But 4thchicken, that's the bizarre thing about the selections. It was obvious that throwing Hammer against Sandilands in his 1st senior match of the year was unlikely to end well. I noted that it would have been better to wait a week and bring him in against Josh Fraser. I can see him climbing all over Fraser, but not Sandilands. It would have been better to have Santy take the ruck and have our mids rove to Sandilands. At least Santy would have enabled us to outnumber them 4 mids to 3 in the centre square and give us more around the ground.

I love the way that these sorts of things are only recognised in retrospect with an awed sense of inevitability.

Hammer would still be a good match up for Fraser, but has his confidence been shot by this ill-considered venture?

Not really. Sandilands would have killed setanta in the ruck. Setanta wouldnt have been strong enough either (still giving 25+kg away), and doesnt have the leap of hampson (one thing that may potentially be useful to counter sandliands).

As raw as hampson is, he is a better ruckman than setanta in my book. Furthermore, I dont agree that having setanta in the ruck would have meant 4:3 mids in the centre square - he doesnt get/attract a lot of the ball around the ground and realistically is more likely to give away a free than get a centre clearance. Personally I'd play hampson ahead of setanta in the ruck. Greater potential to develop as a player+age on his side.

In terms of ruckmen on our list that might do ok against sandilands, the only one I'd have faith in to do a reasonable job/compete would be jacobs and unfortunately he is injured atm.

Yep, if Kreuzer couldn't give us the 4:3 advantage, there's no way Setanta would have.

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You want the flame? Give us the marbles!!

I'd prefer to see Santy used elsewhere than the ruck and don't envisage that he'll ever be more than a pinch hitter. On the other hand, Hammer very well may be and certainly deserved to take over in the Pies match as he would have been well matched.

But Santy involves himself in the contest after the hit out and is exceptionally willing to tackle - moreso than Kreuzer, unsurprisingly given his age. As a big body willing to hunt the ball, he would have been of much more value than Hammer and better around the ground. Taking the ball out of the pack would have been best reserved for others, but Santy would have been like an extra tagger in the contest. But more importantly I doubt that going up against Sandilands was the best way to groom Hammer. That must have knocked some of the stuffing out of him and he won't be as primed for the Pies match as he would have been if he'd had another good game in the Bullants before that match. I suppose we'll see next week.

So would I......Cramer St

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"I had to eat"

We need to get tough against The Pies.

They are very soft.

I'll bet you anything he won't be playing with the Bullants next week.

disagree - kreuzer displays a hunger for the contest just as much, if not more so than setanta.

Kreuzer has laid 25 tackles in his 7 games this season (3.6/game).
Setanta has laid 2 in 2 matches (1/game)

for the record, and forgetting any comparisons with setanta for the moment, Hampson laid 5 tackles in the freo match so you can hardly criticise him for his effort/willingness to contest.

Just on this particular note bondi, Teague criticised Setanta during the VFL coverage for not playing to instruction.

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29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

I read that, but like you, not privy to the details.

It may have been one instance that he was pulled up on over 100 minutes of footy, but then on the other hand, he may have failed to comprehend his role for the whole 100 minutes.

If the latter is the case, Setanta is either a numbskull or Teague does not deliver the message in an easy to understand way, or Teague/MC isn't developing Setanta for a particular role as we thought may happen this week at CHF.

I don't know.

What I do know is that I'd prefer Setanta in the team before Cloke atm.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Unfortunately guys i didnt get to watch the match because it was not televised over here and i did not get to listen to it either.

Can someone tell me how some guys played.

I am particularly interested in:

Austin
Russell
Carrazzo
Kruezer
Jospeh
Yarran

If i could find out about these guys that would be appreciated

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Blue boy thru and thru

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C'mon Blueboys!

Thanks Marci Blue


What about Hammer, was he ok?

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Blue boy thru and thru

Hammer did okay. He has the body size to compete with most ruchman and won't tire as easily as the young Kreuz.

Just to add on Yarran's game - he is a supper smooth mover. Looks like a cross between Aaron Davey and Burgoyne. He makes my tummy go all giddy . I hope he can develope as we all hope.

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end of message

Hammer was OK, He tries but struggled with the pace of the game. Then again, like Austin 1st game back at this level for some time

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C'mon Blueboys!

Like Whitnall?

They posted a crowd of some where over 10,000. Friends on the gold coast tell me they were giving out free tickets with every big mac purchased plus all junior AFL clubs were given around 100 tickets per club.
Take away the obvious give away tickets and im betting they wouldnt have gotten a crowd over 3000.
Do the AFL really believe that GC17 will pull a crowd ??
Take it from experience I was living and working on the coast in the dark old days of the caramello bears who I used to go watch as it was the only way to get to see some teams play (ohhhh the memories of the night daicos kicked 14 goals himself while the bears kicked 5)
The coast has to many alternate events to attract people. The ground is a night mare to watch from and get in & out of not to mention the size.
They can spend $526 million on a redevelopment and wont make a lick of difference as gold coasters are to fickle. Any sight of cold weather, a gust of wind or sprinkle of rain and they stay indoors a t restaurants, bars & nightclubs.
The AFL better hope for around 2 billion in TV rights next time they will need it to prop up GC17, West Sydney, Nth, Bulldogs, Melbourne, Port and who ever else gets into trouble.
Let 2 teams die a natural death before looking at expanding the $$$ just arent available to throw into a bottomless pit.

Then an awful lot of Carlton fans got onto those tickets! Out of 10900, or whatever it was - I reckon 900 were Freo - 9500 were Carlton, and Carlton clad..... and 500 were AFL fans going for Freo...

When John Witheriff addressed the crowd before the match, he made a very wistful comment about how he'd seen how much Blue was out there and he was hoping for people to support their "Local" team. I guarantee they'll be looking for a home game against us in the first years to cement a decent number.....

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Now stalking Carlton on Twitter and Facebook!

+1

Now I know what they meant when they said he was the most talented player in the draft.

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You want the flame? Give us the marbles!!

Tie it in with the stress fracture issues Setanta had under the Pagan regime, the talk of him not heeding coaching advice and his brother getting the axe for telling the coaching staff where to go, and I'd suggest it is a communication issue, just not the one you're considering.

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29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.