My turn to start it.

Blackers showed a bit when he was on.
We didn't win by cheating and flooding.
Waite smashed EvilMcPhee.
Young looked alright until he was hidden away on the pine.
Whitnall was good until he was hidden away on the pine.

Negatives

Softness/intensity. JR was disgraceful. I saw three occasions where he just jogged or didn't push for the contest. If it was noticeable on TV it must have been glaring live. It's worrying - I hope Ratts pulls him aside and has a quiet chat. Ditto Gibbs - tenderness at the ball was noticeable.

Centre Clearances. We might have almost broken even on the 'clearance' stat but we were raped more than a Jeffrey Dahmer stomach victim out of the middle. Christ we need a ruckman.

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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

Positive:

Closer to two picks in the top four of this years National Draft.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

Apologies for my absence last week - left the footy straight to watch the world cup cricket final.

Hard to find 5 pros and cons tonight when I could list Pagan as all 5 cons, but I'll be creative.

PROS

1. Russel - some nice side stepping and showing some signs that he may one day belong at the top level. More than he's shown previously

2. Fevola - to kick 6 goals when you have 5 opponents is impressive. I leave every game he plays thinking how unlucky he is that he didn;t play in the glory days.

3. Denis Pagan - this man has the tactical nous to coach us to a priority pick, which is a pro for me. (more about this later)

4. Simpson - I'm including him for last week too when I didn;t post, responded well to his shocker start to the season.

5. Dunno

CONS

1. Match Committee - Any serious observer of football would have told you last Monday that St. Kilda would drop men back onto our forward line then counter-attack . But our MC, headed by the wise one Denis Pagan, seemingly were surprised by this and had NO PLAN for a whole half. What do they do all week?????

2. Brett Ratten - apologies to those who think he's our coaching messiah, but our forward setup is so predicatable it's boring. Why not use Fev as a decoy (he'd take 3 defenders with him) and have 2 players stream into the opposite pocket? Something creative Brett, anything, please!!!!

3. Lack of run, accountability - we have an inability to stick tight on opponents one on one. Lazy chasing. The amount of times teams chip pass the whole field against us ius nauseating.

4. The messiah getting the no. 1 tag - he's a hero, and I love him, but Murph getting the Bakers and Copelands of the world after 18 games isn't fair to him and isn't good for development.

5. Our game plan - the only team in the league that consistently and predictably bombs long to the forward line. It sucks big time. Kills us on the rebound. Kills Kennedy cos we bypass CHF. Pagan is bad for my blood pressure.


I'm really frustrated tonight. I think that the development of some of our players is hurt by some of our coach's tactics. The result doesn't bother me. When a midfield of Ball, DalSanto, Harvey takes on a Blackwell Young and Murphy - you're gonna lose anyway. But I dont; like the way we went about it.

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They will know that they've been playing against the famous old dark blues

Positives...

Thought Jordan Russell had a decent game and looks to be gaining confidence, demanding the ball, etc.

No jumper clash. Looked good I thought.

The Waite v Riewoldt battle was a poor man's Carey v Jakovich. But it was good to watch.


Negatives...

Reliance on Fev...again
Shithouse coaching effort
Most over-umpired game of football I've seen in years.

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Congratulations CK95

Bet you where happy cheering the puncy flower saints Agro

I think it better to say we are one loss closer to getting rid of that Relic Pagan. Cause if Pagan keeps coachin that crap he goin be sacked sooner than later

amazing how a loss just makes some people happy

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CFC TAC Squad everyone over 25 must be traded sounds like Loguns Run

TOO RIGHT!

POSITIVES ONLY FEVOLA!

NEGATIVES: TOO MANY

WE NEED TO GET RID OF CARRAZZO, HOUILHAN,ACKLAND AND MANY MORE. WE ARE SO FRICKEN SH!T HOUSE WE ARE A LAUGHING STOCK & IT'S AT THE POINT WHERE IT IS EMBARRASING!
!

The positive was the debut of Ross Young and the persistence of Jarrad Waite.

