Earl Hood

JKH and Tyson get a tick that quarter. Must hang on here for a win. 

If we manage to stick some tackles on the likes of Mileara we will be in here. Jones has to lift and umpires definitely need to lift, some shockers so far. 

Where is the midfield? What’s happened to Hogan? Can Max tap to our guys and not a Crow? 

55 minutes ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

Spot on. 

People say we shouldn't have picked Neeld and history showed it was a debacle. 

But really would a Ross Lyon, Mick Malthouse or Rocket Eade have wanted to come to us? With CS giving his sage advice about how the team should be tracking? With Gaz, Sugar and Cuddles not lurking far behind?

Neeld for the job by telling Don, CS and Gaddy what they wanted to hear so they could pin their shortcomings on Bails. 

And unfortunately as much as I loved the man, Jimmy’s decisions allowed it all to happen. He courted CS and signed off on Cuddles as Football Operations manager after he missed the coaching gig. So Bails started his job under a lot of pressure I would think, reporting to the guy he beat for the coaching position. 

Post 186 Jimmy oversaw the sacking of Bails, rather than CS, huge mistake in retrospect. The way Bails was sacked still sticks in my guts. What was that about except as a reflection of CS exerting his power and hatred for a Coach who had worked out that the CEO was a big part of the problem in the club. 

I think Jimmy’s problem was he only saw the best in people and that everyone meant well but working life is not always like that unfortunately. 

CS prevailed and poor Neeld came in as the attack dog to carry out the retribution against the senior players. 

There is one villain in this sad saga and it is not Neeld or Jimmy by the way. 

37 minutes ago, Goffer said:

A strange post, Gaelic football was always an amateur sport and never enjoyed popularity outside Ireland or expat communities. Footy is expanding at the moment and is the predominant code in most of the country, however the AFL needs to rid itself of the delusion that it can expand overseas. It won’t, and any idea that it ever could was simply a pipe dream.

Hey Goffer what about AFLX? ?

I think it is AFL head office that needs pruning. Too many highly paid executives and pseudo analysts with too much time on their hands in my opinion. 

Looks like a list of solutions in search of a problem! 

And can I add these thoughts, if we are worried about congestion, get rid of the third man up ruck rule so umpires throw up the ball ASAP everytime and extend that to boundary throw ins, no waiting for ruckman to line up and reduce rotations more so players get tired and can’t get to every contest. 

I could not find another thread on this. Merge if I am wrong please. 

I was thinking today that the proposed 2019 rule change is the 6/6/6 configuration for all centre bounces next year. This could be very beneficial for us. Given our cluster of see ball, get ball, inside mids, giving them extra space to work in. It could be a god send. You don’t need outside receivers if you are running straight out of the centre looking for a target.

The proposed setup should/will allow for more time and space for clearance players to get ball, run and deliver and we have a number of clearance beasts in Oliver, Viney, Brayshaw, Jones etc. 

We can only hope for some even up given the changes to the ruck circle seriously curtailed Jeff White’s ruck dominance. 

30 minutes ago, layzie said:

It’s definitely not healthy that’s for sure. It just seems like things are a little out of balance. Went out for dinner with some friends during the Freo game a few weeks ago and I really resented it because I was missing the game. 

Been seeing a psych lately, seeing them this weekend. Hopefully it helps.

 

Hang in there Layzie! I have used aerobic and resistance exercise in the past to work through my depressive episodes. I found it worked wonders but it is not that easy to get started if you are lacking motivation.

So I set a goal to get back on the tennis court, I hadn’t played for 20 plus years but had been a good junior player but gave up as I started to lose games and became more interested in playing team sports like football.

The exercise got me back on the court and socialising with other players. And the best thing was I no longer worry about whether I win or not! When I was young losing used to cripple me mentally for days. 

38 minutes ago, america de cali said:

AFL says Danger blocking free was correct. Hear no evil, see no evil have spoken.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/dangerfield-ruck-free-was-correct-call-afl-20180724-p4ztbc.html

Has the AFL adjudicated on the Harms protected area 50 meter penalty and resultant goal? That was more rediculous than the blocking free. 

Just now, nosoupforme said:

It might as well had been. That is how many of us feel.

Do you feel fantastic Earl.

