Cranky Franky

Most posters on this site have totally missed the point. This was about payback from Eddie after Caro suggested in an article that after 20years he should have a succession plan in place. Whenever Eddie or Collingwood are criticised instead of addressing the issue Eddie always goes the man (or woman). Caro is generally a good journo but she has sold out to the AFL by being their mouthpiece at times. She also goes pretty soft on Richmond. In any case there seem to be very short memories here on Demonland because there were dreadful things said about her in the past when she has criticised the MFC.

Jack Trengove I mean. We are all wrapt to see that he has made a successful comeback & we all wish him well because he is a great bloke & fantastic club man however on the basis of 2 games back is there a spot for him on the list next year ? He still looks pretty slow and if he's only going to pick up 20 odd touches a week he is going to struggle. Remember Brayshaw, Salem & probably HL and ANB will come into the team at some stage. He looks too slow to play in defence or up forward

Fully agree. Paul Roos has done a fantastic job but him & the Brains Trust have made some dreadful selection blunders in the past 2 years. A couple of big bodied experienced players should have been brought in for todays game and Grimes should be in for sure. Lets hope we don't have a repeat of the Port game where Roos admits afterwards that they lost the match at the selection table.

Who are the flankers ?? You are kidding me. The current ones are Hunt & Wagner. Then at Casey you have Grimes who can't get a look in despite outstanding form. Then Garland and Mitchie who has done ok. Then White who is also playing well. Then Lumumba and Salem who are out injured. Plus Bernie Vince & Jones who Roos has been playing at half back during games. That makes 8 decent HBF. And lets not forget Milkshake. Midfielders & HBF are the 2 areas we have well & truly covered. Frost, Tom & Oscar are a long way from being able to deal with quality tall forwards that's why Riewoldt & Daniher & Pavlich chop us up every time we play them. We couldn't handle Jack Redpath, or Justin Westhoff or Darling or Kennedy The Club should be chasing 1. Key defenders 2 A back up ruckman 3. Goal kicking small forwards.

Hibberd - you must be joking - we have about a million 187 cm half backs atm we don't need any more. What we need desperately is big solid key defenders that can play on Joe Daniher & Tex Walker.

Both Hunt, Wagner (and Oscar too) need to work on awareness and how to dispose of the ball when they are tackled. ATM all 3 are pretty clueless & it seems to come as a great shock to them when their arms are pinned so they are prone to give away frees. More time in the gym & more work on that aspect of their development & they all could become real guns.

6. Gawn 5. Vince 4. T Mac 3 Watts 2. Kennedy 1. Kent

Sorry I can't join the party most teams would have belted the pies by 10 goals. Oscar was passable but should still be at Casey - he gave away 2 goals. Jetta, Stretch & VDB were barely adequate. Frost & Tom McD were lucky the Pies kicking for goal was poor. Hogan dropped 3 chest marks. Trengove is just going. Lucky for us Watts, Max & Bernie had huge games & the Pies were missing a few players.

I don't find it particularly funny. I'm not a great fan of Grimes but his form at Casey has been outstanding & he deserves an opportunity. I don't think it does much for the integrity of the Club or the playing group if good form is not rewarded.

He's just signed a new contract & unfortunately a lot of players drop form when that happens. A couple of years ago Lynden Dunn was in career best form during contract negotiations but his form dropped away after he had signed. Aaron Davey was another one who played his best footy leading up to contract negotiations.

I am starting campaign to bring back Jack Grimes. At the moment only Nev Jetta seems to have clue about how to play properly in our backline. Jack may have suspect disposal but he is courageous & knows how to stick close to dangerous forwards - time to bring him back.

If Oscar was at Hawthorn or Geelong he would spend 40-50 games in the VFL developing his skills & learning the game which is what should happen to most players unless they are super talented. How our Brains Trust believe that Oscar is a better bet in defence than Frost has got me flummoxed.

I am very worried that we have no natural match up for Stringer. If he is not manned up he will chop us to pieces. We stuffed up our defensive match ups against St Kilda & I'm worried we might do it again on Sunday. Would have thought that Dunn was the ideal match for Stringer. Dogs have Campbell & Redpath. We can use Garland & Tom McD on them although both are a little undermanned. Maybe they have a plan to use Oscar McD.

First Daniher chopped us up then no Melbourne player went near Brent Harvey & he carved us & now Membrey & Riewoldt(again) destroyed us. Who the hell is organising the defence at the Club because ATM they look like rabble. Harry & Jetta have had to pick up players 10cm taller & nobody seems to be able to stick close to his opponent. Dunn looks shot & Tom Mc leaves his man to chase kicks. The defensive 6 should work as a tight unit but they are bordering rubbish. Maybe its time to bring back Grimes & Garland who at least know how to play tight.

Jackson's most important job now is to make sure that whenever he decides to leave his replacement is as good as he is.

Gibson's first 3 years at NM were statistically speaking very similar with little improvement. In his 4th year he improved significantly. Likewise in his first 3 years at Hawthorn his stats were just so so. After that however his career really took off whereas at the same age Garland's career went south.

Very comparable actually. When Gibson left North he was seen as just a journeyman ie a good ordinary player. At Hawthorn he has got better & better. After 4/5 years Garland was seen as a potential top notch player. He played very well on Buddy Franklin early in his career & was hailed as the prototype "swing man". Sadly since then he has stalled or gone backwards whereas Gibson has blossomed.

Both players are about the same size & have the same level of natural ability in fact Col is probably more talented. Gibson is more aggressive & tenacious & pushes the rules ie hangs on & scrags a lot & is invariably looking to attack. Gibson now has 2 B&F's, an AA and is a premiership player. A few years ago Col was 2nd in the B&F & looked set to become an elite player. Since then he has gone backwards, become timid & hesitant. Maybe he could take a leaf out of Gibson's book & turn out to be the player we all hoped for. I am glad he has been dropped hopefully it is the kick up the ars# that he needs.

Early days but Parish looks damn good.

We need to remember that Frost has played just 25 odd games of footy. He was initially a rookie at GWS. He showed promise as a defender at GWS. I think Roos is showing poor judgement to expect him to be holding down CHF. He needs to go back to defence, learn the game & get comfortable. Then after a couple of seasons when he has learned a bit more about the game maybe he can be tried up forward.

The fact is that coaches despite the fact they have a lot of knowledge occasionally get it totally wrong. Eventually the penny will drop & Frost will go back to defence.

The Brains Trust have got this badly wrong. From the highlights of Frosts time at GWS he is a natural defender so put him back there. Plus we are desperately in need of another Tall in the backline - someone to take on the 195-200 cm forwards. Lobb was virtually marking at will during the game, lucky for us his kicking was off.

Jack took a step in 2015. That was when he started to be more aggressive in contests and learned to dispose of the ball effectively when being tackled. He had a very good patch of form for about 10 to 12 games before falling away. He just needs to learn to play like yesterday week in week out.

After last year's last minute loss to the Saints I read comments by big Max. He said in hindsight he should of just tapped the ball to his feet & tried for another ball up again and again to use up the time. Yesterday 10 seconds to go & he taps it down the throat of a GWS player who banged it forward where they had a chance to take a mark. Looks like not much was learned.

I think you are correct - a lot of players fire up in their contract year. interesting comments about Dunn from Roos I this year's guide " Its really now about him grasping what we want him to do with regards to the game plan and making simple decisions"