Jaded No More

Watch us lose this. Only Melbourne.

Stupid over use of the footy. These [censored] won’t go away.

Slow mo looks like his forearm smacked his face in the tackle as he was trying to get rid of the ball. Maybe accidental, but gees Hawkins has form. May looked horrible going off. Hopefully it’s not a break.

Someone needs to get Flabber to learn to control his joints. His elbows seem to have a mind of their own.

You’d think we were playing at that dump Kardinia Park. Absolutely disgusting umpiring.

Selwood going for an Oscar. Piece of scum. Hope Viney knocks him out.

Hawkins is a filthy [censored]. Always has been.

What happened to May? I was too busy watching Fritsch. Concussion likely?

My kingdom for a marking forward...

Luckily today is not a day for big forwards... ...now watch Hawkins kick 12 ??

The weather is meant to get slightly better with rain easing for the bounce. Still a wet track is a good thing for a slow aging side like Geelong that love to hold possession. Traditionally we are very poor in the wet, but I hope that Yze, having coached Hawthorn who I think used to be one of the best wet weather team going around, can help us overcome that. Oliver and Tmac coming off very average games. Can’t see both having another stinker.

I don’t disagree, I just don’t think this is where he excels. Hibberd, Hunt, Salem and Rivers in the same backline seems a touch too risky for me. Too many attacking players, not enough players defending. It will mean Lever will need to play a more 1 on 1 role, which doesn’t suit us so well.

My point exactly. Yes he can be a lock down defender, but he isn't as good in that role as Jetta. His strengths are currently being well covered by other players. Perhaps Hibbo will play better than Rivers, but Rivers is the future, and I am happy they are putting game time into him. If Hunt's form drops even a little, he will be the first out to allow for Hibbo to come in. On a sidenote, Melksham's form last year was trash. He was gifted games he did not deserve due to injury, but this year he isn't and should not be an automatic selection. The only player currently not in the team who is an automatic selection when fit, is Ben Brown. While the side is playing well, we should maintain a relatively unchanged side. It is proven that having minimal changes to your team throughout the season often coincides with success.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to play Sunday in Tassie and then have to back it up the following week against a top 4 side on a 5 day break. And Norf are not getting a better timeslot than 1pm on Sunday.

I wish Eddie's bold plan involved going away quietly.

Jetta and Hibberd are not competing for the same spot. Hibberd is competing for a spot with Rivers and Hunt. Hibberd is not a primarily small shut down defender like Jetta, in fact, he is anything but. His strength is his run and carry off half back. Jetta has never, nor will ever be a zippy player. He wins contests on pure strength and courage. That has not changed. Jetta, if he is to be replaced, needs to be replaced with a small lock-down defender. If there is someone on our list that anyone here thinks will do a better job than Jetta currently, I am open to suggestions.

How is that defeatist? It’s the team thing to do. He put a block so his teammate can have a clear run at the ball while he was being heavily tagged? I thought that except for losing his cool once, he took it on the chin and actually played really well up forward, except for his goal conversion. If he kicks 3 goals is anyone even talking about his game?

And yet if he nails those 3 shots on goal we don’t even discuss it. Yes he was tagged, which rarely impacts him, as he does get close attention every week. GWS played dirty and got into his head. He’s still young and will learn.

Quoted for truth. But replace Selwood with Danger.

Inside mids are a “dime a dozen” but Oliver is a one in a generation player. Merrett needs the ball fed out to him. Oliver is the player to do that. You can have all the outside skills in the world, but games, and finals, are won in contests. And nobody is a better ball getter in the contest than Oliver.

Team culture is sometimes just as important. Our team is winning and Jones is contributing and nobody else is knocking the door down. To get him to 300 will give his teammates an enormous lift and will get a massive crowd to our Anzac eve game. Unless he is stinking it up, which he isn’t, I just can’t see the harm in getting him to 300. He deserves it and it will be a very big deal for our club.

I do. I think he will play a quarter or so minutes each quarter in the midfield to shake things up. Teams will need to put lots of attention on him and it will free up other players in there. Besides his burst of speed and agility in the contest is a nice contrast to the rest of our bull-like inside mids. He is obviously not struggling with endurance given he missed 4 weeks of pre season and just got himself fit and is running out games nicely. I reckon once his tank is up for it, his midfield minutes will be super damaging. He has started many quarters this year in the Centre square, and I expect that to continue.

I can’t wait until he has the tank to play serious midfield minutes. He is pure joy.

Absolute credit where it is due. He has been very very good. His gut running and defensive pressure has been incredible important and even his ball use has been much improved. Went from my “delist” pile to my “best 22” pile. If Hunt can improve his kicking, he will be not far behind.

Melksham was the medical sub tonight. Hard to see him getting a game after he spent the week on the bench and coming back from injury. His fitness will be lacking.