Opinion Commentary and media

[Lavy_Panther]

http://www.foxsports.com.au/video?vc=208

Two videos of it here.

The NMFC round table discussion doesn't load for me.

Why must life toy with me like this?

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

The NMFC round table discussion doesn't load for me.

Why must life toy with me like this?

The 2 min 54 sec one should, the 10 min is the subscription one.

 

[Twinkletoes]

I was surprise to hear Gerard Healy say Jmac struggles with his decision making when under pressure.

I think he was just grouping all of our HBFer types together. I was surprised he was able to name any of them.

 

[Lavy_Panther]

The 2 min 54 sec one should, the 10 min is the subscription one.

Ah, ok. Explains it.

Though it doesn't explain why it just looks like it's infinitely loading. Shouldn't it tell me that I can't watch it?

Where's giantroo when you need him...

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

Ah, ok. Explains it.

Though it doesn't explain why it just looks like it's infinitely loading. Shouldn't it tell me that I can't watch it?

Where's giantroo when you need him...

Hibernating.

 

[Twinkletoes]

GR's O/S ATM but will be back soon.

 

[Wild Kangaroo]

Bruce and Dennis l believe enjoy calling our games, l don't mind them so much. Huddo, Dennis and Leigh Matthews for me.

Huddo, Sh!ts me, especially with the 13, 13 call

 

[Wild Kangaroo]

Dwayne Russell's voice has always given me the shits...even if he had great things to say I'd probably still refuse to listen based on the grating voice of his. Brian Taylor is downright crap, Bruce was once great but now is past his use-by date, likewise with Cometti. Luke Darcy is garbage.

Anthony Hudson I don't mind, Drew Morphett was fantastic and I think now finds himself without a gig.....yet Brian Taylor still does. Go figure. Clinton Grybas was brilliant, and Sandy Roberts is great too.

The sad thing is that the s**t commentators outweigh the great ones by a country mile.

Yes Sandy Roberts and Drew Morphett are excellent

 

[Augustine]

I was surprise to hear Gerard Healy say Jmac struggles with his decision making when under pressure.

I actually thought this was actually an extremely insightful point (and I'm not exactly Healy's biggest fan). Atley, Wright and to much lesser extent MacMillan do have decision making issues coming out of defence. To the extent where we've put Dal Santo back there to solve that issue. Mullett in 2013 was exceptional coming out of defence but (for now) he's not an option though a big part of our future.

For Atley it seems to be a confidence thing (they also discussed this, Kingy saying he does it at trainings but not games). When contesting a footy on the deck he's top ten in the comp accroding to Kingy and that doesnt surprise me at all. When he's got the ball running out of the back 50 trying to "break a line" very often his next kick lets him down (saw this a few times in the NAB albeit running inside 50). He's actually got the skill set, its all about confidence. Needs to speak to LT.

Wright for all his ability in reading the play, knowing when to leave his man, decent skills, pace and contested ability, his actual decision making lets him down regularly in my opinion. And JMac (who suffers this problem far less than the other two) I think its more his skill-set that occasionally lets him down rather than decision making per se. MacMillan has other issues that are more important to deal with.

In any case these three are a huge part of our season this year. People ask where does the improvement come from? Apart from the additions of Waite, Higgins and virtually Wells and Swallow, as well as the natural progression of our younger mids, these three in the backline are crucial. If the penny drops with Atley, if Wright can play to his potential, if MacMillan can learn a bit about winning contests from Firrito or his mate Atley, we're gonna be in a very good position. These three "spike" and look out AFL.

 

[kangaspurs]

The NMFC round table discussion doesn't load for me.

Why must life toy with me like this?

The 2 min 54 sec one should, the 10 min is the subscription one.

Try opening the page that the videos on in an incognito window. It should work then regardless of whether you have a subscription or not.

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

Try opening the page that the videos on in an incognito window. It should work then regardless of whether you have a subscription or not.

Didn't know that thanks, I've been tinkering with hola over the nab series as well, very useful.

 

[kangaspurs]

Didn't know that thanks, I've been tinkering with hola over the nab series as well, very useful.

No worries. I've got no idea what hola is, care to inform me?

 

[Passmore]

Yep Agree great viewing mentioned all our Best Players new recruits etc Question mark on the backline.....but one player they talked about being an X Factor if he can take the next step is Atley...

The only thing I didn't like was the close ups of Jono Brown's nose hairs...

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

No worries. I've got no idea what hola is, care to inform me?

Basically changes ip address to any country, so netflix and any American sites that would only work in the USA now works with it, just a plugin near any internet browser sidebar.

 

[Lavy_Panther]

Think I'm geo-blocked from watching it anyway.

Have tried private browsing and doesn't load. Have logged into my news subscription and still won't work.

Bastards.

As an aside - is anyone a member of [insert AFL video site]? Amazing archive of downloadable footy videos. I was a member but didn't log in for ages and now they've banned my account. Need an invite code to sign up again. Can't bloody get one.

 

[TooUglyForFugly]

That is dodgy.

 

[Lavy_Panther]

I'm a member mate. How do I give you an invite code?

You beauty, beauty.

Have no idea. It just asks for one on the sign up page. I'll have a dig around and see if I can get some answers and get back to you, thanks mate

 

[Shermanator]

Only a small thing, but has anyone else noticed that both Lindsay Thomas and Majak Daw have ceased to have a surname. They are almost always referred to a "Lindsay Thomas" and "Majak Daw" instead of just "Thomas" and "Daw." It's like there is someone else with their surnames in the team...except there isn't. It's like their the David Villas of the AFL. Almost every commentator is guilty of it, but Dwayne never goes with just the surname. Only a small thing but it's as annoying as hell. It'd be a good drinking game if only Majak Daw got the ball more often...

