Macca

Well I played most of my footy at CHB so I guess that makes me slightly biased For the record Tom McDonald had 1 clanger and it came when the game was in the bag. I clanger in a 9 goal victory. And I lost count of the amount of effective spoils he made. And that's his main job. Jones had 5 clangers, Salem 4 & Viney 3 ... and all 3 players played very well. Joel Smith had 4 clangers ... Melksham, Vince & Oliver 3 each but again, we're never going to play a perfect brand of footy. You need to start judging all our players in the same way that you judge Tom McDonald. You'll make more sense then, dazzle.

I watch our games without the pre-conceived biases that many have. I judge all players equally. Your relentless bagging of Tom makes you look like you're obsessed with him. Along with a few others here of course. Backmen are going to make mistakes - have you ever played footy? If so, have you ever played as a key back? You and others refuse to ever give him any credit which also confirms your bias. Did you hear what Danny Frawley had to say about his game today? It was glowing and I'll take his opinion over yours anyday. Again, he played very well today and if you can't see that I can't help you. Open your eyes.

We get great drive from both Macs. Both take chances with attacking kicks and handballs. Tom especially switches play on an almost constant basis. You wouldn't know it reading this site though ... the obsessive/compulsive urge to disect and criticise their every move is dismaying. Get used to having both of them in the backline for a long time to come. Both played well again today and it's about time credit was given to both players.

A number of the young blokes have played well ... Salem, Petracca & Oliver especially. Brayshaw has shown a bit when he's been on - got some class about him. Viney, Jones, Gawn, Vince, Lewis, Hogan all good & all our backmen have done their job too. Vanders, Hunt & ANB all made contributions. Some great signs. The Blues never threatened. 17.14.116 to 9.8.62.

Hey, can we have a bunch of junk-time goals? It's been a while.

The heat has gone out of the game DJ ... we've been very good and the only worry is Brayshaw - I'm hoping it's only a precaution as to why he's off.

Don't mind the 2 rucks but Spencer up forward is a concern ... not sure we can throw him down back and we don't want to waste a bench spot which would otherwise be used for rotating the mids. Jake competes well and he goes hard so that's not the issue. It's always ok to experiment in these sorts of games though so it's not a wasted exercise. I'd expect Watts to come in sooner rather than later.

Tom kicked the ball out in front of Hibberd and Hibberd then transgressed the rules Instead of diving at the footy Hibberd should have taken out the Carlton player with a hip and shoulder and then gathered the ball.

Tom McDonald has been one of our best. No errors, no turnovers & he has beaten his man. Is giving us good drive out of defence as well.

7.5 to 2.4 .. we should be further in front but we haven't been wasteful. A bit more poise is required entering the forward line.

Classy goal from Salem

34 to 8 in our favour ... we've had a lot of the play

If a player misses out then it's incumbent on that player to work their way into the team. Trengove will get his chances much like the rest who missed out. I'm only watching on the telly but we've started well using good teamwork.

For what it's worth, here are those players who aren't playing today ... Tyson, Jetta, Garlett, Garland, Pedersen, Frost, Watts, Kent, Trengove, Kennedy, Wagner, Hannan, Hulett, King, McKenna, Tim Smith, White, Keilty, Filipovic & Maynard. Apologies if I've missed someone.

And the Trump administration/Russian connection just won't be going away either - the latest from The Washington Post ... Trump administration sought to enlist intelligence officials, key lawmakers to counter Russia stories

The Trump administration has made the unprecedented move of blocking numerous news outlets from attending the press briefings ... including the BBC, LA Times, NY Times, CNN, Politico, Buzzfeed & The Guardian. Other news outlets including Time Magazine & the Associated Press have decided to boycott the press briefings in support. All too predictable though as Trump is about as thin-skinned as thin-skinned can get. His Republican support will lessen as a result and in turn, his ability to govern properly will be diminished. He should just suck it up as previous Presidents have but not this bloke. Meanwhile, his right-wing support will be thinking up some elaborate way of explaining this action ... the move possibly goes against the first amendment too. White House blocks news organizations from press briefing

