Raph Clarke !!

[Huzzad]

Raph made you pathetic internet hero's eat your words tonight and will continue to do so.

I hold you to that.

Who gives a f### what you hold me to? I couldn't care less about some flog and their insipid turgid and pathetic opinions and idiotic chest beating threats to - hold me to something.

What a cabbage

And like I have said before, I am more than happy for Raph to prove me wrong, in fact I'd love for him to prove me wrong,

Well you must have been more than happy tonight. He was very good.

I am more than happy to swallow my pride in order to have a good player. As I have said before, for the amount of times I have seen this chap play, I don't see what RL sees in him. Can we move on now?

What pride? All you and the other flogs do is get on here and critisise someone you couldn't ever hold a candle to. I hear people like you at the football every week, the ones who scream the loudest and crtisise the most are the one who have never played the game, or any game for that matter.

tell you what mate. You get fit, get drafted and then go out and do better.

You people who bag and crtisise our own team and players are pathetic losers.

Hold me to that you tool.

Only person behaving like a chest thumping monkey here is you mate. Take a chill pill and settle down. I give you a civil answer and you respond like "like one of those people at the football."

As for playing the game, I have played the game mate. Got runner up best and fairest too before an ACL injury forced me to stop playing. While Raph is probably a way better player than I would have become, no question there, I do know a fair bit about the game. Is Raph you boyfriend or something? Cause you really need to relax dude. Out of all the people on here, I may have critisised Raph alot, but not as mindlessly as some.

[linz]

Whenever I see someone defending Raph, it's always someone saying something like "FFS leave him alone" or "Everybody bags him, leave him alone" or "oh look, another Raph thread!", but rarely do I see one defending his play. Is there anybody here who can tell me what Raph is good at, apart from getting caught after holding the ball for forever? I'd like to see that rather than the pathetic "leave him alone" posts which he gets just because he plays for St Kilda.

Once Goddard and Goose come back, if Raph isn't dropped by then I'm going to lose hope with Ross (selection wise) or whoever it is that keeps giving him a game.

According to the selection committee; he is in our best available 22. That's good enough for me. He is improving each week with game time. Great game by his brother X tonight too & all Northern Territorians reckon Raph is far better than X. Keep trying IMO.

[fingers]

Interesting comments by Daniher on the radio tonight....his view was you have to keep playing Raph - gets better every week and you have to back him. While he frustrates me I do think he is getting better every week and while we have players available and the match committee keep playing him....well then I'll back him.

[The_Dud]

was OK tonight, still in our bottom six tho

with Goddard and Maguire coming back, he should find it hard to keep his spot

[Ralphy]

ok he did do ok things BUT

he turned the ball over way to much and i dont think he knows what to do with a football yet
but when goddard comes back in i think he will replace Raph, as i dont think its good if we rush goose back, i want him completely fit

[The OtherThommo]

I sat right above an exchange of play on the Access One side when Raph pulled his fumbling team mates out of the shyte twice in a short exchange. Keeps his head over the pill, maintains his poise and has great balance. Plus, he has real good hands.

The potters will finish up eating their own nonsense. The kid can play - Lyon knows it, SOS knows it. The kid is finally playing with a bit of a fitness base - he will get better and better. With Max he is our other genuinely brave defender - always backs in with his head up, and that's the test.

[kaos theory]

agreed thommo...

As I said on another post, he has huge upside.

[Apu]

Im not a huge fan of the way he always double-fisted punches the ball when it comes into the defensive 50. This is fair enough for contested situations but he seems to do it alot even when he is the only player going up for the mark.

[bigmicka]

30 seconds to go in the grand final and no-one seems to want to attack. We are holding on and the ball goes forward and raph clarke takes an awesome pack mark. Siren goes and we win the flag....

30 seconds to go in the grand final and no-one seems to want to attack. We are holding on and the ball goes forward and raph clarke double fist punches the ball with no opposition player around, drops to an awaiting attacker, they kick a goal. Siren goes and they win the flag....

mic

[The Peanut]

Im not a huge fan of the way he always double-fisted punches the ball when it comes into the defensive 50. This is fair enough for contested situations but he seems to do it alot even when he is the only player going up for the mark.

... um ... perhaps he is doing what te coaches tells him to do ...

