what is more useful..tits on a bull, or Raph Clarke?

[fonz_#15]

someone please, please enlighten me.

[stevos2151]

I'd take tits on a bull anyday.

[st_Trav_ofWA]

i though raph wasnt too bad last night
he was always going to be out muscled by wirrapunda but he didnt do any of his trade mark panic and buthcer the ball last night

[RooandKosi]

what the ?? raph is awesome you twits give him a break he will run our half back line next year along with gilbert its gonna be awesome!!

Birss was good last night what the hell drugs are you people on???

Milne was awesome wheres he's credit???

hayes was stellar.

Baker couldve stopped cousins god damn it but thats our fault for telling BAKER to tell the truth IDIOTS!!!

We should have won last night and we should have BAKER this week has been a nightmare

Oh well we can still make the finals!

[ben_fff]

his ball use was decent but he has the same problem as all of our defenders, he simply overruns the ball every time and has too slow of a turn.

[st_Trav_ofWA]

what the ?? raph is awesome you twits give him a break he will run our half back line next year along with gilbert its gonna be awesome!!

Birss was good last night what the hell drugs are you people on???

Milne was awesome wheres he's credit???

hayes was stellar.

Baker couldve stopped cousins god damn it but thats our fault for telling BAKER to tell the truth IDIOTS!!!

We should have won last night and we should have BAKER this week has been a nightmare

Oh well we can still make the finals!

i agree raph was good last night
milne prob played the best team game ive seen from a "greedy forward "
Lenny looked like a man possesed and played great
birss did some good things but then did some shockers to make it look like he had a worse game then he did

[RooandKosi]

Birss aint very skilled but what a tackler??? his pressure was great we just dont seem to have the fitness. If we can gain the fitness required for Lyons plan christ we'll be unstopable next year!!

[carn_sainter]

raph is more useful than tits on a bull...indeed, he's rather useful

tits on a bull are markedly more useful - almost exponentially so - than fonz_#15

[Zippy]

Why post this after he's played a good game? He's played bad games this year, but yesterday wasn't one of them.

[LTN16]

i though raph wasnt too bad last night
he was always going to be out muscled by wirrapunda but he didnt do any of his trade mark panic and buthcer the ball last night

I agree.

He was one of our better players last night.

[Duggie]

Raph passed muster for me last night. He is agonisingly slow in disposal at times but this could be largely due to the lack of leads from team mates- one of our major faults. At least he delivers with fair accuracy which is mpore than some others (Gram, L Fisher) do on occasions.
And why does the latter kick into an opponent and get a handball smothered so often?

[Otiman]

Fair go, Raph did well last night, playing effectively full back.

[fonz_#15]

how can you say he played well?? he is awful. i have stuck up for him in the past but no longer will i tolerate some of our rubbish players. some supporters are so prone to tolerating mediocrity.

he looks lost whenever he gets the prune..it may not be his fault, but he shouldn't be playing afl atm. give him a opre-season and hopefully he will come good.

[Otiman]

Obviously you weren't watching the same game I was, fonz.

[fonz_#15]

Obviously you weren't watching the same game I was, fonz.

he had a bit of the ball last night, but imo he doesnt hurt the opposition with his ball use.

[redwhite&blackblood]

Raph is suffering from lack of preseason due to his debilitating back injury. This coupled with lack of confidence at the minute is why he coughs up the ball a bit . He will be better with a preseason and a few good games under his belt.

[Otiman]

Is low on confidence, and these string of half decent games should help him there. I wrote 2007 off for him when he couldn't even bend over to pick up a ball, let alone run during the preseason.

[midas_touch]

Raph looked very lost out there last night. Needs a solid, uninterrupted pre season first before we make any moves about delisting/trading him. Just hope he drastically improves his decision making skills.

[meher baba]

I don't understand how anyone can say that Raph was actually "good" last night: he made heaps of mistakes and often looked rather uncertain with the ball in his hands.

But during the game he did a number of things that showed the enormous potential he has. He got into good positions to take marks, and then unfortunately dropped them. (Actually, I thought his positional play was better than usual last night.)

He made some really good handballs under enormous pressure. And he showed some courage at times.

Like others such as BJ before him, Raph gets a huge amount of bagging on this forum (and I do wish the moderators - or forum administrators or whoever - would do something about the clown who calls himself The Dud and displays Raph's picture as an avatar: or am I the only person on here who gets offended by this act of disloyalty and outright rudeness?).

But, if you have any eye for emerging AFL talent, you can see Raph could still really turn into anything. He has seemingly limitless untapped ability. I worry about his attitude and his perhaps fragile body (last night showed once again why there is a huge question mark over whether or not X is sufficiently physically robust to sustain a career in the AFL).

So give him a go guys and gals. Please.

[fonz_#15]

good post Meher, I think Raph will come good, its just frustrating that he is played when he is underdone, and lacking polish at the top level.

[True Blue Sainter]

How come though, whenever Raph gets the ball, even in 50m of space, he stands still and doesn't RUN the ball forward...?

[fonz_#15]

How come though, whenever Raph gets the ball, even in 50m of space, he stands still and doesn't RUN the ball forward...?

its all about confidence TBS.. the kid needed tojust stay at casey for the rest of the season before having a full pre-season and then being thrown back into the senior side.

[True Blue Sainter]

I think you're right too Fonz... I also think he was thrown into the deep end a bit on Wirrpunda - he's definitely not the ideal match up for him. Attard (from the start) would have been the better option, or maybe L Fisher??

Anyhow, I hope that Raph can get a full preseason under his belt and convert some of his talent into consistent performances in the AFL over the 2008 season.....

[Dan Warna]

1. raph is what 21? I can remember similar comments on the monty at a similar age. If raph continues his development on par with monty and achieves similar consistency at 23, he will be a very good player indeed. Glad RL didn't listen to the 'tradebaiters' regarding monty.

2. why the implied denigration of tits? while tits on a bull may not be the ideal location, in general tits are good.

and to quote a great scholar and gentleman of history...

"hooters hooters big and small, hooters hooters love them all'.

the great sage "al Bundy'

close the thread all that needs to be said has been.

[Leo.J]

God these threads are pathetic and boring...

We've had these in the past for BJ, Sam Fisher, Joey and the list goes on.

Raph is 21 yo and has played 29 games.

Have a think back a try to remember some other players at that age and level of senior expierence.

The guy has been almost crippled with injury for a season, and has had a very interupted pre season.

To bag him shows little understanding of how players develop, and a very short memory.

Not many players are burning the house down having only played 29 games.

Give the guy a break FFS.