At the end of the day we have our full-back and centre-half back out of the side. This exposes players like Digby who now must take the best defender and as you'd expect he's going to get beaten more often that not. The problem is that we have no other options, we just don't have any defensive KPP depth and we are putting square pegs in round holes.

We are not a great side, to win enough games to make the finals we need our best side out there most weeks. It's a disappointing loss definitely but it just shows how important Livo and Thornton are to us. No two ways about it. If you look at how easily the opposition is scoring in recent weeks it's extraordinary.

It's just bad luck really that Thornton went down in the last 5 minutes of the Wizard Cup Final. I knew at the time that it would hurt us and then Livo goes down. Injuries are part of footy, and the fact is that to go anywhere this year we need a pretty good run, especially in the key positions.

As for changes, we need to bring in some pace, we should bring in Chambers, Walker, Simpson or at least two of these three for Sporn and maybe Wiggins. Karl Norman just doesn't seem the same player although he wasn't our worst today I didn't think.

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Formerly Blues-Back2003.

Goal kicking problems, form problems.

No problem just play us and we will straighten you up and run you into form.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

Hmm, we got Malthouse's press conference and a 5 minute interview with Diggers, but no Denis???

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Over the past 3 matches our opponents have kicked:

53 goals 21 behinds (74 shots on goal)

We have kicked:

44 goals 29 behinds (73 shots on goal)


Sheesh, I know bad kicking is bad football - but I reckon our opponents accuracy is way above the AFL average for accuracy, over to you Jarusa.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

Pagan was just on then.

He was pretty humble and basically said that Collingwood had too many winners today. Mentioned that the media focus on them provided them with a sting, and good luck to them. He said they tried to warn our blokes that this would be the case, but we just dind't handle it.

Comments were made about our defence. Pagan said, they had players out too and that he didn't want to go down that road (blaming injuries). He did say that on team balance the coaching staff made a decision to support our defence more, on the basis that our forwards should be talented enough to win the ball and kick goals. Said that it was a reality we had to deal with and if we were playing tomorrow the same decision would be made to try and strengthen our defence.

Said that Lance and Fev haven't played well for three weeks now, and pretty named Houla, Campo, Stevens and a couple of others as the guys that use the ball well, whereas some of the other blokes struggle a bit with their delivery at AFL level.

All in all though, he basically said the Pies were too good. We might have got a bit ahead of ourselves in the third quarter, but full credit to Collingwood.

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A couple of points...

30+ degree day....probably needed Walker/Chamebers if fit and Bannister....left us with not much run. Brett Johnson wasnt that smart a selection for the conditions.

Didnt need a lot of thought to predict we would be in trouble if Rocca and Tarrant held their marks and kicked straight.
Digby isnt a proper matchup for Rocca and we were exposed without Thornton which isnt rocket science. Norman did ok on tarrant early but dropped his bundle including his holding the ball effort in the middle of the ground which totally deflated his confidence.

Clement and Wakelin controlled our forwards and I thought fev didnt work hard enough..Lance tried including some decent ruck work but we probably need another mobile marking option up forward...maybe Fisher.

Kouta weas held by Morrison...Stevens played like the champ he is and carried the midfield but we need another extractor with some muscle....Licuria really destroyed us and aS much as I dislike Holland he doesnt make many disposal errors and hurt us everytime he touched the footy.

French battled on till the end and can hold his head up...has improved out of sight ...Lappin was ok but not his usual sure self.

Justin Davies...was ordinary and I think its time for a spell in the twos, cameo games are not good enough and his position in the team and on the list must be on shaky ground.

Scotland was poor and lacked composure..unlike him really..normally he reads the play well and ha good disposal..not today though.

Brett Johnson....woeful conditions for Bret...fine hard track and he doesnt have the leg speed to handle the conditions...

Trent Sporn...been good in the wizzer cup but hasnt done enough so far in the real stuff...like Johnson I dont think he enjoyed the conditions and while I didnt think he made many errors he doesnt get enough of the ball or impose himself on the game enough.

Corey McGrath....looked slow at times but did provide some atatck on the footy when it was in close and won a few hard ball gets...needed some more leg speed in the team so he get the ball out to some runners ....

Digby.....tough ask....hasnt got the build for Rocca and was caught out being pushed off the ball by the big bodied Collingwood forward.Easy to blame him but he did try and hwile he probably isnt good enough on quality talls its not his fault either as he was mismatched..so before some of you dig the knifes in..consider the task he had.

Karl Norman...ran well early but is disposal let him down...Tarrant was always going to be trouble on a hot dry day for any of our players and once he had kciked a couple then Karl dropepd his bundle which young players do......its up to Karl to learn from it.

Andrew Carrazzo...has become the new Livo and forum punching bag...didnt think he was our worst and attacked the footy well. Made some disposal erros but had plenty of mates including Jarrod Waite whose footy skills when passing the ball are ordinary.
Carrazzo was a goer and gives us some run.....lets be patient and he will improve those skills.