Cloke was ok and Eddie Betts chased hard. Lance tried to get himself into the game, Heath Scotland was good tonight as well.

Murphy was comprehensively tagged out of it but was it really a state secret that he'd get Stephen Baker? I know the club wants to blood and educate but considering where we've been and the opportunity we had tonight we SHOULD have beaten them.

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The great are great to us only because we are on our knees. Let us arise.
--Robert Collier

I was thinking about including Waite as a pro - but he just stuffs up so often it's hard to list him as a positive. Did well in many one on ones with Riewoldt. But, loses his opponent too easily, and makes some terrible kicking errors. Has a habit of getting caught with the ball too often.

Now, let's talk about Denis Pagan shall we

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They will know that they've been playing against the famous old dark blues

Number one and only would have to be the great job that Waite did on NUTS Riewoldt tonight.
Even when we were under attack and being bombarded, Vinnie played his best game ever in Navy Blue (White) and absolutely crapped all over NUTS. (Not Up To Scratch).
Riewoldt is a fair dinkum joke and Vinnie - I always thought you were a joke at CHB - worth persevering with but a joke none-the-less but tonight you stuck it up me and all the other doubters to completely obliterate any effectiveness that NUTS had on the match.
Well done and for me, you should get Blues B.O.G for this game and daylight second.

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Footytalk Has NEW HOME.
Visit them at www.footytalk.com.au and have a look around.

+'s

Blackwell looked good
more games into our young players
13 players that have played 50 games or less
Better game by Waite - limited the effectiveness of a great player

-'s

Kennedy just cannot get into the game - he needs time and needs to command the ball
Fev's dummy spat - AGAIN
lack quality ruckmen - Ackland and Cloke provide a contest at best (we were killed int the ruck)
poor start to the game - AGAIN

_________________
For some silly reason, you people want to assassinate him, and it's just rubbish. You people. All of you, ALL of you!

i agree in regards to our players not chasing, I really hope they don't get away with it, the coaching staff really needs to address this. When we win games we chased, but when we are losing, a lot of our players just gave up.

I see no positives tonight after being within 4 pts and losing by 7 goals.

Kids were shocking, every one of them. Good learning experience? They need to:

Learn to watch the hips of your opponenet that way they don't dance around you so easily.

Learn to run with your man on his shoulder when your team does not have the ball.

Learn to chase and harrass to stop the chain of handballs, 1 effort is not good enough.

Learn to put your body over the ball and go hard at the contest.

Learn to kick over the man on the mark.

Learn to slow the temp when the opposition get a run on.

Learn to ignore the umpires decisions and keep your head up. Leave the bagging to us.

I can't wait till all these lessons finally get through to our boys.

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Mjonc signing off at 8888

Did Bentick play tonight? In fact has he played at all in the last 3 weeks?
If he did play it's a pro because he'll finally get dropped.

Over to you Wangers.

Pros -

Jordy Russell - almost his best game for us although puts his teammates under pressure from time to time

Lance Whitnall - Looks like he belongs on the football field again - presented well, lead from front and delivered

Ross Young - did more good things then bad and looked like he could handle the pace of senior football

Fevola - Despite what people are saying TRIED HARD ALL NIGHT!!! even when it wasnt going his way (the diving was silly however)

Blackwell - also showed a bit and grabbed his opportunity by the kahones.





Cons

Carrazzo - After the third time should have worked out that Milne plays on. Field kicking can be woeful.

Irish - For such a big lad should be able to hold his ground a bit better

Bentik - Didn't realize he was even playing until 20 minute mark of the final term.

Hoops and Lappin - Werent damaging and didn't breaklines like w need them to.

Kennedy - Looks lost out there Even when he gets it my heart is in my mouth

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Ecclesiastes 1:4, "One generation passes away, and another generation comes: but The Blues abide forever."

