Dane Rampe

[aguy]

The whole defence has suffered this year with the loss of Malceski, who so often would rescue us from a dangerous situation. Rampe appears most affected by the loss of Mal, as he's been the one trying to pick up the slack. Mal developed a great understanding of the flow of the game the last couple of years and it's unreasonable to expect Rampe to pick up where Mal left off. The steady improvement of Laidler may be a help. It's taken Macca, Jetta and Lloyd to help relieve the pressure on our backline, but we clearly don't have this worked out yet. So still hoping Rampe's dropoff this season is only temporary.

Ludwig I think you're spot on with your assessment of the loss of Malceski. So often ( myself included ) we have focused on the rebound aspect of malceskis play when coming out from defence but the more I think about it Mal so often used to be in the right place at the right time to save us from being scored against. And so often he would take great defensive marks whereas our other defenders are more spoilers. Grundy is another example who has been struggling. He is quite capable of taking good marks. He was after all a forward early in his career but when switched to defence would spoil more often than not. I think a lot of that had to do with Malceski being there and reg being a backup In defence so to speak. Also I suspect that malceskis leadership is also being missed down back which is also something they are struggling with from an organisational point of view.

Thanks Ludwig

[RogueSwan]

I don't have a problem with the length of the agreement also long as the $'s is reasonable.
From where he was to where he is now is a pretty remarkable journey. His improvement last year was great and maybe he is just trying too hard to continue to improve at the same rate. To me seems to be trying hard to do everything instead of just nailing the basics.

[Hotpotato]

Job description: Elite athlete, required to perform every week during intense preseason and then 22 games plus finals.
Only the The highest level of Cardio-vascular fitness levels will be acceptable.
Only Non Smokers need apply.
Must have 20/30 Perfect Vision,

[Conor_Dillon]

Just because he was having a smoke with his beer hardly makes him a 'smoker'. I'd assume it was more of a social thing and I'd be shocked if he was a pack-a-day type bloke.

[Hotpotato]

If he smokes at all it's not quite dickheadedness , but really dumb.

[Conor_Dillon]

I don't condone it at all...filthy habit, but as long as he's running PB's every pre-season (which from memory he did again this year?) then I've got no issue with it. His form slump, albeit extremely blown out of proportion, definitely isn't fitness related.

[chammond]

The whole defence has suffered this year with the loss of Malceski, who so often would rescue us from a dangerous situation. Rampe appears most affected by the loss of Mal, as he's been the one trying to pick up the slack. Mal developed a great understanding of the flow of the game the last couple of years and it's unreasonable to expect Rampe to pick up where Mal left off. The steady improvement of Laidler may be a help. It's taken Macca, Jetta and Lloyd to help relieve the pressure on our backline, but we clearly don't have this worked out yet. So still hoping Rampe's dropoff this season is only temporary.

I'm sorry, but that just doesn't gel. We aren't "suffering" with the loss of Malceski. The defence is more efficient than it's ever been, conceding only 67.4 points per game, better even than 2012 and 2005.

We've had to modify our defensive game slightly without Malceski, and it is working. In losing two close games this year we conceded only 77 and 74 points respectively. We lost because our midfielders couldn't kick straight, not because Malceski wasn't there.

[aguy]

I'm sorry, but that just doesn't gel. We aren't "suffering" with the loss of Malceski. The defence is more efficient than it's ever been, conceding only 67.4 points per game, better even than 2012 and 2005.

We've had to modify our defensive game slightly without Malceski, and it is working. In losing two close games this year we conceded only 77 and 74 points respectively. We lost because our midfielders couldn't kick straight, not because Malceski wasn't there.

I see both sides. True we haven't conceded lots of points but a big part of that is due to the midfield effort as well as defenders. There have been far too many scores from turnovers from clangers by our back six. Seems a lot more than normal. Both lost games would have been win without those clangers

[stellation]

Does Dane actually smoke, or is he just a social smoker- so a guy who is maybe going through a pack a week? If it's the latter I'm not sure it'd be that big a problem.

[stevoswan]

I don't condone it at all...filthy habit, but as long as he's running PB's every pre-season (which from memory he did again this year?) then I've got no issue with it. His form slump, albeit extremely blown out of proportion, definitely isn't fitness related.

Or smoking related, for that matter......

[chammond]

I see both sides. True we haven't conceded lots of points but a big part of that is due to the midfield effort as well as defenders. There have been far too many scores from turnovers from clangers by our back six. Seems a lot more than normal. Both lost games would have been win without those clangers

The defensive clangers were certainly very frustrating, and had me tearing my hair out. But the fact is that the defenders actually drop less clangers, but their mistakes are usually catastrophic (like goalkeepers in soccer) so they stick in our minds. in the two losses, some of our forward 50 stuff-ups were pathetic, but we forget them almost instantly.

Our biggest problem so far this season has been with the quality of our forward 50 entries, and that's where we really miss Malceski - he was so good at hitting a target in a congested area.

Our kicking for goal will improve as the season progresses. If we can improve the efficiency of our forward delivery, we'll be premiers.

[Auntie.Gerald]

Blues drop Chris Yarran for not meeting club standards - AFL.com.au

I wonder if this fella might join rampe in the backline in 2016 ?

[barry]

Maybe, if the jake carlile deal falls through

[i'm-uninformed2]

Let's face it. Rampe is missing Gatorade Girl, coz he's the sort of guy who would

[Auntie.Gerald]

Maybe a Fair swap for birdy as Carlton need a Craig bird