Chicken Deelicious

Bluey count: J. Viney J. Watts J. Trengove T. Scully All Australians: these 4, plus L. Jurrah. M. Gawn. J. Frawley

Top 4: Melbourne Gold Coast Tasmania (They are called the Kangaroos at the moment!) Carlton Collingwood and Geelong will just be starting their slide.

Normally by this time there are some interesting things to read about how the Dees boys (and the Casey boys!) fared in the VFL over the weekend. I saw in the papaer that Casey played. Did I miss the report? Anyone there who can offer a view? If so, I very much look forward to reading it!

Jeepers! What a [censored]. And what did he say about that brilliant chase down and tackle "Oh, he tripped on him and it should have been a free??" Sheesh! Jack is coming along just nicely thank you. If he would have a crack at the goals when he gets the chance, that would be even better. I benchmark this game against last year - he came on and got smashed. This year he tried hard, did some good things and looks a well developing, likely prospect. I looked up the word '[censored]' in the dictionary and saw a picture of Lloyd. I looked up '[censored]'s [censored]' and it was a picture of Maher. Enough said.

Was talking about this with my mates at the game. If he was Riewoldt he would have had a crack and tried to kick it. Needs to believe he is in that class and then look out. Even my collingwood mates reckon he has something special.

We had about double the hit outs. Dont know the number of clearances, but I can only imagine. Kick-ins must be one of the most problematic part of our structural play. Quick play on, kick to the flank. Knock it over the boundary line and have a stoppage. Your idea of 20% success rate sounds pretty optimistic.

Was there today with someone who works (or worked) at the club (wont say to protect the innocent....) Said before the bounce that we are soft. Everyone at the club and at all the other clubs know it. Only reporting what I heard, but seems to be the tag that fits also runs deep.........

Dont forget: 7) Made way too many errors 8) Made bad decisions and worse disposals Apart from that....spot on!

+1 - "jog it Jurrah". He would get a possie, and then WALK or JOG, rather than run and provide an option. Twice he walked to square with the player with the ball. May as well hold up a sign "Dont kick it to me!". Sublime player, but needs to work a lot harder. Either injured or lazy. Both are reasons for a rest.

In: Pettard, Cook Out: Jurrah (inj), Jones

Jones: The weakest link Couldnt believe how often he sold team mates into trouble today, and how he would seem to hold the ball just 2 steps too long. Critical errors directly cost goals. As for the rest - too many mistakes. We are 3 years behind the maggies, and it was clear today.

Why not try Warnock forward? If he marks everything, and kicks OK, why have him as a reserve back if we are lacking a big target forward?

How do you get a collingwood supporter pregnant? Spray in a rubbish bin and let the flies do the rest. What do you call a Collingwood supporter at university? Lost. What would you get if you crossed a half dead, fly blown donkey with a Collingwood supporter? Dont be stupid! Even a half dead, fly blown donkey wouldn't root a collingwood supporter. Why do so many Collingwood fans get along to the MCG on the Queens Birthday? They think Eddie would be upset if they weren't there to watch him blow out the candles.

All this BS would just evaporate if he made a decision and signed one way or the other. I would be so sick of it. We know he is good. They know he is good. Waiting a few extra rounds isn't going to tell anyone anything new. Declare it and get on with your life, Tom. Then we can all get some peace. Heads of agreement? Why would you bother with that? You would either sign a contract or you wouldnt. Sounds like BS to me.

Two tiers is a crap idea. We have a system in place to equalise teams (draft, salary cap, trading process) which no tiered system that I know employs. You never know which teams will be top half or bottom half. Bulldogs this year as a top half performer, Blues as a top 4 contender? When would the split be decided? Tiers would affect membership, sponsorship, attendance,merchandise sales. If the AFL want to expand the competition with GWS, then the logical choice (already offered) is paired conferences, like the Grid Iron (or the super rugby). THe AFL are never about fair. They are about cash. Idiotic idea. But who knows, maybe its STOOPID enough for Vlad to go for!

Playing well against the same team last year should be no indicator for selection this year, sorry Ricky. He was sent back to Casey for a reason. If he has done what he was asked then maybe he will be considered. Maybe Warnock will come in to cover Cloke? Horses for courses approach would seem to be the best approach . All things being equal, there are not too many who didn't warrant another run this week

There have been hard years, but the win will be worth it. If you want to follow a team for the win, then go hop on Collingwood. And after that, whoever is next. I was also there on 'that' day, and will keep being there. I follow Melbourne. Sure, footy has its ups and downs, but for me they will always be red and blue ups and downs. Sounds like there are a few hearts not beating true.

Hawkers break zone This is how Hawthorn do it. Clinical short kicks with precision and holding their nerve. We need to get some precision skills before this would work for us.

The forward press punishes us because we are so poor at hitting targets. One way NOT to beat the press is to kick it to the same place every time (Friday night, anyone?). So, lots of options. Movement. Hitting targets so marks are uncontested, rather than contested. Having options over the back - and options further up the ground. It used to be the huddle. That was beaten by the zone. The zone became the rolling zone, this became the 'press'. What next? In the end, when we dont move, dont hit a target or fail provide multiple options, our kick ins and move out of defense will continue to be the joke of the AFL. ....And when we do somehow manage to get out of defense, we have NOTHING up forward!

I will be going. Sadly (!) the horns were given to the kids, and they lasted about 7 minutes. Unless they are giving out extras, I wont even have horns. I will make up for it with my commentary and cheering. I just hope we put on a bit of a show.

We won the contested ball, we tackled well. We let ourselves down. Errors at both ends cost us dearly. Rock bottom? I think not. Without the brain fades, the squibbs and a third of our best starting 18 off the park, we didnt do so bad. No excuses - we lost. The way we lost was a big step forward compared to last week.

Everything is possible. Its up to the blokes on the park. I hope we dont roll over.

As the saying goes..."when the going gets tough, the tough get going". On ALL evidence this year, we place like heroes when it is easy. As soon as it gets tough, we drop away. Culture? Attitude? Ability? - Dont know the reason, but hoping there is a solution. The Dees need to stop being Fuchias and start being Demons!

Bate led to good spots and was ignored. Bate got himself to really good positions around forward contests to recieve and it didn't go his way. Seemed to work, hard, but didn't get any reward. Dunn provided and delivered really well. We are highly susceptible if he is our second ruck option, though. Like the idea of him playing defensive forward and kicking a couple each week as well. Jurrah was soft at the contest on many occasions, and tried to be too fancy kicking grubber goals and no-one has a crack at him. But I suppose that is his role... Ricky P was the one who realy impacted our forward structure. I suppose the next in line is Newton....????

The bad - less that 20,000 there today.