poita

Totally agree with this. Holland, Miller and even Sellar were three fairly unskilled footballers but who knew how to put themselves in the right positions and create opportunities for their teammates. Dawes is rarely in the right position and, on the rare occasion he is, lets himself be moved out of the contest with the slightest contact. He thinks he has done his job if he gets a few cheap possessions on the wing, or runs around like a headless chicken chasing opponents. Sorry Chris, but less than a goal game is not good enough, and you would be at Casey if Roos had any balls.

All the best Neale, keep fighting.

As I posted in another thread, we are 2 wins 15 losses with a percentage of 62 since the middle of last year. That is as bad as anything Neeld presided over, and probably worse given the greater talent at Roos' disposal. Roos is great at making everyone feel warm and fuzzy and telling them what they want to hear. I am yet to see any evidence that he has the first idea regarding match day coaching, a decent game plan and countering opposition strategies. I keep hearing that Ross Lyon was the brains behind Sydney's success, and I suspect we were sold a million dollar a year lemon.

I can't for the life of me understand why Paul Roos is not copping the same scrutiny as Malthouse (or indeed that Neeld copped in his last year). Roos' last 17 games have resulted in 2 wins and 15 losses. Percentage in that time is 62% (61 points for, 99 against). We have been seriously competitive in maybe 5 of those games, and embarrassing in the rest. I have seen nothing in Roos' time to suggest that he has any idea how to coach on match day. As soon as the initial match ups are blown away, he is totally bereft of ideas. When have we ever seen this team come out of a break and turn a game around, or even just dig their heels in and fight for 15 minutes? The only player on the list who has improved is McDonald and, as a developing key position player, he was always going to improve as he got more experience. Most of the list have gone backwards - significantly so in the case of players like Howe and Watts. We pay big money to guys like Dawes, Lumumba and Vince to prance around doing sweet FA. I'm sure people will say that Roos needs time to build a list. That is complete crap. He has recruited half of the list, and re-contracted most of the others. As far as I am aware, Jamar and McKenzie are the only players on the list who have not had a new contract in Roos' time. Guys such as Bail, M.Jones, Riley and others offer nothing, but they have been given new deals and countless opprtunities. I was no fan of Neeld, but he had a comparable winning percentage to Roos with a far weaker playing list. And he cost us about a third as much for the privilege.

So much for the thought of clean drafts after GC & GWS settled in. Half the prospects are attached to academies up north. Nice of them to leave a few crumbs for the rest of us to fight over though.

Hale in is a big problem for us - neither McEvoy or Ceglar would have done much damage up forward, but Hale can just stand in the goal square and outmark Dunn / Garland / etc all day long. Almost exactly the same dimensions as Tippett, and we saw what he did to Dunn when one out last week.

I don't mind the discussion, but the pre-finals playoff suggestion is ludicrous. What they do need to sort out though is flexible scheduling (a la the NRL) whereby the weekly matchups and venues are known at the start of the season but the actual timing of games is determined a month or so ahead of time. That way they wouldn't be locked into a bunch of Carlton friday night games, and the better matches could be given appropriate priority.

Is Shane Valenti still down at Port, KC? Perhaps we could ask him to have a game for the Dees on Saturday instead?

Another inexplicable selection debacle. Who is on the selection panel? Do they watch the team play? What about the opposition? 1. Just the one ruckman is a mistake. Pedersen gave nothing up forward, but he is capable of playing back and releasing Dunn or Howe forward (which should have happened last week). Dawes is not capable of rucking and Hogan is too big a risk. Never mind the effect on our forward line, particularly with Watts out, of removing one of our few marking targets. We are in a world of trouble if any one of our key defenders or forwards is injured this week, let alone Spencer. 2. Where are the goals coming from? Watts and Newton are 3rd and 4th on our goalkicking list, and JKH is capable as well. Even Gawn would have added something to the mix. Expect to see five goals or less this week. 3. Playing Watts as the sub last week was ridiculous, and I assume his omission this week is an admission of this. Not sure what more he could have done last week, but I would have much preferred to see him playing a full game at Casey and come back, rather than effectively wasting a week. 4. Revolving door selection policies as we have seen with Grimes, Michie and McKenzie in recent weeks are clear signs that the selectors / coaches have no idea what they are doing. Grimes performed as expected against Freo, was dropped for no clear reason, performed as expected in the VFL, and now is back in. What has changed in the past week? 5. The absence of Bail & Matt Jones from our round one team was a sign that we were heading in the right direction. Six weeks later they are back in the side. I can't see that we have improved one iota when these guys, plus McKenzie, are still in the mix. If Hawthorn are serious this week, we won't get within 90 points.

