THIS.
And from some of the sacred cows.

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Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

You weren't watching the game I was watching.
If you think that tripe was acceptable, you are part of the problem.
They played two of a possible quarters of footy. Same crap as last week. They got off to a good start and then stopped doing what they were doing and reverted to the safe stuff. Enter Port. It was last year's Richmond game all over again. They have learnt nothing in 53 weeks.
Polson kicked a good goal but was otherwise unsighted.
Fasolo did nothing but neither did any of our small forwards because our mids have no concept of how to deliver the ball into the F50. We can make decent players look shit in a short period of time.
Port's players under 50 games showed our players under 50 games how to run and back up. They had two players with one game experience that played better than half our mids with 40 games.
Gov did SFA. He has shown us little of what he is capable of.
Walsh and Dow went OK.
If I were to suggest we play Dow as a half back flanker, I would get shouted down and rightly so but we have put Garlett there against every footy instinct in his body and scream for him to be dropped. The kid isn't made to be a defender he is made to run and carry and fly for moty once a week. He is being asked to do something he can't do. When the ball flies at him, he has to stop himself from launching because if he misses it, it might result in a goal. I'm not suggesting he is Nat Fyfe but we'll never know unless we give him a go. That's a coach's decision to play im out of position and then tell him not to use natural ability.

We are a million miles away unless they play four quarters a week and stop doing the stupid stuff that costs us on the rebound.

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Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

Maybe we did well for 50 minutes of a possible 120 against a team that hasn't played any footy together and is year one of a complete change of direction.

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Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

We've pushed top sides hard for a few years then lose to those we should beat. Interestingly, one test of real improvement will come in two weeks against the Gold Coast, winning games well we should win. Remember how tremendously competitive we were round 1 last year only to get slammed by Gold Coast in Melbourne the next week.

Win games we should win first then build from there.

I thought Phillips played well, a good 4 quarter performance !

I'd leave him as no 1 ruckman. Which poses the question, how do we best utilise a fit Kruezer ?

Not a bad problem to have.

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The problem with Socialism is, you eventually run out of other people's money.

We continued to only play every 2nd quarter. A trend that dates back to well into last year and the year before. All in all, we've showed signs of promise for 3 years now. In little bursts we show we can go with most teams we encounter. But we have yet to take that next step.

what we can't seem to do is, play 4 full quarters of football.
In the 2nd qtr, Hinkley made defensive adjustments, zoning off the space between our forwards and mids, which meant it was a revolving door off our half back flank, straight back the other way. We didn't match those adjustments until the 3rd qtr, where instead of bombing it long, we held the ball and carried it more. Bending their structure out of place. They either had to retreat and man mark, or come to the ball carrier.

It was a nice tweak from our coaching ... but then? Gov kicks two goals, we're right back in the hunt. Port's defenders were all lost at sea, sending help to Gov's direct defender. and then we inexplicably take gov off? Surely he could have missed his scheduled rest bcos the flow of the game dictated that?


not sure how anyone can knock SPS. He's willing, never quits and doesn't take a backward step. I'd rather 22 players like that, who occasionally make errors, but also willingly go about making up for those errors next time his number is called.

Weiters is looking good. He's reading the game as good as anyone can, right now. He knows when to intercept, leave his man, or stick to him like glue. He's stronger and all of the confidence he'd lost last year is back.

I'm not sold on Gov, Harry and Charlie in the same forwardline. Too many entries fly back the other way, with barely a hand laid on them. 2 key forwards and a mosquito fleet of hard running & tackling forwards is the modern forwardline prototype. i wished we had have found a way to get walsh and one of the many small forwards in last year's draft, rather than walsh and stocker. especially with stocker seeming so far away from afl.

Problems are all some people see. My memory of you BS is you might be a little more balanced week to week (but my memory is pretty ordinary and I’m not on the forum as much as many others) but some of you ONLY see the problems. I think some of us (including me) get very frustrated with those who only see the negatives and never acknowledge the positives. But we shouldn’t. It’s just your opinion. So it’s cool.

