Ben Mathews - It's over

[Mogg0]

He's been a great servant of the club, but I feel time has passed him by.

Cheers Benny, but I think its time to move on.

[goswannie14]

Any chance Benny can take Jude with him when he pisses off back to Canberra?

I hope so....but you expected me to say that didn't you Al.

[2005]

Times up on Ben.

Must go with the kids before Ben from now, cost us dearly today.
Simply to slow and fumbled at every oppurtunity it got near him
Plus Davo needs someone to Car Pool with.

[Big Al]

I hope so....but you expected me to say that didn't you Al.

Yep

[ScottH]

Now that you have all said your piece. What's the bet he doesn't miss a game for the rest of the year.

[NMWBloods]

3 tackles and no goals - Roos will be pleased!

[Mike_B]

Now that you have all said your piece. What's the bet he doesn't miss a game for the rest of the year.

And whats the bet that if you're right, we don't play finals.

[Nico]

I thought Roos said sometime around the start of the season that Round 6 was when some home truths may have to be said.

Well that has now passed Pauly. It is very clear that a pattern is emerging, that being that with the personnel of the past few years some of those are now way off the boil and some very hard decisions need to be made NOW.

Mathews - never to play again
J Bolton - Find form in the 2's for the rest of the season, then adyous, see ya, pee off.
Buchanan - back to the 2's until he finds form and then only promote him if injuries mount up. The guys lost his grunt. His value was running hard and getting to hard contests, he's lost that.
Crouch - Retire now, take a payout (although his inflated contract probably forbids that on salary cap grounds)
Everitt - 2's bound but I bet his contract forbids that.

Promote asap

Schmidt, White, Vesperimi (kicks goals, has pace)Currie, Fosdike, Davis, Grundy, Malceski, Laidlaw etc.etc.etc

It really is a critical time to bite the bullet.

[liz]

I thought Roos said sometime around the start of the season that Round 6 was when some home truths may have to be said.

.

When he said that, he probably didn't think he'd have played Bird, Barlow, Moore or Jack as much as he has (or not all of them, anyway) nor given debuts to White and Smith. Whether he'd have done so anyway is anyone's guess but he's been forced to due to injuries. All all four have repaid the faith, to varying degrees, and are all deserving of their spot. So in some ways we're already ahead, new player wise, than we had any reasonable expectation of being by round 6.

The real shame thus far is the injuries to 3rd/4th year players, which have tied his hands. I have little doubt Thornton would have debuted by now if not for his knee. Laidlaw's had knee problems too and now is out with a hamstring, Schmidt's also had knee problems. And we haven't got to see whether Grundy might stand up in Hall's absence due to his foot.

And looking at today's reserves game, Schmidt is working his way back and will probably be back in as soon as he's got some match fitness, White injured himself, Vezspremi didn't play, Smith only played half the game and was probably just so-so. So there aren't many options immediately available to Roos. We just have to hope that as the season wears on, more of them manage to stay fit and put real pressure on the senior blokes.

[DST]

Could not of said it better myself Liz, I don't get to see reserves game being down here in Melbourne but you don't have to be Einstein to work out that most of the guys who would be pushing for senior selection are either out at present or are trying to get some fitness in the reserves:

* Thornton
* Laidlaw
* Schmidt
* Merideth

Smith got a senior game way before he was ready and it showed.

Everyone on here needs to take a chill pill and know that over the next 3 to 4 weeks we are going to have to make do with what Roos has at his disposal.

I do agree however agree that Matthews was given a chance today and he was not up to it, so hopefully Ablett is back along with both Fosdike and Schmidt in the coming couple of weeks.

DST

[TheGrimReaper]

How far away is Merideth and Veszpremi from playing? Surely, they're a better option than Ben Mathews.

[goswannie14]

How far away is Merideth and Veszpremi from playing? Surely, they're a better option than Ben Mathews.

I'd be a better option than Ben Mathews.

[TheGrimReaper]

I'd be a better option than Ben Mathews.

At least we'd have holyness on our side.

[DST]

How far away is Merideth and Veszpremi from playing? Surely, they're a better option than Ben Mathews.

Merideth can't get on the park at this point and Veszpremi didn't play this week (anyones guess) so no they are not a better option at present than Ben Matthews.

Hopefully Ablett, Fozzie and Schmidt will all be ready for round 8.

DST

[TheGrimReaper]

Merideth can't get on the park at this point and Veszpremi didn't play this week (anyones guess) so no they are not a better option at present than Ben Matthews.

Hopefully Ablett, Fozzie and Schmidt will all be ready for round 8.

DST

How far away is Schmidt?