"We all wish that this performance augers well for next year and beyond however in reality any natural improvement in the likes of Menzel, Cripps, Docherty, Graham etc will probably be offset by the decline in Judd, Waite and Simpson who were all good for us last night."

I agree. I'd also add Johnson to that list - while we havn't seen much from him I think he'll turn into a reliable *grunt* player for us, he's certainly not afraid to tackle which is a good start. But while we have some promising youngsters (which is more than we've had for a while), our best (Judd, Simpson, Waite when he's on) are in their twilight. Even if we recruit well at the draft and bring in a player or two from other clubs, we're still in for some pain over the next few years.

And let's not forget, Freo are clearly off the boil for some reason. St Kilda smashed them last round, and despite the fact that they were down Pavlich and Mzungu we couldn't win despite dominating general play from 10 minutes in to 10 minutes to go.

I'll take the loss for a higher pick, and on that I really like the look of Durdin.

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O say does that star spangled banner yet wave.

They were down a rotation for over a half and had lost their champion key forward early. We should have won but again were not good enough to hold on to a lead in the dying stages.
Watch the way GWS did against us. We are poorly drilled in this area. It cannot be argued.

Was at the game last night. Probably one of the best games of footy I have been to. Despite the loss I think we played good hard footy for 4 quarters.

And to anyone else out there who has gone to a Fremantle home game..... don't you think that when their supporters start waving those inflatable anchors around that it looks like some sort of cult?

This.

Crowley in the past has been allowed to niggle and scrag Judd and/or Murphy with impunity. When the shoe is on the other foot and he cops a bit of treatment he spends the game appealing to the umpire.

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"One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." - Frank Zappa

You don't buy his analysis that Freo are off the boil?
Perhaps the fact they lost to the bottom team in their last outing by 10 goals may have given you a hint?

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

Always going to happen psych the reasoning behind the final outcome may vary and we can argue the point to no end.
You see it as a process, I see it as a waste of time and an egomaniacs self satisfaction
The points I don’t think we can argue is the marked improvement of the teams endeavour, structural set up and game plan in the past month or so.

I expect a marked improvement next year as i have stated before, just have to wait and see but so far not off the mark.

I reckon Ross Lyon has rolled the dice and is putting his team through some heavy training in prep for the finals. We will see a different freo in the coming weeks. They will be wearing those little lead up options like a glove and the clamps will be applied in a manner that they have not get close to in the past two weeks.

Does anybody know what happened to Crawley in the third (?) quarter?

TV had a shot with him doubled over on the ground but no replay of what happened...

Commentary team were too busy pumping up Freo to notice - do they realise this game was being broadcast to a Melbourne based audience too??

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"...that's the thing about opinion - you don't have to know anything to have one..." Andre Agassi commenting on Pat Cash 2004
"...the less you know - the more you believe..." - Bono 2006

Murphy elbowed him in the guts.

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NOW YOU'RE JUST SOME CLUB THAT I USED TO KNOW.

He will probably get 6 weeks for it.

richo on sen said last night game was like fool gold and i totally agree with him.

This.

I felt that we stood up for the captain for the first time. Team did it. It was very good to watch and Crowley did nit like it at all.

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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

I hate Darcy. He's an apologist. AND he soooo wanted the Shockers to win. Shits me. Don't they realise it's an east coast audience?!?

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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

are u saying fyffe would have been lucas if he was drafted by us?
doubt it... lucas is lucas....

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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.

So our player development is best in the competition?

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"A good composer does not initiate. He steals."

- Igor Stravinsky

And double this!

(BTW, I recall a Carlton rcruiter saying, when asked why we didn't take Talia, as everyone had us taking him, that the answer was that we were going to ...but couldn't believe Lucas was still available! Someone with better search skills than me can probably find it.)

I also am glad to see that one touch possession soccer strategies that will never work in AFL and cannot be executed by Carlton is working well in AFL and being executed by the Blues....

All in all there's been positives...mid way through the season I couldn't see what we were aiming to do.

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“Every single element of the Club has to be the best in the league, meticulously and methodically, and only by doing this will we be elite and challenge for number 17.”
Greg Lee

Got to work this morning to find one of those anchors sitting on my desk......rammed my car keys through it and deflated it and gave it back to the person who'd put it there. Later on there was chocolates and an apology note for upsetting me!

Will probably derail the thread, but this is what ericpascoe (was known as BigFooty's most reliable Carlton poster) had to say re drafting Talia/Lucas.

"And one last bit I forgot - for all you Talia/Panos/Carlisle fans - pick 12, Wayne Hughes view is we go best available".

"I dont believe there is any likelihood of us taking Talia or Black in the draft. The MC dont reckon they are bad players but not top 12. Completely opposed to "picking for type" with early picks and cite Walsh, Thorpe, Grant etc as examples of picks gone wrong when clubs take talls for the sake of taking talls. If Butcher is still there at 12, I think we will take him. Otherwise, expect to see Lucas, Melksham or McMillan-Pittard at Carlton in a couple of weeks".

"I don't think it matters. (re: a club taking Talia before us). If he is gone he is gone. And if he is available, I'm still 99% sure we won't take him. He is not in our top 12, so on a best available basis, he won't be a Blue. We will go mid unless Butcher slides (which he won't)".

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"They're [REDACTED]'

Good result for Collingwood.

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agree ^