+1. No. 1 draft picks are NOT lock down players. Gibbs is not no. 1 draft pick standard.

And there goes our Finals hopes-With Port Winning by kicking 4 Goals in 4 Minutes ( It was more like Adelaide game fixed the result for the sake of SA being present in the Finals ).


Time to play the Kids.

That's why Mick shouldnt have made the decision to make him captain,
The players know their peers better than a new coach coming in.

Chad Wingard represents everything you want in a player (along with Dangerfield). Tough and skillful but most importantly a competitor who wants to win and is happy to take the responsibility for winning the game. We have too many contributors and not enough winners.

The other point being that players like this are hard to find.

If I can make a small suggestion (for the 1 millionth time)......... STOP PLAYING THE 3 SMALL FORWARDS IN THE SAME TEAM - IT WILL NEVER WORK ON A CONSISTENT BASIS ESPECIALLY AGAINST A QUALITY OPPOSITION. Not only does it fail 8 out of 10 times but it means that we are playing effectively 1 or 2 players down because we are have 3 of essentially the same player who cant really have an impact anywhere else on the ground.

The use of Gibbs concerns me. Not just tonight. I still think a player of his skill should be the one hunted and not the hunter. He did a pretty good job on Maine but why should his effectiveness be measured by the effectiveness of his man?
When can he be allowed to be the one making the play and breaking free to do his thing? Was he recruited at #1 to be a tagger?

That's why this year has been good. We have a new coach who has seen what players can and can't do, who can now make decisions to improve us.

Players who lack skill but have the necessary grunt need to be in the team.

i.e. Robbo, Bell.

But they need to be given clear instructions, that they only hold their place in the side if they show the required mongrel.

Yes, we need a few hitmen to target the opposition while also protecting Murphy at al.

So we never had a good side ... we never had the potential to make a Prelim or Grand Final ... this was a very ordinary group of players. Well ... if thats the case ... you can't have it both ways. We made finals 3 out of 5 years after dwelling for years at the bottom of the ladder. Once we came very very close to making a prelim ... we must have been so well coached to get a team of crap players to perform so well.

YOU CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS.

Malthouse made a statement at the start of the year of what he thought of the team he inherited ... has everyone forgotten that.

Now we have a crap side with little potential according to some posters.

Players that were in our best last year ... like Laidler and Yarran are suddenly not up to it and there is a reason for that. Murphy can't get his hands on the pill. Carrots is injured ... McLean is old ... Judd has had his day ... Waite is too injury prone etc etc etc. Injuries and poor talent suddenly become an excuse for poor man management ... weak tactical decisions and lack of forsight at the selection table.

We have a better squad than last year with less injuries ... and we probably won't make the 8 unless Essendon*** get the chop.

Completely agree with Robert Walls about our situation ... different rules for different coaches.

Malthouse has made a big fat hash of things this year. Players have not responded to his coaching ... or he just has not got the message through and on top of that the MC have been hopeless and timid. Instead of moving forward ... we are moving backwards ... and a team which had potential has been marked for re-building. We had a chance to swing some changes to a side that had a number of players down ... and what did we do ... lambs to the slaughter ... pathetic.

This season can't end soon enough.

I'm astonished at how many players have taken several steps back from last year.

Laidler can't even get a game? Murphy plays like a menstruating school girl. Yarran and Betts are terrible. Kreuzer is inconsistent. Oh hang on, Kreuzer has only ever turned up one week a month. Carry on ...

The club better cancel its B&F night. To award anyone in this team anything, seems like a kick in the balls to each and every member that pays money for this tripe.