Macca

It is you, it's just that you don't know that about yourself I'll say it again, if our facilities were so substandard, there's no way we win the flag training out of Casey Truth is we did it tough as well flying all over the place within hubs and away from family As hard as it gets whilst the Eagles gave up. We kept at it and won the flag playing great football You of all people should know about doing it tough and overcoming adversity I'm actually surprised that you're not agreeing with me

Yes, we're in furious agreement bub but let's not forget how well we played in 2021 Our skills throughout that finals series were seriously good But since then nearly every team has flooded our forward line at all opportunities and we haven't countered that (yet) 2 years of long bombs hasn't worked for us I'm convinced that we just move the ball too slowly and we play the boundary line too much. The first thing I'd do is switch the wings so that the boundary line is not a friend to Langdon & Hunter If I recall correctly, Flower played the wing position where the boundary line was on his left. Do you recall?

You've obviously never played any sport or ever been involved if you believe that 17yo's or 18yo's are the finished product Most develop at different stages and some are so advanced that they don't get any better (Morton, Toumpas etc) Others take ages so judging them at the same age is fraught with danger And no one knows for sure either. It's an educated guess otherwise, there wouldn't be any busts But hey, if we get told something over and over again we're inclined to believe it Your problem is your gullibility. You never question anything, it's just a whingefest with you

I was being flippant, PSD Although, I do question the actual height of a few players but I won't name names!

Our disposal skills needs a fair bit of work coupled with the speed that we move the ball And way more corridor football is needed. We've got an excellent list of players with a stellar defence so why aren't we taking more risks

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Yes but with much the same list we lost 18 games in 2014. And Roos cleared out over 30 players over 3 off-seasons I can't argue with you about the coach but we had some deep problems throughout the club which led to the CEO going and a board reshuffle Some were saying that the AFL bailed us out but the AFL intervention was required Looking back, we were a real mess especially when you look at the club now

I also advocated (years ago) that the club should start swapping some draft picks for proven talent. And if I recall correctly, I didn't get a lot of support (but there was some support) And hey presto, that's what we started doing. Incredible As a result we secured May, Lever, Brown, Melksham, Hibberd, Tomlinson, Langdon, Tyson, Hunter, Lewis etc etc. And now McAdam, Billings & Fullarton. I've no doubt left a few out And securing those players went a long way to securing the flag If you had your way, we would have only have kept drafting teenagers (with a messiah thinking) without any other form of recruiting So who got it right in the end?

I never said that at all Stop twisting my words I've only ever said that drafting can be flawed and that is a statement of fact. Otherwise, there would never be any busts And you want the coach sacked as well? It's all the umpires' fault? You're good for a laugh, Wyl, I'll give you that

So how on Earth did we suddenly win a flag training out of Casey? Doing it a bit tough never hurt anyone Tigers won 3 flags training at a postage stamp of an oval. Yet we're forever hearing that teams should only train on MCG proportions These things nearly always get blown out of proportion For years we were told the Junction Oval ground was unfit for training. Yet it was easily had the best surface going around. No mud, great drainage. Like carpet And a meeting room is a meeting room. Stick a few chairs in there and a whiteboard and away you go As for the Bombers, for all their great facilities, they haven't won a final in 20 years. Maybe they're too pampered? Too soft? Too many peptides

Do they measure people or do the players just tell (whoever) what their height is? Height person: What height are you? Player: I'm 190 centimeters HP : Are you sure, you don't look that tall? Player: You're not allowed to talk to me like that HP: You're right, sorry. See you later, titch! Next!!

There was a fair bit of opposition when we had the pokies but it didn't amount to much until the clubs took it upon themselves to start exiting out of the venture's ... many are still heavily involved though (Hawthorn?) Stand corrected on that And who boycotts Coles & Woolies knowing their massive involvement with pokies? But at around about that same time, the clubs and the AFL started getting all cosy with the betting agencies so there's always something We don't live in a perfect world and if we don't go to Caulfield we're probably stuck with where we are (and that wouldn't particulary bother me as the facilities we've currently got are more than adequate) But if it's not going to cost us much going into a new facility, the supporters getting their heads around us being involved with a racing club is no big deal. You can't please everyone Besides which, we all have choices and the average supporter rarely ventures to training anyway Oddly enough, despite us potentially being involved with a racing club, we'd almost certainly get a lot more supporters venturing to training (location, mod cons etc)

Today: All sizzle and no steak! The good news is that we get 2 games tomorrow (without a 5am start) and 2 more games on Tuesday

Leaderboard Post Season Tipping Comp 3 - BDA 2 - Gorgoroth, Go the Biff, JV7 1 - Clintosaurus, DeeSpencer, DemonDave, layzie, Macca 0 - Dr.Gonzo, Dee Zephyr

India parked the bus much like the Kiwi's did in the 2010 world cup Our cohesion wasn't great although it was the first game in the group. The mindset might have been to get some sort of win and no injuries And we were always going to win the game unless India were able to replicate what the Kiwi's did in 2010 world cup (3 draws including a draw against mighty Italy) India just kicked it away all night but were very courageous in blocking shots. They did about as well as they could do Next up is Syria 10pm this Thursday (18th)

If his foot injury was an issue why wouldn't he be off it? Instead of that he's running and jumping around and it's mid January More so MFCSS and people who delight in thinking the worst Hanrahan's

I'd say worse than Fitzroy in their death rows. We paid up everyone and had lots of moolah where as the Lions were broke There was no 7 cents in the dollar payouts or anything like that. Everyone got their money including the coach getting a $1.3Million payout (nice work if you can get it) Dark times and an example of how far you can fall if not switched on There were very few redeeming features until PJ saved us 10 years later and we're cooking with gas with a very healthy bottom line, good coaching and good admin and an excellent list of players And 70,000 members? What a loyal bunch of supporters we have putting up with all those crud years And we aren't going to win every flag each time we're in contention so we need to be patient and hope that luck is with us (as it was in 2021 when we had an injury free season

Andy Reid's moustache has iced up!

