What does all this mean? If we all agree we are "sandpit bullies" we will start beating teams in the eight?

I dont get it.

wow........we lost to a side that played much better than us.

so, we may not make the top 4.

it is what it is.

until you actually win the premiership, you've get plenty to do and improve on.

Like to accept mediocrity do u? Fair dinkum, that's an amazing stat in anyones book. Cut out the cfc propaganda mate.

Blue Sombrero,

I admire your attitude but doubt your judgement.

One of the worst injury lists???

This week we had the following unavailable -

Jamo - huge loss,

Hampson, Setanta and Carrazzo who 50% of posters on this site think should be traded or delisted,

Collins - who was deplorable in the 2 games he played, and

Mitchell and McInnes who were never going to play this year.

Regards,
kkk

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"You can't polish a James Hird"

Terrible team football today. Terrible match-ups at the start, terrible ideas on how to use our talls once Waite went down.

Terrible tap work as usual despite winning a good share of taps, and terrible blocking for a lot of our prime movers. The Dogs did exactly what I thought they would do to us, and we picked my plan C to deal with it.

Plan C sucked, and so did we.

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29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

How is it mediocrity to be in the top 4?

cfc propaganda

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"The ability to speak doesn't make you intelligent." Qui-Gon Jinn 15-05-2005

"there’s more chance of me becoming the full forward for the [Western Bulldogs] than there is of any change in the Labor Party." Julia Gillard 18-05-2010

Certainly our depth is being tested. I'd imagine the idea today with the sub was to give JR a bit of a rest then use him to sub out Bower so losing Waite a problem on so many levels. Certainly the boys are struggling to be up and fresh, so I'd hoped the 'bye' against the Tigers would help.
(Some) Pros
AJ ok
Judd effective
Warnock much more physical and competitive (1st half espec)

(Some) Cons
Gibbs in the air was completely soft; Duigan puts his body on the line to get it forward and Gibbs just got beaten in the air every time (and his use was poor today after being stellar last week).
Handballs by forward running players to stationary targets with their back to goal.
Dogs chipped the ball out in front of fast leading forwards; we didn't.
Bower plays after showing nothing in his brief appearances in the 2s.
Robbo looked like the 2010 version - not as physical or poised.
Betts
Walker (but he has been great this year)
Too many underdone and overdone players out there - tough to manage.

Even if we exit after 1 final we have still improved this year though: there is more depth, there is more experience, there is more hardness, there is more structure. The window is opening slower than some might have hoped after a fast start but we are still coming.

We could have used Setanta's ability to play on after a mark in the square and get caught.

A footballer whose ability grows with every game he misses.

Can we please contain the banging on about who we have or haven't beaten to the flat track bullies thread?



This is pretty much it. Crap team footy, crap selections and match ups (Bower up forward? AJ in general?), and I never thought I would say this but Hampson craps all over Warnock.

Just bloody frustrating because WE CAN PLAY SO MUCH BETTER THAN THIS and the Dogs have been crap overall this year.

CRAP!

Interesting press conference by Ratts after the game.

Gambled on too many players fitness if you ask me.

If it was me i would rest a bunch of sore blokes next week. I would target finishing 5 or 6 with our game in order and our training loads geared to having us in peak condition for the first round of finals.

Pick a good running team. Omitt as many tall or lumbery player that we think we can get away with.

Good chance to build depth this week. The pies pulled a similar stunt a few seasons back against us. It was the beginning of their good run.

Thats 4 wins in a row to the Dogs?

They started the season badly, have turned their form around now.

_________________
"The ability to speak doesn't make you intelligent." Qui-Gon Jinn 15-05-2005

"there’s more chance of me becoming the full forward for the [Western Bulldogs] than there is of any change in the Labor Party." Julia Gillard 18-05-2010

Agree with your first point, but the second...would have been interesting if you had posted this before the game......

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"You are being watched. The government has a secret system. A machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it." - Finch

I'm getting a bad feeling about this season now, a feeling of dejavu and our top 4 chances are almost shot. Good thing is its still in our hands at least.

As for today, nine goal turn around with the assistance of the umpires early on was very disappointing. Bower as a forward? Which Einstein though he can play up front? His marking attemps were almost comical and he's not the best kick for goal even if he snags a mark. Why wasn't Henderson moved to full forward and Bower sent to Hall? I still have faith in him as a backman.

Today also confirmed for me that Houlihan is not in our best 22. The game has past him by and we need to start thinking ahead.

What can we bring next week?

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“I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” ― Richard Feynman

Ratts said Walker had been sick with food poisoning and was still vomiting this morning, which would count towards his poor game.

Just heard Ratt's press conference, key out takes:

- Walks had food poisoning and had been throwing up yesterday and today
- Carrazzo did a calf at Sat training (doubtful for this week)
- Waite groin injury - touch and go as to whethe rhe will play next week, but will be assessed. Said he barely trained during the week, but docs gave him the green light to play.
- We won many of the stats tonight, but over handballed and little F50 pressure other than Kreuzer with 4 I50 tackles
- Setanta will play football this week (which to me implies could be VFL or AFL)
- Thornton may play forward this week if Waite doesn't get up

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For some silly reason, you people want to assassinate him, and it's just rubbish. You people. All of you, ALL of you!

1. How can Waite NOT train yet be given the OK to play?
2. Why does Ratts ALWAYS point out the stats? Winning the possession count means nothing when you can't do anything with the footy.

Good he mentioned abysmall forward 50 pressure.

I lost count of the number of goals they kicked as a result of rebound 50s. We'd bomb it in there and it would come it with ease. THe Dogs defenders did a terrific job on Eddie and Garlett.

That was Garlett's first goaless game for the year.

The entry inside 50 anyway was poor, bomb bomb bomb or kick it to a player leading to the boundary line.

They got a few coast to coast goals as well; our concentration/setup to defend their kickouts was poor and on the other hand a carbon rod could understand our kickout strategy - wait until Warnock or Kreuzer head towards the boundary and then bomb it long to them. There was nothing in this regard; nothing to do with who was or wasn't injured. Very poor kickout strategy.

We got our fair share of inside 50s but lack of structure/composure/forward pressure cost us massively. Our defenders actually played ok given the way the ball rebounded from our forward line.

Would have been good to see Lachie moved forward in the second half.

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"You are being watched. The government has a secret system. A machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it." - Finch

Good point. I understand your suspicions. I rarely post after going to training though. My writing skills will never match the more skilled reporters.

You are going to have to trust me Effes. At training yesterday they looked flat and a large number of them were proppy.
Walker wasnt one of them though. He looked to have more energy than the rest. Maybe he got the bug afterwards.

Im thinking anyone with a niggle we just don't play them next week. I don't see the point of playing everyone who has a niggle, have an 'hounourable' 5 goal loss, be labelled as courageous as Essendon*, then be on good terms with ourselves then lose to Essendon* the week after.

Don't play Waite, Carrazzo, Setanta or anyone else who isn't 100%. If we get flogged, so be it. Better to make sure we have everyone right to go come finals time.

Nah that's fair club.

I thought maybe you could've done a Dodo or Ryan2000 if you were armed with that information $3.75 they were even at qtr time.

_________________
"You are being watched. The government has a secret system. A machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it." - Finch