Cranky Franky

1 hour ago, poita said:

This is so dumb. You can't just trade out every depth player on your list and expect to be competitive. The first time Lever or May gets injured you are back to playing Hore and Smith in the key defensive roles and wondering why the backline is completely dysfunctional. The same goes for trading Preuss and expecting Gawn to play 22 games every year without any support.

And for what? He probably brings a third round pick that will get pushed back to about pick 60 and deliver nothing. Or Goodwin will go ga-ga for yet anothermid-sized forward who can spend the next two years wandering around at Casey.

I'd much rather keep Oscar, build his confidence and work on not allowing his weaknesses to be exposed so easily.

You are (almost) on your own on this one. Mitch Brown showed in the last round he is a mile ahead of Oscar as a cheap defensive back up for a year or 2.

12 hours ago, Wobbly Bob said:

If going "backwards" is moving from 17th last year to 9th this year, yes it did.

We went forwards this year because we had fewer injuries, because May & Trac stepped up & our recruits did well

2 hours ago, It's Time said:

It's misguided to think of it as Frost v O Mac. Frost had one good year because all the other defenders were out injured. His contract came up and he tried to hold the club over a barrel demanding considerable overs. Hawks needed him more than us and were prepared to pay the overs. The salary cap was already massively over committed in the backline. I'd take Petty over him any day. Once fit, assuming he plays back not forward we would be having an issue fitting him in anyway.  Salary cap still has to be allocated to other areas of the ground. He forced the club's hand. I liked Frosty but we effectively got Langdon for him and he already is having way more impact on the team than Frost's departure will ever have.

Good luck to him. It's a win win as far as I'm concerned.  

That is complete billshut.  Why do you have to make things up to further your argument ?

Frost wanted a modest 2 year deal & we offered 1 year.

By any objective measure he is a mile ahead of Oscar and even if you are super generous to Tomlinson then you could say he is on a par with Frost but is on 1 & a half times the $.

It was a stupid, dumb decision that took us backwards.

On 9/28/2020 at 3:39 PM, Diamond_Jim said:

Some of the footage predates 1966 definitely. Looking at the cars on the road the most "modern car"I noticed was the 1962 Falcon. I could not see one 1964 Holden which was an extremely popular model.

Queens Birthday games were of course also enormously popular and had crowds rivalling the grand final.

The chicken scene would have been the Myer food hall in the Lonsdale Street store

The street scenes look like 1965 because I spotted a couple of HD Holdens.

49 minutes ago, Dr.D said:

im happy to but please everyone stop the 'watts was a good player' sort of talk and if you like Jack Watts it's because you like him as a person. He probably should've been cut 4 years earlier. And to me, it's no surprise that the year we got rid of him, we made a prelim. 

I don't mind opinion but these comments are blatantly stupid.  

He had some poor patches of form but overall he was a very handy player who played some very good games for us.

He was one of the elite kicks in the competition & was a very handy player at Port & helped them sink us when we played them last year.

2 hours ago, Dr.D said:

I'm not having a go at jack personally. But I'm allowed to have my opinions on him the player. He was gifted about 100 games. and wasn't a starting 18 quality player on any list. 

the fact that he is 'polarizing' is just a reflection of some supporters inability to admit that he just wasn't good.

Good to hear people's opinion however a number of your comments are not supported by any evidence or facts such as "gifted about 100 games".

I doubt anybody would agree with you so I'm wondering what metric or measure you used ?

Go on the GC supporter site  - he is as popular as Oscar is here.

The problem is that the BT only wants to play him across wing & defence where his lack of pace catches him out.

He should play fwd.

On 9/1/2020 at 10:13 AM, mauriesy said:

The AFL is doing the right thing by trying to limit concussions as much as possible.

Supporters should think about long-term effects to Polly Farmer, Danny Frawley and current cases like Kade Kolodjashnij, Paddy McCartin etc. next time they complain about fines and suspensions for sling tackles, elbows to the head, shirtfronts and rough conduct.

Or even worse, complaining about how the "biff" is going out of the game.

