See THIS is what i can't understand with all the Russell Praise.

Hayden avgs 13 dissposals a game and has kicked just 8 goals in 97games............... Hardly a Threat!

If we really wanna see how good Russell is, then sure - throw him on the in-form Medhurst or the dangerous Didak.

Maybe then i could find some positives for him and i wouldn't be on here week-in week-out questioning his spot in the team.

Edit - Just realised that i'm can't use capital letters for emphasis!

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle

Crowded forwardline from all our fowards leads to congestion.

More than that ryan, that is anarchy.

There must be a plan and a structure to suit.

Imagine the ball starting at HB, and by the time the ball has been moved forward of centre we should have the 3 big targets moving to and playing in different spots on the forwardline with a crumber nearby who knows the strategy from there.

Lets say with Fev leading up the ground, there should always be a tall option going back or stying around the goalsquare. There should also be a lead up CHF who provides the link between centre and FF/CHF (within goal kicking range), but I think the trick is to mix it up so we don't become predictable.

I don't mind midfielders being rotated into the forwardline at times. I expect Yarran to be able to play in burst of say 10 minutes in each quarter and build up from there. Same with Robbo if he plays forward.

Options in the forwardline, not congestion. It can be done.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

I agrre Hammer (Not about you knocking yourself off)

Apparently Freo beat us without Fev playing for them . Essendon* beat Hawthorn without Fev playing for THEM . The Dogggies beat Crows, the Kangas beat the Power all WITHOUT FEV PLAYING FOR THEM .

My GOD...... what a surprise.

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end of message

I think his avearge is much better since Freo turned their game around. Hayden is dangerous.

But yeah, I'd like to see Russell be given some freedom to attack too. If he is, then he hasn't got it yet. Perhaps playis in his shell too much...need for a psychologist?

Why would that be the case? Maybe something to do with his coach's ability to translate it or he reads TC and other public forums.

I thought he played well against Freo.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Medhurst might be doubtful - as he is unlikely to play against the Saints tonite - has an ankle injury I believe.

Anthony got suspended, but not sure if he will miss only the one game and therefore still be available against the blues?

Rocca has been named to play tonite. Hasn't played much this season, and I hope we don't do another game on him like that on Lloyd and "play him into form".

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Cripps is the man

Medhurst being freshened up to kick a bag against us. No Carazzo so he's laughing!

I don't think the Pies are a better team than us..I just think they are better at playing a particular way. They are getting into finals consistently with an "ok" team. They have the intencity factor when required (but the "Ok" factor is why they haven't won a GF)....that's what Malthouse does...that's what Buckley was referring to...(Ironically I don't think Malthouse sees it)...let's hope Malthouse's focus is on the Saints and not us.

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“Every single element of the Club has to be the best in the league, meticulously and methodically, and only by doing this will we be elite and challenge for number 17.”
Greg Lee

It is time to make s statement and drop Stevens.

Stevens has had a pretty ordinary year so far.

His efficiency rating last weekend was atrocious, and his Champion data ranking pts have been low this year for a player of his skill and experience. He is well below the 100 mark that good players have as a unofficial benchmark.

I know he is not playing onball as much as in previous years, but that shouldn't impact on his usage surely.

And it's not like he has injury to blame this year.

Throw in the suspension after the one he got in R22 last year, and it's been ordinary ordinary ordinary.

Thing is though, if they drop him they had better leave him out for a little while. Dropping an experienced player for just a game or two means nothing, it's a slap on the wrist for a guy who is on half a mill.

He needs to be given a serious kick up the bum, to the extent he seriously starts to wonder if it's not just about 2009, but maybe about 2010 as well.

Stevens is a class kick and carrier, but he lost me in R22 last year when he refused to chase his man Bateman, who proceeded to run off Nick and kick goals etc.

Give him a good spell, and he can go skiing at Bulla.

I would drop Cloke too for what it's worth. He is slow, and ordinary. Should have at worst got a hand to that mark he missed in the first qtr.

Club have won just 1 game in 5 matches, that's bottom of table sort of form.

And admirable, close losses are not good enough. Go take a look at shots on goal and while we have had more than our opp in 3 of the 4 losses, it's only been marginal, we haven't exactly dominated teams, so there's the real story in there. Don't buy the hype. Ratts might talk about the missed shots in the 3rd. While that's true, he might also want to mention we had less shots before half time, so credit to Freo for their first half.

Richmond talk about what players will take the club forward, well I think we need to do the same.

Stevens has downhill skied all year, Houlihan was exposed badly the week prior, as was Bentley, and Cloke and Wiggins haven't fired a shot in a fortnight (interestingly for Wiggo as his form has dipped since the article in the Hun saying how good he is - I defended him last week but his numbers last weekend were just not close to good enough - and if it's a matter of the opp working out how to stop his leads, then surely Ratts needs to take some of the heat for not having a Plan B for Wiggo??).

We have about 6 or 7 guys who put in each week, and the rest are either experienced players who need to be more consistent, or kids who are all just bubbling along and it's hard to say which ones have the ticker and enough talent to come along for the ride. Some, like Army and Aaron seem to have the mettle.

Juddy said early in his tenure at the club that if we get to a point where we think this group of players won't do the job, then we'll need to find a new group of players. I would say we're half way through that process now, at least part of it anyhow.

Robbo in is a no brainer after his VFL game. Whether they dump Mr 24 I am not sure but I hope they do it, because 2009 is slipping out of our grasp and something tough needs to be done to shake things up.

Most Premiership sides have 2 things in common...

1. Players who bust their arses and are tough 100%

2. Enough skill.

I would argue you have to get no.1 right. It's pressure, hardness, and pressure and hardness again.

Right now we have a few passengers who think skill alone is enough.

Well it's time to correct that edict.

