Changes V Lions Rd3

[Purple Suit]

It's really arguable whether we have. Alex Johnson took us apart on the weekend. So did Sam Reid. Both went after our third round picks in 2009 and 2010.

Most on field evidence points to the fact we've been losing more than we've been winning.

We've had a complete rebuild since 07 and 4.1 seasons later, we've won a final and besides the injury curse of last year, have been pretty competitive.

If you look at the other teams that have rebuilt in this timeframe, there aren't many who have come up as quickly in the last 5 years. No, not all Drafting has been successful but we've plundered the Rookie draft better than any other team.

In my opinion, our recruiters have been better than most, I'd put them in the top half of the AFL. Therefore, winning more than we're losing.

 

[E Shed]

I have a tough decision to make this weekend. I will be missing out on watching/listening to a Freo game for the first time in years.

I'm camping while the game is on and out near Eildon 2hrs north of Melbourne, possibly with no 3G reception ruling out listening to it on my radio app.

Without wanting to know the results, i may come home and go straight to a special website to watch the replay. Need to switch off my phone as I'll be tempted to jump on Twitter, FB and BigFooty and spoil the score.

Has anyone tried to do this before?

Yes, I was leaving on a truck from Jiggalong last year as the game V Richmond (I think) was about to start. My plan was to get to Newmann, avoid all media and watch a replay. I cracked as soon as I was within Radio range and checked the score to find we had folded like a deck of cards and it was over by half time. Thank God I checked. Never did watch the replay as a quick read of board here was enough to know we had been pathetic away again. I think it was Richmond, anyway one of those away games that we were tipped to win and just didn't show up. I think you will have better luck with this one.

 

[tacopavlich]

Taco are you saying that he does not contribute more assists as well around the ground and provide outstanding forward pressure ? If it came down just to goals kicked what is DeBoer doing there?

By the way, how many goals is Pitt averaging for us in his time? By the way when you have a forward option that is averaging 5 marks a game you need to defend this option. Darling averaged over a goal a game in 2011 and has 5 goals from 2 games and an outstanding tackle count.

By the way Taco, there is not an expert in the country that doesn't recognize that Darling should have gone top 3 in hindsight. Nobody is mentioning Pitt. By the way, where does Fremantle have a deficiency at the moment? It certainly seems to me that having a young, strong, tall marking forward option who creates and tackles like a tiger ( a real one, not a Richmond player ) would we rather have that than a fringe player who may be good one day?

Looking forward to your thoughts Taco.

Late reply but I'll give it a go anyway

forward pressure? Even Mayne provides that as well. De Boer provides a role for us upforward, but not one that makes or breaks it like some hysteria about us not picking Darling would suggest. I would like to see De Boer become a tagger / play midfield more actually.

Sure Darling may become good and have big impacts someday, but not now, sort of like Morabito. It's a none issue, he won't help us now, and we have plans for a KPP for the future.

And is Darling better than Pitt now? yes. Will he be better in the future? Descent chance yes. But so fricken what. Drafting is a numbers game, you win some, you lose some.

 

[strobe00]

It's just the type of non committal statement we tend to make, ie. saying 'I think I might have a zinger burger for dinner', when everyone knows I'll be smashing the burger with my face in an hour. Love the dirty bird.

If I remove the subjunctives from the statement, I meant to say 'I'm sure we have identified the problem and will be addressing it henceforth.' So it's not Zen, just your common garden variety mood confusion of verbs. I think.

I see what you mean.

"I'm sure we have identified the problem and will be addressing it henceforth" while being a perfectly clear summation of your thoughts couldn't possibly have generated the same level of debate, conjecture or internal confusion. Which would have dropped the entertainment value a whole lot.

 

[Clay Davis]

We've had a complete rebuild since 07 and 4.1 seasons later, we've won a final and besides the injury curse of last year, have been pretty competitive.

If you look at the other teams that have rebuilt in this timeframe, there aren't many who have come up as quickly in the last 5 years. No, not all Drafting has been successful but we've plundered the Rookie draft better than any other team.

In my opinion, our recruiters have been better than most, I'd put them in the top half of the AFL. Therefore, winning more than we're losing.

