Earl Hood

Just a bit of house keeping here. I assume this thread should also be locked based on the no politics, no religious, no ideological discussion edict. Climate Change should be purely about the science and the observed data but we all know it has been politicised by some so let’s shut this one down before I have a swipe at Andrew Bolt!

DW the (b) words are confusing, are they from the rule book? I mean am I holding or pushing the player in front, you can’t do both according to your definition of a push. No wonder there is utter confusion. there is ample scope for the Umpire to award a free for rough play if someone dives into someone’s back that could cause injury. We have all seen players taken forward with arms pinned in aggressive tackles and get concussed. Those tackles should be pinged.

Tithe other interesting scenario is that if I tackle the guy running with the ball by grabbing him around the waist and we inevitably fall forward, if I am strong enough to swing him around in the tackle and we land sideways it will be judged a fair tackle but if I can’t and I land on top of him I am likely to be pinged for in the back. So is the infringement for pushing someone forward for advantage or for the impact when we both hit the ground. Again that logic seems faulty to me. The push in the back rule is intended IMHO to protect the player in front in a marking contest or any contested ball situation from being shoved out of the contest, not when they have the ball and are laying on the ground.

On the footage shown is it leg speed issues, fitness or mental laziness? Probably a combo of all three but we certainly our midfielders are one paced, contested ballers, but if they don’t have the ball.... Whatever no wonder the backline is struggling with the ball being run into our forward 50 like that. And we have been seeing oppositions move the ball Coast to Coast in every game where we haven’t totally dominated the midfield battle. Spargo, Stretch, Garlett, Frost must be in the mix over the next few games if things don’t improve.

Re your example of a push to the side, Petracca was penalised in the first quarter I think for pushing a Saints player in the side just before the ball arrived, took the mark inside 50m but no called for an illegal push out? Mind boggling stuff when I think of the antics of some of our major forward adversaries over the years, think Dunstall, Ablett senior or Plugger.

I agree in part as I was thinking during the match how Max’s amazing performance was reminding so much of that other number 11 circa 1991. Jimmy was amazing in that year. It was a different game back then where he could get to many more contests than any modern day player could, but gee he was a one man force to be reckoned with in those years. And Jimmy is still the perfect prototype ruckman in today’s footy, tall enough, huge endurance, incredible resilience, great mark, reasonable kick.

Rodney re the in the back ruling I would not pay it for the same reason we are criticising the Salem decision, tackling someone and they fall forward and take you with them is not the original intent of the rule in my opinion. The push in the back rule was for using your hands to push the player in front out of a marking contest or a possession opportunity to the point where they are disadvantaged. As to your other point I would support a new ruling where players who pile on top of the ball player to create congestion are penalised. It would be good if players caught with the ball could release it as in rugby. If a player on the ground who is not in a position to move the ball on grabs the ball they are gone but also if a player piles on even after the player gets caught with it, they get done. Not sure how easy that would be to adjudicate though.

Yes the Lewis holding the ball was laughable. He grabbed the ball in traffic, immediately tackled, no prior, ends up face first on the ground with a Saint sitting on his back and Lewis indicating to the Ump that he hasn’t got the ball, it is obviously somewhere down near his legs. The umpire is watching and sure enough indicates it’s holding the ball and the Saints player immediately gets up with the ball in his hands. Lewis did not drag a ball back in, no prior and no possible way of releasing the ball. The commentators said Lewis should have made some action to look like he was trying to handball, but you can’t do that if the ball is somewhere else. I wouldn’t pay in the back either for someone sitting on your back. It is ball up. Summed up the umpires efforts yesterday in my mind. Over officiated to the point I likened it to a World Cup soccer match where every physical clash is called an infringement. That said we didn’t deserve to win that game.

Are you saying he had no forward defensive work? Gee we have plenty of that with the current forward crew. Garlett or Spargo at least provide some crumming ability up forward. They will stay down looking for the spilled ball and be in a position to lay a tackle on the rebounding opposition backman as opposed to our current flying squadron who have all leapt and spoiled each other and ended on lying on the ground while the opposition defenders run the ball out up the Members wing, time and time again!!!

Interesting, is it about expectation based the Trac’s potential? I thought he battled on today and did some good things but yes he could not turn the game on it’s head. But I can’t remember him being responsible for an absolute howler whereas how many of our guys coughed up the ball with embarrassing errors? We all hope for more but today he put in, I thought.

6. Gawn 5. Fritsch 4. Hibberd 3. Harmes 2. Jones 1. Brayshaw

Didn’t TMac go down back for 5 minutes in the second half then went back forward? And Max going off with 10 minutes to go for quite a period of time had me flummoxed.

Re the umpiring, it was appalling at one stage I thought I was watching the world cup such was the over officiating, but we lost the game through our own sheer incompetence. Oliver is off the boil and that is showing weaknesses in our mid field and the lack of midfield dominance is exposing our weaknesses on the outside and down back. The backline is a shadow of its former self during the 6 game winning streak. Except for Hibberd I don’t think we won a one on one contest all day. And as for the forward line, they may as well be called the Forward Squadron, Everyone flies for every inside bomb, no one down. And what happened to forward pressure? They ran the ball back out of our 50 at will.

So many players out of form it is unfathomable. Oliver?

Tracc has kicked a goal!

Yes forward pressure is important but my observations on our losses this season is that there has been near zero defensive forward pressure. The playbook has been the same every time. We bomb it in 60 plus times but our conversion rate is less than 20% and it comes straight out through the corridor or over our high press around the wings. It seems to me we are favouring defensive small forwards who can’t kick goals and aren’t defending that well either against the sides that can match us. Can we afford to play someone like a Jeffy who can kick a goal from nothing? I also note that Spargo is out, he is another with some spark but limited crash and bash ability which is Goodwin’s current preference.

You said it not me. But yes nice imagery!

Hmmm having politically incorrect thoughts, let’s move on.

GWS incompetitence in front of goal keeping the Dorks in it. Dorks being smashed in the clearances but Giants brain fades and poor kicking means the Dorks are in it.

I think we need to give him some opportunities in the ones to gain some form if we make finals and want to be competitive. That said if we persist with the high press and manic high bombs into a congested forward line then maybe don’t bother. Just continue to lose despite winning the contested footy count and 60 plus inside 50’s.

Garlett is not a crash and bash player so is on the outer with our current coaching philosophy. I am not convinced we don’t need some silky skills, pace and unpredictability on the outside. So far the better sides have easily defended our one dimensional forward entries and strangled our scoring while easily running the ball out of our forward 50 yet we talk about the importance of defensive forwards. We aren’t seeing much of that against the better sides.

Interesting analysis, the fact we go forward in a narrower corridor makes us more accurate at goal as we have demonstrated in our big wins against lower sides but has also made us vulnerable against the better sides as they just set up to counter our predictable attacks and in some cases such as Hawks and Tigers where they just strangled us to a standstill. It is akin to that situation where you have one gun forward and go to him 9 out of 10 times and thus become predictable and defendable, think G Ablett Snr and Buddy in finals over the years. We have to get our forwards spreading more and our mids looking for wider options. We do practice this at training, quick, unpredictable ball movement forward but don’t see it on game day that often.

Also good to see Gary Hardeman down at training today, chatting with Todd and Jack Viney, Peter Jackson and some of the players.

Let’s tinker with the high press as well as we keep leaking goals over the back against the better sides

Cheap shot Pickett!