2014 AFL - Round 5 Discussion

[Eastdog]

Round 5 Fixture

Date Home vs Away Venue AEST Local TV

Thu 17 Apr Brisbane Lions v Richmond Gabba 7:50pm 7:50pm Seven

Sat 19 Apr Collingwood v North Melbourne MCG 1:40pm 1:40pm Foxtel

Sat 19 Apr Sydney Swans v Fremantle Dockers SCG 4:40pm 4:40pm Foxtel

Sat 19 Apr West Coast Eagles v Port Adelaide Patersons Stadium 7:40 5:40pm Foxtel

Sat 19 Apr Essendon v St Kilda Etihad Stadium 7:40pm 7:40pm Seven

Sun 20 Apr Adelaide Crows v GWS Giants Adelaide Oval 1:10pm 12:40pm Foxtel

Sun 20 Apr Melbourne v Gold Coast Suns MCG 3:20pm 3:20pm Seven

Sun 20 Apr Western Bulldogs v Carlton Etihad Stadium 4:40pm 4:40pm Foxtel

Mon 21 Apr Geelong Cats v Hawthorn MCG 3:20pm 3:20pm Seven

[bulldogtragic]

That's a pretty decent round of footy, season defining for numerous clubs.

[Remi Moses]

Just imagine the meltdown if the Ferals lose to the Bears tomorrow night!!

[Eastdog]

Just imagine the meltdown if the Ferals lose to the Bears tomorrow night!!

Richmond memberships will start being microwaved :D

[Remi Moses]

A game that threw up more questions .
Went between Law and Order and this, and when the lions hit the front the media throngs were circling punt rd!
Brisbane had 7 players under 10 games.

[lemmon]

Brisbane may struggle to get a win this year with GWS, Saints and the Dees improving. They were awful in that first quarter especially, as bad as I've seen a side for a while

[ledge]

Yesterday I was talking to someone about when was the last time a team didn't win a game in the season and I said I think Brisbane might not win one this year.
I feel sorry for them but I must admit their are a couple of clubs I would be overjoyed with if it was them.

[Ghost Dog]

Brisbane hardly have an AFL list. Richmond shouldn't be celebrating too hard.

[Bulldog Joe]

Brisbane hardly have an AFL list. Richmond shouldn't be celebrating too hard.

I thought Brisbane were pretty good in patches.

When you consider their outs, they are probably in worse shape than the early days of the expansion clubs.

They were missing best 22 players
Merrett (susp)
Rich, Leuenberger, Hanley, Beams, McGrath and Staker (injury)

plus a few who would be in line.

Not sure many clubs could cover that sort of list.

With 7 players under 10 games it is very hard to stay competitive.

Liked the look of Nick Robertson

[westdog54]

Brisbane hardly have an AFL list. Richmond shouldn't be celebrating too hard.

Its going to be a very painful year for them. Hopefully the club doesn't have unrealistic expectations of Justin Leppitsch. He'll need a good 3 years to even begin rebuilding the club.

[lemmon]

Its going to be a very painful year for them. Hopefully the club doesn't have unrealistic expectations of Justin Leppitsch. He'll need a good 3 years to even begin rebuilding the club.

Even if he is the wrong man for the job the board simply can't axe him after getting rid of Voss in those circumstances, come hell or high water they need to display the fortitude that they are perceived to lack. I think someone like Ratten, even Eade would've been a terrific fit, a proven coach would give some confidence to the young kids who are debating whether to stay while keeping the media off the club's back and deflected performance back onto the list.

[Remi Moses]

Talk about handed a poison chalice .
Very big job and he deserves significant time .

[Eastdog]

2 games this round I'm tipping the outsider are North Melbourne to beat Collingwood and Geelong to beat Hawthorn. Another tough one for tipping was West Coast and Port Adelaide. Went for West Coast over Port Adelaide at Subiaco so I think ill stick with that even though Port have been very good so far.

[Remi Moses]

Watched some of the Norf Pies game.
Norf got out worked completely and played one way, and any team with Michael Firrito as a spare isn't winning many games.
Don't have a crack at Harvey ( you have to go through Brad Scott remember) back to his selfish worst

[G-Mo77]

Yeah watched a lot of this game. As expected Norf went to water when it counted, always do. Highlight of the game was Brent Harvey getting his teammates injured with lazy hospital handpasses. 2 of their players got injured because of him.

[chef]

Cracking game at the SCG, nice to see Buddy hitting a bit of form.

[Remi Moses]

Wowwee!!
Essendon beaten by Stkilda! Bombres looked flat and disinterested.
Jack Billings is going to be a star, and how Thompson didn't move Hurley forward and Carlisle back was interesting.
High uncontested ball count in this game. Luke Darcy's had to be taking the urine when saying they had a "great game" !
"Very enjoyable" , although Essendon losing is enjoyable.( even though it was Stkilda)

[Remi Moses]

Cracking game at the SCG, nice to see Buddy hitting a bit of form.

