Earl Hood

No there is a pattern at least in our recent games, if we have the ascendancy, the umps will not pay anything regarding holding the ball, dragging it in or incorrect disposal and repeatedly ball up to add to the congestion. Then next quarter when the momentum turns against us, any attempts by us to hold up the ball will be called and a free kick given in the intetests of openning up the game. It’s quite simple really.

Senior leadership? We have Lewis, Vince and Jones then leaders like Viney, TMac. How much do we need? Quantity vs Quality is an area for discussion of course. Irrespective of leadership if Sloane or Gaff were interested yes we should investigate further. Gaff would be a great get for us but what chance?

Petracca bitten by a dog!!!

I agree I was watching an old film yesterday Custer’s Last Stand with Errol Flynn and it was like watching the last quarter of the Hawks and Tigers games! With Max Gawn playing General Custer!

6. Jones 5. Oliver 4. Gawn 3. OMac 2. Melksham 1. Hogan

Whoops sorry I meant Lindsay Thomas

How does Ryan Burton get off for the hit on Higgins? Knocked him into next week, but according to the MRP he didn’t mean it? If you choose to bump you wear the consequences. Higgins went to hospital so the the hit was high, deliberate and high impact. Yet somehow no issue. I thought the only way Burton would not get 3 weeks was if the MRP beamed that neither player saw each other before contact but that is not mentioned in the finding. They just say Burton could not have foreseen the consequences. Absolute rubbish. Yet Daniel Wells is deemed to be a dog for his hit on Selwood, yet he could also claim he wasn’t expecting Selwood to throw himself head first toward the ball. Wells should pay the price of choosing to bump as should Burton.

What’s up with Maynard? Was getting 30 plus disposals regularly last year, now struggling to get double figures. We seem to be struggling for ball magnets. JKH was one last year by the way.

Happy that Stretch gets a go this week but yes he needs to show something on the outside. Nibbler gets a go because we saw the stats, numerous pressure acts, distance covered, contests made, etc the stats that the coaches love. Frost out because there isn’t a matchup Weeds in, hasn’t done enough yet, I think it should have been Pedo tall again forward. Jeffy in because he does perform if the side/game plan performs. He needs space and time against one opponent and will win every time.

Re the Hawks, my thoughts exactly, the competition has evened out and outcomes depend on the intensity shown by sides, except the Dorks who just execute their game plan and rack up the wins. I thought GWS would have gone to another level by now but they seem to be leveling off.

Yes saw that but they will move on and concentrate on Lindsay Thomas. He will go down but I am not sure it was that bad. Need to see the replay a few times more.

For heaven’s sake! Why watch the footy then?

Did you know who were the targets at each of his kick outs?

Balic was training on Tuesday and seemed to be moving freely.

Interesting isn’t it that after last year’s agonising miss of the finals, we were led to believe that the list was burning with desire to make amends this season. Well four games in they may be burning with desire but who is in form? Yes we have some important players injured but it seems nearly everyone is off their best form! It is easier to say who is in form, Max, Jones, Oliver, OMac. The rest seem to have dropped a cog or two. As someone pointed out we had 3 players in the AA squad last year in the back half but now we have Hibberd battling, Lever and Jetta struggling and Hunt at Casey. As is Pedo and the small forwards are all struggling. Why is this so, changes in coaches and game plan or just one of those things that afflict us but not top clubs, e.g. Hawthorn?

Balic was training this morning and looked to be moving OK. Also Dom Tyson was running around and looked good. The Casey boys were training didn’t see any seniors training. TMac was kicking footballs and doing sprints, no Viney or AVB but I only rode past and watched for about 5 minutes.

Certainly the Hawks were doing dictum 1 relentlessly, just pushing the ball forward at all costs, running in numbers, always keeping the ball in front of them. Once you let the ball through and behind you, you are in trouble and how many times did I see our players overrun the ball?

Still under therapy after witnessing such an horrific event, live. So I have been advised by my medical team not to comment further, nor indeed to even think about what happened.

Would not be dropping the Tracc or Jeffy any time soon. Others are up for discussion I suppose. Poor Jeffy he has a certain skill set that depends on finding himself one on one in an open forward line where he can exploit his speed and an uncanny ability to squeeze a goal from any angle. That depends on the team intercepting opposition attacks and rebounding the ball quickly over the back for Jeff. Do that and Jeffy will kick the goals. But against both Geelong and the Hawks we failed to execute one intercept and do a quite rebound. Game plan deficiencies big time I think.

Mods, Code Red! We have a run away poster on the loose.

Looking at those stats I would have assumed we got flogged. J Hunt best on ground for us with 73 dt points!

And what do we gain from such a high press? It’s one thing to rely on winning the contested ball in the midfield and relentlessly bomb the ball forward to rack up the inside 50 count and hope for a winning score, but does that need such a high press forward by the backs? As we have seen in our two loses the opposition can intercept and bomb back over our press with ease. On Sunday in the second half the Hawks set up a defensive ring behind our players in their half and we could not find a way out despite our attempts to barrel one out the back. However they were able to do so with ease. So after all that waffle my simple question is what do we gain from the high press and why is it part of our game plan?

Exactly TPF why was he so good at the Crows but struggling with us? I suggest we look at the backline set up and game plan first before we crucify a new player. As for today, we were woeful in the middle and the backline takes the brunt of it all. How do you think some one like Josh Gibson would have faired for us today down back? A player used to playing a roving, attacking game off half back, like Lever, suddenly under siege, having to go man on man with bigger bodies, time and time again.

After watching that debacle today the last player I would be questioning is Brayshaw! Not the best for us maybe, made some errors yes but kept battling on and getting a lot right by the way, while many of his more experienced team mates went missing in action. Can’t make mistakes when you aren’t in the contest, how often have we seen this over the last 12 years. We had quite a few older heads not in the action when needed. I suggest you watch the replay WTM.

6 OMac 5 Hogan 4 Oliver 3 Gawn 2 Brayshaw 1 Salem