Undeeterred

One thing I've noticed recently is how many of our young players (whom lots of us often heap crap on) simply haven't been out on the park enough in their early years. Lots of them have spent significant amounts of time injured. I think this is highly relevant in the development/recruitment debate. Are our players not developing because they simply aren't getting any games? For example: Rohan Bail - 23 years, 25 games Sam Blease - 22 years, 2 games Lucas Cook - 20 years, 0 games Max Gawn - 20 years, 4 games Jack Grimes - 23 years, 39 games Jordy Gysberts - 21 years, 18 games Liam Jurrah - 23 years, 36 games James Strauss - 21 years, 11 games I know some of them are very young, but if a few had 50 games under their belts, I think their development would be much greater. For example, I'm amazed that Jurrah has only played 36 games, it seems much more than that. A few of the above are real cornerstones of our future, and they just aren't getting any game time. Even some of our older blokes seem not to have played all that many games relative to their time in the system (Sylvia - debuted 2004, 125 games, 17 per year; Rivers - debuted 2003, 136 games, 17 per year; Moloney - debuted 2003, 136 games, 17 per year; Jamar - debuted 2003, 117 games, 15 per year). Be interesting to see how the average games per year stacks up against other sides, but it seems odd that none of our leaders average more than about 75% of available games. Is that normal?

How boring. Who gives a rats bum what he thinks.

Well I was right at least, given that our game plan appears to be to get f'ing smashed at every opportunity.

Totally made my day.

What's a warning point? Does it mean I'm a good boy if I don't have one.

Really interesting thread. Watching Dangerfield today, I'd almost put him in the top 1 or 2. He is absolutely sensational. If we have a spare mil, we should be chucking it at him, and the compo pick(s) at Adelaide.

Um, no. Not even close.

Scarlett - I completely agree. They want him to be tougher, then play him loose in defence. Doesn't make any sense to me. The other problem is that they play him in a different spot every week. I just don't understand why they don't pick a position, any position, and let him play there 10 weeks in a row...

Maybe give them a chance to have a run and build up some cohesion without making 4 or 5 changes every week? Not sure - just putting it out there.

I'm optimistic. I think the SCG will suit our new game plan.

I really should have read the whole 7 pages before posting this....

Gold.

At risk of being labelled a heretic, we could always call their bluff and take a kid who is 'generally considered' to be better, with our pick 3, and make them take Viney with 1....

Hate to break it to you, but all of this is wild optimism and far too many 'ifs'. It all sounds nice, but ignores the fact that they have game breakers all over the park and we suck.

Still wrong, buddy...

Go Cale. Stick it up the haters.

Get off their backs and let them get on with it, FFS. And it was completely ridiculous to start them both on the bench. How are they supposed to inspire from there???

One of the silliest things I've ever heard.

Just quietly, I reckon Neeld is smart enough and experienced enough to have that one covered...

I'd much rather have 2 blokes who, when we hit a GF one day, have had years of experience in tight situations, rather than make some other bloke captain because he is tough, for a couple of years, then land the first two blokes in it when we are ready to win big games. Eg, there is no way we will win on Queens Birthday this year. But don't you reckon it will be great for our captains to deal with leading the team under that kind of pressure when it doesn't matter, and when there are no expectations?

Precisely.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not chemically fortified and I'm not saying we'll win any of those. I just think that the prevailing view of assuming absolutely zero improvement from here on in, and that not a single team will have an off day against us, might be misplaced and that 0-11 isn't a dead certainty.

I'm not as pessimistic as most here. We'll probably get one somewhere. Saints aren't playing that well, maybe the Bombers will fall in a heap, our new game plan probably suits the SCG pretty well, and every now and then we play a really good game on Queens Birthday. Who knows.

My observations, for what they are worth. Finally, we saw Melbourne play out a game when it looked pretty hopeless (eg when 5 goals down in the last) Umpiring was absolutely awful. Flash got some confidence up and I think it would be madness not to have him running around the forward line for the season. His first goal, front and centre, was vintage and the perfect compliment to Clark. Cale Morton isn't as bad as everyone wants him to be. He did a few really good things and, despite a few clangers, is consistenty up near our top possession getters. Jamar will never dominate anybody like he did today. If we couldn't win today's clearances (which we didn't) we never will. How did Cooney run 20m without anybody being able to catch him, when he only has one leg? Jared Rivers is a cornerstone and so underrated. Watts did some great work, but he just doesn't attack hard enough. His ball use is too good to waste as a deep forward. He's heaps better running around the wings, taking strong contested marks through our midfield, and delivering precisely into our forward line. James Magner makes our midfield look 250% tougher. Moloney's sleeve doesn't. Unfortunately for Neeld's gameplan, we looked excellent when we were far enough behind that we were forced to take some risks through the corridor. Best footy we have played in ages. Having said that, our forward pressure was better than I can remember seeing. Bate looks much better in the midfield and makes the team better, which says more about the team than him. Rohan Bail takes a great mark for his size. We desperately need Gysberts and Sylvia back. That's enough for now.

Yep, fair call. That was the biggest thing for me today, fumbling and clumsiness which stopped any momentum. Every time there was a good look at a runner, someone dropped it, fumbled it, or missed the target. Very frustrating. I think that will get better with confidence and, in the meantime, I just want Frawley to kill the contest. I thought he did that pretty well tonight, he was in a lot of places when he needed to be.