Pirlo

Riewoldt will make absolute mince meat out of Dunn or Fitzpatrick if they tried to follow him around. Roo is the perfect match up for McDonald, roaming forward who can be forced wide. He's too good a mark to force a regular spoil out of, unlike a Jeremy Cameron, but TMac will need to get him in the wrong spots.

Garlo's one of my favourites, but were St Kilda playing the resting ruck him being out wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. This is now the third week in a row that clubs who play two rucks opt to go for one against us, and finally we have reacted (forcibly) by taking a tall out of our defence. McDonald on Roo is ideal, and hopefully Dunn can do a job on the in-form Bruce on his 150th. Hoping Vince goes head to head with Armo, old fashioned type of thing rather than a tag. I wouldn't mind Viney following Steven around though, but would also like our mids to play their own game rather than negate a team we need to beat. Hogan needs a big one, and I wonder whether we might tell him that and then give him a double rest against Geelong with the bye coming up.

What a load of [censored]. Who needs enemies when we have supporters like you?

Our players never tend to return on time. There's clearly incompetence on some level - whether that's performance management, communication or otherwise remains to be seen. Our injury list has been fairly average though tbf, though that may be because our true a-graders have so far remained fit.

Watch Gawn have a poor game next week and have this poll flipped on its head. Reminds me of when Matt Jones and Dean Terlich were great pick ups, even better than Dan Nicholson who was a weapon off half back. One game does not a player make. Jamar has played 150 games and has made AA and people are saying 'he can't ruck' - Good Lord.

Our own coach played over 350 games.

Jamar. Not shocked he's 'not interested', considering the fact that he started the season well but has been dropped to try out other guys. I get that it was a necessary evil to do it, but people should show some respect and understand that he's fought hard for many years and a lack of motivation in the twos is simply a natural part of Roos' decision to drop him. He cold be getting 60 hit outs a game at Casey, and it wouldn't change the fact that he isn't getting a game until Gawn and Spencer have had their four weeks. Spencer IMO is a dud, but I'd keep him on the list as insurance. Gawn I have always said there is something there, and Monday was good. I don't think he was any more productive than Jamar, because his tapwork is great but he tries too much and needs to worry about getting it down our players' throats when its there and making ground when it isn't. He's young though, he'll learn. If I want to win a game tomorrow however, then I pick Jamar.

[censored].

The Oxley thing I agree on, but the players gave up the goose in the fourth quarter. We had a really good chance to get a few on the board and keep the heat on, but decided not to. Not much Roos can do there.

Good: Watts. Ran hard all day, did plenty of good things, kicked a goal, there at every stoppage. Toumpas. Continued to present, goes when its his turn. 21 touches and 4 tackles is a good return from a young player. Matt Jones. Willed himself everywhere and always made a contest despite Collingwood's chip chip chip game style. Bad: Hogan. Frost did to him what TMac usually does to players. I love his no-[censored] attitude, but he didn't lead hard enough and any kicks his way were picked off. McDonald. Beaten comprehensively all day. Dunn. What's the point when his kicking is poor? Play him at FB, or not at all. The rest goes without saying, just wanted to get in on what other people were blind to. Especially Watts - I cannot believe that any rational football watcher thought he was 'indifferent!'. EDIT: Appears that this is a bumped thread. Still miffed by the lack of praise coming Jack's way.

Imagine those guys at Hogan's feet! Gee whiz. Good to see they all look happy.

Salem is listed as 2 weeks, so should be straight in after the bye. If we lose on Monday, then I'd like to see ANB get a gig against St Kilda. If we win, someone is going to be unlucky to make way for Tyson.

What is it with some of these small forwards? Charlie Cameron seems to be unwilling to kick a goal unless its spectacular today, and last night Michael Walters was selling candy when they were 10 goals down. Its such a backwards stereotype, and yet a lot of these guys fill it. Just play progressive footy.

I'm not saying there is, but Jamar is clearly our best ruckman and it would be retrograde to have him in the reserves or sack him to give a very unlikely prospect a chance to play VFL.

I will feel sick if we force Jamar into retirement. Even the D-League is an insult for a modern champion of the club (granted, the criteria isn't as high as it once was). I fully expect him to return to the side in a week or two should Gawn not perform anyway, but demote or sack him for Max [censored] King? Russian has every reason to be miffed, considering the fact that he was dropped for an inferior player despite playing well. The fact that he's not playing well in the VFL is no good, but he's hardly taking his complaints public. If King is a half-decent player he will stand up and perform? Here's a hint - he was a rookie selection for a reason and nothing he has done so far contravenes the fact that he will be delisted soon.

