Pros:

The win, the song, the fist pump, The Banner - Anyone get a picture of it?

We respect Richmond's History
100 Years of "YELLOW & BLEAK"

Cons:

I spilled my beer from excessive laughter after overhearing that Danny Frawley said in the 2nd qtr - "It's time for Ratten to move Fevola onto the ball" It was my shout and beer at the footy is not cheap.

My beef with Setanta is his spoiling. Coming from behind he's OK. Good closing speed and strong fist. When the ball's kicked high and he's running back or from the side, he is lost. Fails or refuses to make body contact allowing his forward to mark easily. It happens very often and technically isnt a mistake but is costly.

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T E A M

Pros

We won, I thought we were in danger of losing this one so they surprised me.

Cons..

Haven't seen the flower game yet...grrr

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The problem will be made. for the solution to be sold, to your face before your eyes, tolerance is now the new danger

Oh man, thats classic that thead! Typical Richmond they want everyone sacked - Wallace, Miller, Johnson, Brown, even Richo.

Thank God were not like that here! (well apart from Melvey).

I think he also suggested we draft Paul Hudson to solve our forward problems

Yeah that was pretty funny.

It was hard to find a good station today.

Rex on 3AW is the worst game caller in history.
KB on SEN was unbearable in his Richmond bias. The only good thing was Ox and Dermie hanging it on him.
MMM has Frawley, say no more
774 puts you to sleep

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T E A M

Hurt your feelings again moishele? Poor boy. Why don't you make a coherent point instead of having a snipe every week. gutless.

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

1 big PRO not sure if its been mentioned

kroooooooooozers run down and tackle that led to simmo having a shot at goal

Setanta has a very narrow comfort zone as a footballer, which is as follows:
- He's good on the bigger, slower forwards when the ball is coming in from generally longer kicks. In these situations, I would say he is a very reliable spoil, closes well, he keeps his feet and often dishes off appropriately.

In any situation outside this comfort zone he is usually exposed for his lack of footy experience and, as buzzzah said, he looks lost.

I watched him today when Richmond had the ball in the middle, and Hughes was loosing him way too easily on the "double back" leads. Way too easily.

He struggled today, as most people have observed.

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

PROS
Gibbs - will be the next Carlton Brownlow medallist. Much like with Greg Williams, time seems to slow down when he has the ball. Not the quickest of chaps, but is able to steer his and the ball's way through traffic with great aplomb.

Stevo - proved that whether they had appointed him or Judd captain we would have had a true leader this year.

Waite - fantastic job on Richo and loved his specky over the goal ump.

Wiggins - keep this boy playing up forward and reap the rewards. He could be a player for us yet.

Simmo - to me Simmo is like the Pheonix - he represents the Blues rising from the ashes of that horror Black Friday. This kid is one big fat middle finger flipped in the general direction of Demetriou, Evans and co - he is no superstar but what he brings to the table in terms of passion, leadership, courage and tenacity is more valuable than anything Goddard or Wells have to offer.

Finally - the number of boys inside the circle when we sing the song is getting smaller and smaller

I have no CONS today but:

NEUTRALS

Fev playing up to the opposition cheer squad - it's flower funny but at the same time makes me feel a little uneasy. Still it just goes to show how much confidence & dare I say arrogance the boy is playing with at the mo

Setanta - he had a horror 10 minute patch in the 2nd quarter but I think people have blown it way out of proportion. Sometimes a defender gets beaten on the day - move on. I still think he has great potential and despite this not being his native sport I think he is one of the best passers of the ball at the club. He had one beautiful short pass to Fisher and a sublime 50 metre pass to Fev. My feeling is that he should be groomed as a bash 'n' crash CHF in a similar mould to the way Earl Spalding circa '95 - but I guess our defensive needs are greater for the time being.

Great win today. I'm rapt for the boys especially as I really doubted we could pull it off. So glad I was wrong!!

Just finishing watching the game (I've been busy with my son's bday today)

Pros

Winning on my son's bday! Not having to fake happiness when deep down I'm hurting like all hell about a loss...

Stevens - in the pre-match thread I made a point that this was his opportunity to shine, to show his class and true worth to us. Boy did he do that. Considering the circumstances and what was at stake, by far his best game for us. The smother and look away handball under extreme pressure in the third brought a tear to the eye. Keep it up Stevo.

Gibbs - all class, one of the best games I've seen him play. Great finishing

Spoiling the party!

Winning without the Judd man. Will do wonders for the boys self belief. Just imagine when he's 100%...

Eddie - imho has come on in leaps and bounds this year. His presenting and overhead marking has really been a feature this year.

