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LRT and Armstrong out.
In come Bird (a must) and Brown.
In come Bird (a must) and Brown.
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Geelong are pretty good, sucks to lose but I see no need for too much axe weilding.
Armstrong just looks nervous. I'd like him to get a couple more games with the same output to see if he settles down.I knew him as a gentle young man, I cannot say for sure the reasons for his decline
We watched him fade before our very eyes, and years before his timeComment
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So shoot me... LRT out and Reid given some time in the magoos to get some confidence and timing back. Give Pike a run at CHF (he seems to be clunking them well atm) and bring in Jesse to backup Mummy in the ruck. I know it isnt probable, but I would love to see how it goes. The other 'in' I would like to see is Lamb, although I think they will bring back Dre.Comment
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Lamb would be ideal for NZ...Comment
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Um don't know where you get the idea that Lamby can't kick, he is a pretty good kick actually and his h/ball is svelte (elegant).
There are options at the moment. Jesse is paying very well, so are Lamby, Drey, Biggs (rooky), Brownie, Mitchell is coming on nicely but not yet, Tommy is putting in, Brandon Jack has been good, Lloyd has been ace. So many have played well but most of course are not ready yet. But there is a look about the Twos that is starting to develop and it is pretty awesome. The way they seemingly effortlessly score goals and run the ball.
I forgot Birdie who was good last week but no my BOG.Comment
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I agree with the over umpiring comment. But it is even worse than that. I started to think I was watching Rugby Union on Friday night. The amount of times the Cats threw the ball instead of handballing and when they handballed they did so with both hands moving which is a throw.
Selwood and Chapman get a lot of frees. Selwood drops the knees and gets head high and Chapman dives. Both tactics were supposed to be frees against the player perpetrating that action and would have been last year.
Jeff Gieschen is a crap umpires manager and the standard of umpiring has declined since he took over. The constant rule changes have not helped either. I would like to see the rules go back to being a little bit simpler like they used to be.
If a player drops the ball it is a free, simple. Holding the ball to a player was never a free against the player, it was a ball up but in today's climate maybe a free against the player holding the ball to the player. Last year it was but not this year. The constant changing of interpretation of rules is confusing too and last years interpretation is gone and Gieschen is using the 2011 interpretation again. I think the players and coaches must be so confused, I know I am and frankly I don't like Gieschan's interpretation this year at all, it is regressive.Comment
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Interesting dosser. Pykie is our best ruckman at the moment and to take him out of the mids would be crazy at this time. We could run a three way rotation of course and Mummy has been pretty good up forward this year but he needs to spend more time on goal kicking practice.
Reid to stay, he is trying to hold the forward structure together and if he doesn't clunk it then it comes to ground. The problem we had last week was that when it did come to ground we had no crumbers and the pill headed back like a bullet.
Lamby needs a go, deserves a go. Just a bit worried about Dane, some of his delivery was a bit ordinary last week but then again he wasn't alone. Dane to stay. Tony A to go, can't make a tackle stick and that is a HUGE problem, he needs to work very hard on that. I think it is a technique thing, he seems to grab at the jumper instead of getting his body behind the tackle head to the side. He should start learning from Kizza, ROK & LRT.Comment
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Agree with most of what Wolftone said.
I am not against the AFL trying to protect players from major injury, but it has become a very difficult game to umpire. There's a conflict between protecting the head and protecting the legs, keeping your eyes on the ball and paying enough attention to the other players regarding duty of care. There was a comment about the game being less enjoyable to watch because of the umpiring, and they are probably right. I usually don't blame the umps, but we really were hurt badly by the calls on Friday.
Overall, I think we played on a par with Geelong. Aside from the umpiring, we lost because we played into their hands. We must have put some work into Selwood, but it didn't show. He just killed us. Even if he didn't milk fouls, he would still be a great player. The rules favour him, because he uses his head as a battering ram. There's something wrong with the game when good acting is rewarded.
There were some good signs on Friday. Pyke, Kizza, Macca, Mal, Benny, Jude and especially Hanners had very good games. Taylor Hunt has been playing great footy this year, so maybe we can say that Jetta did a good job negating his influence.
Maybe the slingshot is shot and we need to find another role for Jetta, perhaps a small forward leading into space. We can play him more forward and bring Benny more up the ground, which he seems to do a lot of anyway.
I think our failings are all correctable and we still look like a very good team.
We should bring in Bird, Lamb and Dre, in that order, depending on how many come out -- probably LRT, Armstrong and Morton (in that order). Hard to imagine that Hanners can play a full season with the kind of punishment he takes each game.Comment
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I wasn't stating he was a bad kick, more saying that he could have the kicking skills of a ruck man and I'd still prefer him over Armstrong and his poor defensive efforts.Comment
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Actually I think the rule changes favour geelong's recruiting at the expense of ours. And I personally hate the rule changes and overall philosophy of the afl. What they are creating is a move the game on at all speed at all times - Geelong for example had players repeatedly told to play on on Friday night after going back behind their mark and looking at options. But this creates a game where speed is the most precious commodity, not skill. The whole game is based on dropping the ball forwards, clearing to the outside and running. And if you look at the rule changes regarding ruckmen it has been to favour the athlete over the strength player.
Personally this annoys me because as someone who was always very very slow sport for me was about using my brain courage and strength t beat opponents. But the afl is directed towards favouring the fast over any other ability.
I know we had a bit of a debate anew weeks ago about Jude getting caught, dropping the ball and then the player falling into his back. This is ow happening every single game. Every player gets a free for someone falling not their back but no one ever gets frees any more for dropping the ball. In fact you will get a free for not trying hard enough to drop it, not for incorrect disposal.
Because of this stoppages are dropping out of the game, and the inside players are becoming more of a luxury as teams are loading up on the pacy outside runnersComment
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What you are saying there MH is that the game now favours the soft players. Tend to agree but as happens things seem to swing around and change as the season goes on. I haven't looked at the stats but it appears more frees are getting paid in games more so for very soft reasons. Last night in the WCE and Carlton game a player got a free for supposedly holding the arm of a player as they raced neck and neck for the footy. The replay showed that the player touched or knocked the other players arm but did not grab him. How the umpire could see the action from his position let alone interpret it the way he did is beyond me. Did you see the one Gilbert got a free for. He was was running back with the flight of the ball to stop an opponent marking, took his eyes off the footy, appeared to make slight contact with his opponent, then got the free. The business of players getting frees for in the back is rather perplexing. Where a couple of years ago they stopped giving frees to players who deliberately fell forward at the notion a player was behind them or dropped the knees to take a fall, now they get the free even after they have incorrectly disposed of the ball. It appears OK for a player to dispose of the ball as they wish.
Last night a WCE player did a 2 hand throw over the boundary. No free for a throw or deliberate out of bounds.Comment
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