OK, Charlie Gardiner did little on the weekend. But do we remember part of the reason we lost to West Coast and Collingwood? Forward structure - particularly the absence of a third marking forward option when Kosi goes into the ruck and King is off the ground. If Gardiner is dropped (and I'm not arg...

Really thoughtful report. Russell has an excuse when we play Port Adelaide or Geelong - he played for those guys. But he hates St Kilda. I thought Jakovich was much better on Sunday than during the West Coast game, but he has an excuse when West Coast play. He was fairer in his call, but he doesn't ...

It's almost painfully simple.

We run = We win
We don't run = We don't win

While not criticising any player in particular, it has been very hard to get excited about this week.

Partly with my head, partly to mess with karma, I have tipped the Dockers this week. But I approach the game with a dark sense of foreboding.

Remember, guys, we are very unlikely to delist anyone who is not out of contract. Rix, Fiora, Maguire & Baker are all under contract for 2009, and I believe Raph Clarke is as well. Despite Mini being delisted while under contract for 2008, he was rookie drafted and didn't end up costing us anyth...

I think the thing we miss most about Grant Thomas was the ability to get the team up. He was a motivator, while Ross Lyon believes the players are professionals and should motivate themselves, which would work if every other club thought the same way. However, Grant Thomas' neglect of the rookie lis...

I went on the stats.rleague website to see who had had played with Banger in his first game. After looking at the 20, I had a crack at what the side would have looked like lining up at the start and posted it on the "Players to play with 35" thread on this site. The side looked like this: ...

This is from my blog today. I was actually at Robert Harvey's third and fourth VFL games. Sitting in the Wormald Corporate Box at VFL Park. Actually, it was more of a partition than a box; it would be completely unrecognisable compared to the opulence offered in today's corporate facilties. I was p...

Round 19 1988 v Footscray

B Burke Frawley Jeffrey
HB Barker Elphingstone Daniels
C Coghlan Burns Nixon
HF Harvey Loewe Peter-Budge
F Kourkomelis Winmar McConville
Foll B Jones Dwyer Sheldon
Int Bowey Rice

B Frawley Hudghton Grant
HB Barker S Fisher A Jones
C Winmar Thompson Hayes
HF Riewoldt Loewe Ball
F Milne Lockett Gehrig
Foll Everitt Harvey Burke
Int Burns Peckett Cunningham Dal Santo

I attended his third and fourth game, both at Waverley, against Hawthorn and Essendon. But can't remember a thing about the games. I was eight.

Port Adelaide played very well on Sunday - their kicking efficiency would have been off the charts. We also have trouble playing at Subiaco, and combatting Port Adelaide's strategy of four blokes on Riewoldt, and hold everyone before the umpire sees (not that it would have made much difference if th...

There is no problem bring C Gardiner into the side - he always plays well first up. We just need to never play him two weeks in a row.

Can't see too many other changes. Armitage in for Ball, and Hudghton in, if fit, for either Geary or Eddy, neither of whom did an awful lot on Sunday.

As far as I know, there will be no Heritage jumpers worn this weekend. That is why the Doggies wore older jumpers against Carlton.

Someone from the club should hold a press conference, ensure they get asked a question about the umpiring from the last two weeks (poor against West Coast, eye-raisingly disgraceful against Port Adelaide), and then answer thusly: "I'll leave comments about the umpiring to those who are beyond t...

Gwilt didn't come from the rookie list because Thomas didn't believe in it. Thomas' neglect of the rookie list was easily his greatest mistake, and we are still paying for it. Since arriving, Lyon has got Attard, Jones, Eddy from the rookie list, used it to give McQualter some more time (and it has ...

Considering it is a high number, unlike 3 or 23, I think the club should leave it vacant for at least a few years.

The reason Franklin got tackled by Jones was that when the other Hawthorn player had the ball before giving it to Franklin, Buddy didn't shepherd Jones for him. Then Franklin got the ball, Jones kept running, and there was the ball game. We weren't getting beat from that point. We goes around comes ...

Considering the Eagles' priorities at the moment, expect them to err on the side of caution with regards to injury and illness.

I wouldn't worry guys. The AFL requires clash jumpers to be valid for two years, unless you apply to the league to do otherwise. Geelong did it last year to incorporate their new logo into their clash jumper, and Melbourne have said they will do it at the end of this year. Considering the second sea...

I actually think Voss was the best out of those four. Hird was the most natural footballer, and was probably capable of playing the best football, but injuries and his body shape let him down. Buckley toiled in a terrible Collingwood side for a long time. What does mark against Harvey is primarily h...

Actually, if we can beat both Collingwood and Adelaide, then fifth is not out of the question. What we really want to avoid (if we can) is a final in Brisbane. A final in Adelaide doesn't hold as much fear for me as another trip to the Gabbatoir. The bonus for a first up win in the finals is that wi...

I'm not arguing they were reportable at the time. I'm suggesting they should be reportable. Steven Baker's actions last year: Jeff Farmer played the next week. Yet it is the Riewoldt examples I mentioned that did more damage. This is one area where Rugby League have it right. The more damage that po...

It wasn't a broken leg, it was a knee reconstruction. The game was Round 3, 2002 v Port Adelaide, and the Power player in question was Damien Hardwick. He dived for the ball which was at Burke's feet, bowling him over in the process much like a ten-pin, and Burke was awarded the free kick against hi...

These days, you simply cannot let the player with the ball get goal side. I know a lot of supporters would like to see our players charge at the player with the ball and tackle them, but the result would be what I call "The Andrew Thompson Special", where your opponent gets past you as you...