Great post Bondi, yes many around here forget how brave the lads were v WC in that final, big names out and no T-Bird after 1/2 time. Curnow has to lose that afro perm thinggy on his head, too.

Norf always give us problems, that weren't the team to play in a praccy, that's for sure. As for the Tigers...

Booo!!!!

That is just shocking Bondi!!!

How can you want less hair on the players? eh?
Did Sampson want less hair??
Go the FRO, and let their Freak Flags Fly Goddarn it.

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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.”

Going purely by observations from Sunday, you cant blame people for saying what hty have about us.. We did fall into a heap for 20 or so minutes and conceed 9 goals straight (a lot of them soft)...

In one way, losing practice matches, particularly the one against North, has its positives, as were re now able to iron out the chinks in our tactical armour before the game against Richmond, rather then falling into a false sense of security as we did in 2005 and 2007 when we spent the pre season belting our opponents only to be pathetic in the season proper when teams started giving a sh*t..

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James Hird and Essendon* FC - #FOREVERDRUGCHEATS

can't expect any player to not be a running player!
big or small!

Rowe blew up when he was on the ground for minimal
time and that's a worry if people are expecting him to improve the forward structure!

but dont worry, its early doors still!
jets wait till he plays the real stuff!

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

You realise that he'd just come off a 5 week AC joint injury, don't you?

That much smoking will slow anyone down.

I do realise that!
some players come in from longer stints away and are not blown away by the game when t'dw return.
its about what fitness platform you had to fall back on before that.
anyway like I said early doors!

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Just on Rowe.
He didn't seem to have any problems keeping up in the pre-season from what I saw.
May not have his base up to AFL expectations, but he could not possibly be that far off, either.

For all we really know, he may have had the flu against The Bulldogs.
Not saying that as a fact, but we don't really know.

I believe the fitness you have runninp around the park and the kind of fitness and mental toughness you need in the game situation with all the body work are very different!

once games begin you will see who has done the real work to prepare!
its a cross between aerobic fitness and strength work!

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

General match day drills was what I was talking about, where he kept up well.
The repeated efforts against the Dogs though, did make him look bad.

May head off and watch The Northern boys on the weekend, to see how he performs.

Rowe was on the comeback trail and was possibly doing extra through the week to catch up. They then use the second half against dogs as another extra and give him a taste.

He will be ok fitness wise as the season progresses I am sure.

its also something Paul roos mentioned about him and his time at the swans.

so yes! worthwhile watching him.
I was a huge supporter of the kinds of efforts the Irishman made.
good on the ground. competitive and still provided a target. execution was not always great but was unpredictable enough that the small indigenous forwards had the reflexes to capitalise first.

will be a bigger loss than most people could believe

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Now you're takin' SB!

IMO Richmond and Brisbane will be lucky to finish out of the bottom six.
We should steamroller both of them at about 80% power.
The challenge is Rnd 3.

I wish those posters who know the answers to all our problems would get involved in some official capacity at the club. You are doing us all a disservice by not doing so.

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i don't wanna spend my life explaining myself. Either you get it, or you don't- Frank Zappa

You were too focussed on Carrazzo in that WCE final which blinded you from having a closer look at Setanta.

Yeah that's not my scene either....growin'...long as I can grow my hair...hair!

But the point the supporter made was that the boys don't do so well after a good media report.
Maybe they believe Robbo's prediction and have grown hairstyles akin to a photo shoot rather than being a tough footballer.
I got the point, had a giggle and then started to think....

I remember playing in finals and team mates wouldn't shave for the finals series.
Things like that to make oneself ugly and prickly were/are considered an advantage.

Nothing wrong with a buzz cut in 2012. I thought the boys' buzz cuts at the beginning of 2011 was a sign of what was going on in their head.

I just want the boys to play like they did for most of the final game against the WCE.
Intensity, spirit, never say die...brutal!...but prefer a win.

Didn't see any of that in the preseason, but I did see some good stanzas of play to suggest our boys have got what it takes to win the big one with a bit of luck.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

IMO this is a serious problem....a 200cm problem.

Remember also that the new Richmond ruckman Maric also gave us a huge headache when he changed to the FP whilst at the Crows.
He's also 200cm.

We have no one in the backline to combat that sort of height...not even Jamo....imo

The key is the 3rd man up and I think Bower can do it if he's on song (circa 2009-10), and TBird is our best at it.
But if the Tigers spread their fowardline and isolate Vickery...we're in trouble. He has a 10cm plus extra reach advantage on Bower or TBird if Hendo takes Reiwoldt.

This is different trouble than the Drew Petrie trouble we had on the weekend where he led to the easy kick from the midfield. Petrie did show that his size was an advantage against the smaller Carlton backman albeit 196cms of him.

We have to dominate possession and no easy ball for their mids...so we need to keep the midfielders intensity up, commitment to the hard ball throughout the game... by keeping them fresh with rotations rotations rotations. Lucky we don't have injury to the midfield brigade, and as a result it runs deep...a good dirty dozen at least

[Judd, Murphy, Gibbs, Kreuzer, Simpson, Scotland, Carrazzo, Robinson (Geez those 8 are a good start), Curnow, Lucas, Russell, McLean, Joseph, Ellard (not all of these 14 will be selected)...and we can throw into the midfield Garlett, Betts, Yarran, Tuohy or Armfield if needed]...that's 19 names we can rotate through the midfield...yeah yeah, I know they wont all get picked, but we have atleast a dozen to add to the mix.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

I thought Irish provided a contest and as a depth player and cover player did well.
we know the Irishman makes mistakes as he came from Ireland as a twenty year old and played hurling and skills were actually better than many two hundred cms talls going around.
his contest at the football and his efforts can never be questioned!

what's the excuse for John Nicholls winner carrots?

still, I would rather a tall with the fitness skills and competitive nature of Irish in the game than a vanilla small with woeful skills and on a pretty big wicket!

but it's early doors and they know best

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

He would be another on our injury list if he was still at the club and wouldn't be available for Round 1 anyway.....

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when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth

Feelgood Hit of the Winter - GHRP-2, GHRP-6, CJC-1295, AOD-9604, Humanofort and Hexarelin

Blues by 48

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I absolutely love Carlton Football Club.


Rambo Robinson #12