I enjoy Eddie commentating Carlton games. He knows their history, and wants them to be strong and proud so he can hate them again. Not the new-age schaudenfreude, over-grown school boy rival fan that you see everywhere.

Weak players unwilling to nail down a position. Make no mistake, Paul Roos is a legend of the game (on field and in the coaches box) knows exactly what he is doing. Accountability is good, but he will sort it out if people get out of his way.

Surprised we're playing Fitzy again, but I suppose the Pies do play two ruckmen. McDonald > Cloke Dunn > White Fitzy > Grundy/Witts I remember Garland did a great job on Cloke in 2013 (?), gives us good flexibility because he, Dunn and McDonald can all get good numbers playing loose. Not expecting much, just hoping for a good match.

Especially considering his father walked away from him, his siblings and his mum when he was a toddler.

I'd be absolutely horrified if my child said that at the football, let alone at 13. I remember driving down towards Optus Oval when I was eight with my dad and brother. Vin Waite had just died, they were talking about it on the radio, and I made an untoward comment with regards to Jarrad who was playing that day. I don't recall what I said, but I do recall the look on my dads face and the tone of his voice when he told me off. Its called good parenting, because you bloody well know never to say anything like that again.

"The stolen generation myth" - its unbelievable, hey? So what he's saying is that (very simplistically): Europeans invade Australia Europeans start by stealing ('trading for') lands and driving Indigenous people away Europeans move Indigenous people into 'settlements' where alcohol and other drugs are introduced Europeans decide to sleep with Indigenous woman so as to eliminate the Aboriginal people slowly and totally. This behaviour continues until the early 1970s. The Australian government stops the practice, but the Indigenous people are given little land back and are incorporated into the system when its too late. The drugs and drink are here, and many children have no grounding because of the trauma they suffered and their parents suffered. Their identity is lost, and they have children who turn out the same way. The fact that we have stopped systematically breeding them out, have said 'sorry' and give them funds means they should accept it and move on. No, [censored]. The Aboriginal people will suffer for generations because of the cultural damage inflicted by the settlers up until less than 50 years ago, and now we the new generation and our government do little but throw some coin their way and let them sort it out. We accept them in society, but when one of them stands up and speaks out, we get uncomfortable and lash out at them because we just don't want to hear it. The mistreatment of the Indigenous people may be something that caucasians would like to push out of their minds, but it does little good to the children still being born to fractured families. Remember Liam Jurrah? Goes home to a family divided at the seams and is told to sort it out and that he is letting them down by not being there. He finds the drink, or it finds him, and look at the bloke now. I don't agree with some of what Goodesy does on the field, but he is a bona fide legend of the game who I hope that one day will be revered for his affirmative action. Oh, and just on that 13 year old girl who has somehow become a 'victim'. Never mind the fact that she knew exactly what she was saying, how was he to know who she was? He was jogging down the boundary during Indigenous round and heard someone call him an ape, at which point he turned around and pointed at the person in question. Once it was established that it was a minor, was he meant to say "nothing to see here". She called him the next day, he told her how it made him feel upset and then he forgave her. If many people could have it their way - he would be commending her for calling him as some grand act and that he had no right to not smile and forget about it. A five year old calling him an ape might do it because of his skin colour but not know why it is offensive, a 13 year old is more than aware. The problems within the Indigenous communities is something that we need to fix, beyond throwing money and our cultural values at them as though it will help.

Out: This weeks scapegoats In: Next weeks scapegoats I have been staying off the forums, because I was away this weekend and wanted to enjoy myself despite only catching the second half of the game. It is really [censored] me how much people lose their minds over losses. We're a mentally scarred team that isn't quite good enough to compete against better sides. Yes, its frustrating. But its reality, and no amount of screaming and yelling is going to change the fact that we have to stay the course and stop dropping our collective bundles every time we lose. I know the circumstances were bad, and that its a repeat of rd 2, but this is how it is and we have to accept that. Everyone lost it before the Dogs game, then you were on board again, and now you have jumped off.

It depends on whether you watched him with the attitude of "come on Jimmy, show us what you can do" or "bloody Wines/Stringer and we end up with this spud - do something!" I watched it with the former, and I thought it was wonderful to see the boys get around a 21 (!!) year old who has had a tough time of things. He wouldn't be the first player to need time before producing, and I sense that once he gets the confidence he needs - he'll keep it.

Are you all feeling better?

Shame Ayce Cordy is absolutely bloody useless all over the ground. If Beveridge was truly innovative, he'd have given that role to Fletcher Roberts and played someone who can take a grab up forward.