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Sinclair's tap to KJ for a goal in the last quarter was fairly special. I'm not sure if he mean't it though.
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I think Hewett offers more than Papley, so I'd keep him if it comes to a choice.
It would be great if Rohan is fit enough to play against the Hawks. I think we need his defensive pressure. Too often Richmond had all the time in the world to make a perfect pass to a player who was a yard ahead of his opponent. (I know Rohan's tackles stick like wet soap, but at least he is quick and can pressure the kicker or contest the receiver).Comment
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I watched the replay and have a less negative view than I did watching it in real time. We played well in stretches and very poorly for a few brief periods when they piled on the goals. Parker and Mitchell were disappointing given the absence of JPK. On the positive side, it was good to see Lloyd play a better game after a couple of poor ones. Cunningham was good in the second half. He has to try to get more of the ball because he can run with it and is a good kick.
We've been showing signs of falling down over the past several weeks, so perhaps this loss should not have been unexpected. We could have won, but deserved to lose. Buddy's great kicking and Richmond's inaccuracy in front of goal put us in a winning position.
It has been a development year for us, we just surprised ourselves by winning with so many kids playing. I think we need to keep the development going as some of our weaknesses, which were also present last year, have come back. There are lessons to be learned from this game.
Hiscox may be a very good middle distance runner, but he's no footballer. I can see why Fremantle find themselves where they do. They actually bid their pick #34 for Hiscox. He was never worth more than a rookie speculation. I suppose we wanted to show support for our Academy boys, but we should have let him go. A certain delisting in my mind.
It's hard to see a 26 yo Towers ever becoming an AFL standard footballer. He can't play under any kind of pressure, can't defend and can't tackle anyone moving toward him. Shouldn't play again. Trade or delist.
We will have to do some experimenting to get the mix right. Heeney, Mills and Hewett all should spend more time in the midfield.
Our defence needs a serious rebuild. We might as well start asap. We are just too slow for one on one defending. No closing speed. Unfortunately Talia and Reid are still injured and not available for selection. We could try Rohan when he's ready to step up from NEAFL level, maybe in the GC game. As for now I would give Harry Marsh a go. It's his 4th year in our system, so he should settle in well. He can play tall, like Rampe, so can replace Ted. He has good closing speed and has become a good decision maker. It's always hard to say how a player will adjust to AFL level, but Harry has shown that he deserves a chance. Newman is also playing consistently well, and is more of a rebounding defender, like Malceski. O'Riordan will be good and might challenge for a senior spot next year.
The best options we have for the forward line from our reserves are Rose and Davis. Both are footballers and play 2 way football. Rose may be slower than Towers if measuring foot speed, but plays much faster with quick movement and reaction time. Davis is a good solid player who can play anywhere and has in the reserves. Dawson has been out injured, but has looked promising as a future forward.
For me, GWS are now the best team in the league. I don't know if they are experienced enough to win the premiership, but they are playing beautiful football. We need to be bold if we want any chance of staying with them.Comment
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Winning away from home is hard so dont beat ourselves up. Or backline hasn't been settled all year which means it won't be as effective. If we can get talia back and some consistency in the run home we will be OK . It's an open flag. Gws might finish above is but thats good as more likely a sydney finals. I dont think gws have the hardened bodies for finals footy. Norf are pretenders as always.
It would be nice to put a gap between us and dawks next weekend.Comment
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It wasn't Rance, but it was a bad miss by the umpires. I must admit I did spot it whilst watching the game then got a bit caught up in the excitement and didn't go back to watch it, I just saw from the AFL's clip of the last 2 minutes and not only was there an arm over Kurt's shoulder, it definitely held him down and the defender used it to launch himself up to spoil.
Screen Shot 2016-05-15 at 3.10.57 pm.jpgI 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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That's a pretty damning photo.He reminds him of the guys, close-set, slow, and never rattled, who were play-makers on the team. (John Updike, seeing Josh Kennedy in a crystal ball)Comment
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There has never been a season where so many matches have been decided by bad umpiring. You never like to say a result was changed due to bad umpiring, but this year we have seen a few. Two of the Hawks 3 pt wins were directly due to umpire bias, last night we lost due to umpire bias (Rance on Buddy, Reg on Griffiths, Tippett non free in dying seconds etc) and there are more examples. Umpiring in AFL is at it's lowest standard in years, and year in, year out, it continues to deteriorate. Now more than ever, umpiring bias/predudice seems to be influenced by media driven whinging from self interested knobs like McGuire....and it shows NO signs of improving.Comment
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Send that photo in to the Whistleblowers show and ask why it was missed and if it ultimately cost us the game.Comment
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There was an umpire in decent position to see it, too- the only thing you could give them is they may have been blinded by the defender (he curled around Kurt on that side) but that may be a little kind and they should have had an okay angle on it.
Screen Shot 2016-05-15 at 4.34.37 pm.jpgI 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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To be fair you want the umpire to put the whistle away in the lady minutes of close gamesComment
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There was also nothing in the free that Jack got in front of goal and the buddy one was play on imo as well.
If anything there was too much 'umpiring', don't think there was a bias, just too many whistles blown.He ate more cheese, than time allowedComment
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