Hammo the hack is at it again.

[Ironmonger]

Well, I thought his article today was pretty good, to be honest.

For Hamilton to talk about Black and Rockliff in the same breath is actually a pretty big deal. He idolises Black.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Well, I thought his article today was pretty good, to be honest.

That's because he stole the idea from a tweet I sent him

Seriously though, it was a good article but him trying to spin it as "I was right at the time" is a joke when you read the original article. It was an attack on Rocky in a big way.

 

[Ironmonger]

That's because he stole the idea from a tweet I sent him

For real? Good work, TBD.

 

[Haso]

What are these...?

I searched hard within myself

 

[Sanchez365]

I've also never read those articles before and they were pretty harsh. I guess the only consolation I could say is that I would probably say something similar about a player like Ryan Griffen, and while I'm probably wrong I just have never really rated him.

That said, the reason for this is that I haven't seem him play a lot and the bulldogs are definitely not a team I have studied (which I would do if i was a journalist expected to cover), so while on one hand I can understand it is simply his opinion that he thinks Rocky isn't a good player (which I also disagree with), I can sort of understand where he's coming from.

I think if I were going to write an article about Griffen and really explain what I don't like him I would have to do a little bit of reseach and figure out my reasons. I think the problem with Hamilton is that he doesn't seem to do this and just reports off a whim.

 

[Mount Nebo]

...and now we've got Marco Monteverde having a crack (tongue-in-cheek or not) at the whole code.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...inal-controversy/story-e6frep5o-1226336819642

That'll be the last time I give too much credence to anything he pens about our local teams when he's run out of Soccer stories in the winter. I mean for goodness sakes! What does it take for us to get a journalist that either loves the sport and can treat it with enthusiasm or can actually report facts without letting ego get in the way???

 

[Hollow Knight]

I don't mind Marco. Met him at Lions training one day and seemed like a nice bloke.

I think the whole point of that article was for the two participants to take an extreme view.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Holy moly. Hammo loses the plot entirely in today's column.

A totally reactive piece about taggers, seemingly as a result of Gary Ablett's tweet and Raines apaprently giving Selwood no option but to punch him in the face.

The worst part... he suggests that umpires should pay free kicks against any player who doesn't have his eyes on the ball at stoppages. Dear god... imagine giving umpires that power to use at their discretion.

I've never got the big furore over taggers. If they infringe, pay a free kick, if not, play on. Forwards have been "tagged" by defenders since the game began. Why makes mids so special?

 

[jackess]

Has he ever played footy? Not necessarily at a high level, but at any level.

 

[Quigley]

He played for Balmain in the Sydney competition.

 

[Haggis McHaggis]

Am I the only one that saw that tweet & thought Gazza was sulking over Raines beating him & hurting his knee in the process?

 

[Bucking Beads]

I get dumber every time i read an article by Andrew Hamilton.

 

[Last of the Roys]

Am I the only one that saw that tweet & thought Gazza was sulking over Raines beating him & hurting his knee in the process?

Yeah it was definitely due to that.

I can't stand this whole anti-tagger crusade. In particular I can't stand how some star players are given special treatment by the umpires over anyone else.

Why the hell do umps get told to watch only certain players off the ball in case they get scragged? Ablett, Selwood, Murphy and Judd are prime examples. Black gets tagged week in and week out and has been for most of his career however he rarely gets paid free kicks off the ball in a stoppage.

It infuriates me when we play these sort of teams and you just know the umps have been told to keep their eyes out only for the star mids of the opposition. I have heard Giesch talk about this before - admitting they look out for certain players, but he has never been so blatant to admit the exact nature of what I am suggesting (that umps go into games with specific instructions to watch certain players around the stoppages for free kicks against them - and that this could mean keeping an eye out for players from just one of the two teams playing).

 

[Fatcat08]

Think I saw this posted somewhere else before but Forwards have been dealing with close attention since the game started, what makes midfielders so precious?

Can bet your bottom dollar that most forwards have copped worse than what's being dished out in the middle during a game as far as niggle goes, especially given most of the attention is diverted to the contest.

A large part of the game is devoted to denying your opponent the ball, can't see how they now say that's a no go. I don't for a minute advocate complete freedom to stop someone getting to the ball but they're taking it a bit far for mine.