Steelers @ Bills game has been moved to Tuesday 8.30am (AEDT) Snowstorm issues

And there's a lot of room within the Moonee Valley & Flemington courses as well (both crown land) Not that I'm advocating heading that way But again, what stands out is how all that land inside the various racetracks has not been utilised. With all the grandstands already in place (albeit with bleacher views)

We have to come to terms with the notion that Grundy's cards were clearly marked Once a coach tells you that you are surplus to needs, the relationship is as good as over. Especially for a player who was playing quite well in his role as ruckman It should be remembered that Grundy himself wasn't sprouting his ability as a forward. That was our notion So in Grundy's eyes he's not surplus to needs elsewhere so he's on the move as soon as the axe comes down. We can't ordinarily compare him to a player dropped because their form is poor (and is told that if he performs in the 2's, he can get back in the team) We closed the door once we went in another direction (Gawn to ruck with JVR & T-Mac as back up ruckmen) The ruse was naming Grundy as an emergency a few times. In my view, Grundy wasn't under consideration

Carlton went out in straight sets in 1975 and in 1976 but bounced back to win flags in 1979, 1981 & 1982 And since the early 70's, teams going out in straight sets has happened about 35 times by various teams Carlton have been the biggest culprits transgressing 7 or 8 times but they also won 7 flags in a 20 year stretch I reckon it comes with the territory as the law of averages tells us that these things are going to happen. Unless you are the absolute standout best team and then it's an issue But are we that good, layz? I just see us as 1 of 4 or 5 contenders and we weren't clearly on top at the end of the season proper And sometimes it goes the other way and you get lucky Like us having an injury free season in 2021. We got very lucky in that respect. A lot of things fell our way and quite often, that's what it takes to win the flag We even reversed things with regards to the umpiring in that GF Free kick count was 19-13 in our favour against the #FreeKickBulldogs (conspiracy theory debunked) Footnote: Port Adelaide also went out in straight sets last year, not that the media will highlight that fact #StraightSetsPort (bombed out of the finals 3 years in a row '01, '02 & '03)

Here's how I see it, deevs If we had a way more efficient way with our F50 entries, it wouldn't matter so much about the quality of our forwards But here's the thing, that style wasn't going to suddenly change midstream so once we started losing all our quality forwards, we were on a collision course to losing Collingwood just won a flag without having a top-level forward line. Why? Because they are exceptionally efficient with their F50 entries (and they play counter-attacking football at high speed) They have shown the way but you know what (?), that breakneck counter-attacking style is a throwback to how footy was played prior to 2005 And McRae was a triple premiership player with a highly skilled team that knew how to move the ball quickly So it's nothing new We need to change and adapt and with the acquisition of McQualter, hopefully that adaptability happens

On the surface of it, if you were a neutral observer, you'd be thinking that we are trying to make things deliberately hard for our forwards Of course, that's not true but that's what it might look like. There was a similar argument when Neeld coached us. Our default move was to hug the boundary but with unskilled players, that was a recipe for disaster And make no mistake, the Pies are leading the way with regards to levels of efficiency with F50 entries. McRae himself was a very efficient footballer and his team reflects his style Goodwin on the other hand was an A grade nuts & bolts player. Nothing wrong with that either as fearless football results (remember that mantra?) But the FD needs to adapt and offsetting crowded forward lines requires speedy entries througn the corridor. Precision kicks as well That's not always possible because of the pressure around the midfield but our default moves forward requires a way more scientific approach. It's not like we don't have the personnel to carry out such an approach

So essentially we agree. And it's the major issue (F50 entries) However, it's a complex issue as no one thing is to blame It's on the midfield coach, the forward line coach, the head coach, the midfielders & the forwards I disagree, our energy, enthusiasm, attack on the ball and never-say-die attitude is first rate. Where we fall short is on application & efficiency Having 30 extra F50 entries in the QF final backs up my argument. We got a lot of the ball and we got it forward but it was the way we got it forward that was the issue. Plus, the style we have played requires quality forwards because that style leads to crowded forward lines and a lack of space for our forwards to lead into. And a lack of space for the midfielders to kick to So ordinary forwards with our style have very little chance Collingwood by contrast have an extremely efficient style going into their F50 so their personnel up forward don't have to be that good Average forwards just have to create separation as they've got heaps of space to lead into As for culture issues, we've got 2 players with some issues. It's not the whole club and as far as I can make out, it's no more than just 2 players So let's not tar & feather everyone on the back of 2 players transgressing