You don't think West Coast's revival or Sydney's ability to remain competitive every year aren't better? Since 2006 Sydney have missed as many finals series as we've made. West Coast's first season after a spoon was a top four finish - which is as good as we've done in our history.

Collingwood went from being second last in 2005 to premiers in 2010. Hawthorn went from being second last in 2004 to premiers in 2008.

I'm not saying we should have been premiers in the past few years, but quick turnarounds are possible with clever drafting. That's doing better than a sole finals win. This notion that we're doing better than the average isn't supported by results. We're certainly doing better than Fremantle of old, but that's hardly a high benchmark.

 

[BananaOnTheRun]

Quick turnarounds are possible with good development, good administration and a good footy department. I don't know that we've ever had those things right even with good drafting. This is the most confident I've been in the club since, well, ever. Even then it's not perfect.

 

[Scham]

It's really arguable whether we have. Alex Johnson took us apart on the weekend. So did Sam Reid. Both went after our third round picks in 2009 and 2010.

Most on field evidence points to the fact we've been losing more than we've been winning.

Yeah shame about Johnson. He looked a really good prospect leading into that draft, we needed KPP and I was told by a very reliable source that we were super keen to get him. BUT, obviously at the time of our pick we went for Mellington instead and that looks like being a good result anyway.

The disapointment of Houghton will hurt for a while but certainly at the time he looked a good pick up. He had talent and had shown really good signs in the under 18's but just lacked motivation to succeed at the top level. I guess in hindsight you could say that we didn't do our due diligence on him psycologically and that would be fair enough.

 

[BananaOnTheRun]

I see what you mean.

"I'm sure we have identified the problem and will be addressing it henceforth" while being a perfectly clear summation of your thoughts couldn't possibly have generated the same level of debate, conjecture or internal confusion. Which would have dropped the entertainment value a whole lot.

Most of the time my verbal ambition is bigger than my vocab talent. Glad it's providing some distraction *thumbs up via iphone*

 

[Purple Suit]

You don't think West Coast's revival or Sydney's ability to remain competitive every year aren't better? Since 2006 Sydney have missed as many finals series as we've made. West Coast's first season after a spoon was a top four finish - which is as good as we've done in our history.

Collingwood went from being second last in 2005 to premiers in 2010. Hawthorn went from being second last in 2004 to premiers in 2008.

I'm not saying we should have been premiers in the past few years, but quick turnarounds are possible with clever drafting. That's doing better than a sole finals win. This notion that we're doing better than the average isn't supported by results. We're certainly doing better than Fremantle of old, but that's hardly a high benchmark.

So we've been worst than Collingwood, Hawthorn, West Coast and Sydney. I'll throw Geelong and Carlton in there too for arguements sake. That leaves us 7th, better than average in a 16, now 18 team competition.

West Coast have only won 1 final since 07 and Sydney have not made it past the second week of the finals. If we can show something this year and build on it, we can go right past them too.

 

[chinggis77]

Silvagni and Van Berlo are both withdrawals from their respective WAFL sides.

Robbo´s East Perth with the bye. So all three emergencies out of action if they don´t get a call up this weekend?

 

[tacopavlich]

You don't think West Coast's revival or Sydney's ability to remain competitive every year aren't better? Since 2006 Sydney have missed as many finals series as we've made. West Coast's first season after a spoon was a top four finish - which is as good as we've done in our history.

Collingwood went from being second last in 2005 to premiers in 2010. Hawthorn went from being second last in 2004 to premiers in 2008.

I'm not saying we should have been premiers in the past few years, but quick turnarounds are possible with clever drafting. That's doing better than a sole finals win. This notion that we're doing better than the average isn't supported by results. We're certainly doing better than Fremantle of old, but that's hardly a high benchmark.

Remember though he system is designed to give bottom finishers the best chance in drafting to move up and make finals. Geelong and Sydney's recruiting is what realy impresses me.

 

[Clay Davis]

So we've been worst than Collingwood, Hawthorn, West Coast and Sydney. I'll throw Geelong and Carlton in there too for arguements sake. That leaves us 7th, better than average in a 16, now 18 team competition.

West Coast have only won 1 final since 07 and Sydney have not made it past the second week of the finals. If we can show something this year and build on it, we can go right past them too.

