Grant Thomas has one last dig

[Ghost Dog]

Not sure what point you're trying to make.

He's saying the club hasn't achieved anything which is why he doesn't rate the club, and this team has continued on the tradition. If the team can break the trend then he'll take us more seriously, so far they haven't been able to.

Bollocks.
He makes some obvious points. Sure, tackling is an issue this season.
But The stuff about Ward and Everitt that he spouts in his article is proof he is taking a few cheap shots.

Even if we did win the final last year, now is now. Who cares about last year? This year is the issue.
If Essendon didn't win a flag for another 56 years, would they be rated as a better club just because of finals they won centuries ago? Your club is only as good as your current team. Grant Thomas is not the most respected man in footy and while making some good points, has it in for us. So who cares.

[LostDoggy]

Haven't they completely compounded since the disastrous Akermanis issue?

Getting a bit sick of this.

Since round 10 (Akers last game for the Dogs) to when the "Flu" hit in round 19:
Lost 2 games by an average of 6 pts
Won 6 games by an average of 63 pts.
"Compounded" my arse!
It was the "Flu" that "Compounded" us.

[FrediKanoute]

He is right about everything except Ward and Roughead.

Agree......I don't see a lot wrong in his comments aside from the above. Its a damning stat the tackle count and probably shows what many of us observers have been grumbling about for a while....... Eagle, Gia and Johnno this year have failed to contribute defensively and it has cost us. Less concerned about Hall and Lake who both did jobs and contributed in otehr areas (well Hall would have if he'd kicked straight!). Gilbee and Murphy, it just shows that the way they played on Saturday was pretty average and Griffin.....well I'm prepared to cut him some slack.

What the comments do show however is that if we can get our defensivel;y pressure right, tackle count up across the team we will probably make great strides next season.

[AndrewP6]

Less concerned about Hall and Lake who both did jobs and contributed in otehr areas (well Hall would have if he'd kicked straight!). G

Apart from Saturday, Hally has had the radar working pretty well...including finals, 80 goals, 41 behinds.

[ratsmac]

Dare I say it but I almost want the filth to win this Saturday just to stick it up this piece of shite.

[BulldogBelle]

I have read many posts in this forum where people have said words along the line of 'attack the ball and not the man'. Dismissing Thomas as irrelevant or having a grudge is in my opinion missing the point.
Ok, the Ward and Roughead comments are wide of the mark, but its hard not to agree with some of his criticisms of us. Too many on here are quick to defend us with an almost blind faith. I hate Grant Thomas as much as anyone because he has had a penchant for taking pot shots at our club over the last few years, but... he has got some valid points.
I too was unhappy with Eade's upbeat manner in the post match presser. Ross Lyon gave his team an absolute serve at their B&F last year after they lost the GF. We are too nice as a club and our MC (as most would agree on other threads) have shirked taking the hard decisions time and time again... If Josh Fraser played for us, he'd be up to 210 games...
Ghost Dog, although I agree a current team can not be responsible for the history of a club's under performance, it can however adopt an entrenched culture and carry on a cycle of behaviors and expectations, which I believe is what we have done over a long time. The entrenched culture within our club is that we become overly enamored and centered on individuals/personalities rather than the team; we are not harsh enough critics of our own performances; The club is predisposed to take the positive/encouraging line than take a clinical/critical approach. I believe it is these entrenched cultural characteristics that have stunted our ability to truly realise our potential as a club.

[mighty_west]

Thomas's big blunder is leaving himself wide open for ridicule by not working hard enough to find info in why he fell short with the Ward & Roughead comments.

Apart from that, i can't really fault his comments, he is saying what most of us think anyway, and it isn't as though he has always had some beef with our club, he was quite complimentary a while back.

[Mofra]

I agree with his sentiments about our tackling. Not Good enough it's left to a few to do our tackling.

I actually agree with his tackling comments too. It's an area we have been poor in all year.

He does make some silly comments on other areas. Ward had been injured for much of the year Grant, a small amount of research before your next article please.

[anfo27]

As many have said I agree with Grants comments except for the obvious about Ward & Roughie.

