i think the tagging tactics are a @#$%&! joke

players have just stood infront of him facing him pushing him back from the contest - surely the rules prevent this????

_________________
Better to die standing than to live on your knees...
CAR17ON

Kerr was good but Priddis was the man

Our structure was sitting at home watching the game on tv.

I thought you had more of a clue Sydney

_________________
I support the Navy Blues whatever happens!

you have to have the ability to cover the loss of injuries - If you keep going on in life saying 'If Only " you will become the doggies - The loss of Waite Kruez and Gibbs shouldn't have mattered - We took a bloke into that game last night who I have been saying for years is clueless when it comes to football- By any measure you use to measure a blokes perfomance he was the worst player on the park . You can say thats fine everyone has bad game - This bloke hasn't been able to string two to three games together for 8 years and yet he is still on the list because he is supposed to have an X Factor .

when Armfield was running flat out towards goal and Setanta was coming the other way with glass up his arse and he chose to go the ball instead on providing the block to allow him to run un impeded towards an open goal - I just thought you idiot Ratts why do you persist - He is no good will never be any good and yet we keep putting him in to play cameos every 6 -7 weeks .

then you have Brock Maclean he should have been given 4-5 games in a row to establish himself but no despite being in the Best in the Bullants every week he was ignored - We needed a Brock Maclean last night and we needed it two to three weeks back but no he lacks leg speed so he doesn't get played


His entire forward structure is based around three indigenous boys -I dont mean to sound racist but these guys are either on or their off there is nothing in between - If you want strucuture up forward you can't continue with this because we will get let down when it matters

_________________
If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

If he's not injured then we're managing him wrong and he's contributing.

It's all well and good to have the Browlow wrapped up after 17 rounds, but we need him to contribute more in finals than just drawing an opponent.

I few more strategic 'rests' next year I reckon.

Sydney, did you not notice that if Waite OR Kreuzer OR Hampson had been fit, Setanta probably wouldn't have played?

"you have to have the ability to cover the loss of injuries" - that sounds beautiful in theory, but in reality is a load of crap. If you have THREE better prospects than Setanta are all watching on telly, what the hell can you do?

Setanta is a depth player - he tried his guts out and did ok. But to criticise the MC for playing him, when we had NO ONE ELSE, is ridiculous.

Yep. Games against GC, GWS, Port - "general soreness".

How many other Duigans and Barlows are out there we could have had whilst this bloke was sucking up a place on the list - And he will be there again next year he won't be moved on - All the while that spot could have been used to develop someone else


How have the Hawks gone this year at covering injuries - Imagine if we lost a player of Rougheads ability - How have the pies gone - they had Dawes out for months they are missing Thomas - Lost Reid - We lose one or two and thats it we are not competitive. The moment you start saying 'If Only" you will nevermake it - We had the WC on toast last night we a chance to bury them before half time but we let in 8 goals in a quarter we needed to stem that flow and couldn't do it - you let in 8 in a quarter in a final and you are in trouble

_________________
If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

What I have noticed in the last few weeks is not just the lack of explosive pace, but watch his cleanness with hands. For 80% of the season, he was one touch player (by far the best in the leaague), when ball hit the deck, he would grab, spin, expode etc.

Watch last night and last 3 weeks, he missed so many ground balls, couple of times last night he didn't even get his hands on them (like he couldn't bend down as easily). So without having any inside knowledge I am suspecting a back issue, or even groin flare up. You can't go form being the cleanest pick up player in the league to not being able to bend down properly unless injured.

Of course I could be completely wrong, and he is just tired from baby and refs have been way too lenient on players constantly holding him... How bout that bul***t free to selwood last night, when he pulled Judd out of the play, not even within 1.5m of the ball. Happened all night.

Great work by blues though. So many key injuries, and still did us proud. Kerr was difference I reckon. Played a blinder last night.

_________________
Window = Open

hard running with an extra 80kg hanging off you

_________________
If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

Good point, I noticed this last night

Yeah, must be so frustrating.

_________________
Window = Open

getting old and as the season wore on got tired , had a baby and thats that

he aint as good as we all think he is or want him to be

murphy had a way better season , even kade i think is catching him

we need to change the way we use him

_________________
*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.

But has all this changed in 4 games? 4 games ago he was absolutely unstoppable. Best player in the league by a mile. Now he's old, tired and aint as good as we think he is? Big call.

Big call or rediculous call? I'll go with rediculous

ridiculous even !

_________________
*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.

Parko on ABC radio was furious and said the tactics employed by WCE wwere simply illegal and the umps are to blame.

_________________
I hope Essendon* folds.

good on him

_________________
*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.

And I'm sure his mic was turned off quick-smart

_________________
WADA medical director Dr Alan Vernec describes Essendon* FC drug case as biggest scandal in team sport the world of sport has seen. #WC2WB

#GUILTY

Setanta was never our 1st or 2nd choice to go against Nat Nat and Cox but the other 2 choices were injured, he was the only other choice. As a forward he did enough good things to be happy with but he was killed in the ruck.

In the end it does depend on who is injured doesn't it. Take Natanui (Krueser) Kerr (Gibbs) Kennedy (Waite) and Lynch (Hammer) out, add having Darling (T-Bird) injured at half-time and who wins?

Sure they would have players to replace them - as we did, but their overall strength as a team would suffer as ours did. We lost the ability to set up a forward structure that would hurt them and we lacked a ruck division to stretch them (and how they loved it when Santy had to go against Cox especially as 206 tired) and yet we lost by 3 points.

I think people have never understood how far back we came from. People talk about West Coast coming from last - but Cox Kerr Glass (that's 3 I bet there is more) all premiership players could hardly get on the park last year (or play the way they could when they did - think Judd when he had his groin). This year those 3 have played lots of football at their best (Kerr was bog for mine last night). They have experience and youth and many of those players have played 10 or more finals. Their coach has coached in 14 finals - including 2 GF's - that is experience that we are still building towards.

We have Judd's & Scotland's experience and then 2 (now 3) losing finals and 1 won final - that's it for experience. We still lack depth we all know that - especially in height which is why we went tall last draft but none of the kids we picked had an impact (I hope 1 or 2 of them do next year and then we shall see how far we can go).

While I am gutted with the loss as I thought we could still beat them I am not worried about our list. It has holes - all lists do but it has fewer holes than last year and it is gaining in real experience. Top 4 next year beckons. Top four is the least we aim for next year.

More development in the players, a few more to come on the way Robbo, Murph Jammo and Hendo did this year

a few draftees like Laidler and Duigan

and some of our kids especially the tall ones to take steps to rectify the height issue. At one point in the second half last night we had 4 players over a certain height (can't remember the height exactly that the commentator mentioned) to West Coast's 8. Plonk in Kruiser/Hammer, T-Bird and Waite and suddenly its 7 to 8 and the balance can be managed.That mismatched made it hard ti kick long but also meant we were having to throw small bodies against big ones and thus also lose our spread and our run - our strengths.

We are close and we know it. Now the real pressure starts. Now we must fulfill the promise - now it gets really hard.

_________________
This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!