WIGGO!!! - how can you not love him? Has been really good value in the last few weeks. That mark and goal in the last quarter was sensational.

Bentick - thought his in and under work was important.

Forward line - being a little less Fev conscious. 10 goal scorers with Fev 'only' kicking 4 is a real positive.

Cons (not many but always room for improvement)

Skills - they can still let us down. Not hitting targets by either foot or hand when under little or no pressure really does my head in. Should not happen at AFL level.

Where was the effort and intesnity in the first quarter last week?

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We are on our way back...

PRO

wiggins is a big big plus this year and should never be out of the team. he's been around since 2001 and has the experience and hard body needed for future finals.

I am stoked to hear we got a win!

Baking weather over here in Milan... wish I was back in Oz watching my beloved Blueboys. I wont ever get to see this game

Can somebody tell me if young Bryce played on the HFF to kick 3 goals? If he was in the midfield then he must have been awesome!

Also, no surprise to see Fishers output improve when Jake is in the team. I just think it takes a bit of heat of Fish... the same thing happened against Freo.

thought he started tagging, then mid then forward/mid

Yeah pretty much but he grabbed the ball and tore it up

That is brilliant.

Love the guy that wants to trade Brown.

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"The ability to speak doesn't make you intelligent." Qui-Gon Jinn 15-05-2005

"there’s more chance of me becoming the full forward for the [Western Bulldogs] than there is of any change in the Labor Party." Julia Gillard 18-05-2010

Pros
- Beating a full strength Richmond without Judd, Walker and with Fev only kicking 4 goals.
- Stevens was fantastic and sorry guys...he is an A Grader
- Gibbs...I'm glad we took him at no 1....yes he will be better than Selwood IMO
- Waite excellent at CHB where he belongs
- Grigg keeps improving and will be a real player for us
- Browne making a solid contribution and is a real player of the future IMO

Cons
- Russell a little too quiet
- Fev getting sucked in by the Richmond cheer squad...grow up Fev
- Setanta is serviceable most of the time but as Simonverbeek wrote:

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There is no footy god

I'm a great Setanta fan and he wasn't that bad yesterday as Caz pointed out. Against Hughes in the second he was beaten cold once in a contested marking situation and once on an unstoppable lead when the Blues allowed Bowden to waltz down the wing for about 50 metres and pinpoint a pass into a wide open forward line. In the 1st and last when Setanta was on him Hughes had a single kick.

Setanta showed good poise to set up the first goal with a pass that actually went to a team mates hands - several other Carlton players could try that, and setting up what should have been a certain goal in the last, Fev missed.

The down side is that he still lacks awareness, ie Cotchin marking next to him when he had his back to play and morton running around to snap a goal when Setanta was looking to the square.

I think SimonV makes some good points, Setanta is at his best when our midfield and forward line force oppositions to kick longer and he can use his height reach and mobility. He is not great at flying for a pack mark, he just hasn't grown up with that.

Yesterday he was insurance for Richo but wasn't needed and when the Tiges moved Richo deep forward they didn't kick long to him to cause a battle of strength in the square but allowed Waite to use his athleticism, bad coaching by the Tigers.

Setanta I thought had an ordinary game and a good last quarter and his pack spoil from the front was what he should have done against Essendon*. His stats probably sound better than he played but he wasn't awful, he lost a few contests as did the other tall defenders

Setanta is still our best option on the big power forwards, there may be games he sits out due to match up concerns, but most games he will be value.

There is no-one else with the height strength and mobility to take on those roles. Austin sounds much more a Waite/Bower attacking defender who has struggled against the likes of Hawkins in the twos. Hopefully Autin may develop into that type of defender in the ones and release Waite to midfield and forward

It's clear Fev won't grow up - he's just a boy and will always be one. That's what we have and we just need to manage him. We now have a great off field team who we need to trust on this one. Just take the good with the bad. Hopefully as we climb the ladder there will be more good than bad.

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"our electorate seeks less to be informed and more to be validated." Sad times.

He kicked four in the last against Collingwood when he was messing around with their cheer squad. Got 2 -could have been three in the last when messing around with the tigers cheers squad.
I remember him having run ins with the Hawks fans once and then finishing with 8 for the day.

I reckon it fires him up. Wouldnt want it to get to out of hand but a little niggle seems to get the right result.

PROS:
*Gibblet, stevo, bentick, WAITE
*I'm not a huge fan of grigg, but he had a good game yesterday and helped us get over the line in the last quarter
*Stopped the big richo-man

CONS:
*russell...again
*setanta was pretty average

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"You don’t get much more Navy Blue than Stephen Kernahan" - Marc Murphy