Braithy wrote:
bondiblue wrote:
Mickstar wrote:
Couldn't be happier myself . Barring injury concerns of course . Don't want to individualise coz it was a massive team performance BUT ya gotta mention the Skipper coz the bloke was mammoth . Special mention to Chez on his comeback game and another special mention to big Pitto who pushed , shoved and bullock all day and kept going at Nankervis from start to finish . Pitto has a massive role to play for mine . There in not a more exhausting role than what a ruckman plays and he is going to be a massive backup for TDK . Reckon Pitto is one of the most underrated players in the comp myself . Big ticker he has .
Just have to listen to Voss carefully to understand Pitto's role this year. Its no secret. Pitto isn't out of the picture, nor are the2 rucks. They are options that work in this team. Just have to trust Vossy.
We just kicked our highest score from Turnover this year, with Pitto rucking. This year. What does that say about our rucks? I haven't heard boo on that front. It says both are not only AFL standard, but amongst the best in the business. We are lucky to have them.
Nankervis had 12 HO to advantage to Pitto's 6. Six of the thug's (Nankervis) hitouts to advantage were against Harry, Cripps and Kennedy. Tigers scored 3 goals when Harry went into ruck, leaving Charlie as the sole target in the forward line. Nankervis may have had more hit outs but Pitto's pushing and bullocking nullified the effectiveness of those touches (coz they werent hit outs), and our mids Crippa, Walshy, Cerra and Kennedy knew where they were going to land and took them away with ease. Our midfield GROUP, won the stoppages too. There's something in that.
Imagine if TDK had to face Nankervis last night. If TDK was sore from rucking against Blicavs last week...say no more. We are blessed to have both OUR rucks.
Cerra didn't need a rest, and Hewett didn't deserve to be sub based on his performance this year. See Vossy's presser. We ran over the Tigers, as we have against everyone since the Swans game. We have 8 players running more than 15 kms. We don't need a sub. There's a message in that. 2 rucks in Finals is something we will have to wait and see, if that's Vossy' preference...and back him.
No doubt in my mind, we would have won by more with 2 rucks last night. We have our stoppage and turnover game humming, and an amazing ruckman in TDK, who needs a chop out during the game, to avoid the alternative, and that's to miss games due to soreness, or play games sore.
Go Blues.
jesus ... won by more with 2 rucks? haha are you actually insane... the turnover game is humming, as to is our last qtr dominance over teams, bcos 1 ruck and more runners is the formula for both - and thus the formula for winning? we didn't run out a single game with 2 rucks, bcos players are working harder with 1 extra ruck in the 22.
we are unbeaten this year with one ruck, and we won 9 in a row last season ... two rucks should absolutely be out of the picture, and tdk is our No 1. and it's nothing personal against pittonet. he's just not as good as the king.
i think us kicking our best turnover score against 2nd bottom tigers means much less than us kicking our 2nd highest turnover score against a top 6 team, geelong last week.
it's great we have a competent back up ruck in pittonet who can be serviceable when tdk is hurt or needs a rest. incidentally, depending on how much we're paying pittonet (ie if its mroe than back up ruck rates) he'd make a grade piece of trade fodder for a 2nd banana to weiters or a small forward - two positions we really need this offseason.
I posed a football question that you didn't respond to, and I gave my opinion and explained why. Don't go all personal and question my sanity. Lets just stick to footy and facts.
To answer Mickstars earlier question, I decided to have a break from TC because personal attacks was becoming normalised by a few posters, instead of footy discussion, and so many made up numbers presented as facts by some posters was a waste of time. I could get better information, and less frustration elsewhere.
Do you think we could have won with 2 rucks instead of Harry Crippa and Kennedy? Why or why not? That's all I asked. If you don't have anything to add to that, no worries. I'd rather hear nothing than made up stuff to make your feelings about Pittonet heard again.
Have a look at your posts before and after the GWS game. We played 2 rucks. That's where you stand. You back tracked. Gosh you pick and choose. Against the Crows, which we lost, we were 16 points up with 5 minutes to go, then Pitto comes off the ground for the remainder of the game, then we lost. You blamed Pitto for that loss too. In your last post Pitto's Trade bait.
Have a look at our injury list this year and ask if that had anything to do with running out games, and our turnover game, which you blamed on Pitto and based that on our win loss record when he played. The answer is it did. We now have 8 players running over 15 kms in a game, providing cover and run on every line. Did you know Weitering ran the most kms last week against Cats? 15.4 kms. Did you know that Kemp does too. Have you noticed the difference the addition of Gov and Saad have had on our turnover game, and game overall? They have freed up others. There's a knock on effect. Playing Pitto with all that running power doesn't slow us down. Surely the GWS game proved that.
I've not missed much in the last couple of months on TC. Its a quick read when not responding. What I notice is no one pulls you up on numbers you present as facts such as your 'story' regarding last year with the 2 rucks and the 9 games in a row.....your numbers are completely made up to suit your argument. Pitto was a vital cog in a developing team in last years run home to Finals. No question about that. I've seen your attempt at proving otherwise. Let it go.
If Pitto didnt take on Gawn in the do or die Final, to frustrate and maim him, TDK wouldn't have kicked those 2 first quarter goals, in a game we won by less than a goal. On his own, in Finals, TDK will be targeted and maimed too. It is so obvious this is the best way to disrupt our goal to goal line and rob us of one of our 2 forward targets.
I spent some time chatting to some interesting people at Carlton prior to Pitto's comeback game vs Crows, and I shared that with our blue brethren at TC. All I got was crap and questioning my knowledge on footy; now its my sanity. It wasn't my thoughts I was presenting. I was passing on information which turned out to be true. Don't be surprised, or angry at Voss, if Vossy selects to play 2 rucks again between now and the GF.
I hope you show more respect towards Vossy and the MC if 2 rucks are selected during the Finals series than you have. We are all in this together. Enjoy the ride.
I will let you in on something...again. Vossy prefers 2 rucks for all the reasons I gave you 2 months back. They are the reasons. Primarily to protect TDK and provide Insurance in Finals. The team is evolving. Vossy has plenty of time to find a way to make 2 rucks work without disrupting TDK. He said it in the presser again as recent as after Cats 4 quarter game, that "the team today will be a different team by the end of the year. Its a work in progress".
None of us know for sure, but lets be respectful of the squad of 30 we have. It runs deep. They are all very good players and worthy of a spot in the GF. The boys will get better and Vossy will have more levers to pull this next Finals series than he did last year. There will be a lot of disappointed players to miss the GF, as will there will be fans whose faves are not selected on the last game of the year.
Right at this minute, Motlop/Fantasia, Martin/ Cottrell, Kennedy/Hewett, Marchbank/ Kemp/ Cowan, and Pitto are not guaranteed a start in the GF if we have a full list to choose from. Injury will determine who is picked, but what I do know is that Vossy will not be listening to the outside noise, and will not be taking risks that would undo all the hard work to get to a GF. Options are all open, you have to accept that and back Voss. Lets just wait and see.
Can we just get behind Vossy, and ALL the players in this GREAT squad, and agree that we don't know everything, that anything is possible, and that way we can just discuss footy with facts, not stories.