rjay

If Hibberd needs another week, he needs it. A thigh will go early if he's not a 100%, then we are one down. Hardly the way to win a game. He may well be chasing that injury for the rest of his career if he does further damage. I get players playing sore or not at 100% but something like this is not smart. Similar to Viney last year, it just screws things up down the track. We went top heavy today to cover for Max (Pedders) in case he went down. We were already top heavy down back. We took in Hunt when Goodwin said last weekend he needed at least another game. Wagner should have played. Hogan has been playing sore. We've been carrying Spargo for a while and against the Swans he was always going to come unstuck. Vince would have been handy on McVeigh...or Lloyd. I think selection has been pretty average most of this year. It has cost us games.

We rolled the dice on a couple today 'titan' and took in insurance. It didn't & doesn't work...

I'm not sure Hibberd is right to go yet. I hope we don't rush him in because on the off chance we make finals he is vital to us putting up some kind of a show.

A few random observations on Matthews... Remember we used to do preseason training at Wattle Park and at the time Hawthorn used to train there as well doing hill runs. His (Matthews) legs were as big as the tree trunks. No wonder he was hard to move off the ball. It always amazed me no one took action on Matthews and knocked him out of existence. As many point out it was a different time and if I was coaching I would have seriously considered taking him out. I don't think he would have got a lot of support from teammates, as he says he was selfish and arrogant. His ongoing feud with Scott is legendary, they didn't speak and from what I'm told when they did the medicine ball sit up exercise together they seriously tried to knock each other out with it. Apparently he used to pack up his bag and leave at the end of the game and had nothing to do with teammates. Great player, I really can't be bothered crucifying the guy over things from the past. Think he is an average commentator on the game, don't put much stake in what he says but that's based on current commentary and has nothing to do with the past. If what Bruns says is true then it's pretty average of Matthews not to meet with him but then again everyones different, it's his choice. As a coach I think he got the keys to the Ferrari with Brisbane, I don't rate him as highly as his record and others.

'A F', Richo's a great assistant coach. Would love him at Melbourne. ...but the Saints have committed to him for next year. I guess they could backflip. They don't seem to have there act together at all. In prematch Lethlean indicated they would like to have a Hodge/Lewis situation. Short memory...they had one in Reiwoldt but forced him into retirement. That was such a dumb move, they could have played Nick anywhere on the ground if they wanted to develop their forwards. Would have been a handy winger or ever coming off half back. These guys don't grow on trees. St Kilda seem reactive rather than proactive. Even the move to keep Richo on has been justified using the Hardwick example. If the don't think for themselves they will keep disappointing their fans.

It's not a long tradition and I truly hope the AFL shelve it next year. It's such a let down to the start of a season and should probably be the GF replay game.

Happy to argue with you about that but then again the list would be pretty short to non existent. Rock is a live experience, films & documentaries about it are for the most part self serving and/or fan boy rubbish. The best thing about the Last Waltz is it gave Rob Reiner good material for Spinal Tap. In many ways Spinal Tap got closer to reality than many of it's more "serious" counterparts.

I doubt it. The only risk to culture is if he takes up too much salary cap space, it will have nothing to do with the punch. Lewis is a serial offender and has been very lucky not to have caused more damage in the past...he's said to be a positive player in our development of culture. Gaff will be a big plus if he comes to us.

I've seen this covered before... It's because we take more of our shots from close in to the goals. Seems part of the plan.

At the risk of derailing the thread... Ego got the better of him, totally full of his own self importance. Boat anchor of the highest order. Could write a tune though...

Hardly a Brayshaw free club...

Here's my take and I may be well off the mark but Jack should have retired last year, really doesn't offer much these days. McVeigh will cause trouble off HB if you give him space, close him down. Johnson is just finding his way back. Hannebery is carrying something and not a patch on his former self. If we play a high pressure game Rohan won't be sighted. I would play a defensive forward on Lloyd as he's their distributor out of defence and tag one of their mids with Harmes. Parker is probably easier to get hold of but Kennedy has also struggled with a tag as of late the again it might be Heeney.

From Peter Schwab's article... "Was it a deliberate punch? Was the recipient damaged by the blow? Could accurate medical advice be obtained quickly?Most viewers would have been able to answer all three without too many problems." Hardly a grey area I would have thought...

I feel like getting ahead of myself... I reckon the Swans are like an old prize fighter at the moment and they got up off the deck for one last punch against the Pies. I will be very disappointed if we don't bury them on the weekend.

The order off should only be for major incidents as others have noted above. What about the team left one short for the game...what if big Max or Clarry are taken out in the first 10mins of a GF. What are the repercussions then? none...the other side take their premiership medallions off to mad Monday and the rest is history. Of course there should be an order off rule...the AFL have been swinging in the wind with this one for too long now.

That's a pretty decent advertisement for the order off rule...

Some people are not cut out for the number 1 job... Macca has the runs on the board in development & that's what he does well for us. Keep up the good work.

For a minute I was worried that 'Stuie' was back...

Let me add something to the "ball Up"... I believe if they re introduced the bounce around the ground it would be a big help in addition to the points you have raised. No calling it back if it doesn't go straight up. The random nature of the the bounce makes it harder to set up plays & would open the game out a lot more. Currently the predictability encourages the stoppage plays we now get. We play with an oval ball not a round ball, it's by it's nature unpredictable.

Still too many players around the ball 'titan'...sorting out some of the dysfunctional rules will help fix this. Dropping interchange numbers may also help. Close finishes add excitement but the look of the game still needs to be addressed.

In the replay I was watching (real time from the initial TV shot) without slow mo or different angles it was clear to me the spin on the ball totally changed when it hit the post. ..but agree they need to invest more to make the right decisions. A bit too Mickey Mouse at the moment.

Anyone see the Jenkins point given a goal and cleared by score review. The AFL have also cleared it. Joke... Hinkley is rightfully fuming over this one. You can clearly see the ball spin change and direction change as soon as it hits the post...

Richmond played too cute when they got on top in the 2nd, they let Geelong back into the game. If they didn't flirt with their form they would have smashed the Cats. I reckon Dimma would have been most p....off with this. ...but they won and we didn't in a similar type game. Result on the board says Hardwick's tactic was on the money.

Sorry to Bob... ...the answer old Dill is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind. Trouble is it depends on the direction and that changes from moment to moment, day to day... Good old Dill lets see which way the the wind blows and change our minds again. I've never seen a bigger waste of space running a major organisation in all my life (maybe I need to get out more). Stand for something Dill before it's too late. Thoughts @old dee? I know you're not a fan.

He's shown a bit but to keep getting a game he needs to stick his tackles. At the moment he doesn't have the physical strength and/or leg speed of the others you've mentioned above. Being short he does need other attributes and for mine as a first year player he doesn't have them yet... That's ok. It maybe time to go back to Casey and build up over the preseason.