Like LOTR pointed out its a select few that are getting the attention. The Black example is a good one, likewise Thompson from the crows. He gets tagged most weeks (or weeks i've seen anyway) but you don't hear boo about it?

Just seems there's a major prevalence of whining going on from some midfielders about tagging lately. They seem to think they should be allowed a completely free run at the ball without anyone interfering.

If some taggers are going a bit overboard on what is within the rules then i've got no problem them getting pinged, but it seems its a little strange that all the complaints about taggers only come from 4-5 of the 18 or more players that get tagged week in week out.

 

[mINORITY]

Holy moly. Hammo loses the plot entirely in today's column.

A totally reactive piece about taggers, seemingly as a result of Gary Ablett's tweet and Raines apaprently giving Selwood no option but to punch him in the face.

The worst part... he suggests that umpires should pay free kicks against any player who doesn't have his eyes on the ball at stoppages. Dear god... imagine giving umpires that power to use at their discretion.

I've never got the big furore over taggers. If they infringe, pay a free kick, if not, play on. Forwards have been "tagged" by defenders since the game began. Why makes mids so special?

It wouldn't be so bad if it were all mids who were protected like this. Hate watching a great player like Black get scragged every game, whereas certain players are always being protected.

 

[Viceregal]

It wouldn't be so bad if it were all mids who were protected like this. Hate watching a great player like Black get scragged every game, whereas certain players are always being protected.

Protection is not just a factor for the mids - how often have we seen Browny crushed under a pile of defenders as he practically piggy backs them to the contest for no free only to see stuff far less obvious and equally against the rules lead to free (and goal) down the other end for the opposition's forward?

Maybe what it really means is that the 'protected ones' can't perform as well as desired (re entertainment value) when properly tagged and it is really a sign of respect that Black and Brown don't get it - I mean how many goals would Browny have by now if he got paid all of the frees he should have received over the years!

 

[Caiphus]

Whinging about taggers is one thing, but where is the whinging about all the illegal blocking that goes on that allows players like Gablett and Judda$ to get their hands on the pill first the rest of the time?

 

[The Flying Belgian]

Whinging about taggers is one thing, but where is the whinging about all the illegal blocking that goes on that allows players like Gablett and Judda$ to get their hands on the pill first the rest of the time?

Well technically it's not illegal if it's within 5 metres of the ball and the player isn't competing in a ruck contest.

On that point though, if they start pinging taggers for blocking around ruck contests I'll be pissed. The one Raines had paid against him when Selwood was (allegedly) third man up was ridiculous.

 

[Jorgo]

While I haven't read any of them there seems to be journos everywhere falling over themselves this morning to apologise to Karmichael.... hope for Hammo & Rocky yet?

 

[Haggis McHaggis]

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for him to admit a mistake.

 

[Jorgo]

The AFL has attacked Channel 7 over its coverage and is set to sell rights for the next 10 years for at least $1 billion.

Now there are reports that TESLTRA is sniffing around after the rights. My god - Telstra? At least Seven has experience in how to manage broadcasting. Telstra cannot even get it right with telephones so why on Earth do they think they can handle the footy?

Yeah I know, just being a little cheeky

 

[Cousin Jed]

Hammo, who may have had his Swans goggles on, says we stuffed up our recruiting.

Instead of Josh Green we could have had Swan Luke Parker. (Also says the recruiting staff wanted Parker but were overruled by the Football department), And Instead of Callum Bartlett we could have had Swan Sam Reid.

And The Fevola trade ****ed us up for 10 years.

Ok Hammo, which BF username are you posting under? Come on, you know you want to reveal yourself!

 

[Bucking Beads]

The whole article was just one big slap for the club. He made no new points at all. We have heard it all before but he keeps bringing it up because he has nothing better to do. Can't believe he still has a job. Courier Mail is utter trash.

 

[BuntonRules]

At least today was about the Lions. All week there has been a GC focus - they have their own newspaper. Seems to me the CM is more interested in being relevant down there than worrying about informing Brisbane about there team. AH's influence?

 

[harvester]

I think our recruiting mAY HAVE A BIT TO ANSWER for in a years time if players arent stepping up. Though it is easy to say his comments with the benefit hindsight.