No of course I don’t but can we get some perspective here? Not everyone had a shocker in a three point loss where we should’ve, could’ve but didn’t and no help from the Umpires by the way. A blood rule not happening against Max or perhaps Tracca holding onto the ball longer and we maybe win. 

I don’t think we will make finals now and we need to do a lot more work and let’s hope we can get our best players on the park for most of a season next year. I also believe our game plan doesn’t help our players to achieve their best. 

6 TMac

5 Oliver

4 Petracca

3 Gawn

2 Fritsch

1 Harmes

3 minutes ago, joeboy said:

Jones - becoming a liability

Jetta - little to commend

O.McDonald - was comprehensively destroyed

Smith - has limited skills

Lewis - slow but important 

Vince - a momentum killer

Frost - some impressive touches

Fritsch - needed more urgency

Gawn - had limited impact

Oliver - prolific but tired

Brayshaw - sacrificed to tag

Harmes - wonderful tagging game

Hogan - gave us little

O. McDonald - always looked dangerous 

Spargo - disappeared second half

Garlett - disappeared whole game

Neal Bullen - just lacks class

Kennedy Harris - out of depth

Melksham - was hardly sighted

Petracca - was almost terrific 

Tyson - never play again

Salem - just a game 

 

 

How much did we lose by? 20 goals? 

7 minutes ago, timbo said:

Lewis must never play for us again

or Vince - the footage of him laughing with the Geelong player post game tells you all you need to know - it's all a laugh. Just a job. No thanks . 

drop jones - abomination skills wise

 

 

Oh for heaven’s sake! 

Tracca just had to soak up time. The Umps cost us 3 goals, but even so we should have won that one but gee we haven’t won any of the close ones have we? We outplayed the Cats but got done after the siren for the second time this year. We are not ready for finals yet I believe. 

1 minute ago, beelzebub said:

Yet we can handball...and get pinged for throwing !!

It's the Belmont effect !! ?

Belmont? But I agree interesting what Danger gets away with and the snickey ruck nomination in front of goal was a classic. We just have to be aware that they are sly bastards. Rule needs to be changed. 

Should be 4 goals 1 not 2 3 

1 hour ago, daisycutter said:

thread? football? dementia?

Gone Bananas? 

16 hours ago, Redleg said:

My last game at Kardinia Park was 186,  where I saw our seniors and reserves lose by about a combined 50 goals. It was a nightmare. Said I wouldn’t ever come back and I haven’t and won’t. 

Me too. I still have disturbing flashbacks at times, not unlike the opening scenes from Apocalypse Now! 

5 hours ago, Petraccattack said:

If its a quad strain hes not playing this week, and maybe not vs Adelaide.  If its bad strain/tear , Jack VIney will have some company in the sidelines. 

Hopefully hes fine, our backline will be toast with both him and Lever not there.

He grabbed his quad immediately as he kicked the ball and then limped slowly off, that indicates more than a strain to my amateur eyes, more like a tear. Maybe someone who has experienced similar could give an opinion. 

19 minutes ago, Dee Zephyr said:

Doesn’t sound good. You think he’ll miss Earl?

Don’t know enough about these things, didn’t look good but maybe they can remediate these strains in three days? 

Noticed that Hibberd pulled up sharply after kicking the ball late in training. Seemed to be a quad strain to me, walked/limped off immediately.

Re Guthrie above - When they split out the seconds players I noticed both Tyson and J Smith were involved in a 3/4 ground ball movement drill with the ones then Tyson was involved in a mid group drill. 

Can we talk about a real muscle car! 

7 minutes ago, bing181 said:

Weideman for Hannan. Apart from anything else, lets us leave Tom McD up forward the whole match as Weideman would cover  for Gawn.

Tyson for Viney seems obvious, perhaps they wanted more pace against the Dogs, but do we need more grunt against Geelong?

Given the dimensions of Geelong’s ground, longish and skinny, maybe it is more grunt in the middle that is needed, rather than leg speed, so maybe it’s Tyson and he played well today. 

17 minutes ago, MudDogs Gawn Win.. someday said:

No I didn’t pal. Nor did I drop chest marks out in the open that were lace out pal.

And you played at AFL level intensity in front of 30,000 people as well am I to suppose?