So where are we really at?

[GVGjr]

Re: So where are we really at?

Also he wouldn't have wanted to be just a backup, he would have seen himself as a regular team member.

Good point. He would have wanted to play for a side that could just about guarantee him 16 games plus.
Hindsight is great but I wonder if Silvagni might have met our requirements better but from memory Markovic was selected because he could potentially play on the bigger guys.

[LostDoggy]

Re: So where are we really at?

Ok Brad Johnson has not been fit all year - he can hardly run teams are killing us going the other way, we have done the same with Higgins and to a lesser extent Murph this year.

I would change the structure up forward around a little bit too. Hall and Gia in the 50 with Grant and maybe Stack pushing front and centre. I would like to Everitt on wing - he doesnt have to line up there just during play sit around wing HB.

Quick ball movement by hand, foot and run.

Put the acid on Boyd, Crossy, Griffen Gilbee pretty much everyone - to do it for the team! Remember the team that made a stand against Aker

[mjp]

Re: So where are we really at?

Yeah its going to be tough... but we still have some great players playing and we have an opportunity for some pinch hitters to step up! I am just sick of hearing the bagging and carry on...

1 Player doesn't make a team!

Every Dog shall have its day

This isn't hope. It is a couple of cliches.

The reason I don't know better than anyone that we are still in it is that in big games you need your best players to be your best players. For me, our best players are still Cooney, Lake, Murphy and Morris - though I am sure a fair case could be made for either Harbrow or Griffen ahead of Murphy.

I cannot see how we can win without Cooney and Morris.
One is a true difference maker in the midfield and as talented as anyone in the game - can win the ball at stoppages and break away from the contest at pace. He MUST be accounted for by the opposition at all times.

The other guy is able to basically stop the opposition's best small/medium forward totally disrupting the opposition structure.

Do I think we could pinch one game without them? Sure. Do I think we could win 3 games against top opposition without them? No - I dont think that we can. All the strategies in the world, players stepping up etc is fine, but it wont last more than a game.

[ratsmac]

Re: So where are we really at?

I know it was 13 years ago, but what was Adelaide's form and reputation like coming into the '97 finals series? I don't really remember all that well -- McLeod wasn't yet recognised as an out-and-out superstar (until the GF), Modra was hot and cold, and Jarman floated around like a time bomb that never really exploded (until the 4th quarter of that prelim). I don't think anyone really gave them a chance. Ditto Brisbane '01?

I'm as pessimistic as the next cat, but I guess while there's life, there's hope, and in sports you just never say never until the fat lady sings. That's why knock-out competition is so beautiful. A few lucky passages of play here and there, and there's Wimbledon beating Liverpool to win the FA Cup, or Goran Ivanisevic winning Wimbledon (hmm, a theme there?) as a wildcard, or Adelaide coming from nowhere town to suddenly have their first of two Premierships.

September is a different competition to H&A. You get there, everything starts again. We are shit now, but shittier teams have won things. We can only hang on for the ride.

What are you doing for the next month and a bit? Could you go give Eade and the boyz a chop out for some inspiration?

[Ghost Dog]

Re: So where are we really at?

This isn't hope. It is a couple of cliches.

The reason I don't know better than anyone that we are still in it is that in big games you need your best players to be your best players. For me, our best players are still Cooney, Lake, Murphy and Morris - though I am sure a fair case could be made for either Harbrow or Griffen ahead of Murphy.

I cannot see how we can win without Cooney and Morris.
One is a true difference maker in the midfield and as talented as anyone in the game - can win the ball at stoppages and break away from the contest at pace. He MUST be accounted for by the opposition at all times.

The other guy is able to basically stop the opposition's best small/medium forward totally disrupting the opposition structure.

Do I think we could pinch one game without them? Sure. Do I think we could win 3 games against top opposition without them? No - I dont think that we can. All the strategies in the world, players stepping up etc is fine, but it wont last more than a game.

The fact is, nobody knows for sure. Not over till' the fat lady sings!

[LostDoggy]

Re: So where are we really at?

Do I think we could pinch one game without them? Sure. Do I think we could win 3 games against top opposition without them? No - I dont think that we can. All the strategies in the world, players stepping up etc is fine, but it wont last more than a game.

If this was a Holywood movie, we would luck our way into the Grand Final, then get smashed in the first half because our best player had to go to the airport to see off the girl-next-door who was his sick grandmother's last wish for him to get married to ...

.. who then tells him to get back to the game and 'win it for Grandma', and hands him his boots that she miraculously packed with her stuff (his old college ones that he gave her at the start of the movie when he got drafted)...

.. then he comes back and gets on the field with the team 80 points down, and his teammates welcome him even though he buggered off and let them rot playing one man short, and kicks 12.2 in the second half (with the obligatory shots of the scoreboard, with our score changing in leaps and bounds while the opposition's goes up only by a little bit), but we are still down by 5 points with 8 seconds to go and a boundary throw-in in the forward pocket ..