Wiggo...didnt get a whole heap of game time and probably looked a bit lost when he came on....the heat was on the game and the Collngwood smalls we on fire which didnt help Wiggo with picking up the tempo of the game..... while Denis luvs his attack on the footy his overall input would have to be considered and I think he needs to do more to cement his place.

Deluca...Did ok but needs to take more pack marks....not just outmark smalls in one on one battles...Walker probably had him covered today.

Overall it was a fair effort and no need to hit the panic button....we need more pace which we have and we need Thornton and Livo back.
Sometimes games like these provide some reality about the list and the failings of some players when the heat is on...my opinion is that Fev and Lances form along with Kouta in the wizzer cup maybe covered up for some who may not be good enough in the long term.
Walker, Blackwell, Russell , Hartlett will be the ones who have to fill the gaps that we have....wont be now but down the track as they mature...still confident we are well positioned for the future.

Good post Elwood, and about spot on from where I sit too. We'll get there, just need to be patient and accept that we're not there yet.

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I thought Norman did a very good job on Tarrant in the first half. Kept up with Tarrant on his leads and did well in the air. Tarrant kicked a freak goal and a tough one from the boundary as well. In the 2nd half though Tarrant slaughtered him.

72% to 60%. I can remember many games when we've been less than 50%. Geelong kicked 8.18 last night (31%). Not sure how good 60% is- seems about average to me whereas 72% seems way above avaerage.

Dropping Norman isnt the way to go.....Port have more and better tall timber than Collingwood and we need Karls size if we are any chance.
Karl can be a player but has to learn more about the game and get smarter ...dropping him after being beat by Tarrant isnt going to teach him anything or give him confidence....play him and give him the job on Thurstans or the like and show some faith in him..

@#$%&!

This game was a reality check.

I think we are looking at being 1 win and 4 losses after round 5, barring a surprise improvement from the players that arent dropped next week.

This might happen, but Id say realistically, it is an outside chance.

If the 1 win 4 losses situation becomes a reality than 2005 is still very much a team building year and the wizzer cup win will be an indication that we do have a nucleus of good players, but the turnovers to get us to where we want to be still need to take place.

I would like to play in finals, realistically though, looking at the results to date - we would pretty much just be making up the numbers.

The big picture of course is one of sifting through the players we have and developing the younger ones.

I guess if we do miss the finals and finish say 11th, our consolations will be :

1. More good draft picks - and no, I dont think we should be playing for draft picks at all, but

2. Plenty of good young talent still to come into the side.

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My Blue Heaven

Even if we are 1-4 I still would give us every chance of playing finals, as we'll probably be 3-4 (Hawthorn and Richmond) and then we've got the overrated Cats.

Last year the AFL average goalkicking accuracy was 54%.

We have been a bit unlucky in that respect so far.

On the positive side, it means if things do average out by the end of the season we should have a few innacurate opponents come years end.

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Speaking of the cats- they started off pretty slowly last year.

Lack of disicpline
Failure to man up when not in possesion
Bombing into forward line, forwards not working hard enough to keep ball in
Midfield not hard enough at the stoppages
Failed to position for drop of ball fom a contest.
Lack of numbers at the contest
15 goals 1pt in the last half did not help

But worst of all 'We let Collingwood back into the game when we had them on toast. We eased up instead of going for the kill.

I am sure Dennis will point these and other things out during the week. This was a game we should have won and won comfortably.

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A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty" -Winston Churchill

L.M 35-06

I know I baked the ABC commentators last week but after listening to MMM this week I take it all back. They are 1 trillion times worse.

Frawley actually said we were full-strength this week. If that is an example of how much research he conducts no wonder he failed as a coach.

The fake arguments and ridiculous hyperbole were there as well to try to add excitement. It was also about the 45,000th time I have heard Sam Newman say it was the worst umpiring performance he has EVER seen.

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Just looking at some stats on AFL.com and my question is this?

WHEN DOES TARRANT KICK 5 STRAIGHT EVER

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Ronald Reagan

went today, and apart from the fact that the members seems like it will be good, including providing standing room out the front, was very dissapointed - beaten pointless.

two questions:

1. how is it that Barney won all day in the ruck, but we got killed in the clearances. Pagan's first change in set up came 10 minutes into the last when he moved Scotland onto the defensive side of the bounce.

2. What was with the move of Fevola into the middle before half time?

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"Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I,
I took the one less travelled by,
and that has made all the difference."

Robert Frost

being 3 4 after beating richmond hawthorn and the cats isnt exactly a springboard to the finals, considering that we will probably have lost to Prt and Fremantle - who will likely be in the 8 - you need to show that youve beaten quality opposition. we've capitlated to a very average team.

If we are 3-4 after round 7, then this wont mean much. Id say if we play like today, there a chance that one of those 3 will roll us.

As much as I am loath to say it, Mike Sheahans 'Carlton played above themselves in 2004' line seems to be correct right now.

No real improvement has been shown by the team in the real season to date.

.

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My Blue Heaven