Nothing much will change until the AFL deals with the biggest cause of concussion which is CONGESTION.

AFL is often like an ugly rubgy maul with 30 players around the pack.  Whoever gets hold of the ball immediately gets hammered.

Until they find a way to stop the congestion concussions will keep increasing.

21 hours ago, Dr.D said:

Fans are negative for a reason. I've said this before but remember when everyone on demonland thought Bate was the next Pavlich, Tapscott was the next Hurn, Watts the next Riewoldt, Sylvia the next Voss, Strauss the next Lindsay Gilbee, cale morton a next gen player. The list goes on and on and on. And when they're delisted or traded no-one on demonland ever goes back to analyse why they didn't succeed or concede that their bias got in their way of analysing the player. 

So that's why I personally am so sick and tired of people hyping young players because we've heard it all before, time and time again. 

 

Thats all true DD but you make a fool of yourself by judging 1st year players when we won't know  who got it right for probably 5 years down the track.  Comparing 18 y o Pickett to 23 y o Liam Ryan is absurd.

So far the consensus (except for a couple of posters here) of media, coaches & supporters is that our current draftees are outstanding.

4 hours ago, Hardley Benial said:

Not sure if he's available. But he is what we need.

Tough with speed. Can do the contestable stuff but has pace and can kick.

Can you confirm that you are going to post one of these for every single player who comes up for speculation no matter how ridiculous ?  

Extending his contract on the basis of ONE good year was idiotic.

Maybe after 3 succesful seasons ok.

Also crazy to give a solid player like Harmes a 5 year deal.

On 8/28/2020 at 1:19 PM, Demon17 said:

I would take Hogan back in a heartbeat, trusting the club to nuture him. He was the closest to an A grader we had pre-max and Clayton's arrival  and can be again.

Hogan/Weideman/Jackson - scary IMO

Serious ? 

You guys are like the forgiving partners of a problem gambler who keeps promising to quit.

Jessie has been in the headlines again & again & barely played a game since he left us.

Sheeet we may as well re sign Jurrah & Mitch Clark while were at it 

Good talent - would definitely make him an offer.

52 minutes ago, whatwhatsaywhat said:

that was one of mike's more light weight interviews

i reckon he's been spooked a little bit since mark jackson went troppo at him a few years back

I reckon Mike has been a woeful interviewer.

Had Bob Skilton on & Bob was about to get into the turbulent times as our coach & his sacking & the drama with Stan Alves.

Mike just stopped, didn't ask a follow up & things petered out - we didn't learn anything.

On 9/4/2020 at 9:04 AM, SFebes said:

Still no excuses, they're professional athletes, know how to prepare. It's not as if they flew all the way from Russia. Excuses is why this club is P-weak. Effort is a non-negotiable, 2hr flight doesn't excuse not trying. On top of that, the club should've kicked up a stink, in the media, like McGuire does, but obviously said "yes Gil." SYD are bottom 4 and missing some of their best players, now come on.

Exactly SF - people are just looking for excuses.

Port flew down on the day they played us.

Goody has mentioned our fitness coach has experience in the EPL & short turnarounds.

They were lethargic from the get go.

3 hours ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

What a great read. Many astute observations. Thanks for getting the conversation going Optimus D.

• Went to school with Jamie Duursma. He was a very ordinary player back then. So I have enormous respect for him as it must have taken a huge amount of work to play one VFL game . . . let alone carve out a very respectable career. BTW . . . I think he was the first player, and possibly the only one, to play for all three east coast capital city clubs. Quite an achievement indeed! 
• I remember watching Graham Gaunt as a teenager. He carved up the Royal Parade Cheats on the MCG one day in a brilliant display. 
• Overall though . . . our foreign legion has been more miss than hit it must be said.                                          

Yo there QD!

Jamie Duursma - a 1980's blast from the past.  Was regarded as the Oscar McD of his era, clumsy & unco - and yet in one of those years surprised us & played some terrific footy - recall he kept Kernahan quiet in one game.