Sorry, but we're in the middle of the pack. Arguably less than Essendon, who have made finals twice, or Brisbane, who have also won a final.

 

[free at last]

That's about right? Wow. We don't know if last week was a once in a blue moon thing, or that Round 1 was a once in a blue moon thing. But those odds are ridiculous! And that too, with close to our best side in over a year. Remember, Merrett and Brown haven't played in the same match since Round 11 last year. Don't be too cocky about a win, stranger things have happened.

Besides, we've got Harvey now. Who knows what will happen?
Let the fun begin

Both Fremantle and Brisbane have had contrasting rounds, where you were trailing by almost 50 points at half time to Sydney, and where we collapsed in the second half to Carlton. However your win against Geelong was impressive, so I would still say Fremantle by about 10 points. But I'm happy to be proven wrong going the other way.

Something similar happened here as well, so who knows?

[YOUTUBE]X3KR0apkW-8[/YOUTUBE]

Might sound cocky but I think freo will win this by close to 10 gls.
Without doubt we have the best centre four in the clubs history playing tomorrow, sandi,mundy,Barlow & fyfe.

 

[Arcassius]

^ all of whom haven't played a game together in a while individually magic - can't wait until they get a season together to gel as a unit

 

[BrisbaneLion9636]

Might sound cocky but I think freo will win this by close to 10 gls.
Without doubt we have the best centre four in the clubs history playing tomorrow, sandi,mundy,Barlow & fyfe.

And we have the best 22 we've had in quite a while due to injuries and such. Might sound cocky but I think we've got this match covered by at least 20 points.

 

[Nickos66]

I'll say we'll run this out by about 3 goals at the final siren.

 

[free at last]

^ all of whom haven't played a game together in a while individually magic - can't wait until they get a season together to gel as a unit

True, but they(sandi,fyfe,Barlow,mundy,hill & Clarke) would've done a fair bit of theory over the pre-season and the practical would've intense over the last month or so..

 

[Paracleet]

And we have the best 22 we've had in quite a while due to injuries and such. Might sound cocky but I think we've got this match covered by at least 20 points.

Doesn't sound cocky at all. Just stupid.

 

[Uncle blue]

Haha!! Oh the ironing. Have you not watched our two games?

We have the most unselfish players who just want to pass the ball off and not have a shot for goal.

Oh the ironing? Do you need your shirt pressed?

 

[BrisbaneLion9636]

Doesn't sound cocky at all. Just stupid.

I hardly think so.

 

[Uncle blue]

Ohh Cmon I love you guys. Don't be like that.

But while I've got your attention can someone get the ball to Hill rather than overlook him for once. Watch the game closely tomorrow, watch for Hill and watch how they can't get the ball to him.

Hill should be playing in the middle by the way. Maybe they will tag Fyfe... NOT.

He's not even close to being a game winner as Hill can be and the opposition know it. Hence the heavy tags every week.

Block for Hill, be selfless and you'll be premiership contenders.

 

[Torz]

You haven't watched enough of Fyfe play, clearly.

 

[tacopavlich]

I hardly think so.

lol r u srs? xD

 

[Nothing]

Remember though he system is designed to give bottom finishers the best chance in drafting to move up and make finals. Geelong and Sydney's recruiting is what realy impresses me.

I did the analysis on Geelong's "brilliant" recruiting. They had as many wins and losses as Freo. When you consider how deep we have taken players in drafts, it could be argued we have better drafting. Most clubs strike at similar rates, we are not great (nor terrible) but having turned over 75% of the list in the last 4 years, you will get players who are not AFL standard.

It's an oft-trotted out line that Geelong are the doyens of drafting. They are not.

 

[Righteo]

But while I've got your attention can someone get the ball to Hill rather than overlook him for once. Watch the game closely tomorrow, watch for Hill and watch how they can't get the ball to him.

Hill should be playing in the middle by the way. Maybe they will tag Fyfe... NOT.

He's not even close to being a game winner as Hill can be and the opposition know it. Hence the heavy tags every week.

Block for Hill, be selfless and you'll be premiership contenders.

Stop trolling and **** off, seriously this type of sub-standard attempt should not be tolerated.