Macca

JVR went in to spoil the marking contest, not (supposedly) smother a kick as Maynard did The circumstances were vastly different. In terms of deliberate hits, the JVR one was correctly argued that he was making a genuine attempt to play the ball and spoil Where as the Maynard hit was a poorly disguised smother which was in effect, trying to stretch a ruling that most will see as an outright lie In my view he went at Brayshaw to take him out and in the process of doing that he threw his arms up to make it look like a smother It's a con, pure and simple

Yes we know that and that wasn't my point anyway, Gonzo My point was that front on contact with force to an unprotected player should be a suspending offence Unduly rough play carries with it a suspension if proven. So if a player shirt fronts a player and breaks ribs or say, knees someone in the back with force whilst that player is lying in the ground (e.g. Matthews/Hunter), they can be suspended Tripping is an offence that we rarely see. And tripping can result in a broken leg. A forceful punch to the gut? Suspendable So just about any non football act that can cause injury can be a suspendable offence The Hawthorn player should have been cited but wasn't ... now we have another front on contact incident but this time, the player was knocked unconscious and carried off on a stretcher Dangerfield & Richardson were banging on that Maynard's was a football act but it wasn't Those 2 were just following the footballers 'code' ... best to ignore

In the Pies/ Hawks match the Hawthorn player took out Daicos from front on and wasn't cited ... don't be surprised if the Pies use that incident as part of their defence (once Maynard is cited) I saw the Daicos incident as a deliberate act as Daicos was also unprotected attempting a mark. Noticeable was that the Hawk player had a decent weight advantage on the unprotected Daicos My gut feeling is that the ribs were the target. As it was, Daicos sustained a cracked bone in his knee from the incident So is it carte blanche looking ahead? Of course not, they are going to have to knock this sort of stuff on the head (no pun intended) And were Gus' ribs the intented target by Maynard? In my view yes but he ran the risk of collecting Gus' head Which is what happened

It was an unrealistic attempt When was the last time we saw a player run at a player with arms outstretched and then cannon into a player (accidentally?) and on top of that, shoulder the kickers head to render that player unconscious? And then carried off on a stretcher That's right, it doesn't happen because that act is deemed as a charge/unduly rough play. So players don't do it But Maynard did and he transgressed the rules He has to be rubbed out for multiple weeks otherwise the whole notion of addressing head trauma is out the window

Chaos ball means a fantastic contested attack on the ball along with fearless football (Goodwin was quoted early on having that as a goal) but we lack finesse, poise, connectivity and composure However, in 2021 we were the complete outfit (or close enough to it) Right now, the contrast between our defence & forward line is stark ... one is the best in the league (we again restricted the Pies to 60 points) yet our forward line just doesn't function properly. And our forward 50 entries are abysmal Losing Petty & Melksham in an already iffy forward line has been a real body blow. We've quite literally run out of options as T-Mac just isn't moving well, yet he is our first choice CHF (and that's not ideal) ... and JVR is just a kid To work our way back into GF contention is quite the task. It's not impossible but we're going to need a bit of luck going our way

Usually manning the mark with arms outstreched is what a player is required to do (but he can't move) ... as we saw in that still photo But Maynard is on the move at good pace running straight at Brayshaw ... and Maynard knows that Brayshaw is in the kicking motion and can't protect himself So in my view, Maynard knows that he is going to slam into an unprotected Brayshaw ... so on contact, he turns his body so that his shoulder hits the head knowing that he won't be hurt himself A deliberate and calculated act He took him out But apparently, he's attempting to smother the kick?

Brisbane's best wins it all or if we can somehow make it back that far, our best wins as well Collingwood won fair & square tonight but we saw their weak point again ... we just couldn't capitalise Which makes the loss even more galling ... if we'd brought our best and lost, you'd be happy to tip your hat But knowing that we can play so much better is frustrating, to say the least. Gutted is the best way to describe the loss tonight. And if I'm gutted, there must be lots of others feeling the same, or worse!

If Hunter got a week for what he did, Maynard has to get a much bigger penalty For goodness sake, Brayshaw was knocked out cold and carried off on a stretcher and Maynard somehow gets off? Cripps all over again won't be happening this time as the technicalities applied back then are no longer a thing Maynard is gone big time otherwise they might as well disregard all the talk about protecting the head along with avoiding concussions If he gets off get set for more front on 'attempted' smothers ... we'll see a rash of them ending with the shoulders slamming into various heads ... a free-for-all

He's got his arms up and sure, it looks innocent enough but it's what happens a split second later that makes the first action a ruse In my view, his intention is to take Brayshaw out and make a statement. To put the Demons off their game and it worked The arms being raised is the con At suburban or country level that's 4 weeks (for the hit to the head) He took him out and as far as I'm concerned, he did it deliberately We're told that players must have a duty of care so regardless of intent, he has to get weeks by his own actions His shoulder cannons into Brayshaw's head and knocks him out cold 4 weeks

That's the disguise, dazzle The malice and intent was to then follow through and take the player (Brayshaw) out To avoid body contact, Maynard needed to turn to the side (remembering that Brayshaw is unprotected) This whole thing might be a legacy on how Daicos was taken out a month ago ... the Hawthorn player just ran into an unprotected Daicos from the front as Daicos was attempting the mark And as the Hawthorn player wasn't cited, I then though we might start seeing similar incidents @old55 had the same opinion The above image looks innocent, but what happened a split second later looked a little bit too obvious ... I smell a rat