Enough is enough. I mean I thought we were coming??

Time to rattle the cage.

Provoke the rage.

Make a statement and drop the VC. It's the only way.

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It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it

I Aggree 100%

If his name wasn't Nick Stevens and he wasn't on $500k+ per year, we would have dropped him along time ago.

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle

So are you saying that we keep Wiggins in for another week?

...and you attribute Wigglers form for the last 5 weeks as a problem with Ratts' ability to bring the best out of him?

It's time to rattle the cage and provoke the rage. Agree.

Well if we are to do it seriously VB then players out of form are the first to sort out. Agree?

I agree that Stevens' output deserves a stint in the Ants, but surely Stevens' form has been better than Wigglers over the last 5 (not 2) weeks?

One rule for some and another rule for favourites? That's what Ratts seems to do too.

Drop Wiggler first and Stevens second, but just do it!

Lets get fair dinkum about player form.

All of you.
All of you.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

As I was trying to tell you last week Virgin Blue, Wiggler has been out of form for a long time, in fact longer than others who have been ommitted (but that's another story), but yeah he's fallen into a deep deep hole these last 2 weeks.

He needs to be relieved from this exposure at senior level.

The writing was on the wall since round 3 with Cloke and Wiggler, particularly Cloke. Yeah, I though if could have been an abheration for Wiggins, but then round 4, followed by 5, the penny dropped and I'd had enough... then round 6 & 7 effort the Wiggler has proven to be just as much (almost) a non event like Cloke.

If he's out of form, he's out of form.

He's been fixed in the forwardline as a forward target...now how many goals did you expect from Wiggler and Cloke against Freo? How many did they give you? History post round 2 would have given you a realsistic picture if you cared to look, but your bias was evident.

Off the Cloke & Wiggler bandwagon yet? You should be. They cost us wins imo.

Round 7 panned out as I predicted with those 2. Didn't it?

One continued to be insipid and both continue to play seniors whilst badly out of form. I mean so bad they are lost.

Now they may be able to fight their way back into the side, and I hope they do, but come on, enough is enough admit that they both need a rest in the Ants.

Stevens is sidetracking you from the fact, like Houla did last week.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Stevo needs to prepare himself professionally as an AFL footballer should away from the footy ground and he will be a better player on it..


If he doesnt care what he does away from the ground he cant translate anything into a valuable game...

He is struggling on field....compared to his potential....for whatever reasons.

Stevo could answer them.....

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

And he wonders why he wasn't made captain.

Age shall weary them. As you get older you need to do more in terms of looking after yourself to keep up. Every year 60 or so kids come into the system and want your spot on an AFL list.

Travis Cloke 3 Brownlow votes

http://www.realfooty.com.au/articles/2009/05/10/1241893850154.html

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Congratulations CK95

Part of me wants Fev to have the week off, to be honest.

OUT: Fev (inj), Thornton, Wiggins and Cloke.

Kruezer to FF
Waite to CHF
Gibbs to play Wiggins lead-up role
Yarran and Betts from the pockets, leading up and back.

IN: Hartlett, Browne, O'Hailpin and Robinson.

Hammer and O'Hailpin to ruck all day - it's only against Fraser after all... They can both jump higher than him, and O'Hailpin fights harder than him once it hits the deck. 10 minutes on, 10 minutes off. Collingwood's back-up is Leigh Brown for goodness sake...

Hartlett on Rocca. They're about as slow as each other. And perhaps Harts can give us drive from the backline with his kicking.

Bower on Cloke. Cloke is no better than Pavlich or Franklin and Bower did okay on those two.

Jamo on Anthony. He lead in straight lines, Anthony, and relies on his accurate kicking. He has no tricks if you stick close.

Browne on Medhurst. Big ask for Browne, but Steve is hard at it and Medhurst is lazy going the other way.

Austin as the floater, playing the Waite chop-out role. Nominally on McCaffer I'd imagine, but Austin is a good reader of the play.

The other blokes who play forward/midfield for Collingwood are Lockyer and Davis. AJ gets Davis. Russell / Hadley / Scotland may have roles to play there on Lockyer depending on rotations.

Play Robinson on Thomas. Robbo only has one pace and his intensity is more than enough to match Daisy's 'flair'.

Leaves you Judd, Murphy, Stevens on ball with relief from Simpson, Scotland, Hadley and Betts. With Yarran in the side I wouldn't mind Eddie getting away from his assigned defender and heading into the midfield. I think that was a glaring omission on the weekend - Ed had his troubles against his man but was never given a chance to break away by going into the center.

Oh, and I want Thornton to play CHF in the Bullants. Not this week, as they have a bye... but soon...

We will THRASH the Pies.

We always do.

They are soft.

So far this year every team that has played StKilda has won the following week!

I'll make it real easy for you...drop both... However I do believe in playing horses for courses and Collingwood do not play close down footy which would suit Stevens. Hadley will be found out for a lack of pace on the 'G'. We should be playing runners in this one.

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"Truth, for the tyrants, is the most terrible and cruel of all bindings; it is like an incandescent iron falling across their chests. And it is even more agonizing than hot iron, for that only burns the flesh, while truth burns its way into the soul"     — Lauro Aguirre

The Pies have Didak, Davis and Medhurst out.

Its a fair enough argument to say Wiggins should be dropped after 2 absent matches. As our key half forward player that's clearly not good enough. But I beg to differ on his form up until that point - he was good in the Dogs game (11 marks, 18 stats) and until Round 5 was averaging 9 marks a match in what is his prime role. Clearly in round 6 he was chopped out of the game with the zone and I couldn't see him at all in Round 7.

I'd have him ahead of Cloke to stay in the team as Cloke is an out and out liability at the moment. A liability is worse than not having an impact.