.. you know the rest.

--

ps. You know how they say "truth is stranger than fiction"? It would have to be for us to win this year, but seriously, stranger things have happened. See Boston Red Sox -- the scenes of them finally breaking the curse of the Bambino (see how the won it and tell me it wasn't a real curse) wasn't actually made into a movie, but had the REAL victory scenes actually INCORPORATED into The Perfect Catch, the Boston Red Sox American version of Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch (which was about following Arsenal).

[comrade]

Re: So where are we really at?

If this was a Holywood movie, we would luck our way into the Grand Final, then get smashed in the first half because our best player had to go to the airport to see off the girl-next-door who was his sick grandmother's last wish for him to get married to ...

.. who then tells him to get back to the game and 'win it for Grandma', and hands him his boots that she miraculously packed with her stuff (his old college ones that he gave her at the start of the movie when he got drafted)...

.. then he comes back and gets on the field with the team 80 points down, and his teammates welcome him even though he buggered off and let them rot playing one man short, and kicks 12.2 in the second half (with the obligatory shots of the scoreboard, with our score changing in leaps and bounds while the opposition's goes up only by a little bit), but we are still down by 5 points with 8 seconds to go and a boundary throw-in in the forward pocket ..

.. you know the rest.

--

And by winning, we end apartheid in South Africa and Morgan Freeman hands us the premiership cup.

[Greystache]

Re: So where are we really at?

If this was a Holywood movie, we would luck our way into the Grand Final, then get smashed in the first half because our best player had to go to the airport to see off the girl-next-door who was his sick grandmother's last wish for him to get married to ...

.. who then tells him to get back to the game and 'win it for Grandma', and hands him his boots that she miraculously packed with her stuff (his old college ones that he gave her at the start of the movie when he got drafted)...

.. then he comes back and gets on the field with the team 80 points down, and his teammates welcome him even though he buggered off and let them rot playing one man short, and kicks 12.2 in the second half (with the obligatory shots of the scoreboard, with our score changing in leaps and bounds while the opposition's goes up only by a little bit), but we are still down by 5 points with 8 seconds to go and a boundary throw-in in the forward pocket ..

.. you know the rest.

Tear...

[Ghost Dog]

Re: So where are we really at?

So where are we at? Haircuts are needed! I saw one shot in the Herald recently. I'll try and find it and scan it. Liam Picken, Ryan, Tom Williams and Murph are all competing for scruff of the year. It's affecting our performance!! Absolute disgrace.
Now THIS is what we need. Slick, smooth and professional. Give em the chop rocket!

[Murphy'sLore]

Re: So where are we really at?

So where are we at? Haircuts are needed! I saw one shot in the Herald recently. I'll try and find it and scan it. Liam Picken, Ryan, Tom Williams and Murph are all competing for scruff of the year. It's affecting our performance!! Absolute disgrace.
Now THIS is what we need. Slick, smooth and professional. Give em the chop rocket!

My Nana would definitely agree with you, GD! How can they see where they're going with all that hair in their eyes?? And it's probably sapping their strength.

[ratsmac]

Re: So where are we really at?

So where are we at? Haircuts are needed! I saw one shot in the Herald recently. I'll try and find it and scan it. Liam Picken, Ryan, Tom Williams and Murph are all competing for scruff of the year. It's affecting our performance!! Absolute disgrace.
Now THIS is what we need. Slick, smooth and professional. Give em the chop rocket!

They should all go to the field with Bazza/Eagle style doos. Now that might draw the attention away from our poor form. I bet Aker would come out with some article blaming Johnno or Rocket for skin heads.

[LostDoggy]

Re: So where are we really at?

If this was a Holywood movie, we would luck our way into the Grand Final, then get smashed in the first half because our best player had to go to the airport to see off the girl-next-door who was his sick grandmother's last wish for him to get married to ...

.. who then tells him to get back to the game and 'win it for Grandma', and hands him his boots that she miraculously packed with her stuff (his old college ones that he gave her at the start of the movie when he got drafted)...

.. then he comes back and gets on the field with the team 80 points down, and his teammates welcome him even though he buggered off and let them rot playing one man short, and kicks 12.2 in the second half (with the obligatory shots of the scoreboard, with our score changing in leaps and bounds while the opposition's goes up only by a little bit), but we are still down by 5 points with 8 seconds to go and a boundary throw-in in the forward pocket ..

.. you know the rest.

--

ps. You know how they say "truth is stranger than fiction"? It would have to be for us to win this year, but seriously, stranger things have happened. See Boston Red Sox -- the scenes of them finally breaking the curse of the Bambino (see how the won it and tell me it wasn't a real curse) wasn't actually made into a movie, but had the REAL victory scenes actually INCORPORATED into The Perfect Catch, the Boston Red Sox American version of Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch (which was about following Arsenal).

If grandma can spoil we could use her in our defence...