Having overlooked him for Blease & Strauss back in 2008, I wonder whether we would have also taken Bennell in front of Hannebery if he was still available at pick 35. Given Barry's appalling record, probably so.

Just 11 of those who played Hawthorn last time also played against Sydney last week. Injuries account for a few of those changes, so I'm not sure we've improved as much as some would like to think. Those ins and outs from last time make for scary reading.

I think you'll find that the Hawks will travel in third gear until the middle of August. They'll vary their training loads, rest players and do whatever is necessary to have them primed for September. If that means losing a few games on the way through, so be it. The other side of the equation is that they'll probably unearth a few players, like Langford last year, who will be pretty important for them when it matters. Can we beat them? No, not in a million years. Not until we start doing the simple things well, ie kicking goals from 20 metres out, being accountable for an opponent, making tackles stick.

Thanks to the Swans for leaving at three quarter time, and allowing us to get some cheap goals in the last quarter. If they were fair dinkum for four quarters we would have lost by 100. Another really poor showing by Roos with his selections and initial match ups. When we fail to get these things right we basically start with a 5 goal handicap. Jetta, McVeigh and Kennedy destroyed us all night. What does playing Watts as the sub achieve? If he's not in our best 21, he should be running around at Casey getting his hands dirty. He was decent when he came on, but what was the point? Spencer was disappointing, but what are the alternatives? Jamar would have been equally as useless. Gawn is still the most talented ruckman on our list, and irrespective of his poor form we may just have to give some games. Why wasn't Pedersen put on Tippett when we has was rag dolling Dunn? Dunn or Howe could have gone forward and done something useful. The Howe as a defender experiment hasn't worked all year, and is becoming embarrassing. We have too many midfielders who aren't prepared to be accountable for an opponent. Newton is the worst, but Vandenberg and Tyson are close behind. Roos has gone too far the other way with Vince, and now he doesn't look interested in getting the ball. I love Cross's work rate, but he is painfully slow and can't kick over a jam tin. Jones is a shadow of his former self too. JKH needs a long spell at Casey. I have no idea what his role is meant to be, but he isn't contributing anything at the moment. Even Bail would be more value as a half forward. Pass marks for Salem, McDonald and Hogan this week. The rest need to pull their fingers out pronto.

I really don't get Roos and his selections. Last week we played Fremantle, one of the hardest running teams in the comp. So we play McKenzie and Michie, two absolute plodders who are great in a contest. This week we play Sydney, arguably the best contested side in the comp, so we bring in outside runners in Stretch and Toumpas and drop McKenzie and Michie. I'm glad to see Spencer get a game. Jamar has been next to useless outside the centre circle yet again this year. At least we know that Jake will run until he drops. I refuse to believe that Grimes is not in our best 22, and thought he was a long way from the worst last week. I would certainly have played him ahead of Toumpas.

I have been a member of this club for over 30 years and Garry Lyon is arguably the greatest player I have seen wear our jumper in this time (no disrespect to R.Flower, but I only witnessed the tail end of his career). Garry is clearly the best captain (and by a long margin) that we have had in that period and is rightfully a member of our hall of fame. Considering Garry retired 16 years ago, I think most people with a half brain would consider he is well within his rights to have moved on to a new career to which he can dedicate himself fully without fear of offending delicate little petals such as the opening poster. Some of the crap that gets thrown Garry's way, plenty of it from people who probably weren't even born when he was in his prime, is pathetic and offensive. The moderators of the board would do well to give a holiday to people who are so disrespectful to the champions of the club.

