Diamond_Jim

that's been going on for years ... easy thing to fix these days with post match camera review Big fines and/or banning of runners for that team for next match

Looking at it from a money basis we have 4 weeks until our big QB money spinner our schedule is ... Adelaide (away), North (MCG), Gold Coast (Alice Springs) and bye Collingwood's is: GWS,(Sydney) Hawthorn,(MCG) Brisbane (MCG), Freo (Perth) Could be the lowest QB crowd for many years if neither team perform

Playing the King sounds tempting but in reality it is not an option. Ruck is a position for the big strong boys unless you have special athletic abilities a la Natanui. Perhaps we can take a chance in the Alice or Darwin if he has the aerobic ability assuming Spencer is not back by then. Why did this have to happen to MFC in the very year that they banned the third man up. Can we ever take a trick !!

Last year we finished 11th and would have finished 9th if we had not stuffed up the Carlton game. Making finals was not too much to ask. The reality is that waiting for a team to "gel" is foolish... while we wait others improve and our team stagnates etc. In a year or so we will be desperate to retain the younger stars. Unrealistic to expect that we will keep them all unless we deliver success. Already there is talk on the radio about how Hunt would be a perfect target for many clubs. We continue to pay the price for no A grade senior players. It will be years before we achieve list balance so in short we have to win with what we have. Might sound unrealistic but I was expecting finals plus one or two wins in the finals

What a tipster... the famous "kiss of death" A great football personality as well as a great player. Larger than life was definitely the right description for Lou A very full life but will be missed.

Sounds sensible doesn't it but not many spare big planes around the world these days given the utilisation levels of all the major airlines. Mind you Malaysian Airlines have a couple of A 380's that they have been looking to lease out for the last 2-3 years. They are looking to use them now in the charter business to Mecca after no takers for all that time. Probably cost prohibitive for a one off flight over and back plus re-positioning costs etc.

Cannot get over the fact that Port get the money but it is at the cost of a Gold Coast home game (OK ... GC get money as well) Apparently GC only agreed to one year but Port's China deal is for five years. Will be interesting to see who if anyone steps up next year to be Port's "patsy". GC cannot get direct flights from Qld so they are flying somewhere else and then on to Shanghai... total flight time (including layover) was reported this morning on SEN at 20 hours and only part of their team can be accomodated in business class.

sorry ... wrong link.... unicorn food was part of our China game discussion will edit and fix... amazing fad this unicorn food though !!

Melksham reported twice so you say. Made my day.... can this season get worse

The rate of change in this team is high to say the least. It seems to always be in three in and three out. TBH there is no one at Casey knocking the door down and hasn't been for weeks. JKH out on the theory that almost anyone could be better but for the rest no change unless Stretch has rectified whatever he was dropped for in the first instance. In which case Stretch for Bugg. Hard to get any enthusiasm up although I will accept that occasionally seeming miracles do happen. One good thing about the weekend was that although we lost the hitouts by total we won the clearance numbers. Will not help the longer term next week that we will have to take two emergencies ... (when is our VFL game? )

Good article from the Guardian on Buckley's woes at Collingwood and as usual the comments make a great read https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/may/08/discontent-grows-as-listless-collingwood-defeat-heaps-pressure-on-nathan-buckley What I find interesting are two things: 1. Why were Collingwood confident of making finals. Their list last year was not brimming with youth on its way up. I suppose they added Wells and was Treloar this year or last. 2. The article ties Buckley's future into that of McGuire. Call him what you will Eddie has been great for Collingwood. It seems that it is payback for the Malthouse/Buckley deal but from where I sit they would be mad to push Eddie.

Two weeks or so ago (Freo match) we were criticizing Vince (?) for bombing in during the last minute. Ok this was closer to the end but I am not sure that the players knew the time left down to the seconds.

That's our game plan... when it comes off it looks good... sometimes even great but when it doesn't In his defence he is taught to look for the spare player.. there was one... Rioli closed down the space and in spoiling pushed over the receiver. Moreover Lewis could not impact the play. Their ability to take marks allowed them to slow down the game and stop us from getting the ball into space. It also seemed to me that we got a few unlucky bounces. Hell I don' think this season is going to be much fun

we were outscored in all quarters except the third... simple mathematics as to why we lost. As to teams being on song ... we must be selling the hymn sheets !!!

Ah.. but unicorn food is the latest trend http://www.goodfood.com.au/eat-out/news/unicorn-food-has-gone-too-far-20170317-gv0pu4

I am afraid we are not better. Our game plan is high risk and when it comes off it's great. The reality is that in modern football the consecutive handballs and get it to the running player will be easily closed down by a close checking team. Plan B requires more traditional down the line marking (we don't do it ) or the rolling scrum like the Bulldogs play (we are not strong enough). For our game plan to work you need to dominate the midfield and have three outside runners together with swooping forwards. We have some of those components but not the lot and until then we will continue to be one quarter wonders. On the upside get the game plan right (may need different players) and we will be millionaires. Hope I live to see it.

But what did the entrails say ???

this thread is starting to sound like the pre- Freo thread and we all know how that went

Dogs v Tigers last night Hit outs: 50-27 in favour of the Tigers Clearances: 40-32 in favour of the Dogs Tigers were not playing their number one ruckman so that could be a factor Oliver will probably be tagged today Welcome any comments on strategies to look out for at the match today

Any news as to whether Brayshaw is playing would be appreciated together with a good analysis of our ruck strength. Will be very interesting to see how the "no specialist ruckman" goes against a recognised ruckman at the MCG today.

winning each quarter by a couple of goals would be a pleasant change............ have we done it during the last ten years?

Was away last year so did not hear the bells until the Freo game. Very good sound... liked the drum lead up could be louder

If you played each Sunday you would have 3 games in 14 days so I don't think we have much to worry about on that score

Now for Gold Coast v Geelong after today... who knows

seriously good win by the Eagles. (helped by bad kicking by Port) Heard on the radio that Natanui is likely out for the season... if true that is a shame... he provides something special to that team and is great to watch