[joffaboy]

30 seconds to go in the grand final and no-one seems to want to attack. We are holding on and the ball goes forward and raph clarke double fist punches the ball with no opposition player around, drops to an awaiting attacker, they kick a goal. Siren goes and they win the flag....

mic

How could it drop to an attacker if their is no opposition player around?

Fair Dinkum, you Raph haters will even contradict yourself slag ad attack a young bloke who is getting better with every outing.

Wake up to yourself.

[Ralphy]

30 seconds to go in the grand final and no-one seems to want to attack. We are holding on and the ball goes forward and raph clarke double fist punches the ball with no opposition player around, drops to an awaiting attacker, they kick a goal. Siren goes and they win the flag....

mic

How could it drop to an attacker if their is no opposition player around?

Fair Dinkum, you Raph haters will even contradict yourself slag ad attack a young bloke who is getting better with every outing.

Wake up to yourself.

last night he was crap end of story

[satchmo]

last night he was crap end of story

I'll bet that you're not captain of the debating team !


Raph is in our best 22. Would be very surprised if he is dropped.

[BigMart]

On thin ice atm......who will BJ, Maguire, Bakes replace....they are walk up starts when fit.....Raph will play if we have a few injuries...

[maverick]

On thin ice atm......who will BJ, Maguire, Bakes replace....they are walk up starts when fit.....Raph will play if we have a few injuries...

BJ replaces a mid
Baker - Geary
Maguire - if he regains some form maybe Raph

Swap like for like

[bigmicka]

30 seconds to go in the grand final and no-one seems to want to attack. We are holding on and the ball goes forward and raph clarke double fist punches the ball with no opposition player around, drops to an awaiting attacker, they kick a goal. Siren goes and they win the flag....

mic

How could it drop to an attacker if their is no opposition player around?

Fair Dinkum, you Raph haters will even contradict yourself slag ad attack a young bloke who is getting better with every outing.

Wake up to yourself.

i just added some words to a Raph supporters previous comment. are you saying he had direction and poise with his double fist punches? he did a couple of good things that got overlooked by not knowing what to do at the other 80% of contests he was in.

Fair Dinkum, you Raph lovers had better take of your rose coloured glasses on a player who has lost confidence, that I am not sure he will get back. Hope he proves me wrong, if he doesn't hope it's not too late, to save what might be Harveys last year.

mic

[Solar]

30 seconds to go in the grand final and no-one seems to want to attack. We are holding on and the ball goes forward and raph clarke double fist punches the ball with no opposition player around, drops to an awaiting attacker, they kick a goal. Siren goes and they win the flag....

mic

How could it drop to an attacker if their is no opposition player around?

Fair Dinkum, you Raph haters will even contradict yourself slag ad attack a young bloke who is getting better with every outing.

Wake up to yourself.

i just added some words to a Raph supporters previous comment. are you saying he had direction and poise with his double fist punches? he did a couple of good things that got overlooked by not knowing what to do at the other 80% of contests he was in.

Fair Dinkum, you Raph lovers had better take of your rose coloured glasses on a player who has lost confidence, that I am not sure he will get back. Hope he proves me wrong, if he doesn't hope it's not too late, to save what might be Harveys last year.

mic

I find it strange that when king drops a mark, or hayes can't grab the ball or roo drops mark after mark or schneider has 6 clangers against the swans we don't have a thread that bashers them. It's almost like some of you want him to trip up! He does a lot of hard things that get un-noticed, set up at least on goal from just using his body very well at full back. The kid has barely played 30 odd games and yet was getting pulled back to full back to pla on larger players.

Had a very servicable game last night and had a good half dozen "star players" ahead of him in the mistake club last night.

[saintspremiers]

Ok, a lot on here (including me) have their personal biases.

I'm a bit of Raph fan, and can tolerate the odd mistake, as they are becoming fewer and fewer each match. He's got an unorthodox style of playing football which probably taints him unfairly.

It's not so much how you go about your job, but the end results that matter!

Raph is in the prime age range now to start playing his best footy, and is finally for probably the first time in his career (bar his very first season perhaps) fully match fit.

To the Raph haters: take your blinkers off and try and be fair and unbiased next week and you may watch him in a different light.

He won't be dropped this week. End of Story.

