Does anyone know

[AussieAnge]

Originally posted by satchmopugdog
I nearly fell off the floor.

Satchmo, where does one fall to if one falls off the floor?

[robbieando]

Originally posted by Young Blood
These days he's well past his best, but in the absence of Crouch I think we need him or Bevan in the team.

Then in that case I rather have Mathews in the side each and EVERY time.

Bevan is to be used in "brake in case of emergency" cases and that means injuries to the likes of Mathews, Kirk, Ablett or McVeigh because he is the last fit remaining run-with player we really have. Any other midfielder gets replaced with Schmidt or Spriggs. A defender or ruckman gets replaced by Vogels and a tall forward or O'Keefe gets replaced by Grundy.

Plus for the love of God can someone also please lock up Phillips in a cupboard and throw away the key for the rest of the finals to stop Roosy from even THINKING about bringing him into the side, injuries to the side or not.

[Young Blood]

Originally posted by robbieando
Then in that case I rather have Mathews in the side each and EVERY time.

Bevan is to be used in "brake in case of emergency" cases and that means injuries to the likes of Mathews, Kirk, Ablett or McVeigh because he is the last fit remaining run-with player we really have. Any other midfielder gets replaced with Schmidt or Spriggs. A defender or ruckman gets replaced by Vogels and a tall forward or O'Keefe gets replaced by Grundy.

Plus for the love of God can someone also please lock up Phillips in a cupboard and throw away the key for the rest of the finals to stop Roosy from even THINKING about bringing him into the side, injuries to the side or not.

Good point re the emergencies. Should be 3 of Bevan, Grundy, Schmidt/Spriggs and Vogels. Phillips should not be in the frame.

[BigBadBarryNo1]

I think he tagged okay, and made some pretty decent and fair tackles.

For the frees he gave, they were really very much 50-50 and very hard calls..

I'd give him 6-7/10 tonight.

Although I must say, he should keep his head out of the mX paper for crying out loud..

[Xie Shan]

Originally posted by satchmopugdog
The commentaters said at one stage,"Quick hands by Matthews"

Sorry satchmo, I remember seeing that, and as strange as it may seem, the commentary was accurate on that occasion. I think.

Did anyone else see this instance of Benny allegedly having quick hands?

[Mike_B]

Originally posted by Xie Shan
Did anyone else see this instance of Benny allegedly having quick hands?

No, but I did notice him getting up to his standard hospital handball - luckily for him we got a free from a push in the back to the receiver.

In Benny's favour though, he did take a mark and play on, which is quite an achievement.

[australian_made]

I will have to agree with young blood here. he was once a very handy player but has his best footy behind him.

ROK - i think we prob keep him out of a sense of loyalty. Its the kind of ethos that the club has towards its servants. We rarely drop any of our older players on form, they only miss out through injury.

i cant say if this is a good or bad thing. right now we are winnng, but i saw him cost us a game at the SCG earlier this year and damn i was calling forhis head that day!

[ugg]

Well if he did indeed play on Fletcher for the majority of the game then he did a good job. Kept him to 14 touches when he averages 23.

[thedoc]

Re: Does anyone know

Originally posted by ROK Lobster
why Ben Mathews is in the team? Surely there is a reason. A serious response would be appreciated - there must be some reason he is in the side. I have not been a serial Mathews basher like some but they are winning me over. What does he give us?

my view is that he is one of those "whatever-it-takes" players who view the team's success higher than individual performance, like a crouch or a cresswell. i rate him highly and think that we would be less successful without him.

to your question, why he is in the team - his role is generally defensive, which tends to revolve around which team we play - a role underrated by many, but not by the most successful coach in the game at the moment

i suspect most opponents would prefer that we didn't pick him, the strange thing for me is that some swans fans think the same thing!

[wyatt]

Originally posted by ugg
Well if he did indeed play on Fletcher for the majority of the game then he did a good job. Kept him to 14 touches when he averages 23.

Agreed - Fletcher was almost unsighted. If that was Benny's work - then props to Benny. Still rather see him playing in another teams guernsey though!

[NMWBloods]

It's hard to tell how good a job he did on Fletcher who struggles badly under finals pressure. Must have been okay though.

[Destructive]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
Mathews was a waste of space tonight.

Reg Grundy should be in ther team instead of him.