And I fondly recall Gaunt - just a good ordinary player at Richmond played some super footy for us.

As for the foreign legion - its a bit mixed you can pick out plenty of successes & failures - not sure how you would objectively measure it.

For a couple of years now we have been patting ourselves on the back on the basis that our midfield - Oliver, Viney, Petracca & Brayshaw with service from Gawn is as good if not the best of any in the comp.  

The last few games have been a rude wake up call.  A few weeks ago Bont & McRae pantsed them, last week Steele & Zac Jones were well on top & yesterday 2 slow veterans on Kennedy & Parker gave them a bath.

Something drastic needs to be done. 

Ah sweet memories.  First time we I went with mates to the footy was at Moorabin. I was 15 or 16 & we got someone to buy us beer.

I recall Max Walker in the ruck & Graham Osborne playing well.

1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Anyone know if the weather in Cairns will be as oppressive as Darwin? 

26 degrees with 80% humidity at kick off. And we have to all it all again 4 days later. Very concerned we'll either drop a winnable game in Cairns or put in a listless display against GWS (as per Port game). These blokes are fit, but can they overcome this fixture cram?

I'm giving this side an absolute out/excuse if we miss finals. Alice - Cairns - Cairns in 9 days while other sides have mostly stayed in QLD.

Bulldogs - 10 of their final 12 games in Surfers or Brisbane

St Kilda  - 9 of their final 12 games in Surfers or Brisbane

North - 11 of their final 12 games in Surfers or Brisbane

Brisbane - Will leave QLD twice for the entire season FCS!!

This season is a bit of a video game if you ask me. Just make 

 

 

 

Nah Cairns is not nearly as oppressive as Darwin ATM. Darwin would be 31 deg & 90% humid.

We are actually lucky. Imagine if we had drawn to play really tough opposition in Cairns.

On 9/3/2019 at 8:45 PM, dieter said:

That's one way of looking at it. They basically did the dirty on a very talented and loyal player. Tell me how many Demons - apart from Moore and Wilson, both imports - have won a Brownlow. Ok, there's the great Jimma, who else?

Hardly "did the dirty". Woewy's management screwed us into an exorbitant deal for him.  This happened because Farmer had just left for Freo so we couldn't be seen to lose 2 marquee players at once & so paid way over the odds for him.  He was a good solid player who had an outstanding year.  Its a bit like the current Polec situation. If his management had been reasonable he would have played out his career at the Dees.

12 hours ago, 4_Kent_Watts said:

 Was Lucas Cook...Ahem Jack Darling says hi. 

Pretty sure that Cook (pick 12) was the only player in the first 30 picks that year to be delisted without playing a senior game.

Well done recruiters.

1 hour ago, Rusty Nails said:

He is still in the best mix (just) but at times we might need a different role player to suit the opposition match ups on the day.

He is competing for that last outside player between the arcs / pushing forward with AVB & ANB imv and to a lessor degree Harley.  Have to leave these calls up to the FD but....FCS can we at least keep him out of the back half so any turnovers aren't necessarily as damaging / costly and we give the defence a chance to amend / clean up the damage? 

 

Spot on here mate.  He just cannot play down back as he is a liability.  He effectively cost us 3 goals in the 1st half. Play him as a pressure forward & give him another year.

1 hour ago, Pickett2Jackson said:

yeah him too.

As for Watts, Toumpas, Scully, Trengove, Sylvia, McLean, Johnstone, Morton....

That is incorrect & re writing history.

Travis Johnstone & Jack Watts were pretty much unanimously regarded as the top picks in their year.  Scully & Trengove were unanimous for 1 & 2 in their year & Sylvia & McLean in the top 3 in their year (which was a thin year).

Toumpas & Morton are the only picks who were not generally regarded as certainties for number they were picked at.

I call BS on this.

Koschitzke retired at the end of 2013 and Nick Riewoldt was getting on so St Kilda was keen to get a key forward & McCartin was the obvious choice as he was the only key fwd among the top draft picks (McCartin, Petracca, Brayshaw).