Sydney will be there when it counts.

[soupman]

Geez the Port Adelaide West Coast match was a ripper. Intense, attacking and tough.

Port continue to be the best side to watch in the competition. They are just relentless with their attacking intent and have some very exciting players. Wingard, Hartlett, Boak, Westhoff, Wines and Ebert are all absolute quality, and guys like Matt White and Schulz are pretty handy too.

Also switched over to the Saints game a couple of times and as much as I hate him Riewoldt is awesome to watch. Complete opposite to his cousin, he is hard working, a big game player and is impressive not through trying to do tricks but rather by spectacularly making it from contest to contest.

[Remi Moses]

One of the Riewoldt's has a tank and work ethic , the other is Jack.
Turned over watched the last and Port were terrific. They're tough quick and owned the Eagles in the last term.

[ledge]

Saints very disciplined for a young side, well done to them, Richo seems to know how to coach even a young side.
Essendon miss Crameri :-)

[jazzadogs]

How many more games would we have won over the last two years if we had a Nick Riewoldt in the side? I feel like he is doing a bit of a Barry Hall, and papering over the cracks of an otherwise developing side. Saints midfield is looking okay, but I'm not convinced by any of their key talls.

[Remi Moses]

Thinking exactly the same two things
Riewoldt in our side the last two years and Essendon miss Crameri.
Carlisle really battled

[Bulldog Joe]

Both Essendon and Freo very flat.
Dare I say playing in 33 degrees and adding a 6 day turnaround is very difficult for any side.

[azabob]

Geez the Port Adelaide West Coast match was a ripper. Intense, attacking and tough.

Port continue to be the best side to watch in the competition. They are just relentless with their attacking intent and have some very exciting players. Wingard, Hartlett, Boak, Westhoff, Wines and Ebert are all absolute quality, and guys like Matt White and Schulz are pretty handy too.

.

Surely Schulz is better than OK?

Just on Wingard I saw a highlight of him being crunched in a pack then kicking a very nice goal on a tight angle from the resultant free kick late in the game. So he is also tough as well as a freak?

Wingard is my favourite non bulldog player.

[soupman]

Surely Schulz is better than OK?

Don't get me wrong, I just pulled out the most exciting players in their squad. I still rate Schulz, Casissi, Young (exdept for lat nights performance), Neade etc. They have a very good squad and they are all well committed to the gameplan.



Just on Wingard I saw a highlight of him being crunched in a pack then kicking a very nice goal on a tight angle from the resultant free kick late in the game. So he is also tough as well as a freak?

Wingard is my favourite non bulldog player.

Wingard is easily my favourite player outside of the Bulldogs. Cannot believe GWS decided they would take 5 players ahead of him, even taking into account the go home factor. Already a matchwinner.

[jeemak]

Both Essendon and Freo very flat.
Dare I say playing in 33 degrees and adding a 6 day turnaround is very difficult for any side.

It is tough to match intensity for an entire game if your opponents are just as well if not better rested (to the tune of 48 hours for example).

I thought the Saints looked well organised last night at times, though they weren't under a huge amount of pressure.

[azabob]

Wingard is easily my favourite player outside of the Bulldogs. Cannot believe GWS decided they would take 5 players ahead of him, even taking into account the go home factor. Already a matchwinner.

Port were great to watch last year and appear to have gone up another level this year. I don't have fox, so I am yet to see them yet. Watching Wingard win the game agains Collingwood in last years final series was an amazing performance.

Hinkley has done an amazing job with them - and to get them to back up from last year is a great effort.

[Twodogs]

Have umpires given up on players bouncing the ball this year? I've seen players take 10-15 steps without taking a bounce before disposing of the ball and the umpires don't seem to worry about it any more.

[bulldogtragic]

Have umpires given up on players bouncing the ball this year? I've seen players take 10-15 steps without taking a bounce before disposing of the ball and the umpires don't seem to worry about it any more.

I think they've given up on a whole lot of things. Everyone has asked for less frees and more free flowing footy, but there's some non decisions that are not doing enough to protect or reward players. To the direct questions, I thought Easton Wood run towards 50 yesterday was a fair bit beyond the regulations, so maybe this goes into this category.

[lemmon]

I think they've given up on a whole lot of things. Everyone has asked for less frees and more free flowing footy, but there's some non decisions that are not doing enough to protect or reward players. To the direct questions, I thought Easton Wood run towards 50 yesterday was a fair bit beyond the regulations, so maybe this goes into this category.
Yep they've thrown out the rule book but some of the non holding the man and ball decisions have been ridiculous

[bulldogtragic]

Yep they've thrown out the rule book but some of the non holding the man and ball decisions have been ridiculous

Yep, I believe its called over-compensation.