Yep ... denying Watts the one thing that does matter to him has got to fire the bloke up. The more I think about it, the more I believe it might work. Or it won't hurt at least. It doesn't hurt the team either as the real stuff hasn't begun yet. All the traits needed to be a 'warrior-type'* are in-built into any sportsperson (to a certain degree) but we need to see more of it out of Jack. Goodwin is laying down the challenge and we may well look back down the track and see it all as a positive move. Much like when Stevie J being left out for 6 weeks was the making of him as a footballer. *And I agree Nasher, the locker-room term I put forward is just too questionable but boys will be boys ... another nickname for these types of players is often 'diesel' or 'hardnut' but none of those types of terms quite covers it. The Collingwood team of the late 1920's was known as a machine. Norm Smith's teams were of a similar nature (from what I've read and been told) But "Warrior-type" is quite an apt title though. And then there is a scale of course. On a scale of 1 to 10 Viney is a 9 or 10 whilst Watts is not near that number (but his number can obviously improve) .

Leicester have sacked Ranieri ... that's hard to believe when considering the success he brought them just 9 months ago. I doubt they'll ever win another Premier league title (unless something dramatic happens) so the memory of winning in such an unexpected way is always going to be associated with sacking the coach just 9 months later. If there was player unrest it wouldn't have been all of them ... I'll be surprised if they stave off relegation now. They had a better chance of avoiding relegation with Ranieri in charge. And if they do get relegated this hair-brained decision will look even worse. Claudio Ranieri: Leicester manager sacking made Gary Lineker 'shed a tear'

And in a short space of time the Aussies have found themselves in a very strong position. Bowling India out for 105 was probably not in the thoughts of many. Huge kudos to O'Keefe (6-35) but all the bowlers contributed. Agree on Renshaw ... looks to have a very bright future. I still see Starc as more of a clean hitter - no.8 is his spot. Mitch Marsh is still young enough to improve - he can be rotated in or out depending on whether we may prefer to play a pure batsman at no.6. The no.6 spot can be used in a flexible way and I reckon it will be used that way by the selectors - I'm not rusted on to a certain type of player. It would help if Warner & Smith bowled a bit more and could hold their own.

Whatever way we want to describe these types of players (Warrior spirit?), one thing is for sure, these players are worth their weight in gold. They have to be top-line footballers as well of course. It can't be taught and it can't be coached either ... in fact, any coach would generally leave these players to their own devices but would know that any instruction would be carried out to the letter. It's interesting that our 2 captains qualify as absolute proven hardnuts. Jack Watts will get his way into the senior team and when he does, he'll know that he'll need to perform well to stay in the side. Good teams have up to 12-14 players who perform well in 4 out of 5 games or perhaps perform well in 5 out of 6 games. That's got to be the standard if we're going to contend.

My reading of it is that he's missed out on form Bobby ... and training form does matter. I don't see anything sinister. It's a new year and a new broom sweeps clean.

It's easy to jump to that conclusion but no, it's not meant to be a derogatory term in this instance. Maximum effort, energy, application, enthusiasm, focus, tunnel-vision etc etc These types live, eat & breath footy and it's just about the only thing that matters in their lives.

My circle of mates use a term of 'Block-heads' when it comes to footy players. The term is self explanatory but players like Libba, Tony Shaw, Joel Selwood and the like fit the bill. Jack Viney is another. Even Nick Rewoldt is. And there are a stack of players who aren't block heads but are still AFL level players to varying degrees. Watts is not a block-head ... if he was, he'd be a better player.

Those days are long gone ... the media are making this a story and the club is playing a straight bat. Watts is being treated like any other player on the list.

I understand how it all works nutbean ... my previous posts explains my position. The Yarran story was similar but different ... in my opinion it had more substance but both stories fall under the banner of 'buyer beware'