Macca

In terms of rankings, which 4 teams are the biggest winners after this round and which 4 teams are the biggest losers? (in order) My 4 biggest winners Essendon, Collingwood, Adelaide, Sydney 4 biggest losers Carlton, Melbourne, Richmond, Bulldogs

Amstel Gold race for Women & Men on Viceland tonight (on now) The women's race is close to finishing with the men's race set to finish at about 1.00am

Well it was different here and you're right, I would read 'ology during that time* and the contrast was stark At one stage 97% in a poll here wanted Neeld to stay on and see out at least his 2nd year. Good old hardnut & tonatopia copped a pasting but they were on the money early Mind you, the whole club was a complete mess so to blame one person only was crazy-talk Anyway, it's all just pub-type debates and arguments anyway and entirely harmless. It's just opinions, we effect nothing Like I've always said ... he/she who holds a grudge, suffers most Amstel Gold race for the Women & Men on Viceland tonight for those interested ... another 1-day classic in the lead up to the Grand Tours *Joined 'ology for the last few months of it's existence and glad I did.

@Jumping Jack Clennett@Sir Why You Little Hammers at Arsenal tonight 11pm A big big game for both teams ... even one point for a draw will help West Ham a lot but Arsenal need to win Could be a cracker of a game as the Gunners have to go for it If you don't have Optus vision the game will be broadcast by SEN 1116 (11pm) #I'mForeverBlowingBubbles

Nice win yesterday ... I had it in a double with D'jumbuck at about 18-1 Ben Allen rode it nicely Decent prizemoney for a Saturday race too! So does Pinstriped go to Qld or SA or spell?

Yes he effectively killed the clock with that last pack mark at high half-forward (Hawks side of the ground) I got the distinct impression that he didn't want the finger pointed at himself for missing those 2 easy shots Willed himself at the contest and iced the game. It certainly was well done

Had plenty of mates We didn't have one player who couldn't have played better than they did on the day (and that includes Clarrie) So not one player played to their Max

I reckon Caulfield would be ideal ... for the club mainly but also for a lot of our supporters who live with 15-20 minutes Getting the go-ahead and the funding is the key but you'd imagine the facilities would be first rate. Sitting up in those time-honoured stands watching training would appeal to those who ordinarily wouldn't attend training sessions Personally, I'm not that far away and being a racing man, Caulfield racecourse has always been a favourite Get it done Demons even if it takes 4 or 5 years! In the meantime, Gosch's, AAMI & Casey will suffice. After all, we did win a premiership training out of both venues

If he could kick straight he'd be B+ to A grade. Such a commanding presence and a beautiful mark Wouldn't mind him in our team right now but that's the stuff of dreams. Bridges might have been burnt. But the boy can play! Mind you, the game was tough of my aging eyes ... bright orange & yellow everywhere. Had to turn the brightness down on the telly

Didn't watch the game but noticed the following stats Hit-outs Cats 61 - 31 Eagles Clearances Cats 51 -31 Eagles Marks inside 50 Cats 24 - 13 Eagles Frees Eagles 22 - 14 Cats So the Cats dominated the stoppages and had a dominant forward line but the Eagles were favoured by the umpires? #FreeKickEagles?

Oh I've been in some barney's here IRW, I can assure you Going right back to when I dared to question the untouchable Neeld. I swear he was miles more protected than Goodwin. Which makes no sense See you on the cycling thread

Not what I said .. I'm advocating paying a 3rd ruckman $400k - $450k and then playing that player for at least 8 games (Gawn & Grundy rested for 4 games each) So not half a million and not never playing seniors. You said that, not me And if Gawn or Grundy get injured the 3rd ruckman might play up to 14 games or even more So keep your fingers crossed that Grundy doesn't go down with the extra workload By the way, that scenario would have crossed the minds of most demon supporters. It's our worst nightmare I'm not sure we can win a flag without a decent 2nd ruckman I rate ruckman higher than most and in my view, their value is often understated (except when it comes to Gawn where most see him as a great ruckman and a matchwinner) I'll be happy if Gawn returns and we can get through the season unscathed. Chances of that happening ... 50/50

So what is sensible? ... paying Schache & Dunstan reasonable coin and only using them in an emergency The way you're carrying on you've got me spending $Millions on a 3rd ruckman Which is not what I'm advocating .. are you reading what I've got to say carefully or glossing over? $400k - $450k and there would be a ruckman out there we could snag. Someone is missing out So you can default to your list management strategists argument but as good as they are they can still overlook an issue So are you happy to go into a finals campaign with Tommy Mac as the 2nd ruck? With the chance of being up against 2 decent types like we faced yesterday?

Spot on Yesterday's reaction to the umpiring reminded me of the Neeld reign. i.e very few complaints We were so bad back then that the large majority realised that the umpiring had zero effect on our crud play.

