Sometimes this place is a real pleasure to log onto.

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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

Sorry Bondi - I can't say Green failed at tagging Cripps while racking up 30 odd himself the other way at a very decent effective % with a handful of score involvements.

I used to love the old Judd vs Goodes head-to-head battles in the midfield, and they made sense from both sides, because you felt that if Judd got carved, they had Cousins, Kerr, Braun able to step up instead, and Sydney were more than justified in saying that their team ethos made them capable of looking after an extra opponent if need be, or they could lock down the play when the momentum went against them.

I don't think we bat deep enough as a midfield (even when Walsh returns), or have that team ethos yet to justify having a similar approach with Cripps, who simply doesn't use the footy as well as either of the above two either.

I think to some extent, teams feel their best bet to nullify Cripps' influence is to let him do too much. He doesn't have that peripheral vision, or perhaps even trust in the secondary mids to hit up a handball out wide instead of trying to take on two or three tackles and kick the thing inside 50.

If we go Cripps head-to-head with Cunnington tomorrow, I'm a bit concerned. Far too crafty and a lot more effective in front of the sticks to let that match up happen.

The problem for Cripps has been he has rarely played with our top five midfielders.

When we can get Cripps, Walsh, Hewett, Cerra and Kennedy all playing together on a regular basis we don’t actually need to bat much deeper.

If you look back at Voss, Black, Lappin, Akermanis and Power or Judd, Cousins, Kerr, Braun etc it’s amazing how many games those guys played together.

If our best five mids could get that sort of combined game time we’d be a very different side.

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"Liberals feel unworthy of their possessions. Conservatives feel they deserve everything they've stolen."

Mort Sahl

Following up on that…

Our best five mids have only played together as a group in 8 out of 25 games.

We won five out of eight (62.5%) of those games which equates to almost 14 wins for a season. Get some consistency playing together and that figure rises.

Add to that our sixth best mid (and best lockdown player) in Ed wasn’t available all last year.

On five occasions only three of our best five have been available and we won two (the last two games this year) out of five or 40%.

Twelve times we’ve played four of the best five and we’ve won seven of those or 58%.

So…

Three best mids - 40%.
Four best mids - 58%.
Five best mids - 62.5%.

And that doesn’t even allow for the fact that in four of the eight games where all five played together one of them got injured and didn’t play out the game or did so under duress.

Get all five playing regularly together and it’ll make a huge difference.

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"Liberals feel unworthy of their possessions. Conservatives feel they deserve everything they've stolen."

Mort Sahl

Good analysis GWS and you are correct
I think one of the main issues is we don't have many players in the midfield who are good kicks
Our best 3 by foot Saad McGovern and Newman are all down back.
None of our mids seem to be able to pin point a forward lace out so they tend to bomb to contest usually meaning that the ball comes back out at a rate of knots.
You notice how Mackay and Curnow seem to be able to lead up to the wing and take marks when it defender is delivering the ball but hang back in the goal square flying for the same ball when mids are sending the ball forward

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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

Like. Thanks for taking out the time for that number

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

That free kick. Given the day I would have laughed if the umpire paid the free kick and just as it was about to be kicked, the umpire goes "April Fool"....haha.

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#DonTheStash

Us Carlton supporters in the crowd were laughing, we didn’t have a clue what had happened and were busy tearing our hair out over another missed goal when all of a sudden Motlop was lining up at the top of the goal square. No one could work out why so we just laughed and accepted it.

Should I head to the umpiring thread? Nah, this'll do.

My take is that the ump got it right.

Harry wasn't owed a free kick and neither was his opponent. It was one of those 'almost took possession, tried to get it on the boot before I had it' type situations, and his opposite number was right to tackle then (soon enough) let go - play on, nothing to see here.

As for the really contentious one, technically it was there - sounds like Coniglio had been getting up the ump's goat - and yes, it was over the top but a reasonable mistake (if it was one) by the ump in the heat of the moment. At least I know he's not biased, as he was one of the offenders in the travesty against the Filth a few years go when we couldn't buy a free kick. The timing of the free was the issue effectively but it's either paid at any time in the game or it's not paid at all. And if the AFL wants a GF decided by this sort of free, they need to imagine it and adjust right now instead of inevitably going into damage control (spin/change the rules kneejerky style) when it happens. Too bad if some players can't keep their mouths shut - understandable but a line needs drawing somewhere. I'm with Doc on this one (easy for him, of course, coz he's not a renowned heart-on-sleeve complainer).

Having said all that, I reckon we were owed one of these. I just wish it was against the Filth or the Poostripes or the sashy ones of either description.

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'People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.'
Soren Kierkegaard

As for the game, special mention to Newman for continuing to mature. For a long while, I wasn't sure if he was going to cement a place but this year feels like a coming of age.

Motlop is a real keeper. Wait until he really feels like he belongs.

Harry and Charlie, please watch some videos of your veteran competitors, Hawkins and Cameron, and see how they complement each other. I also wish they had the smarts of JSOS, who brings his own flair but doesn't have their attributes.

Agree with other posters that Cripps needs reminding to bring other more skilled onballers into the game instead of reverting to DIY football. Other teams would still kill to have him though.

Etc etc. Scrappy but a box ticked. Wins away from home haven't been easy in recent times and very glad to have that one over with.

We have a lot of upside. I just hope we don't take all season to work it out.

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'People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.'
Soren Kierkegaard