Earl Hood

Backline set up is a shambles, no one at the fall of the ball up forward but somehow we are still in it. Umpiring is diabolical by the way!

Saints beat us last year at the Gee when they intercepted on half back and just ran the ball forward at all costs along the wings. Made us look slow and unaccountable. Looks likely to happen again this week.

Really think he should have been given another chance. We need some leg speed, instead we bring in 2 slower types. I have no issue with Jetta and Lewis, it is more about who gives way.

Has his management been approached by the Pies? All unofficial of course but potential $ discussed. Leading to this tripe!

Which is the case, no one is silencing him. Rugby Australia is just not happy, that is all.

Yes that seems to be the situation. His employer pays him big money and has set down rules about social media use. Israel has been warned on numerous occasions not to do what he did or suffer the consequences. Israel chose to go one more time on his proselytising campaign, as he does in the lead up to Easter each year, so Rugby Australia has apparently decided to cut ties. Fair enough, they are not silencing Israel, they are just withdrawing their payments, most likely because their sponsors have cracked it! If Isreal really believes in his views he will gladly pay a price, isn’t that the definition of a religious martyr! But given his mercenary tendencies, that is to take the biggest pay cheque wherever it may arise whether it be at GWS or for various rugby clubs and national teams I suspect he won’t like losing a single $ for his beliefs. Amazing athlete, not the sharpest tool in the shed and certainly has zero loyalty to anyone except himself and perhaps his close family and religious community. I pity our chances in the up coming World Cup now.

Now who wanted Jones dumped from the team?

One of many. But don’t let a tackle go slightly high on a red and white jumper.

No such rule as the front on spoil apparently, you can just be taken out while you are facing the ball.

U pairing is [censored]. Boundaries can’t throw the ball in. Field umpires always looking for a soft over the shoulder to the Swans and if we get a free they bring it back everytime allowing the Swans to manup. Front on contact to our forwards doesn’t exist. Anyway we are still in it. Petracca stand up mate!

Amazing we are still in it, no help from the umpires either, they are [censored]. Max dominating the hit outs but always finding a Swans player but in that quarter I am not sure it is his fault, our mids just aren’t at his feet. Are our guys just dumb? They can only take one instruction at a time, they have been instructed to concentrate on the defensive side of their game during the week, so now they have forgotten about getting the ball first.

This is going to turn ugly, we are now playing without a midfield.

My hope is that it could be that simple. Just instruct the backline to go man on man and forget zoning. Then instruct all others to go man on man when they have the ball but if we get the ball, then run into space, spread and look for the pass forward. It should be that simple but if it was why are we so [censored]? Is that basic plan too hard to follow? At least until we win a game or two.

The ruck coach is Gregg Stafford who has grey hair and would be a bit shorter than Pruess. But Greg is the ruck coach so who was the other guy?

Baker not showing much, pity.

I would be interested in the thoughts of other track watchers but when I look at our full ground match simulations at training I see ball movement more akin to the “control and possession” game style described where we switch plays from one flank to the other, look for the player in space or on the lead. I don’t see this on game day. We don’t play how we train in my opinion.

What’s happened to Petty’s marking? Seems to be misjudging the flight of the ball.

First quarter over, we easily won the clearances, won the contested footy and inside 50’s so naturally we are 24 points down!

Not looking good for this season. Give us another 4 weeks and if we are still zero points we might as well look forward to an early draft pick and look to next year.

I have officially hit the panic button!

Umpires have officially lost the plot!

Great quarter but still worried by how open we are on the counter attack. And that is what Port and Geelong have done to us big time. Fingers crossed for the second half. We played better but I am still worried about how we play as a group.

At least it is a contest and there have been clanger frees given to both sides but really I have given up on what the rules are! Holding in a contest only involves the the last line of defence and then it doesn’t actually mean grabbing a jumper, just putting your arm across an advancing player, but yes you can grab a player by jumper anywhere else on the field and you can meet someone front on and hit them in the head and play on (Jetta). Otherwise I think I understand the new rules, can’t touch anyone in a contest, it’s all a bit NBA.

I was thinking that today, the Dorks were banged up after a big campaign in 2008 so struggled in early 2009. The trouble with the comparison with MFC 2018 is that the Dorks managed to win a flag 2008 that they should never have won, not sure.

Yes OMac was the problem....not! By the time the sling shots got down his end he was either out numbered or the ball was flying over his head. We are not dealing with the deficiecies of individuals but rather a big game plan problem in my opinion. This is a rerun of last season where we played dumb footy, I likened us at the time in boxing terms as Rocky Balboa trying to slug our way to victory. It intimidated some of the bottom teams by sheer force but we got taken apart by teams that had a bit of talent and a sophisticated, adaptable game plan, e.g. boxing ability. Example early on the Hawks and Swans worked us over big time. Somehow we worked through this to become a force. It seems to me we have regressed to last year for some reason.