rjay

I think we still need to be at the high end of the draft this year...we missed last years early crop and will have a few ageing mids (lewis, Vince & Jones) to replace over the coming years.

I also thought and still do think we need a kpd... Those 2 weren't the answer though 'steve', Brown in particular is a very poor kick. McKenzie is shot. We need someone who can use the ball as well as hold down the key post.

The Salem free kick. The deliberate against Hibberd. Watts pushed in the back flat on his face. Another holding the ball where one of our players was grabbed by the ankles. Numerous not paid 50mtr penalties. The list goes on....

Sometimes Zeibel or one of the others...it's not unusual and pretty standard fare at any centre bounce but he wasn't being tagged as such. For some reason a lot on here seem to think opposition coaches haven't worked out Oliver is a key player...they all have known about him since his first game last year. It's what they're paid for. You don't run a hard tag on Oliver because he doesn't do a lot of damage on the outside, yet. They all try and keep him off his game around the stoppages though so there was not a lot new there. I think it was you that pointed out how Goldy was very effective for them today & to me it was this more than anything else that put all our mids on the back foot.

We have shown this year that we are not good enough to be a top 4 side. With luck we may have made finals, maybe still could...but so far luck is not on our side. Thinking we are better than where we sit is what got the Tiges into trouble, drinking their own bathwater & believing the hype. I'm confident our FD has a good handle on where our list sits & it's not top 4. Wanting it to be different won't change that.

So following this line of thinking...we have a great list, it's just between the ears that we have a problem. I don't think so.

No it wasn't. I think the Adelaide win papered over a few cracks. We're not good enough with Hoges and Max out to win consistently. Simple. ...and even with them in out list is not well balanced. It's getting there but still has a ways to go. I'm sure the FD know this (we're not Richmond...please) and will address things over the next year or 2...

I can cut Kent a bit of slack, he missed a big chunk of the pre season. ...but I can't have all the rubbish that's get talked on here about him being an important player, tough, blah, blah, blah.... He's a poor kick for goal, can't mark overhead, is not interested in chasing and wouldn't land a tackle unless someone ran straight into his arms. Now these are my observations of his career to date. Today, in the last Q you can also add...not interested in the hard ball. When the game was there to be won he had an opportunity to attack the footy that was in front of him. Instead of attacking the ball he put one arm out and tried to play clever, the North player ran straight through the line of the ball as you should do and cleared it easily.

No, they didn't tag Oliver. They just got the better of the midfield battle to day.

This is easy to say 'AF', but what could he have done differently and in what way was he out coached? I thought our celebrated mids were average today, they've done a good job of roving to opposition ruckmen but North have a pretty tough inside crew as well and they got the armchair ride from Goldy. What could Goody do here? he rotated a lot through the middle and had a number against Goody but 193cm is not going to beat up on a 200cm AA ruck. We had passengers on the forward line, he moved Hunt in there and shifted others around. The moves didn't come off this week, almost did and if they did he would be a genius again. No, he wasn't thoroughly out coached, we were out played and still have a ways to go until we have the list that will win finals. Having our 2 most important players, at least structurally, out doesn't help.

Just saying....but it's never seemed to be a problem for Selwood.

MFC - Too many passengers. Midfield - taught a lesson North - Outplayed us today ....and need to get this off my chest Nicholls - You bald ....Kent/Hunt

Well, I guess a couple of ideas. One borrowed from the EPL.... I love your enthusiasm 'Dappa' but not all things American are great...and not all things fit like a jigsaw when moved to a different game in a different environment. We're probably looking at about the most even season in my living memory and now we have to fix it...doesn't make sense to me.

Umpire...fffffffffff How to influence a game.

Part of his salary package is linked to $$$'s, so is it any wonder. Probably about time executive salary packages were a lot more imaginative and had more to do with the long term health of the organisation and I'm not just talking AFL here. Yes, and China was a sellout....unfortunately you can't believe anything that comes from the AFL...

I'm actually looking forward to the Cats/Dogs game tonight. I think the Cats are pretenders, they need to stand up after all the criticism but not sure they have it in them. To me they rely too much on Danger & Selwood. ...by the way, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Dogs make a late change and bring back Libber if the rain continues.

Yes, agree...but it should not make it impossible for the other teams to win which is what a wildcard system would do.

'bb', I'm outside this culture as well but I think you are probably making a very broad assumption here. There will always be problems in the world where humans are involved, I don't think computer games will change this one way or another.

Sorry 'Gonzo', not wanting to be difficult but I asked 'Dappa' this one on the back of his gushing acceptance of things USA. The draft & cap have been great initiatives, funnily enough the cap was an first used in the EPL in 1901, they gave it away in 1961... I don't think it follows that all things USA are going to be for the betterment of the game but am interested in what these "so many things" are.

Name them...

No we didn't... We had a new management team who understood that if we didn't get the football side of things right then we were done for. It was a full time job just to get this club back on track. It's good to have ideas like those you have presented but a lot of the statements you are using to back them up are based on falsehoods.

Hawthorn are not like for like 'Dees', what they did really well is tap into the latent supporter base built on the back of success through the 70's & 80's... Waverley was not a new market, the eastern suburbs are their heartland. Their recent success brought a lot out of the woodwork. Tasmania had the Hudson factor to build on... We have to go back to the 50's for that type of success. ...and it's not something we can now tap into. On field success is the first pillar. The other stuff won't happen unless we have that. I agree we have to be smart to build our membership base going forward and I think the Melbourne branding is a good start. A real home base in Melbourne would be a big plus...

PJ's stated objective was to get the footy side of things right first. We are seeing the fruits of this now...we needed to have a total focus on footy of course whilst being mindful of the financials. The old admin under CS was all over the shop so it doesn't surprise they didn't follow through on things but in reality they were fighting on too many fronts. Get the business model right, which is football then work out from there. It will be interesting to see how things develop over the next few years.

I think we have him...his name is Hibberd.

Totally agree with you on this...