Earl Hood

Interesting to listen to some of the conservative members and commentators when asked by Journos to explain why the party is being torn apart and likely to lose power, they state that the Libs needed to address the steady loose of their primary vote mostly to One Nation or other far right groups. Malcolm could not bring the so called broad church of the liberal party together. I am thinking the leaching of the Libs primary vote off to the more extreme right parties is the price they are paying for close to 20 years of xenophobic fear mongering that started with Johnny Howard’s Tampa scare campaign in 2001, re “ we will decide who comes to this country....” Since then we invaded Iraq, vilified Muslims, inferred that boat people were terrorists and somehow a threat to our borders as if they were invading and plundering pirates and on and on to recent scare campaigns on African Gangs rampaging through Melbourne. No wonder those people who believe this rubbish are now looking for extreme policies espoused by the Hansen’s and now Duttons of politics. I doubt the LNP can garner 50% of the vote with far right policies of fear and xenophobia, allowing Labour to occupy the middle ground and own the climate change debate. I maybe wrong. By the way is it a coincidence that Rupert flew into Canberra last week and these recent events and the coordinated attacks by Newscorp papers, Sky and 2GB?

Gee if only these things were so clean and managable. I don’t think it will be so predictable. Turnbull will be gone sooner rather than later. The Walloper who will vote for him outside Queensland?

You can add Kevin Sheedy to that list as well. According to Tom Haffey we told a young Sheeds at preseason that he wasn’t up to it and try somewhere else!

Re Warren Dean didn’t we loose him just prior to the 87 final series with a career ending knee injury. He tried to come back but the knee kept swelling up. My vague memory was of a very dynamic and rangy half forward who was mobile with good hands and could kick the ball a mile. I thought he was a big lose for the finals. I don’t think he played again for us.

Or jump!

6 Gawn 5 Brayshaw 4 Melk 3 Jones 2 Jetta 1 Oliver

Cheers?

Anything in the AFL is possible.

Only watched it on TV and we commented on the last quarter, where is he? How much time was he on the ground then. He did some good things but seemed to disappear for long periods. The last quarter I thought was set up for him to grab control of the match but we hardly saw him.

If so, not sure why Jetta would be losing it like he was. You would just walk away as you had won. I think Goody was either guessing or hosing it down. There was more to it. We haven’t seen Jetta get that worked up before that I can remember.

I suspect something very inappropriate was said by LeCras in frustration. Jetta was livid and LeCras seemed to be trying to apologise after the initial scuffle. That is how it looked to me anyway.

We got a good run from the Umpires I thought considering it was over there.

Big tick to the selectors by the way. I usually know better of course but the Hannan selection was inspired!

Stuff the beer I am into the premium red right now!

Interesting observations from other coaches that they are setting up to feed off our strengths, although I think most on here worked this out some time ago. So why are our mids still over committing to the contested ball? Is it just that we have 3 or 4 ball hunters who can’t resist? So the opposition sets up on the outside to intercept our clearances and then take off the other way leaving 2 or 3 of our onballers trailing behind. How many times have I watched that scenario unfold this year.

Any thoughts from Casey watchers on Lok as a prospect to rookie?

In the reverse order of how they finish DV8 on the ladder as per the first round of draft picks. That way we get a first rounder!

Not sure he is slow, how fast are you? But yes at this stage he has a lot to work on mainly strength in tackles and ability to kick more than 40 meters when he gets it. That is why I wanted him out of the side for a rest and maybe JKH in! What is your point?

Tend to agree, not happy with JKH’s omission. Spargo needs a rest, has struggled with tackles and kicking 30 m plus in the past 3 seasons plus. He will be a weapon in time but not this year.

I think everyone should get a priority pick!

5 changes seems at odds with Goody’s press conference where expressed confidence in the playing group and the process/game plan and that we had been competitive in all our matches. Thinking JKH was showing something at last and would have given Jeffy another chance over there.

Short answer is no but not sure of your point. My analogy refers to our game plan, it’s aggressive, simple but predictable and the better teams and coaching panels have been able to counter it so far. Also our game style works well on narrower grounds it seems, our record at the MCG is ordinary this season. An interesting observation at training this season is that when we do the full length ground ball movement drill at Gosches Paddock we practice moving the ball by foot, switching play, looking for the loose man but we do this drill on only 2/3rds of the ground width! So we practice moving the ball in a limited corridor, much narrower than the Gee. The Swans used the full width of the ground to up holes in our defensive zone and in the last quarter to retain possession and use up time.

I am coming to the conclusion that the coaching department is lacking in the game plan department, let alone game day strategy. Watching the replay yet again of last week’s game to compliment being there and seeing the disaster unfold before me I keep coming back to the game plan and it’s limitations. To use a boxing analogy we are the classic slugger/brawler who lacks speed, balance and finesse, we just keep moving forward, hunting the opponent, throwing haymakers, hoping that if we throw enough punches we will overwhelm the opposition. It works against mugs but not against your classic boxers. We are predictable and slow but potentially dangerous. We are the Rocky Balboa of the AFL. Our opponent on Sunday was your classic boxer, think M Ali, fast on his feet, determined to keep his distance and just counter punch and move away, using the full area of the ring to set up angles of attack that negate your attack and maximise his counter punching. And this is what the Swans did, they used the full width of the Gee to work their way forward by foot to then get a shot on goal, often from 40 or 50 m but it worked. Meantime we bombed high forward hoping for a big mark or loose ball inside a 30m arc patrolled by Allir and later Cheney and got nothing. As a footy team we are so predictable in attack but also dangerous because we win so much contested footy and manufacture so many inside 50’s and have some good big forwards to mark the ball coming in. So on paper the game plan makes some sense. However it is not working. Against the best sides we have got close but usually our conversion rate has failed us. On Sunday it reached a new level of ineptitude that was inexplicable! 7 missed set shots from inside 40 metres while the Swans nailed every shot from 50m set shot or on the run.

Saw this at the time and wondered why there wasn’t a response from our guys. But maybe that is because they are gun shy. Any retaliation would end in a free goal kick to the opposition.

Where were we getting the high draft pick from to trade?