De Luca has been given more chances than most players, I'd be dropping him and letting O'hAilpin fill his role for a few weeks.

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drop him? One of our better players for a large slice of tonight.

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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!

Had his best half when we scored the least. When he dropped out of the game we scored more goals.

Completely innefectual big man for someone who has been given so many games and so much game time, especially in the forward half.

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Drop Jarusa!

His stats are WAY down this season.

De Luca gets the marks but he takes far too long to move the ball and the options he chooses are not the best and his kicks are not good.

De Luca for a lot of tonight's game was pretty good and he was reasonable last week too. Would definitely be in my side for the moment, certainly ahead of Setanta who just didn't look right tonight.

How about we let Setanta develop further and make him earn his spot and let's stop panicking that he isn't playing regularly for us. He shouldn't be in the side just because the supporters want to see Setanta play. He showed his inexperience on several occasions tonight with his positioning, leading etc and he needs to go back to the VFL and make it impossible for us not to pick him later on in the year.

Russell was ok from what I could tell but again I'm not going to be up in arms if he's dropped and allowed to develop for a while in the VFL.

We have to make two changes to accomodate Waite and Fev and surely Setanta and one of Russell/Teague will make way.

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Formerly Blues-Back2003.

that is one way of looking at things - I've been one of delucas biggest critics since he was drafted but in the past 2 weeks he has shown more than he has in the past few yrs - credit where it is due. At this stage he deserves a spot in the team more than setanta who came in on little/no form and was expected to play KPP. Was never going to work. On tonights performances I'd expect deluca to hold his spot for at least the next 2-3 weeks unless kennedy really demands a spot and we cant find room elsewhere.

Btw, for those that want to see russell retained - what would you think of dropping scotland (and giving that role/game time within the team to russell) as a way to bring in kennedy or another midfielder (ie blackwell)

De Luca has kicked 14 goals in 37 games while playing the vast majority of his time in the forward half. Many full time ruckmen have a better goalkicking record than that.

He does not take contested marks.

He does not crash packs.

He does not create scoring opportunities.

He does not straighten the team up.

He does not ruck effectively.

What does he do?

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Um....not act like a dicknose?

presents as a link and when we have Waite and Fev back he will also present as an option closer to goal.

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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!

Yer i was at the game ... Teague has lost what ever made him courageous and go for those knocks and punches away or taking marks backing into packs .... now he just umm does nothing
I thought he should have been dropepd this week well definately gone now rather have had Wiggo or Banister playing.

Santanta will be dropped for Waite or FEv but agreed when he next plays he needs those key players in to help give him confidence and also not attract the main defenders

Russell didnt watch him enough need to look at the Replay

Did watch Kouta and i reckon yes he will play every game but he will retire end of this year ... he dosnt have the passion for the game or the enthusism and i think prob shouldnt have been captain as he just dosnt have enough spark in him anymore just dosnt look interested in footy i made it a point to watch him closely and he just does his thing when he is near the ball ... but no chasing / no passion / not even really getting into contests well anyway thats from my observations ... he will play out the year as Captain and i reckon soon as year finished he will volunteer retirement

think he will remain in the team for a while yet - well until kennedy/setanta really demand the spot. Though he has improved heaps in the past couple weeks some things about deluca still worry me - slow ball movement and decision making are the obvious ones but what really got me going tonight was when dawson outbodied and outmarked deluca late in the game. At 202 cm and ?kgs (24 or so, 3 AFL preseasons) one would expect deluca to at least compete against dawson (19? 5th game or so) physically in the one on ones

Couldn't agree more. Sammy Newman as insane as most of you say he is, was totally right in giving Deluca the 3 votes for worst on ground. 202cms, playing a key position took however many uncontested marks with not one shot on goal. I just watched he first quarter again and he was took at least 3-4 marks in defensive side of centre and the only mark he took attacking side went straight to a Hawthorn player.

On another note, do you blame Deluca for where he takes his marks or is it the instructions of the coaching panel for him to play that way?

