I've heard Thornton cracked it at being dropped, and didn't do much for the ants. As for Waite, Ratts said that he was sent back there to get his timing back, which usually takes more than a week to return you'd think.

Would love to have Bower back, but don't know how far off he is. If Brock doesn't return I think Hadley is a must. One of the things about today was Juddy having to do all the bustling work himself, I don't like this. Hadley was instrumental when we beat the Cats last year and against their midfield we need that hard man. If it wasn't for Ablett, I'd consider dropping AJ. Just seems out of sorts and not happy.

White and Lucas have done enough to retain their spots, and i get the feeling they'll thrive playing against the league's benchmark.

Cats aren't 100% though. Lost to Freo last week and took a while to shake off scum and Hawks. I expect us to be able to match them most of the game, but it goes without saying that opportunities need to be taken because when they put their afterburners on we could get blown away.

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#GUILTY

Bower will need a week in the ants - he hasn't played for a month
Despite Thornton's weaknesses he is in our best 22 and a better option than white. I predict white will get pantsed against Geelong. He was outbodied by Burton, got killed on the lead. Imagine what Mooney, Cloke, Kosi are going to do to him

I agree.

AJ has done good job negating certain high profile players eg) Ablett, Kerr, Rioli, Davis however against lesser opponents he needs to do more himself to justify his place in the side.

Not sure about my changes for next week.....maybe just bring in McLean for Robinson and perhaps Bower will need to come back via the Bullants to get match fitness.

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There is no footy god

Lose their feet and fall over as White runs away from them with the ball.

Cloke is a one season wonder.... a dud of the highest order.

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mid/Long term i expect Bower, Aussie, and Waite to move ahead of t-Bird in the pecking order, with 3 x 188-189 cm support players in JR Lucas and AW.I hope Lucas is perservered with at HB with young Dylan set to bolster our midfield further.

Thornton was trialed up fwd in the Ants...interesting for a guy that has 4 career goals in 150 games. Unfortunately he looked athletically inferior even at VFL level. He is has been a loyal servant who has given his all for the team in dark times, but as our youngsters he will fall down the pecking order. Arrowsmith looked consistantly dangerous while BT looked lost.

We need to learn to trade into the draft while a player still has trade value cough*Lance*cough*kouta*.

All we have to do is not think too much about the cats and play our own game...when we think about it too much it all falls apart at the seams...keep things nice and simple..

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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

Get Hird to write an article that Abblett, Bartell, Selwood, Corey are the fab 4.

That should do it

We can do it.
Will Bower be back?

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That’s not a political statement — it’s a harsh reality, and we must act,” she said. “He is a clear and present danger to the things that keep us strong and free. I support impeachment.”

Watched the Adelaide game again this morning. Have never seen us get so much drive, run and attacking opportunities coming out of defence.

Important we don't change that structure. It works and needs to be persisted with. My only fear is that Ratts said that Thornton is a vital part of the defence and will be back. IMO he slows us down too much and Jamo looked much better without him.

Interesting with McLean, Waite, Thornton, Bower all possibly available this week what we will do.

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

Seriously Doc,
would love us to at least try Thornton up forward...
It might make him happy..and a happy Thornton is an endeavouring Thornton.

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That’s not a political statement — it’s a harsh reality, and we must act,” she said. “He is a clear and present danger to the things that keep us strong and free. I support impeachment.”

Agree but he needs to show something at Bullants level first. Apparently he was very ordinary yesterday.

The issue for me with Thornton he is so slow with the ball and it slows our attack. With Walker standing up, Bower to come back and White having a good debut, forward may be his only option?

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

New lease of life and all that.
I have a lot of faith in Thornton.
He is really a great player.

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That’s not a political statement — it’s a harsh reality, and we must act,” she said. “He is a clear and present danger to the things that keep us strong and free. I support impeachment.”

Tbird is a defender IMO.
Defenders need to have very good offensive side to their game as well as limiting their opponents effectiveness.
Tbird needs to dramatically improve the offensive part of his game. Might take a while for him to find that mindset.

Thornton has been fantastic for us for a long while and he gets a lot of respect from me the way he battled when we were a very average side.

This issue for me is that as we improve every player in the side needs to step up and contribute more. Thornton IMO is too slow with the ball in hand and allows oppositions to zone back and block our defence to easily.

Time will tell but to me we looked a lot better yesterday with him out.

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

Agree psych - Thornton is a cool head down back and is a good mark, but he is too slow to move the ball out of defence. The key to yesterday's win was the quick ball movement on the rebound - Adelaide couldn't flood back quick enough and choke up our half forward line like they (and lots of other teams) usually do.

We looked great last year with Thornton out of the team in the game against the Saints - Bower and Armfield took the game on at every opportunity and we looked potent.

Give him a few weeks to consider his game style and team rules and he will better for it.

Thornton needs to learn when it is appropriate to attack from defence. Embarrassingly enough for him, he needs only to look at a terrific first game performance from White as an example of how to do it.

I really like T-bird as a steadying defender, but does anyone ever remember seeing him run out of defense all full pace and kick the ball long to the half forward line with purpose? I reckon he has to re-program his style and dare a little or his position in the team is in trouble.

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"If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself" - Henry Ford

It's been an issue that quite a few of us have identified and critiqued for some time.

Sometimes negative critiques are a positive.

I agree with you on this Psyco. I have been keen on a more running backline for a while. I would be happy to not see Thornton back and have us take a small step back in the areas thornton is good at in order to go forward.

The attack was great yesterday. I can see such a tactic working well against the pies also.
There will be times when taking three talls into the defense may be a good idea but it should be an exception.

This week will be tough against the cats as they have better players than us but if we can score the times we have momentum we may get a sniff.

Win lose or draw i just hope we come out and have a real dip.

I haven never forgiven Thornton for trying to go to Hawthorn.

I only barrack for him while he is wearing a Carlton jumper, but he gets no respect from me as a person.

I am happy he was dropped, and happier we won without him. He is a liability down back.

So following this...any reason Thornton would not be a brilliant defending forward?
Given that every one in the Afl is missing goals a.t.m.....all he really needs to do is practice for two hours a day ..every day..and he could be competing for the Coleman.

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That’s not a political statement — it’s a harsh reality, and we must act,” she said. “He is a clear and present danger to the things that keep us strong and free. I support impeachment.”