Yep As most should know, when you kick the ball, the foot and ball is close to the ground ... nowhere near the head! I can't believe that this is even a talking point ... as someone else said here, at best it's a poorly disguised attempt at a smother Put another way ... When was the last time a player's head was slammed into by a player attempting to smother a kick? I'd say never But such is the obvious protection of big name players and all the spin attached, he'll probably get off with KC's involved

To smother the kick of an oncoming player requires the smotherer to dive at that kickers feet. Who does that? A smother enacted correctly comes from the side, rarely, if ever, front on And you don't have to have played footy to know any of the above (although it helps) So how does a player attempting to smother a kick (which is kicked from about 30cm from ground level) end up shouldering the kickers head? Huh? Makes zero sense Those justifying Maynard's action quite literally have no idea what they're talking about

Hard to win a final when up to half the team were either MIA or well below par So many non contributors and many of the team were mere spectators for most of the 1st quarter. We looked unmotivated early I'm rarely gutted by a loss but tonight was a game we threw away as the Pies just aren't that good. Sure, their pressure was very good but why did we wilt so easily? When we finally got our act together, it was all too late Our composure and poise was poor, the inside 50 entries atrocious and the forward line was non functional. Simple things like playing in front and gaining separation just don't happen for our forwards. To get the easy goals you've got to do the hard yards Make no mistake, we lost the match way more than the opposition won it A chance opportunity blown And now it gets harder to where we want to end up. Not an impossible mission but far from easy

Maynard took out an unprotected player with malice. A smothering act involves the hands and arms attacking the actual football. To do that to a player kicking the footy takes high risk courage and that's why we rarely see it happen All we saw was Maynard doing everything but use his hands and arms to smother the football. You can't just charge into a player like that as it's unduly rough play He should get at least 4 or 5 weeks but knowing the MRO, he might even get off What he did can't be justified as he didn't go low to smother ... in fact, what he did was go high (nowhere near the footy) and therefore cleaned up Brayshaw at head height

Yes we will and as much as I'd have Grundy as the sub to cover for Max, I'm not sure it will happen But will we be surprised if the Collingwood ruckmen work Max over? We all know that Cox can be a sniper and our MC should be expectating some dirty tactics against Gawn Thus, the insurance that might be needed to cover our only ruckman (a non starting insurance player)

Laurie will be lucky to get on the ground before 3/4 time and it's difficult to impact games in those circumstances And as for being a game-breaker, that doesn't include Grundy either But for insurance, Grundy is easily the best option especially if something happens to Max We've got at least 10 players that can run through the midfield, why do we need 10.25 midfielders? And we've only got 1 ruckman It's important to note that we're not talking about a starting 22 player. The chances are our sub won't be on the ground until the last quarter So using Grundy as insurance is a logical decision, not left field

Despite the rain that might come and despite what we're hearing, Grundy might be the sub as insurance. So if something happens to Max, we're covered It's not like the other 3 emergencies are game breakers or vital to the cause

@Gorgoroth @JV7 @DeeSpencer @Go the Biff @titan_uranus @BDA @Clintosaurus @DemonDave @Dee Zephyr @Dappa Dan

Packers will be lucky to win 7 games as well. Transition year but we'll need to change the overall offensive structure with Rodgers gone

@layzie @Gorgoroth @JV7 @DeeSpencer @Go the Biff @titan_uranus @BDA @Dr. Gonzo @Clintosaurus @DemonDave @Dee Zephyr @Dappa Dan @cowboy_from_hell @pantaloons @Strafford Season starts next week! Tipping comp should be a goer again with no need to change any of the rules ... remembering that a bonus point is always on offer if you are the only successful tipster in any given week Weeks 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, & 13 all worth 2 points Weeks 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 & 14 all worth 1 point Week 15 - 2 points Week 16 - 2 points Week 17 - 2 points Week 18 - 3 points Reigning champ is 'DeeSpencer' whilst the overall leader (combining both comps) is 'Go the Biff' For those new to this thread to gain points all you need to do is pick 3 road winner from 3 picks in any given week (easy peasy!!) ... so join in anytime as there's no cut-off point

That came up quick! Season starts next Thursday evening (Lions @ Chiefs) Tipping comp is on again too ... I'll post up the games and points system over the next few days

And no better example of your evaluation is our defence. The best in the league on a year to year basis and collectively, chock full of talent Yet not one of our defence gets an AA guernsey? So May, Lever, Rivers, Salem, McVee, Bowie & Turner (with Brayshaw helping out) go about their business with a minimum of fuss and they're not noticed? I'm damn sure the opposition & opposition coaches notice them Defence wins Championships

It's a nice position to be in to go either/or ... land Reid (if it doesn't cost too much) or get hold of pick 4 and use picks 4 & 5 to either land 2 excellent prospects or trade the picks for genuine talent (as we've done in the past) Sometimes we've earmarked and acquired talent (away from the draft) and other times we've acquired experienced talent later on during the trade period So either/or has worked and will continue working as Taylor is the best in the business

Yes Taylor has definitely got the midas touch ... he's an absolutely beauty I can see the club staying in contention for years to come due to his recruiting skills alone