[sunsaint]

These "bag a player" arguments always amuse and infuriate me.
I tend to look at our big name/biggest pay check players and grade them harder then I do the likes of Clarke/Fiora/Blake/Rix---etc
Kosi had a shocker, he missed some dead set easy goals, NDS gathered possessions but had no impact on the game, must kick more goals each week and impose himself. Roo picked up a couple of cheap goals at the end but struggled, must learn to have one grab marks.
Those three players alone would pay for a dozen Raph's... so why should he get judged by the same standards, and not given the same leeway.

[saintbrat]

I noticed when Buff Head Hall gave Grammy one to the guts the first in to remonstrate with the big oaff was Raph !!

and to think this all started with someone actually congratulating raph for sticking up for a team mate

if the guys got bonuses for baggings Raph and Jason wuld be millionaires and Roo would be poor.

[matrix]

i watched him cut across and back straight in to fevolas path and spoil, didnt even look.
brilliant.

[B W and R all over]

Hard to see him holding his spot if they intend to use Goddard in defence.
Has no confidence in a contest and the msot annoying thing he does is run 20 metres, then start thinking about where to handball or kick it to, by which time he is in heavy traffic and has to make a hurried decision.

[nicola69]

Ok, a lot on here (including me) have their personal biases.

I'm a bit of Raph fan, and can tolerate the odd mistake, as they are becoming fewer and fewer each match. He's got an unorthodox style of playing football which probably taints him unfairly.

It's not so much how you go about your job, but the end results that matter!

Raph is in the prime age range now to start playing his best footy, and is finally for probably the first time in his career (bar his very first season perhaps) fully match fit.

To the Raph haters: take your blinkers off and try and be fair and unbiased next week and you may watch him in a different light.

He won't be dropped this week. End of Story.

And I'm another Raph fan. Yeah, he's a bit unorthodox. He has got a different way of playing but it compliments the other defenders. IMO he scores highly in a number of key counts.

What knockers of Raph should consider is this:

Don't you remember how a revolution in our style of play came about when we started to get guys like Dal, Bally, BJ, X and a few others into the team (earlyish 2000's)? What happened was that all these new skills came in that I had not seen much of in our side before. In particular, these guys play a style of game where they often hold on to the ball for a long time to draw the opposition towards them thus freeing up their own teammates. This style also permits a longer search for the best option to release the ball to (kick or by hand). I really liked it b/c all of a sudden our side was one of the most skillful in the comp. We headed up the ladder in no uncertain terms. What has this got to do with Raph? Well, in short, he was one of the additions to our list that plays this flash style of play. And he does it in defence, which is why he is interesting. I like it. I like him.

So there. With our depth, he may be under pressure for a game (like about 12 others). But if anyone gets a game ahead of him they better be good. And I don't think he is the obvious one to go for BJ to come in. I would say that Fiora, L Fisher, one of the ruckmen, Gehrig and perhaps even the aging Wall Banger would be in front of Raph.

Name and address witheld.

[The_Dud]

Apart from Raph's brain fades (repeatedly punching the ball when he goes up uncontested) which i think is his main problem, half the time when he does get the ball he passes it off to a player either already under pressure, or he puts them under pressure with a ball at their feet

IMO he is playing the exact same role Goddard did/does, so when Goddard comes back, Raph should go back to the 2's and iron out his flaws there, instead of in the seniors where it can cost us (if we play Raph against a team like Geelong we will be in trouble)

note, i want to see him succeed, and he has the potential too, but i don't wanna see it cost us goals and games, which it will against a quality side

[Solar]

Apart from Raph's brain fades (repeatedly punching the ball when he goes up uncontested) which i think is his main problem, half the time when he does get the ball he passes it off to a player either already under pressure, or he puts them under pressure with a ball at their feet

IMO he is playing the exact same role Goddard did/does, so when Goddard comes back, Raph should go back to the 2's and iron out his flaws there, instead of in the seniors where it can cost us (if we play Raph against a team like Geelong we will be in trouble)

note, i want to see him succeed, and he has the potential too, but i don't wanna see it cost us goals and games, which it will against a quality side

see how hard is it to follow mr dud's lead and actually put well conceived argument behind certain comments.

I think raph might be the type who gains alot more from playing in the same side over and over.