Come on, Dodo, we're not Richmond supporters

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

What a fascinating passtime.
Everyone associated with you must be very proud.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

How'd you go in the games against Richmond, Brisbane, Bulldogs, Collingwood etc ?

Collect?

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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

Freo will see this as a very winnable game.
A tough game to win but if we play as a team and put an emphasis of tackling and pressure and play with a bit of flair (whooo!) we can win.

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There's so much I could say...

Freo will be without Pavlich, Palmer, Hayden and Crowley from their best 22 whilst there is doubt over Grover. Headland is coming back from injury.

We should win.

Lets take the game on and let them worry about us. No need for lots of negating "hard tags"....tough accountable football is required from all 18 on the field.

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There is no footy god

If they beat us, 50% of their wins this year will have been against Carlton.

Bloody hell, now I'm REALLY depressed

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The problem with Socialism is, you eventually run out of other people's money.

I have always admired Stevens as a skillfil player with smarts.

His skills by foot put him in elite company in the competiton.

Whatever happened on Friday happened. However, I couldn't help think Stevens played like an old man, and only when he was made a fool of by some spring heeled kid did he throw himself into the action in the hope to resurrect his re[utation...
because he was badly beateb by faster, lighter more inexperienced kids, so he doesn't have much to offer that being the case.

Sorry to say, but Stevens atm is a liability. He needs to find form in the Ants. He played well below par, he can't win a contested ball...it may even be over for him.

Vice Captains can and should be dropped to the reserves if out of form.

We stopped carrying Cloke and Wiggins, now we have to stop carrying Stevens.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

To become a better side we need to ween ourselves of the reliance on Judd and Fev.
For Freo, Judd should be positioned as a fwd pocket,resisting the temptation to throw him in the middle if things turn pare shaped. It would be a great opportunity for our young midfield group of Murph,Gibbs,Grigg & Kruze to step up to the leadership plate and to have more options up forward.
It would also serve the purpose of resting Juddy who we are currently burning out. Ratts needs to make the statement to Fev about what is required to be a team player and for his authority as coach. Fev`s form is poor anyway.
The ins for me should be: Garlett,Anderson,Yarran,Hartlett,Thornton,Russell
outs: Fev,Stevens(1 good game in 4 is not good enough),Bannister,Houlihan,Fisher,Bower(inj).
B:Joseph,Jamo,Ando
HB:Armfield,Thornton,Scotland
C:Simmo,Gibbs,Grigg
HF:Garlett,Setanta,Yarran
F:Betts,Hartlett, Judd

R:Kruze,Carazzo,Murph
Int;Austin.Hampson,Browne,Russell

P.S i think i heard Pavlich and Grover would both be ok for Sunday and can we please request that we dont get Mc Burney to umpire us again.

Two things ... one why would you bet against your team?

And two ... why would u boast about it?

Not knocking you ... but I just would not do it ... its sacrilidge!

Don't mind those changes Whistler, other than that I can't see JR improving the team and I'd be giving the Fev twins one more chance but insisting the identical twin that does give a stuff make the trip to Freo instead of the lazy one. Nor do I mind the idea of Judd to a pocket at least as a start of match surprise. In addition to what Whistler points out, teammates won't ignore him to pass to Fev 3-on-1, surely Fev won't think it his right to run through JUDDY when he's in position to mark and if Freo won't dare leave him alone to double team Fev. Unlike Whistler I'd be prepared to rotate Judd through the middle unless the others are doing the job well and we have the game in hand. I know that "resting" forward is nothing like the level of rest you get on the bench but the way in which resting Juddy forward would transform our Fev-centric forward line makes it worth a try.

Anyway, let's see what happens with the Bullants today as to who might be worth a call-up - they've done pretty well in the first half against a Geelong outfit that on paper is too good for VFL football.

Ian,i think Russell provides a bit more versatility than Fisher. Good points re Fev,i would just like to see how we functioned without him. Undoubted talent but he needs to know he`s not bigger than the team.

Fev to the backline...

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

It would be foolhardy to drop Fev... youd be making a bad situation worse.

The trick is how do you make room for Fevola?

Even if you drop him and you find room in the forward line next week., you still have to play with Fevola in your team at some stage.
By having people flooding and closing his space to move in the forward line youd think youd have more in your midfield.
By having 3 around Fv youd think you have players in space too.

I dont understand how other teams all have space for their forwards and we dont... because if Fev doesnt have space.. there means there is alot of space elsewhere with free players.

Ive been saying it all of last year and all of this year.

We dont understand how to open up a defence...

We dont understand how to move through a crowd.

Our players just fall for stuff thats elimentary for othere teams that are around about our stage in evolvement.

Fev ran into the back of players out of frustration.. and boy would he be frustrated... because even though Setanta was in the better position... he needs blokes to clear out and create space for him ... each week we play we have the most congested forward line of any forward lines i watch...

Why cant we just open it up?????

Why do other clubs have open forward lines and we have this huge cluster of players in our inside 50.. and then if we are in defence... theres a cluster we cant get through there too.. and when we have it in the midfield... we cant work it coherently through there either????

Its cos we dont know how t move the ball from point a to point b fluently...

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Interesting game this one.

Identical situation to this round, a young quick side, we know what we are up against, we know they will run run run, but what will Ratts do? Will he tag 12 players and play defensive football again, considering that's what he is saying was our weekness against Essendon*.

I'd like to see a few changes.

In: Yarran, T-Bird, Garlett, Ellard, Russell

Out: Houlihan, Bannister, Bower (inj), Stevens, Fisher

Ratts put Fish in the best players for his "defensive" role on Fletcher, well Ratts mate we don't need a defensive role from a player who should be taking marks and kicking goals.

I want to see us attack, just let Yarran loose and attack, release the shackles on our backline to play their natural game.

If you watch rnd 3 Fletcher killed us as third man up and spare in defense. Im betting fishers role was to make him accountable and keep him away from fev. Seemed to work ok until we completely lost the plot up the ground and failed to carry the ball past halfback and through the middle giving our forwards a chance.

I am not saying we keep Fish in but i am saying the tactic in isolation worked ok. Can see why the coach had him in his best.

Fev should stay home with his crayons , and write another book "There's no I in team"

What a pathetic bunch of sooks the majority posting in here are.

Get a flower grip.

or jealous they didn't do the same thing.
I'll bet Hollywood would rather Carlton win 100 times more than collect money as a result of the losses.
It's called, "turning a negative into a positive"
Our once great club is slowly turning into an amateur sideshow (both on and off the field).

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If I want your opinion, I'll give it to you!

Won't call my ins and outs until I see Ants reports, but I really hope Ando gets a run - his consistency should be rewarded and he plays with heart. Subi should suit him, too. A run with role with one of those annoying Freo mids could be his go.

Fish won't be dropped, whether we like it or not. Ratts pumped him up big time after the game, so its la la land to think he won't be playing this week.

Glad we're playing in yellow - the sight of a Navy Blue jumper makes them play out of their skins.....