Earl Hood

Keep going let’s make it an 80 pt drubbing so we play first final at the G!

Rogering?

6 Melksham 5 Brayshaw 4 Oliver 3 May 2 Hunt 1 Gawn

Set shots killing is again!

Tuned in at the 10 minute mark of the first quarter and within 10 minutes witnessed at least 3 Jamie Elliot tackles and guess what they were all “ play on”! FMD it’s a joke.

I don’t see it that way at all. What we have seen is replicated often in the civil courts at least, particularly by anyone with deep pockets, willing to keep appealing through the various levels of the court system. Guilty at one level, don’t worry appeal to a higher court and bingo the finding can get reversed.

And every time I look at the vision I see a guy flying in late, not genuinely contesting for the mark and hitting a player in the head. Anyone who has played footy knows what Cripps was doing, making the guy earn the mark. He was too late to contest for the mark and these elite players earn their living making split second decisions to contest a ball or evade a tackle.

Apparently there is no mention in the Magna Carta about choosing to bump!

That Johnson kid was stiff, those 4 goals all had high degrees of difficulty and kept them in it.

So if we had won by 2 goals Oliver would have got 8 votes and De Goey would have got zero because he was supposed to be on Oliver?

Thanks for posting that. To me the rules would appear to clear Hibberd who had no prior opportunity in the first quarter by any stretch of the imagination (18.6.2.). He had barely picked the ball up when it was dislodged by the tackler. And Viney was hard done by after receiving a handball in the last quarter in heavy traffic and immediately trying to get it to his boot only to be tackled and missing his foot 18.6.3 (a) and (b)! That’s 2 gifted goals right there.

I think part of the answer is that the good Opposition teams are playing us differently. The emphasis is quick ball movement, switching play, don’t go down the line, keep the ball low and targeted going into their forward line. Doggies and Pies have done that and managed to negate Lever and May and play around Max and avoiding getting into a dour, defensive wrestle. Us, well when we have the ball we display some breathtaking ball movement early on to score easily but then tend to revert to very predictable defensive ball movement in the second half of games, kicking down the line, high balls into our F50 etc and get run over by the better teams.

Not fit enough!

I went to a night with May and Lever 10 days ago and I remember May saying the lose to the Dogs was uncharacteristic and Goody gave them a spray saying we don’t get into shoot outs it’s not our brand we need to shutdown the oppositions run and suffocate them. So even though we were 3 goals up at half time and dominating the stats I was thinking we are still playing this game on their terms, not ours. And guess what happened. With our forward line we can’t expect to win fast flowing shootouts. Oh for a Lynch or Hawkins just to get a few easy goals from a high kick in and a solid mark by a key forward. We just don’t get those and have to work hard for every score, only tonight to see the Pies slingshot the ball out of our 50 and low and hard into their forward 50 taking May and Lever out of the equation. Of course chaos ball into your 50 and getting 3 frees in front of goal for incorrect disposal helps big time. I am not sure why you would pick the ball in heavy traffic as a backman these days.

Extraordinary football but this isn’t our brand. Need to shut this end to end stuff down next quarter.

The Weid is certainly sitting in limbo now. Dropped a few games out from the finals with BB ahead of him with what seems to be our finals forward structure of 1 tall forward with Max or LJ helping out. With TMac, JVR and even Joel Smith as options ahead of a recall. Watched the replay again of last weeks game, Weid got to numerous aerial contests but each time he was doing little more than being part of the numbers, occassionally getting a defensive fist in to spoil. He doesn’t seem to have any ability to impose his body into a contest up forward, taking the initiative to crash a pack or decisively punch a ball away. He is just there. Back up ruck for Jackson now I suppose.

Yes zoning was part of the story but the money and ability to raid the best talent from SA and WA set the outcomes throughout the 70’s and 80’s. Didn’t Norm Smith in Red Fox identify this as an issue in the 60’s but his pleas to the MCC Board to be able to pay players from interstate fell flat. To the Board it was a privilege to play for the MFC on the G and be offered an MCC membership! Thus consigning us to oblivion for decades while Geelong, Carlton, Hawthorn and Richmond reaped the best interstate talent to dominate the VFL.

Agree on shelving the soft frees although I thought Cumberland’s first or second where he walked about 10m toward goal with a Lions player desperately hanging on around his waist then grounded the ball but got back up to kick the goal in full view of the umpire was pushing the boundary! Holding the ball or dropping the ball surely. But yes great spectacle.

That said the problem is Lobb will likely be part of the LJ trade as Freo don’t have great picks to trade to us. So it might have been nice to see Lobb show something as a forward.

Your last sentence doesn’t make much sense. All 3 players were regarded as elite forward talent when drafted. All 3 struggled at AFL level as forwards, 2 have since found their niche as defenders, the other is still struggling badly as a forward, is 25 years old with a year left on his contract. I’m looking at options to salvage something from a first round draft investment.

I was suggesting we at least look at how he performs behind the ball, not necessarily as a lockdown defender on the opposition gorilla, more as the floating intercept defender. My dim memories of playing footy I remember competing in the air as a forward was much harder than as a defender where you don’t have someone off your left shoulder ready to punch the ball or more often your head. I note both Jeremy Howe and Darcy Moore were obvious forward talents, both struggled and now play in defence as intercept defenders.

6 Viney 5 Brayshaw 4 Fritsch 3 Petracca 2 Sparrow 1 Petty

Should have been trialled as a key position backman since last year with the view to move Petty forward. He is not a key forward but has size and skills that can be utilised.

Fingers crossed that Weideman stands up in the second half and clunks a couple of goals

Next half of footy defines the rest of the season! Oliver has to break his tag.