cant help but remember his failure to hit cloke from 15 metres away on the wing in the first quarter resulting in a turnover.

i know that its only once but i dont really see him as pro and wouldnt have stated him as one.

yes russell was alright today, but needs to play like that more often. not every player that has a "good match" will be recognised[/quote
\

It;s a given that you'll never like him; consider this for an improvement: JR's gone from the "whipping boy" to playing the "occasional excellent game"- JR's a fair player in my book, don't you think?

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Be positive to all those @ TC- the wait is almost over!

Huge game today against quality opposition who I personally rate highly (except for Brad Johnson ). I said to myself prior to the game that we'll learn a helluva about our team and club today. So very happy the boys stood tall.

Pro’s

Work rate/intensity/pressure. Was at it’s optimum levels and we reaped the rewards. I said in my post after watching the Dogs last week at Subi that if we bring our A grade in this area we’ll give ourselves half a chance. Surely now this has to be our barometer because if we play with this intensity and pressure, we’ll have an opportunity to win a lot of games this year.

Scoreboard pressure. Took our chances when the Bullies didn’t, especially early. Conversion was great today.

Murphy – Gun. Brilliant all round game today. Worked hard both ways and converted well. Improved big time in this area so far this year. His handball fake on the Smiling Softc**k and then spot on delivery to Fev was outstanding.

Kreuz – Unbelievable game today. Huge work rate, fantastic mobility and great finishing. High level performance.

JR – Don’t recall him playing a better all round game. Might have had a great quarter here, a patch there but a better full game performance? Not imho

“The Ins” – Thought they were all great today. Scotland’s ball use and run was sensational. Carrazzo characteristically worked hard and shut down Gilbee. Jamo was Jamo, solid as a rock. Even our crazy Irishman was good. Thought he offered us plenty today. Some great work and delivery up forward.

Eddie – quite early then really came on. Capitalising on his opportunities really well. He is top shelf right now.

Houla – thought he was excellent. Got some hard ball and his skills and finishing were to his usual standard.

Gibbs – all class. Always seems to have time and his ball use and decision making is (almost) at the elite level.

Very happy with the ‘non celebration’. Indicates we know there’s a long way to go and that we have bigger picture goals in mind. Reflective of our own internal expectations perhaps?

Cons (Always happy with a win however still room for improvement).

Turnovers. Still too many for my liking. Some of them were howlers, Johnson particularly and even Stevo’s kick out that cost us a goal. Love Army but he mucked up a few handballs today when we were streaming forward. Can still improve here and take better care of the ball.

Possession Game – still terrifies me when we do this lol. I accept there’s a time and place for this but we even do this 5-6 mins out from the quarter end. Way too long imho.

Third Quarter – I won’t say careless however felt we went away from what we were doing when we got a bit up and kept them in with a sniff.

All in all, rapt with the win. Sitting third after 5 rounds is not too bad at all. Though it could be better

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We are on our way back...

PRO's

Well, let me start off by saying RUSSELL was a pro. Good game.... well done! Now back it up with another!

- Setanta
Great to see hime composed and relaxed, even when the opposition was giving it to him, he didn't get aggressive....... well done to him.

- Murphy, Gibbs, Kreuzer
Where is the emmoticon for 'sexually excited'?

- Back in the top 4
But only just. Need to change a few things to be able to beat the Hawks.

- Bower.
Man, has he come along in leaps and bounds this year. Just looks so composed!


CONS:-

-Johnson
GAWN! Should have been gone weeks ago.

- Still playing wide.
Why? Why Why Why Why why? It doesn't validate my argument when we won by 43 points but - PLAY LIKE THAT AGAINST HAWTHORN or GEELONG and your gonna pay for it.

- No Aka or Cooney
YES - I believe that makes a difference.

- Judd asked to do to much.
God damn it bugs me.

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle

Whats also good is that a lot of the top 8 challengers like Sydney, North, Brisbane lost too...its quite even so far, 11 wins may be enough with a healthy % to get in the 8, so far our percentage is the best of the rest

Pros
TACKLING & INTENSITY - this leads to many of the other pros including corridor football, more accurate goal kicking, more freedom for our mids
OUR YOUNG GUNS: MURPHY, KRUEZER, GIBBS
SETANTA'S ATTACK, INTENSITY
THE QUESTION MARK PLAYERS: SIMPSON, HOULIHAN, RUSSELL
BETTS' CONSISTENCY

Cons
Johnson (friendly fire??? )
Holding the ball up (although I do buy the 'practise for when we need it' argument....)
Welease Judd!
Losing to Essendon* (I can't get past it... 4-1!!!)