Re Gartlett. I don’t like him in the side. I don’t think he will work in defence. But re your statements about him highlighted above, haven’t you just described former forwards like Jeremy Howe, Chris Yarren and to a lesser extent Jones? Nothing wrong with people in the backline who like to fly for moty once a week or who like to run and carry.

I don’t agree with your Polson and Gov assessments either but both are very subjective and I can see why you think what you think.

Port had more disposals ,clearances, hitouts,contested and uncontested. More inside 50 , more tackles ,ran more, more 1% , and kicked a winning score.

They beat us in every aspect of the game.

Lets not get away from what really happened yesterday evening.
In nearly every game of the past 17 plus years you can see a positive
We even used to have a positive and negative thread after each game. You see small glimpse of what might be but it never eventuates

We are going to get to mid year Bolton will be spinning his one liners and cliches and this enormous wealth of 1st round draft picks will be mentally shot and some will be thrown out with the garbage .

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

I think the problem with Garlett is that he is an instinctive footballer trying to play in a highly disciplined/structured position and I'm not sure it suits him.

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I need some new conspiracy theories; all my others have come true.

Good to see Setterfield, SPS and Dow all get a goal. We need goalkickers. And goalkicking midfielders are gold.

2 wins in 37 games does makes us a little negative.

Kind of wish Marc with a C had failed that concussion test.

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The only way for some people to understand is for them to be on the receiving end

Left wing moralists
In self serving denial
They shit me no end

I'm sitting on the fence at the moment.

In both games I've seen some improvement in our style of footy and growth in some of our players. Despite this we still have played some very poor footy and made basic errors.

I have watched the 2 Swans games this year and this is the decider for me. This is the game we should win, the Swans have been very average and to date we have played the better footy.

This is a must.

SPS is getting more involved.
The backline has improved, JW is playing better footy
It's clear to see Walsh will be very good
McGovern is a great asset
As expected Harry is getting better

Some good signs BUT we need a win and next week is a must.

what's ed curnow's role right now?

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"I had to eat"

I'm still digesting the game. Lots going on.

I think, assuming his knee is OK, we should consider giving Charlie a run on the wing (or at least higher up the ground) and he can rest forward at times. Needs to get his hands on the footy and work himself into the game.

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Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano. Fortem posce animum mortis terrore carentem, qui spatium vitae extremum inter munera ponat naturae, qui ferre queat quoscumque labores.

Expecting inexperienced players, who are 18-21 years old with less than 50 games under their belt is fanciful and unrealistic. That game hurts massively, because we had our chances to walk away with a win. But with such a young list you’ll have quarters that are great followed by some that are sub par.

I thought Plowman, Weiters, Jones, Cripps, McKay, Gov, SPS all played well.

McKay had great hands given the conditions.
Sps showed his class.
Some great defensive efforts by Plow and Weiters.
Gov with some clutch goals.

To quote a former coach,

WIE,ITOT.

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THEY LIKE TO SEND UP!!!!!!!!

Until each team plays each other the same number of times, the AFL, as a fair dinkum competition, cannot be taken seriously.

He (Mr Swann) said the honour and pride associated with the club's traditional navy blue jumper was priceless.

Funny I reckon I was watching the same game as OR

I saw Port against Melbourne last week and they were very good

After that game was very concerned how Phillips would cope with Lycett and Ryder

Thought we would get belted and would leak goals

Yes frustrated that we can't win and drop off during quarters and for quarters but 16 point loss over there is a more than reasonable performance

However We do need a win soon to confirms our improvement /progress

Ya know....

when we looked good last night...we looked
bloody good...!

i'm not saying who should be dropped...but
add Marchbank...Kennedy...O'Brian...Kreuzer...
Silvagni...Cuningham...and eventually Williamson...!

things start to look a bit more tidy...!

as peculiar as this sounds...i don't believe
our midfield has gelled yet...!


kindest regards tommi

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that'siti'mnotchangingthistagain......!