to stop Shaw of the GWS running off and causing havoc is to kick a couple of goals on him - that makes him more accountable. On that score I would bring in Petracca at the expense of Frost - Frost has been building and is doing a few nice things but still doesn't impact enough. If you want someone to give a good contest in the forward line I still would go with Pedersen as he will clunk more marks. Then you bring in Petracca who ( based purely on his resume) can play big and small and is a natural forward. Watts a lock, Hogan a lock, Kent a lock, Gartlett a lock , we then rotate a mid through the half forward flank - that really leaves two more spots with 3 players competing for them - Frost, Pedersen and Petracca - I think the choice is pretty simple and until Frost impacts more games he is the one i would leave out.

lots of different characters in the game - Gawn is character, Lumumba - the way he plays the game - he is a character. I don't mind shows of strength and a bit of argy bargy - but how can I dislike Ballantyne with a passion for his behavior yet think it is alright just because it is replicated by someone in our team. As i said previously, I don't mind players that walk the fine line but irritating players - well.. they irritate me ! Bugg said this about the Reiwoldt incident - It actually makes me cringe when I watch the footage. At the time I didn't really think of the consequences and what would come from it." I agree 100% with what he said On his finger pointing he said this "Now looking back on it, it seems like I was putting the focus on myself and that doesn't really sit too well with me. "Where the team's gone this year, we've been really team-orientated in our focus and that's what has got us our three wins so far and that's what's put us in a good place for the year to come." I agree 100% with what he said. I expect he will be just as annoying going forward but a little more subtle in his approach and that's ok with me. I saw him getting into Maric when he was comprehensively outmark by Gawny and then Gawny kicked the goal - getting into his head - i can live with that. I guess it is where you draw the line.

I sorta get that you would give Rance 3 weeks down to 2 weeks as opposed to say Ballantyne who is a serial offender - you would add at least week to his penalty. But to let him off because he is good bloke ? umm no - do the crime do the time.

I know it is personal preference but I don't like showboating. We talk about unsociable footballers but their is a major difference between unsociable football and showboating. Jack Viney and Bernie Vince play uncompromising football with Bernie walking a fine line and on occasion stepping over it. I noticed Hunt jumped straight into the fray as did Salem and Dunn and we have footballers who won't take a backwards step either. I have no problem with this. On Sunday night we played uncompromising football. Yappy little irritating footballers ? I don't like them in other teams so I am not sure why I would like one in our team like Bugg. (Note - that is not to be confused with his hard at it approach to the ball and the man and his love of the tough ball and the tackle - I love that in Bugg and I love that in Kennedy)

Getting in the finals, as glamorous as that is - is just a pass mark for the season with 8 teams making the finals.

Yes it was - someone mentioned it was "another go" - I saw it differently....

I agree with all except the dropping. Apparently the club made it's displeasure known to Bugg regarding the Reiwoldt incident and Bugg got on the front foot and apologised. To me, matter closed and we move on.

I remember Brian Wilson showboating after kicking a goal and then his opponent pointing to the scoreboard and reminding him that we were 10 goals down.

Absolute headaches. I am sure this is Petracca's week. It just makes logical sense. On another note - I am intrigued with the Pedo/Frost debate. I think Frost has a much greater ceiling than Pedo but is only showing glimpses. Pedo has great hands and he really has the attributes to take a game apart but doesn't do it. I do lean to Pedersen at this stage. Oliver Petracca in Brayshaw Frost out

You do understand that we have the most dominant tap ruckman in the AFL putting the ball to our advantage ? We also have some decent clearance players for the first time in a long time. Whilst there was a lot terrible in "those" days I would suggest there was a lot more wrong than an assistant coaches perceived set ups.

Bugg has no idea the extent of Riewoldt's injury - would you so Blase if it was Fyfe who had a fractured leg ? Anywho - it seems we have to agree to disagree ( and when I say we I mean you disagree with the rules, the tribunal, the club and the player himself who was crystal clear what he thought of his own actions)

What Bugg said in his apology was spot on. So I take it you have no problem with what Rance did because Watts didn't get seriously hurt. Good to know.....

I agree with this. It was a massive brainfade and listening to him, he doesn't back away in any way, shape or form from what he did and sounded generally remorseful. He hasn't got a history of sniping or doing anything of this nature. LH is spot on - he could have taken his penalty and said nothing but he didn't. He will take a long while to live this down. We move on.

I think we are turning the ball over far more than last year but I am not unduly fazed by that. With great adventure comes more risk. Last year we were chipping backwards defensively across the ground then stopping and then chipping back the other way and stopping. Very little hard run and spread down the field - this meant low inside 50 counts and low scores. A more attacking mindset comes with the caveat that you the risk of turnover is greater and we are seeing that. But I am a great supporter of continuing the mindset as we have such competitive beasts playing that whilst we may get burned by some turnovers ( which we are ) we are also winning back our fair share of ball as well.

discussed elsewhere - I have no problem with the showboating - I have a problem with the Reiwoldt incident.

Yup Reiwoldt was a pratt and a pillock all night - however, you pick your time and your place. He was hobbling and in the hands of the trainer. Not tough at all and I have a huge problem with it. On the field, push and shove, be lippy as you like but when a player is injured and in the hands of the trainer it is a step too far. It was roundly denounced when Nick Reiwoldt was targeted and rightly so. Bugg was also denounced for his actions and was also denounced. ( as to the mild annoyance - when a player is injured you have no idea what is wrong with them. Leave them alone. If they come back on then they are fair game. If they play injured then they are fair game but to target an injured player in the hands of the trainer - nope)