Agree Johnson will be out next week.
Could bring in Hadley if he's right. Lots of people on here talking about JA - how did he go yesterday?
Otherwise, any chance yet of Yarran?

Names?

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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

Looked like a finals team
Tackling intensity

Scoreboard pressure

3 no 1 s -brilliant -murph gibbs kreuze

Russells goal kicking

Murphy goalkicking improved immeasurably

Kreuzer work around the ground -pack mark

Houlihan -first 5 games this year shows we missed him last year

Jamison -irreplaceable

Fev only kicking 3 - more team orientated

Team performance not one passenger
Cons

Would have beaten Essendon* by 10 goals if they had of played with that intensity- message to self - let it go -let it go

It's all about killing some time - it shouldn't matter if it's 30sec to go or 5 min to go. I bet collingwood wished they'd killed some time yesterday with 5 min to go - they would've won....

Get up with it The Halford..

"Do as I say and not as I do"?

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Just because I'm offended, doesn't mean I'm wrong.

Turn it up! Perhaps people just overlooked his contribution through sheer weight of options. Why the kid gloves and why the pre-emptive logic?

_________________
Just because I'm offended, doesn't mean I'm wrong.

Biggest Pro: Certain posters are nowhere to be seen and will be low profile for a few days....... Will improve quality of this forum.

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TC suffers from the social media illness - the death of respect and constructive discourse by keyboard.

Pros: Gibbsy had a good game !
Listened to it on the radio and sounded like we had control all game even in the 2nd qtr "fightback"
Kreuz & Murp sounded good
Fev's 3AW radio interview, spoke real well, and mentioned Dick and what he meant to the club

Cons: @#$%&! you Channel 7, @#$%&! you...
Umm just to clarify, @#$%&! you 7

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Go to http://www.snoutslouts.org/ for a look at the mighty GFC...

Pro:
Little Miss Mrs Wojee got to see the Blues win on her birthday.

She took great delight in watching the stream of Dogs fans heading for the exits in the last.

Accuracy at goal putting pressure on the opposition early unlike the last 2x weeks.

Con:
Posting this from MW's phone. Painful is an understatement.

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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

Rapt for Setanta.

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Dut, de dut, de daaa!

Pro:-

Good all over performance, intensity was there, moved the ball on quickly and for the most part cleanly, forward pressure, body pressure
Santi provided some spark he needs to be in the team
Big effort by simmo
JR have been fortunate have never seen him play any less than a servicable game

CONS
Stevens disappearing mid way in 3rd was starting to dominate
Stupid wasting time and flailing the ball around in the air (hate it)

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Can smell the gf its there for the taking we are the form side

Agree with all these points.

other positives:
Good effort, Blues. Particularly after the last few weeks.
Good kicking. Opposition off target.
Quick ball movement.
Tackling intensity.
Really liked the games of Joseph and Bower again.
Great to have Jamison back in the team.
Hoops, Kreuzer, Murphy, Gibbs, Waite.
Good sign that our wins are comfortable, and our losses close. Percentage is a very good sign of how a team's going.
Good that our depth players performed well, and we got a win in the VFL.

Cons:
Wiggo hasn't gotten over his set shot kicking yips yet.
Continue to struggle a little clearing the ball after opposition points.

4 of the top 8 marking players for the year are from Carlton - Thornton, Wiggins, Waite and Gibbs. Probably not salient, but interesting...

PROS Half time last week 3.12 = loss to mediocre side
Half time this week 11.3 = win over good side

Thought the Irishman was really good today, welcome back and a new start !
Welcome back also to Simpson, where you been ?

No passengers, team effort with some absolute standouts being Murphy, Kreuzer and i thought Joseph had a cracking game. And Mr Russell raised the bar on himself, well done.

Twinkle in my eye about next week already !!

Big Dick would sleep well tonight !!!

NO CONS......... oh ok then.....Johnson !

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I wore number 25 on the back of my jumper 40 years ago..... yes, pre Marchesani !!

Pro
Got to see a broadcast live for the first time in 11 years... Thanks Dr.
Murphy was brilliant
Krooooze was brilliant
The big irishman was good
The Ins added something, which reflects really well on the match committee
We scalped a probable top 4 team
We fought back well in the second once they got a run on
If Mr Pratt passes away this week the boys will have sent him off in style.


Cons
Our kicks from full back in the first.
Judd gets clobbered more than any player I have ever seen and gets no support from his team.
Fev's fitness... Although it looks like it is starting to get better... slowly.

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"our guest is dressed by hand-me-downs, hair designed by pillow"

Great post 25 ..... you said it all!!!

(great observation about the half time scores)