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Mjonc signing off at 8888

i'm not sure if JR is quite ready yet - he has to improve his agility a lot - he is super fast when running in a straight line, but when he has to deviate or change direction, he is like a semi trailer - that will improve tho. I think let JR dominate the twos for a couple of weeks and then bring him back in - i still think he did well tho, and he has great skills imo.

Deluca has to be kept in, but I agree it would help us if his disposal and decision making was better, but at least he has improved his marking at the moment. now they can start working on his disposal.

Even tho setanta was terrible and I said at the start of the season he wouldnt make it imo, (based on my viewing of him at training and vfl last year) i think we should let him get a few games under his belt in the vfl b4 we condemn him to the scrap heap.

Some of the vitriol against a 2nd game player here is disgusting.

2 games = not much to go on.

I would argue Setanta has been a more effectual player for about the same game time than Russell in his 2 matches yet Setanta is copping all this sh*t.

Simpson got absolutely no stats in his first 2 games and everyone was so quick to write him off too.

Give it a rest! How is he supposed to work his way into the game if (a) none of his teammates were looking for him (even when his positioning was right) and (b) most of the time there was a wall of Hawthorn players at CHB that our midfielders INSISTED on kicking directly to.

His endeavour was outstanding all things considered. When he had that shot at goal that missed he followed up with a great spoil form the kick out which brought about the free kick that got Kouta our second ball. A couple of other times he laid some good pressure down against Hawks players a la Eddie Betts.

No-one here has said he will be the next Paul Salmon or Matthew Lloyd or whatever. If anything they have been talking him up as an Earl Spalding type who will crash packs, lay tackles, and create contests - and when the opportunity arises kick a goal or tow. Early was a brilliant foil for Sticks and I reckon Steanta could be the same for Fev.

He just needs time - whether it be in the Blues or the Ants - and clear instructions from his coach and his teammates.

Oh know some of you are almighty armchair expects, and I am sure most of you know more than me, but personally while he didn't have a great game tonight, he has plenty to offer long-term.


As for Russell - he did some good things and I LOVED the way he put his head over the ball - especially after Croad took him out with that cowardly elbow (what's the bet there'll be no report for THAT one ). There is plenty of justification for giving him another crack next week.

I think Santy will make way for Fev anyway, though, Denis admitted he was underdone going into the match, but it was a pretty bare cupboard this week. I am sure he'll go away and work his arse off to figure out how to work his way into the contest a bit better.

I don't see how Santy can be retained if Fev and Waite are right to go. If you want to retain Russell you'd have to drop McGrath I guess.

Having said that McGrath shouldn't have been tagging tonight, probably shouldn't have been in the team tonight - not pacey enough for blokes around his size in the Hawks line-up.

In: Fev, Waite*, Kennedy*
Out: Santy*, Teague, McGrath/Russell*

Hard to see Scotland coming out after picking up 30 possessions, finds a lot of his own ball but doesn't do damage with it. Would be a good link man in a better performing side.

Deluca is a possibility but I'd only drop him to go back to the VFL and learn how to ruck. We saw tonight he could be a fantastic around the ground ruckman if he could bloody well ruck.

That's my piece, I'll come back when the shit has been cleaned off the walls and the ceiling.

UPDATE: Now I'll be back later.

That's it in a nutshell.

Fine he's not a crash and bash forward. Fine we're playing him in a leading/linking role. And good on the guy for improving his marking a bit.

But when he has lead and marked, he doesn't know what to do with the ball. He's too scared to have a shot, even when he's in range, and he dicks around with the ball before choosing a bad option and turning it over.

Unfortunately no one is really demading Deluca's spot (including Bryan for those he keep bringing him up), but I really think he is not the answer.

Look really O'hAilpin is probably another year or 2 off,but remember he wasn't ready for this game,he was at least 2 weeks ahead same as Russell,but what little Russell did in the game,i would give him a go,but someone today will lose his spot for him,as i reckon,give him 5-6 games in a row and i reckon he will take off.

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Bang Bang.

I think DeLuca offers more than McLaren.

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"The Wigg's big in 08!" - Chris Judd