rjay

Ok... Thought it was a good time to bring this up again. We can discount our first round performance given the circumstances. The so called professionals at WC have been a basket case since having to move to the hub in Qld. They haven't been helped by their coach or club, the coaches performance in particular has been poor. As far as the threat to go home, well that's really a help to the players, putting more uncertainty in the situation. ...but, it shows that players, even the professional WC players are human and subject to the pressures of this time. Our boys I believe were in a worse position during round one with the season being postponed and maybe even cancelled before they hit the ground. I don't think we can write much into this season at all unfortunately and we're only going through the motions to make a bit of cash. Still think it may be a miracle if we get through it. ...but back on point. What do the nay sayers now think of our first round performance. Will you cut some slack or not? Or do you still beat your chest and think our players should be robots with no human emotion?

Apparently we asked to play the game on Tuesday night... ...and of course we were knocked back by the AFL. I would think it was a reasonable request. I would like to hear a bit more from our club on this whole situation.

That's correct but I thought it was only Australians that were allowed back into the country since the government closed the borders. 'sue', pointed out that permanent residents have also been allowed back in which makes sense. I hope and expect he would have permanent resident status...

Thanks for the info 'sue'... That makes sense if he is a permanent resident.

How in the f... would Gil know. Something smells rotten here. How was he allowed back into the country? Is it more of the au pair fiasco again?

Absolutely, Australians have been allowed to return home. He returned home to Ireland and then was allowed back to work. Should not have been allowed. Should have been stopped at the border as others have and told to return home. There is a break somewhere in the system.

....by the way, how in the f... was he let back into the country in the first place. The borders were closed I thought. He's not in an essential industry. Is he an Australian citizen or did the bombers pull in a favour. FFS...

So he tested positive...to a club test. ...if that's true and was allowed to train. Then he and the club ge banned from the rest of the season.

I get that we are being told it's not the plan to bomb. ...but despite this we still do it. The first Q against Carlton was so good to see the players lowering their eyes and looking for targets. ...but as soon as the pressure came on we reverted to type...we did the same in 2018 by the way. So where is the problem? You're around the club enough. Does Goodwin have a communication problem? He's been at the Helm for what, coming into his 4th year. Surely that's long enough for players to understand the game plan or move those on who don't want to play it. The players seem to go back in their shells as soon as they come under pressure. I had heard 2nd hand from one of the previous coaches that players weren't doing what they were told and this would seem to be the case going by your post. What's the issue? As far as Neitz goes you and I both know that if he were to come along now at the peak of his powers he would be a great acquisition. Of course it's not going to happen so we do with what we've got and work at improving the list..

Having Neitz would at least make sense of a game plan that has us bombing the ball forward. His ability to mark or at least crash the packs and bring the ball to ground would be a bonus. Do we win a flag? maybe, maybe not but we do win more games. Would I like a Neitz type at the moment? Yep, only a fool wouldn't...

Maybe it's time for the May, Weideman switch 'Daz'.

I wanted to put a double like on this...software doesn't allow. ...but spot on 'Gonzo' on all counts.

I'm not so sure it's so obvious that he is...

Howe was recruited to Collingwood as a forward. I think it took Bucks about 2 weeks to realise he was a defender. If we move Tomlinson forward and he has the same success as Howe back then he will be a star and exactly what we want... I know, I am delirious...

Small forward line... You can almost guarantee that we will bomb the ball in again like we did against WC. Goody will then be talking about the problem with connection... He's going to have to own that one sooner of later.

Not from me he hasn't... He would be the first one out of the team if I was selecting it. They let him get away with rubbish form last year and he just thinks he needs to turn up to get a game now.... All Tom is giving us is promise of 2018...

I reckon it's good for him to have a run in the ruck to breaks things up. ...but to play pretty much full time as a ruck in preseason games was just plain stupid. If he's going to make it as a forward (and we desperately need him to), then he needs to learn his craft as a forward and not spend his time learning a role that he may do for 5 maybe 10 minutes a game. I was a fan of Godwin's, but the patience is wearing thin... His only skill seems to be good relations with the players and we know how that worked for Dean Bailey...

That's the problem 'P-man'... It should be Fritsch's role but they are playing him out of position. He is one of our better kicks to position and is wasted playing deep where it is too easy for opposition players to take him off the ball. We saw this with Howe, nice mark but only when he gets a run at it. Howe had to go back to play his best football, Fritsch has the smarts that Jeremy doesn't and he will play his best as that floating/link up forward...

...and what a poor decision that was. We don't have a problem in the ruck. We have a real problem with finding a key forward. It would have made more sense to get Weid to work on one part of his game....as a forward would be my call. ...but then I'm only a fan, what would I know.

Hard to tell on TV...whilst on that. Wouldn't it be nice if the expert commentators told us the things we can't see rather then continually repeating the obvious. It seems Fritsch is being played deep forward and I think this is a mistake of a similar magnitude to playing him in defence most of last season. Fritsch needs to be a floating forward a bit like Tom Lynch has been at Adelaide. Train him for the role and play him there... The deep forward will have to be Tommy or the Weid...my preference is Weid at the moment as I think Tommy is too one dimensional and that dimension is gone.

Pretty difficult mate, he's only played one game.

I thought the same...I thought we had changed into Richmond jumpers. I think the Tiges are suffering a bit of the old premiership hangover. They're not as good as their publicity will have them believe. Good old Jack struttin' around preening himself but doing nothing else. Rioli lucky to have 3 kicks in the last 2 games. Pickett, great story last year but looks out of his depth as do a number of others. If you're off your game in this competition it makes you look stupid and they looked it tonight. Be interesting to see if they can break out of it or go the way of the Dogs...

Would probably lead our tackle count at the moment. He doesn't run back hard enough at times but tackling is not an issue, he lays them and they stick. The superstars don't usually chase or tackle...at least he has half of this covered. He could do with hitting the scoreboard a bit more but I agree with the article. He is a bit of the forgotten man...

It's about time Tommy was made to earn his place...Jackson has had one game. Tom has probably played one good game in 18 months.

Yep... What's with you and Donald and building walls. They don't work...people go around, over or under them. Tonight will be interesting.