Lets hope so...very good moves in the 2nd half and the boys relished the non negativity...well done!!!

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"Truth, for the tyrants, is the most terrible and cruel of all bindings; it is like an incandescent iron falling across their chests. And it is even more agonizing than hot iron, for that only burns the flesh, while truth burns its way into the soul"     — Lauro Aguirre

Its becoming clear that :

Ratts is the man.

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I am as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more!!!

i have kept away from this thread for a long time, but i have to mention that today fev's leading up the ground brought 5 or 6 touches at wing/half back. At least 3 of these resulted in a carlton goal in the same chain of posession, and our forward line of fisher and kreuzer looked less one dimensional.

This is what ratts and the coaches were belittled for attempting against adelaide. And lets face it, nothing went well that day. Like neil craig being laughed at early in the year he proved his doubters wrong and the crows are suddenly the 4th best team in the competition. Likewise, ratten was given sh*t for a match tactic that went balls up, yet was super effective today and i just want some attention to be brought to it, because we made alot of 'great' swans players look like schoolboys today with good player positioning, and good instruction from the coach.

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Cuck Follingwood

Ah yes.. research. I should try it some time.

Credit where it's due. We played Sydney's game in the first half yesterday, made some adjustments and played a running game they were never going to match.. Well done, very good to see.

Tactic worked well agains the pies last time also. I think it works best when fev is up against a tough opponent that has had his measure before like Bolton and Presti. It gets fev into the game and takes his opponent out of their comfort zone. It relies on other Blues getting in behind him once fev marks outside of fifty. I like the tactic. Wasnt a good one to use with the wind at footy park but as Hird said that week it doesnt take much to get lost on that ground.

Go Blues ! and keep up the good work Ratts.

Having seen what his pre game preperation was like against a shithouse Swans... you just have to put more question marks on Ratts coaching.

Fortunately he threw everything he planned for out the window in the second half and allowed us to play football against a clearly pitifull Swans...


Bryce Gibbs to tag Goodes.... again.....

If he isnt the most one dimmensional thinking reactive coach ever............... ............ ..........

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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.

Best win since 2001 Synners - came from 15 points down to win by 61 - 76 point turn around largely due to moves made at half time

come on even you can give him some credit for that

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

Was a bit disappointed he didn't have someone tagging Shaw from the start - he chopped us up last time yet it took until half time for us to actually tag him.

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"You are being watched. The government has a secret system. A machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it." - Finch

But the first half was actually everything you have ever wanted Synbad. In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say that the first half was one of the more encouraging performances I have seen by this club in a decade.

Why? Most sides can't dominate 4 quarters of football. St Kilda and Geelong fail to do it, so to lump us as having the same problem is not an issue. The issue therefore becomes, what do you do when you are not dominating? How do you cop what the opposition are throwing at you when your prime ball winners are being shut down?

What we did to Sydney in the first half was a masterclass in how to minimise scoreboard damage until we got the necessary lift in the centre square. The swans went backward, sideways and out to the flanks because we wouldn't let them use quick football through the corridor. This involved exactly the sort of structures and discipline you and others have bemoaned we lack. In short, everyone on here should remember the criticism of us that happened after the game at the SCG. What happened? We went wide and to the flanks, backwards, and sideways, and then the Swans just suckerpunched us when we had slowed ourselves to a crawl. What happened in the first half was exactly that... we suckerpunched them until our prime ballmovers were able to start dominating in the centre.

That's smart football... and it requires everything you've ever demanded Synbad. It was all about structures and discipline. We just took the suckerpunches and then countered with everything we have. It was smart coaching, and it was smart and disciplined team play. This club is finally starting to learn how to adapt to games of footy in which everything is not going its way.

Our first half of footy in the last three weeks has been terrible - It appears he is coaching to stay close then out run them in the 2nd half

Very negative first half - very positive 2nd halves in the last 3 weeks


Shaw wasn't hurting us - It was our defensive set up that was and a few costly turn overs in the middle

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

I still see players refusing to kick to advantage/space. Why??

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There's so much I could say...

Now now Synners, you're letting your own mindset get in the way of common sense. Goodes himself has said he's struggled with Gibbs as much as any player in the comp that's been tagging him.

Sydney don't have many match winners in their team right now. Goodes is one. I would absolutely set Gibbs on Goodes considering his record. It didn't work as it has in the past, so Ratts adjusted, fair play to him.

Hmmm...well. At this stage you just have to giggle

I agree Molly.

I had plenty of bets with Swans supporters and I gave them 7 goals in too.
My thoughts were, hold them in the first half and run away in the last...and that's how it panned out.
But to do that takes a lot of good planning. Surely that was good planning and not luck.
Ratts won the coaching battle and I won the chocolates.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Roos just didnt have the answers. He gave it his best shot in the first half but once we had seen what he had to offer Ratts just changed it up and Roos and Horse were both as lost as each other.

Ratts.

AFL Clubs are now professional businesses, the coach effectively being a manager put on a big six-figure salary for the responsibility of extracting maximum output from his employees. Relative to his competitors he now has enough super-star employees at his disposal that after two years should be stringing together four-quarter efforts consistantly throughout a season. In any other industry the same patience would not be afforded to someone in his position after such time, given this relative talent. His planning, procedures and execution are suspect; he is not getting maximum benefit out of his employees.

It was a disgraceful first half, the replay I later watched did not capture the extent. It would have been curtains at half time against a quality opposition, as it was against Adelaide.

The result should not justify the position. The question should be is he getting the desired output from what is a quality unit?

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--------------------------------------------------------"The only one that could ever love me..."

Think you might be overrating the list in its current state there Wastheson. Sure it has massive potential but most of the people you are calling superstars are only good players on their way to becoming superstars. If we still cant string 4 quarter efforts together in 2012 i wll be worried.

I would say the 5 year plan Swann and Pratt put together is on track.

I'm a critic of Ratts, i'll happily acknowledge, but that first half was down to lazy players. In the second half the determination to spread from the contested situations with purpose is what opened the swans up. They couldn't go with us.

From all reports Ratts gave the players a sizeable spray at half time for NOT following the coaches instructions.

Gibbs onto Goodes was always going to be happening, why, because Goodes is a match winner that's won two brownlows and is incredibly dangerous when left alone. Roos was very smart though, he kept him forward most of the time in the first half. Ratts rolled the dice and decided to make the change and get Gibbs into the game. It was a brilliant move that could quite easily have cost us going the other way.

Kreuz seemed to play much more forward this week, salivating to say the least. Hammer, whilst not a big possession game, had a blinder in the second half. Continuously gave our lads first use of the ball. Can't wait to have Warnock in if it means Kreuz can spend much more time forward.

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"I will rejoice in their anguish, delight in their failure and revel in our success"

We are Carlton, @#$%&! the rest !!!!!!

ffs, we win by 10 goals and you blokes are still un happy.

i offically give up .... nothing will ever please you blokes.

i ask one question.

if, and i know its a big if, if results go our way this week and next, we we beat the pies, we could realisticlly be sitting 4th after 17 rounds.

4th, not just sneaking into the eight but 4th.

if you blokes arent happy with that, then i dont think there is a thing in the world that would please you.

we arent by any stretch playing out best football (though the last quarter against the swans was good) and we could find ourselves 4th on the ladder with 5 weeks to go for the season .... and im sure, you blokes would still be saying he is rubbish.

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Got to love the stare Down by Setanta on Llyod

Just out of curiosity who do you see as our superstar players?