Probably not a bad week to miss. Sydney aren't really blessed with quality small forwards, particularly if McGlynn doesn't play. Hawthorn on the other hand ...

Lewis's hit on Goldstein was so late it was ridiculous. Goldstein had taken the mark before Lewis started his spoiling attempt. Two weeks is a pathetic penalty by a MRP / tribunal that has been terribly lenient this year. We'll see what Hodge gets tonight, but I'm sure they will try to argue it down to reckless and low impact. Again, anything less than three weeks served would be a disgrace. The AFL talk the talk when it comes to removing thuggery from the game, but they seldom walk the walk. If you take the penalties from the current system and double them, then you might start to see these acts disappear from the game.

Our contested stats were okay on the weekend, it is the uncontested part of the game we suck at. Taking the injured Viney out of the equation, our leading players in this department are three plodding midfielders and our full back. Contrast that to Freo who have five players ahead of Viney on the list, and at least ten ahead of Cross. No wonder we got flogged.

Don't blame the AFL (well it's their fault for selling out to broadcasters, but that's another issue). Channel 7 have first choice over the games they broadcast, and they are the ones who choose to show Carlton in prime time. What they don't understand is that any neutral football fan with half a brain would rather watch (A) a competitive game between two interstate sides (eg Freo / Sydney / Port) than (B) a nothing game between two rubbish Victorian sides with large memberships. Surely the 80% in category A far outweigh the 20% in category B, or is this kind of analysis too complex for television people to understand?

Newton's a tough one to read at the moment. He has only played 9 games, but it is his 5th year in the system. As such my expectations for him are far closer to those of Tyson, than a Brayshaw or Salem. For a player averaging mid-teens possessions, he needs to be contributing defensively as well. His lack of defensive accountability at present is a real concern, and he may need to head to Casey to work on this. I didn't see him near an opponent at any stage yesterday, which would suggest he was opposed to either Danyle or Clancee Pearce. If that is the case, he was absolutely flogged from start to finish.

Gaff, like most of his teammates, looks a star against weak opposition, and goes missing as soon as the heat comes on. No thanks,

Totally agree with this. Freo should have been 10 goals up by 3/4 time, plus the flogging that came in the last quarter. Just imagine if Pavlich and Walters were on in the third quarter when the flood gates started to open.

Watching Freo play yesterday makes me wonder whether the game has moved on again whilst we are still playing catch up to the last trend. Our contested football was okay yesterday, but Freo murdered us with their run and spread. The number of uncontested possessions that the Pearces in particular had was phenomenal. We looked slow and disinterested in comparison. Roos has filled the team with guys like Michie, Cross and Tyson who work hard around the stoppages but who move like treacle. When the opposition has players the calibre of Mundy and Fyfe who can get the ball out to the runners in space, we had no chance. Roos had a poor day yesterday too. His initial matchups were poor and the decision to play McKenzie as sub was mind boggling. The guy has no place in the team if he is not tagging the opposition's number one playmaker, ie Fyfe. Bail and M.Jones would have been more selections than McKenzie and Michie, although Viv would have been unlucky to have been dropped. Still, we needed run, and he doesn't provide any. Lumumba is not coming close to justifying his pay packet, and watching him trail 5 metres behind Fyfe time and time again was embarrassing. Pedersen was better value than Jamar yesterday, and should be kept in the side. Tyson, Jones and Vandenberg do not defend well enough. Newton needs a spell at Casey. Brayshaw showed more heart than most of his teammates combined. Ditto Hogan, although I hate to see him chasing kicks on the half back line. JHK needs to work on doing the basics well before bringing out the party tricks. Garlett needs to do more than kick goals, although he is a vast improvement on what we've had previously.

So, Jordie is in. Sorry Jordie, nothing personal, but I really hoped you had been put in the "never again" basket. Love your endeavour, but you'll never be a decent player until you learn to kick. Really disappointed we didn't play another tall this week. Jamar will get monstered by Sandilands, and Dawes gave nothing in the ruck last week.

I can't be bothered reading 15 pages of Watts bashing. Congratulations on your 100th game, Jack. I hope you play well in a winning side.