one of my highlights for the night was seeing Stevie J get absolutely smashed into the turf in the middle of the ground by none other than Russell!! And he won the free as well... good to see some hardness from all the boys on friday actually, something we'd been lacking i thought.

great game JR, keep it up!!

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"Let's not kid ourselves, we are the most successful club in the league … the arrogance should come back, and it's good, because we deserve to be the best."

Great game by Russell. I've been a big critic but am very pleased he put in a good, solid game.

Some might find it confusing that I'm actually happy that he played well, but there you go.

If he keeps this up, we might get a 3rd rounder for him .

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If you could put his previous 65 games to the side and judge solely on game 66 you'd say he was a top 10 draft pick.

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NG
S M C , S F L

Very nice indeed.

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You want the flame? Give us the marbles!!

Best game by a mile, now he needs to perform like that consistently

Absolutely stoked with JR.

Reckon he has been showing signs, and last Friday night it really all came together for him over 4 Qtrs.

Hopefully he goes on with it, and just keeps improving.

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It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it

and under absolutely no pressure, turned the ball over..... or did you forget ?

All players turn the ball over in their hands before they kick it...........

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No ones listening till you make a mistake.

I saw Murph Gibbs and Judd turn the ball over a few times too. One moment in isolation will not tell the story of a full match.

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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.

i can say i was wrong about JR, at least for this wk. played with courage, poise. made great spoils and for the most part used the ball well. best game ever. conistency is the key. keeping him in one position might help him. I think he works better in a defensive sense. playing forward trying to gain kicks has not worked. and we do not want him delivering into the forward line. Either a defensive half-back, back pocket defender or tagging role seems best suited to his set of skills.

This sort of statement (I'm not deliberately and specifically singling you out, nevin) really rankles with me. JR isn't the new Ablett, Murphy, Judd or Akermanis, but the kid has been improving steadily all year, and all that can be given is "yeah, he was good", if that. Mostly it's been "Yeah, he was OK/did his job/didn't suck".

Along with the team, JR has been getting steadily better all year, but again, too many are too quick to damn, and too hesitant to praise. It's like they think JR will suffer from getting some sort of big head, and won't ever perform like that again.

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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.

Positive sign when Scotland was cruising forward from the HB line with no obvious option and Russell came racing by and just demanded the ball ... you could tell from Scottos reaction that Russell wasn't making a suggestion, it was a demand ... that shows confidence.

Single grab contested marks down back that were really a player deciding that "this is my ball" ... was another positive sign.

Taking the kick outs and doing a reasonable job was another.

Saw things I hadn't seen Russell do before in this game. Hope he takes alot forward with him from Friday night.

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"It was like calling your ex girlfriend after a night on the booze, just a really bad decision".

Halleluyah !!!!

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

After his defensive effort on Friday night he is one better than SOS!

I bet the club are nurturing his sperm to ensure we get father son selections from him...

Wow

I did not know that.

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STURDYISM!!

The main thing Russell has lacked is confidence (IMO).

He's been praised for last week a couple of times by Ratts.

In his own mind he must know he played a blinder.

I predict it will be the making of the guy.

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"You can't polish a James Hird"

I like JR more than most but I'm afraid this is getting a tad ridiculous.

By the way, where did you get that sperm thing from?

Sorry, dumb question.

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"You can't polish a James Hird"

See that's where your preconceived ideas set it. If you'll care to take a look back at the game you'll see his left foot pass to Scotland was on the money, Scotland's one handed attempt to mark it was not!!

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You want the flame? Give us the marbles!!

The thing about his efforts this week was that there were some turn overs (as most players do, some under pressure, some not) but THIS week he did several good things.

That is what we've all been waiting for.

We can forgive the odd mistake if he adds to the overall game plan. In games past his positives have been miniscule and mistakes massive - this week the balance was tipped on its ear.

Now, all we want to see is that work to continue.

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