He ducked his head into the oncoming player. That's on Spargo and he was rightfully pinged Great decision by the umpire By the way, if we're are being honest we had the better of the umpiring yesterday as we did against the Eagles

No not at all ... what would be negligent is leaving yourself short like we have done Sports all around the world see players on reasonable coin as back-up ... and it will happen here as more money comes into the sport Say $400k - $450k with the promise that that player would play 8-10 games. Barring injury you'd rest Grundy and Gawn for about 4 games each Add in injuries and the back-up might play 12-14 games Or we could persevere with non ruckmen as the 2nd ruck. Which to me, is unprofessional

Reasonable money talks And although we have 2 x A grade ruckman one is getting on and the other is a bit injury prone So the 3rd AFL standard ruckman would almost certainly get game time and be paid ok money. And that scenario can be sold to the prospective ruckman Years ago clubs had up to 5 ruckman on a list but only 2 played We are slowly moving to a squad mentality where all bases need to be covered And what's one spot in the list anyway? We've usually got 6-8 spots taken up by players who will be lucky to make it in the big time anyway

Schache is a break-glass in emergency type otherwise he might have been brought into the team already We have gone with T-Mac & JVR as the 2nd ruck but there's not much conviction there (if at all) So is Schache a physical player? That's the question as does he relish the contest? Our weakness in the midfield is that we don't rove well to opposition ruck tap-outs. That could be a legacy of Max's dominance but nonetheless, it's a weakness So we can't concede the tap and when we do, we are conceding first use of the ball to the opposition. Then we are compelled to win the ball back on the 2nd or 3rd possession that the opposition have going forward (which is easier said than done) We are at our best when Petracca, Oliver or Viney get first use of the ball out of the middle. Stifle that and we are quite beatable. Maybe Brayshaw needs to go in there but he's playing an important role in the backline with the absence of Salem (Stringer was subdued by Gus yesterday) Scott coached his team very well yesterday (in many aspects)

Not necessarily a young untried ruckman It's worth paying an extra established B grade ruckman as a spare than paying 6-8 midfield types who in all likelyhood aren't going to feature very often For instance, we recruited Dunstan as a spare midfielder but even when one of our midfielders is out (Harmes etc) he doesn't necessarily come into the team But lose a main player ruckman and we have to restructure our line-up because we don't have a spare. By the way, the spare ruckman has to be a better player than a player like Pruess We are lucky that in our next game the Tigers are experiencing rucking issues as well ... but by contrast, the Bombers took advantage

@demon3165 If one of our 2 main ruckman wasn't starting 18 then rucking depth isn't as big an issue as the main ruckman plays with the spare often not even in the 22 But our strategy is 2 top line ruckman in the starting 18 so we end up having to change our structure (instead of next man up) if 1 of the starting 18 ruckman goes down One issue are taps to advantage ... without a front line ruckman last week the Pies maybe had 1 or 2 taps to advantage which limits the scoring power Haven't seen the numbers but I'd be surprised if the Bombers didn't outnumber us with taps to advantage (and their midfield performed better than ours anyway) Their 2-pronged attack in the ruck amounted to 26 possessions & 39 hit-outs. Grundy battled manfully but was up against it

Spargo ducking his head was really dangerous and the coaches need to get that out of his game He's lucky he only got concussion out of the incident so he's a lucky lad. Ducking your head into an oncoming hip is asking for trouble

I thought a number of our backmen had off days even though we were under seige yesterday May was down on his best, Rivers, Tomlinson, McVee, Bowey, Petty were average at best. Brayshaw did well on Stringer As for our rucking, if we are going to go with a 2-pronged attack in the starting 18 then we need a 3rd ruckman ready if one of the big 2 is our injured. Otherwise, we lose our structure around the ground We end up replacing an A grade ruckman with a stop-gap measure that doesn't really work. T-Mac, JVR & Petty are bog average as the 2nd ruckman Is our spare ruckman an 18yo kid? I remember the days when clubs had 4 or 5 ruckmen on their list ... 6-8 spare midfield types who rarely play and no spare ruckmen? Scott saw our weakness and went with 2 ruckman ... Grundy tried hard but was outnumbered It's such an underrated part of the game and Essendon took full advantage yesterday

The forward line is an issue but we were beaten all over the ground in contest after contest Even with a functioning forward line we still lose the game yesterday. Our players were 2nd to the ball, we often played from behind and we didn't hunt in packs. Our pressure was ordinary Teamwork was poor where as the Bombers did all the basics properly Beaten in the overall rucking, midfield, stoppages, clean clearances, backline & forward line. All phases. We had a dirty day The upside is that our best beats any team so it's not a disaster We have to turn up fully motivated and fully prepared

The gap between our best and worst is too big and we have a problem with regards to motivation and preparing well. Lazy? Certainly not switched on Nothing that can't be sorted as we've got plenty of talent. But we've got to turn up ready & able We play the flanks and wings too much on occasions. We've got the talent to use the corridor way more often as other teams do. Essendon used the corridor and took chances and it paid off We lacked dash & dare and played from behind and were 2nd to the ball all game. Where as they had numbers at the contest, played as a team, chased hard and pressured us Yesterday mirrored the Lions encounter. By contrast, we were fantastic against the Doggies & Swans. The Eagles game was a training run

And Jack Clarke is credited with being the first coach to rotate his 3 talls within the forward line. By contrast Norm Smith often played a decoy forward so as to create opportunities and space for his other forwards At the same time Peter Pianto (Cats coach) was the first to introduce the forward press ... a tactic he borrowed from soccer I was too young to see these tactics enacted first hand, more so gleaned knowledge from what I've read and from what I've heard from ol' mate Dave As for Essendon, I've often admired a number of their players (Hird, Madden, Tim Watson, Van der Haar et al) but I cannot stand their supporters A 1 point win against this mob would be sweet!! Or a thrashing!!