chookrat

At the risk of making excuses, last year is not a good comparison given the lack of players and need to play players out of position week to week with our revolving door of injured players. We were without players in our best 22 more than 30% more than the next worst team which meant we lacked any ability to build cohesion. This season has all over the place with Richmond and West coast being poor and us a game behind and having only played two weeks in a row for the first time v Richmond. Let's see how we go over the next 5 games to see how we go with some degree of continuity and more than 4 weeks of training together as a team.

While the result is that we poorly execute skills I don't see it as a skill issue, but more about poor decision making which includes picking the wrong option and second guessing ourselves to. Whether it is a lack of confidence, poor game plan, lack of cohesion across lines or all of the above only the club really knows.

I can understand Dunn and Sidebottom having a couple of beers with Howe given his injury and with Dunn recovering from bad knee injuries. It is also strange times when we are deriding players for catching an Uber rather than driving after some beers, but what they did puts the league at risk so should have a penalty. Re Spargo and the MFC accepting the penalty, I haven't problem with this as it becomes a distraction given he was foolish and deserved two weeks and wouldn't be cracking into the team anyway with AVB, Hannan, HB, Jones and ANB ahead of him. Eddie can carry on all he likes, it doesn't have any impact on our pursuit of our next flag.

I love it that Collingwood are negotiating with the AFL. Surely for such breaches there is a prescribed penalty and the club has a hearing but the penalty is determined based on the breach and associated penalty not a negotiated outcome.

After a poor 4 or 5 games last year having had surgery on both if his ankles before a couple of solid games, the first of which he racked up close to 30 touches on the wing and the second of which he kicked 4 goaks in a half before injuring his knee. I thought he was decent today, provided a target and consistently brought the ball to ground to halve contest, not to mention a string grab and goal.

Elgat, the person who started this petition is an absolute moron and the people that have signed it aren't much better. I have a real issue with people who have no experience selecting a senior coach trying to influence the club's decision making with this sort of action. If you don't have confidence in how our club is being run than run your own ticket, but for the people involved in this petition try and influence the club's decision making re changing coaches without any responsibility or accountability on their part makes me furious. We've got good people running our club and if they don't think Goody will bring us success then they will make a decision based on an informed understanding of his performance, not the emotional whims of a bunch of supporters and agitators.

Effort was there, execution was lacking.

Well said deegirl. To me the movement against racism is about us as a society speaking up against racism. If someone says something racist, pull them up on it regardless of the forum. Also I'll put my hand up as someone who has even recently made racially inappropriate comments among close friends as a joke, a form of casual racism which really isn't funny. On reflection I've made a commitment to stop this and also pull up others for the same thing, as this will make a positive difference to society.

It's a shame that people can simply deactivate an account and make a new one. Social media would be much better if peoples identities are verified and even if using an alias cannot simply create another account. There needs to be more accountability for what people post and for the social media platforms to verify every members identity.

Absolutely love this. I cannot imagine what it would be like as a professional athlete rehabbing over and over through 25 calf strains. It's a testament to Bennell's resilience and persistence to pursue the game that he loves and glad that he's feeling fresh and settled well in the club. Lookingforward to see him build throughout the year and imagine the damage we can do with Bennell and AVB playing half forward,both inspirational with special talents.

Then Max should neck another at half time, more exposure for Red Bull and gives him a pep up for the second half. That's what I call a win/win my friend.

Robbo makes perfect sense if it's 8pm and you assume he's been at the pub since 11am.

I reckon if teams lose a line due to a positive test and they have 26 players available (22 + emergencies) they must play, as it; a) provides an incentive for players and clubs to follow protocol and be vigilant. b) keeps games going by maximising the chance of all teams playing 17 games each. If a team loses multiple lines but follow protocol then the game should be postponed to a later date however if they lose multiple lines as a result of the club not following protocol, e.g. not isolating a player who tests positive, then I reckon they should forfeit the points for the game(s) they cannot field a team. I think we need to accept that the competition will be somewhat compromised but if we are good enough we can win the premiership.

If I understand correctly, the reason why the AFL has such strict protocols and a rigorous testing regime is to firstly prevent players from contracting Covid-19, and where that fails to have a testing regime to prevent a cluster spreading within a club (or within the community), and where that fails to prevent spread across multiple clubs. Asa billion dollar industry that relies on 18 teams playing 17 games each + a finals campaign the protocols are there to prevent the above. If anything the AFL will be stricter re quarantine than what is required by health authorities which generally only require self isolation until test results are confirmed.

Of all teams you would think Essendon would have learnt the importance of protocol in such matters. Matty Lloyd is taking the line that the team is finally after a good start after what they went through in 2012 and now this and how it's not fair. "Club legend Matthew Lloyd is among those who believe it’s “unfair” if Essendonis forced to play without its entire first-choice defence — or a host of other stars. “They’d be massive underdogs,” Lloyd told Nine News. “They’ve made such a great start to the season and you just wonder if another season will be derailed for Essendon in 2020.”

Surely this is the perfect time to simply move back home to the MCG. We had a bit out on our ground today, the boys should simply rock up again tomorrow. Problem solved!

Good point Skuit. As frustrating as the match being postponed due to the EFC and McKenna's poor decision, it could have very easily been Kossi or Spargo contracting the Corona, noting our players likely don't live in the filthy western suburbs. If anything this is a good reminder to all of us to keep socially distancing and not take anything for granted.

Of all teams it had to be the Druggies.

Footy's Back!

To bring Lockhart in probably means Nev Jetta is out. I also don't see Hibberd in as Riviers has earned his place for a few rounds based on his debut last week and I think Smith needs some time to get into his groove. I'd like to see our current backline settled so that they can build cohesion. I'm guessing either ANB or Jackson will make way for Pickett and or one of Hannan or AVB.

West Coast have done pretty well with Hurn and McGovern as great intercept defenders along with Collingwood and Howe, not to mention Richmond with Rance and Grimes. The intercept defenders remains instrumental in the modern game, regardless of 6-6-6. Our problem has been a lack of cohesion due to injury and our defensive 6-7 not playing many games together.

I reckon he's gone a bit Donald Trump. He should start circulating rumours about the AFL deep state next and how he is draining the swamp.

Thanks Lucifer's Hero, brilliant read!

Yep agree re complacency, which is where a scare like we had v Carlton can be useful tool for getting us playing consistently for the rest of the season. Looking forward to seeing us play like we did in the first quarter for a full game v Druggies on Sunday.

Collingwood, Hawthorn and Eagles (all highly successful teams/clubs faded badly in the second half. I honestly think across the league it will take the first few rounds for teams to establish some consistency. A positive from our match is the first half provides a clear picture of the way we want to play, so the coaches can show players what our game style is meant to look like, and then use footage from the second half to compare what we did differently btw halves and the impact on how things unfold.