[Twodogs]

I think they've given up on a whole lot of things. Everyone has asked for less frees and more free flowing footy, but there's some non decisions that are not doing enough to protect or reward players. To the direct questions, I thought Easton Wood run towards 50 yesterday was a fair bit beyond the regulations, so maybe this goes into this category.

Yep, Easton ran a very long way without bouncing the ball. I think I got 2 "bounce it" and an entire " BOUNCE THE BLOODY THING!!!!" in before he did spot a target.

[Twodogs]

And you can throw the ball nowadays too. Some of the "handballs" and tap ons have been blatant throws

[bulldogtragic]

And you can throw the ball nowadays too. Some of the "handballs" and tap ons have been blatant throws

Interesting at the minute, I don't understand not being happy with one way of umpiring means you do the exact opposite, but I generally don't get this line of logic anyhoo. Maybe we should go back to the players calling the frees and we can have a debate about players giving frees away, ala walking in the cricket debate.

[Mantis]

It's depressing seeing the level we need to get to.. Long way to go.:(

[Scorlibo]

Did anyone see the unbelievable Melbourne vs Gold Coast decision which gifted James Frawley Melbourne's first goal? I really hope someone loses their job over it, it could well have cost the Gold Coast the game. Watch here:

http://www.afl.com.au/video/smart-replay?round=CD_R201401405&matchId=CD_M20140140507

[AndrewP6]

Did anyone see the unbelievable Melbourne vs Gold Coast decision which gifted James Frawley Melbourne's first goal? I really hope someone loses their job over it, it could well have cost the Gold Coast the game. Watch here:

http://www.afl.com.au/video/smart-replay?round=CD_R201401405&matchId=CD_M20140140507

They've admitted the error, goalpost cameras to be installed at the G and Etihad.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-04-21/goal-review-wrong-evans

[bulldogtragic]

Did anyone see the unbelievable Melbourne vs Gold Coast decision which gifted James Frawley Melbourne's first goal? I really hope someone loses their job over it, it could well have cost the Gold Coast the game. Watch here:

http://www.afl.com.au/video/smart-replay?round=CD_R201401405&matchId=CD_M20140140507

Is this like no ball wicket taking deliveries... Is this is anew phenomena or have goal umpires been making huge mistakes forever??

[G-Mo77]

They've admitted the error, goalpost cameras to be installed at the G and Etihad.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-04-21/goal-review-wrong-evans

Shouldn't have this been done before this Video Replay was brought in? I'd rather just do away with it altogether and put the decision back in the goal umpires hands.

[Eastdog]

It's depressing seeing the level we need to get to.. Long way to go.:(

Yeah we do have a long way to go. I think the talk of us possibly playing finals this year is getting a bit too ahead of ourselves.

Our next 3 games

Adelaide - tough one as they are now in good form. If we got them in the first few weeks then we would probably pencil that in for a win.
Essendon - will be a difficult night
Melbourne - we should win but its not a shoe in.

[AndrewP6]

Shouldn't have this been done before this Video Replay was brought in? I'd rather just do away with it altogether and put the decision back in the goal umpires hands.

Same. In the game last night, one goal ump called a behind, and the field ump responded with a condescending "Are you sure?"...Review came back and surprise surprise, the goal ump got it right! If they're going to have goal umps, let them make the call. They'll get it wrong sometimes, so be it.

[Remi Moses]

Geelong shaded it by a bit more than the margin.
Clarkson's decision not to play Brian might be talked about.
Steve Johnson BOG for mine, you have to accept the occasional implosion from Stevie J
Basically curtailed hawthorns rebound of defensive 50.Where was Gibson for Hawkins?

[Sedat]

It's depressing seeing the level we need to get to.. Long way to go.:(
Went to the game today, and whilst it was a real pleasure to see two elite teams go at it for 120 minutes, it was sobering to realise just how far off that level we are.

[Sedat]

Geelong shaded it by a bit more than the margin.
Clarkson's decision not to play Brian might be talked about.
Steve Johnson BOG for mine, you have to accept the occasional implosion from Stevie J
Basically curtailed hawthorns rebound of defensive 50.Where was Gibson for Hawkins?
Do you think Clarko was saving some bullets for later in the year. Playing Cheney on Hawkins for 120 minutes?

[Remi Moses]

Do you think Clarko was saving some bullets for later in the year. Playing Cheney on Hawkins for 120 minutes?

My guess it's how Brian's body holds up.
Not allowing Gibson go third man was a win for Chris Scott.

[azabob]

Is McIntosh a better forward than Campbell? Geelong in theory manage to play 3 ruckman all at once and still move the ball quickly and cover the ground very well.