I heard a good conversation on SEN with Rohan Connolly last weekend. He was basically saying that the problem is that there were simply too many journos/commentators for whom covering the footy was just their job - they liked the game but weren't really passionate about it. Also, the number of media meant that each one had to scramble to 'find' a story to get ahead of the others. Hence, beat-ups, exaggerations, misunderstandings and flagrant untruths.

Which leads me to Jon Ralph. "The Buzz" (what a crock) is the chief hack an a world of hacks. If you can ever stand it, just listen to what he says about football. In no time you'll realise he knows jack s**t about it. He employs one of the same three strategies I employ when someone brings up a topic of conversation with me that I've heard about, but don't care enough or aren't smart enough to know the details.

1. State the obvious but overblow it to sound like you being forthright.
2. Take a simplistic stand on a complex issue without ever properly examining it.
3. Over-analyse or reiterate a more simple issue just to try sound like you know more about it than you do.

It's not like he's even got a good journalistic writing style. I pick on him a bit, but I think he exemplifies everything wrong with footy journalism.

As for TV coverage...

1. Less is more. 2 callers, 1 comment, 1 on the boundary. That's it. Just because more people are talking doesn't mean more is being said.
2. Just call the game. Don't talk amongst yourselves about anything.
3. People are watching because of the game - not you. Drop the catchphrases, cliches, phony excitement and promoting how great the other commentators are.
4. Keep it simple. "War Rooms", guys parroting stats that sound analytical but mean nothing to the viewer and the belief that every moment of the game is the result of some pre-ordained plan are plain boring.
5. Shut up. If you have a choice between saying it in a dozen words or 50 words. Go the dozen every time,

100% spot on MM - Ralphy is the biggest WayneKerr of them all!!

 

[Tas]

maybe the solution in the Backline is Hansen actually playing on their key forward

I think Brown nailed it when he said Hansen doesn't play like a key defender. Hansen is probably one of our most important defenders due to his ability to intercept mark, that is because when it comes to 1v1 marking contests the likes of Grima, Firrito and Thompson leak a lot of goals, especially against power forwards. They are just too small to hold up physically. Both Thompson and Grima can be good one weak, shithouse the next, and a lot depends on if Hansen is at CHB forcing the delivery to go wide and indirect. We just concede way too many marks inside our defensive 50, especially uncontested marks.

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

I think Brown nailed it when he said Hansen doesn't play like a key defender. Hansen is probably one of our most important defenders due to his ability to intercept mark, that is because when it comes to 1v1 marking contests the likes of Grima, Firrito and Thompson leak a lot of goals, especially against power forwards. They are just too small to hold up physically. Both Thompson and Grima can be good one weak, shithouse the next, and a lot depends on if Hansen is at CHB forcing the delivery to go wide and indirect. We just concede way too many marks inside our defensive 50, especially uncontested marks.

Great point, there was no coincidence between Hansens good form and lower opposition scores, ie freo game, they had no idea how to score.

 

[Tas]

Great point, there was no coincidence between Hansens good form and lower opposition scores, ie freo game, they had no idea how to score.

When they talked about us getting sodomised in the finals by big forwards, they didn't highlight that Hansen was missing from those games. This allowed the opposition to go right up the corridor and it killed us.

I do think we need two big key defenders who are more capable of reducing the number of marks their opponent gets, then when someone like Hansen is available then that supply will be constricted a lot further. Without Hansen around I thought Tippett and Tarrant held up okay as key defenders in the practice matches.

The problem is we wont be able to field Tarrant/Tippett/Hansen/Thompson/Firrito in the same back line, once the ball hits the ground we would be cactus.

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

When they talked about us getting sodomised in the finals by big forwards, they didn't highlight that Hansen was missing from those games. This allowed the opposition to go right up the corridor and it killed us.

I do think we need two big key defenders who are more capable of reducing the number of marks their opponent gets, then when someone like Hansen is available then that supply will be constricted a lot further. Without Hansen around I thought Tippett and Tarrant held up okay as key defenders in the practice matches.

The problem is we wont be able to field Tarrant/Tippett/Hansen/Thompson/Firrito in the same back line, once the ball hits the ground we would be cactus.

Plus the positioning when the opposition are on the rebound by Hansen is first class, reads the ball and play extraordinarily well.

 

[Dirty_11]

I don't think Atley's decision making is poor, it's his execution that lets him down. A lot of this has to do with running at pace but I also believe his kicking mechanics aren't as natural as others. Whereas Wright has a very good kick but chooses the wrong option occasionally. Healy's mention of J Mac having poor decision making just confused me, I think it was just convenient to group them all together.

 

[Dirty_11]

When they talked about us getting sodomised in the finals by big forwards, they didn't highlight that Hansen was missing from those games. This allowed the opposition to go right up the corridor and it killed us.

I do think we need two big key defenders who are more capable of reducing the number of marks their opponent gets, then when someone like Hansen is available then that supply will be constricted a lot further. Without Hansen around I thought Tippett and Tarrant held up okay as key defenders in the practice matches.

The problem is we wont be able to field Tarrant/Tippett/Hansen/Thompson/Firrito in the same back line, once the ball hits the ground we would be cactus.

Getting smashed in the middle was the main factor in this so called sodomisation.

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

I don't think Atley's decision making is poor, it's his execution that lets him down. A lot of this has to do with running at pace but I also believe his kicking mechanics aren't as natural as others. Whereas Wright has a very good kick but chooses the wrong option occasionally. Healy's mention of J Mac having poor decision making just confused me, I think it was just convenient to group them all together.

This, Jmac is one of our best decision makers.