People comment that out tackling has been a problem this year. I don't know what the stats are but we were one of the worst tackling sides before Eade took the job and nothing has changed. We simply have a side that can not physically tackle but crap on about how its more about the intent to tackle then to actually tackle. To have 40 tackles in a H & A game is not good enough let a alone a final.

As Ron Barassi would say 'you give me tackles and I'll shut up'.

[Before I Die]

Thomas's big blunder is leaving himself wide open for ridicule by not working hard enough to find info in why he fell short with the Ward & Roughead comments.

Apart from that, i can't really fault his comments, he is saying what most of us think anyway, and it isn't as though he has always had some beef with our club, he was quite complimentary a while back.

Don't confuse number of posts with number of posters. The article is a nasty, hate mail piece by a man who clearly has a very big axe to grind with Eade. Sure there are some facts in the article, along with some mistruths. But he is simply picking out the ones that support his vitriol. An Eade fanboy could have just as easily written a directly opposing article and it would have been no more valid and no less correct.

However, this post is not about Grant Thomas, it is about the presumption of a majority view in MWs post. Run a poll if you want to know the views of other posters. Don't simply use the 'everyone says' approach to validate your own views or the views of what may in fact be a vocal minority.

[KT31]

Don't confuse number of posts with number of posters. The article is a nasty, hate mail piece by a man who clearly has a very big axe to grind with Eade. Sure there are some facts in the article, along with some mistruths. But he is simply picking out the ones that support his vitriol. An Eade fanboy could have just as easily written a directly opposing article and it would have been no more valid and no less correct.
However, this post is not about Grant Thomas, it is about the presumption of a majority view in MWs post. Run a poll if you want to know the views of other posters. Don't simply use the 'everyone says' approach to validate your own views or the views of what may in fact be a vocal minority.

Yes, but it would take much more for it to be believable and instal belief after our performance last weekend.

[Bulldog4life]

Not sure what point you're trying to make.

He's saying the club hasn't achieved anything which is why he doesn't rate the club, and this team has continued on the tradition. If the team can break the trend then he'll take us more seriously, so far they haven't been able to.

And his Club has! One premiership at the time of his writing...yes just like the Bulldogs.

[Greystache]

And his Club has! One premiership at the time of his writing...yes just like the Bulldogs.

Not to want to go too deep into the subject, at least they're playing in their 3rd GF in the past 15 years. Do you know how you win a premiership? It's by playing in Grand Finals. Over the past 30 years our record is poor compared to every club in the AFL barring Fremantle and that includes Richmond.

[mighty_west]

Don't confuse number of posts with number of posters. The article is a nasty, hate mail piece by a man who clearly has a very big axe to grind with Eade. Sure there are some facts in the article, along with some mistruths. But he is simply picking out the ones that support his vitriol. An Eade fanboy could have just as easily written a directly opposing article and it would have been no more valid and no less correct.

However, this post is not about Grant Thomas, it is about the presumption of a majority view in MWs post. Run a poll if you want to know the views of other posters. Don't simply use the 'everyone says' approach to validate your own views or the views of what may in fact be a vocal minority.

Actually my post wasn't about Grant Thomas at all, it was about his article itself, so perhaps you generalised as much as i did with my one liner about what most of us think, and yes, i probably did generalise.

I'm not too sure Thomas does have an axe to grind with Rocket [unless i don't know something that hasn't been publicised?], but like i mentioned, he has been full of praise towards Rocket and the Dogs in the past, was it start of this season / end of last season?

We set a bar with intensity, pressure, tackling in last years Prelim, unfortunatly that was down this year, the tackling count was way below par, especially low for a team that had high expectations this year, he was also correct in saying that perhaps we played a few older players when perhaps they didn't warrant selection, Rocket even acknowledged that in one of his recent press conferences.

[Bulldog4life]

Not to want to go too deep into the subject, at least they're playing in their 3rd GF in the past 15 years. Do you know how you win a premiership? It's by playing in Grand Finals. Over the past 30 years our record is poor compared to every club in the AFL barring Fremantle and that includes Richmond.

You can dress it up any way you like. When it comes to the ultimate prize St.Kilda and the Western Bulldogs are neck & neck.