I am a critic of Waite, generally I don't think he performs well enough often enough but tonight he was superb and beat Riewoldt hands down. I reckon Waite didn't get beaten once by Riewoldt tonight in a marking duel, Waite was able to punch the ball everytime. He also took some important marks and did some really good things. I don't count Riewoldt's cheap rubbish uncontested marks 100m up the ground and in defence as a reflection on Waite. I thought that Waite beat him hands down.

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Formerly Blues-Back2003.

This is the big one I think mjonc. We too often look like we're "chasing bums", to use some old fashioned footy terminology.

Our deplorable game plan of bombing long does allow for fast overlap rebound from the opposition, which makes our poor defensive running look even worse.

_________________
They will know that they've been playing against the famous old dark blues

Bang - I forgot to mention this in my negatives - he was very ordinary tonight - watched him get eaten up (speed & 2nd to the contest) in the game by his direct opponent. Two thirds of his game lets us down (speed, decision making and disposal) - the one third his hardness and tackling is just not enough at the moment - deserves a spell in the magoos, but he has some mates tonight as well.

_________________
For some silly reason, you people want to assassinate him, and it's just rubbish. You people. All of you, ALL of you!

Struggles at Telstra dome

Seriously we ain't much chance of winning most weeks anyway so please lets drop Bentick, Kennedy, Carlos this week and bring in Bower, Edwards and hopefully Kouta.

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Mjonc signing off at 8888

Pros:

Thought Blackers and Young showed a bit... but IMO Blackwell and Bentick cannot play in the same team... whilst some of you will be going "here we go....", they may not play in the same team, but they both playing means we lose leg speed... Dont get me wrong, I think Bentick is our extractor and Blackwell has great disposal, but both are slower players and either one plays or we need more speed around them

Walker- I thought he had a really solid game tonight and is improving with his disposal out of sight. Last year I will be honest and say I had my doubts... really standing up.

Waite- Has had a tough start to the year after promising a lot in the NAB Cup... but really had a good game against Riewoldt.

Early Draft Picks - This is not a negative... we are not there yet and the NAB Cup again raised the expectations quicker than required... whilst this year we are far more competitive we are still 12 months away from being a decent side.. while we are at the bottom build our list and not become a richmond!

Cons:

Ruck department - Against two PATHETIC ruckman in Clarke and Rix, we showed tonight how badly we need Aisake, Hampson and Jacobs to come on.... Our clearance work was also very ordinary tonight and I feel we need the experience of Kouta in there ASAP.

Russell - Now I know a lot of you have had him as a pro... and I am not saying he was in our worst tonight... but I left the game tonight wondering when he isn't a tagger what is he... isnt a ball winner... doesnt run (seems to jog around)... just really dunno what kind of player he is going to develop into.

Ratts - If he is a coach in the making then sign Pagan up till 2009 coz he has a lot to learn... Firstly, teach the boys to not always look for fev as he will be double, triple, quadrouple teamed as he is our only option at the moment... maybe bring in Hartlett AND Edwards and have some tall timber up forward, all moving about and presenting alternatives, coz right now there are no others presenting.

Eddie - Yes, he is a cult hero... but he goes missing in too many games.... Take out his second quarter last week (which he was great) and he is struggling.....

Setanta - Now I am not jumping off him.. as he will be a good player for CFC for years to come (for those of you who believe he should have been moved to allow T Bird on G-Train you are wrong as he needs this experience to develop while we are an ordinary side) BUT... the last two weeks one thing has been shown up... he needs to learn (if you can?) how to read the play... This week and last Brown and G had time to spare after marking before Setanta got near them... Yes, we should have closed down their forward line to not allow them as much space... but it just shows the experience of growing up playing footy that you can predict how th eball will enter forward 50 and pre-empt what will happen as those two seconds are the difference between a spoil or not being in the frame.... Keep up the good work though and keep on learning.,,,,,,,,

Hardness at the ball and manning up - These are team issues that need to be looked at... we didnt look hard enough at the contest and also allowed them to get free too often.. Tonight too often we were covering other peopls men and allowed our own men to get free... we were almost zonal marking.