Same old same old

[dominguez]

Looks like we will get more of the same this week, Connolly just said on channnel nine that Parker will play against the crows. Duffman and Big nockers will be slected too.

 

[ImperialPurple]

Yeah, naming Parker sure surprised me....

Which 3 go out??




You know, I wish - I really, really, really wish - that we were in a better position right now. Not for myself as a supporter (although that would be nice), but for CC. Top bloke - still manages to keep his sense of humour and "play nicely" with the media when everything appears to be crashing and burning around him.... For his sake, and for everything he has put in and done for this club, I wish things were looking better. I hope when he goes (and I do believe it will be a "when", not an "if") - I hope the club / board afford him some dignity and acknowledge the positives, and not just focus on the negatives. Good man that Connolly.

 

[chook2734]

Yeah, naming Parker sure surprised me....

Which 3 go out??




You know, I wish - I really, really, really wish - that we were in a better position right now. Not for myself as a supporter (although that would be nice), but for CC. Top bloke - still manages to keep his sense of humour and "play nicely" with the media when everything appears to be crashing and burning around him.... For his sake, and for everything he has put in and done for this club, I wish things were looking better. I hope when he goes (and I do believe it will be a "when", not an "if") - I hope the club / board afford him some dignity and acknowledge the positives, and not just focus on the negatives. Good man that Connolly.

IP, I'd love CC to get a go somewhere else. I honestly believe that if he didn't have to deal with the garbage that comes with being the coach of Freo that he could be a very, very good coach. His ability to deal with pressure has been exceptional for the past 6 years, and now that the blow-torch is truly on he is still dignified. I still remember poor Drummy when barra took it upon himself to sack him - he honestly didn't see it coming. I think CC will be waiting for the tap on his shoulder - he certainly won't be taken by surprise when the time comes.

 

[Kenny_01]

Yeah, naming Parker sure surprised me....

Which 3 go out??




You know, I wish - I really, really, really wish - that we were in a better position right now. Not for myself as a supporter (although that would be nice), but for CC. Top bloke - still manages to keep his sense of humour and "play nicely" with the media when everything appears to be crashing and burning around him.... For his sake, and for everything he has put in and done for this club, I wish things were looking better. I hope when he goes (and I do believe it will be a "when", not an "if") - I hope the club / board afford him some dignity and acknowledge the positives, and not just focus on the negatives. Good man that Connolly.

Hopefully Sandi (rest), Walker, Macca and Murphy (susp).

ins should be Duffield, Foster, Warnock and Ibbo.

i think might be worthwhile throwing Drum in as well...

 

[dominguez]

You know, I wish - I really, really, really wish - that we were in a better position right now. Not for myself as a supporter (although that would be nice), but for CC. Top bloke - still manages to keep his sense of humour and "play nicely" with the media when everything appears to be crashing and burning around him.... For his sake, and for everything he has put in and done for this club, I wish things were looking better. I hope when he goes (and I do believe it will be a "when", not an "if") - I hope the club / board afford him some dignity and acknowledge the positives, and not just focus on the negatives. Good man that Connolly.

Drummy was a nice guy too, it would be a shame if Connolly was treated in a similar fashion. I guess the only positive of the Connolly/Schwab relationship is that Connolly won't have to suffer the same lack of respect.

 

[poshman]

that wont happen as that would be as good as admitting the season is over.

They will take bigger bodies over (which means same old same old) to contest with the big bodies of the crows.



Unfortunatley we will have this scenario until we are mathematically out of the eight not just needing to beat Ade, gee and wce in the next three weeks.

(I mean bringing in Duff,foster, warnock,ibbotson and drum)

 

[ImperialPurple]

Hopefully Sandi (rest), Walker, Macca and Murphy (susp).

ins should be Duffield, Foster, Warnock and Ibbo.

i think might be worthwhile throwing Drum in as well...

CC said on Ch9 tonight that the ins are Parker, Warnock and Duffield, and that the Match Committee will meet tomorrow to finalise the team changes.

 

[Jetau]

Yep, I wish CC all the best too. I actually think he would go OK at Melbourne or even Hawthorn (which isn't looking too likely at the moment with them winning).

I know it would be a big slap in the face for him if he was to be sacked now, but don't you think it might be an idea to start preparing for the future? I would like to see Harvey as caretaker coach for the next 7 games, which could serve as his audition for the job. Which is not to say that he's necessarily the best man for the job, but he could show his wares for 7 weeks.

If CC is just marking time until his inevitable sacking (which seems a sure thing short of a 2006 style revival), then I don't think Fremantle FC are being well served.

Say if we lost the next 2 games, would you support him standing down then? Food for thought...

 

[dominguez]

IP, I'd love CC to get a go somewhere else. I honestly believe that if he didn't have to deal with the garbage that comes with being the coach of Freo that he could be a very, very good coach. His ability to deal with pressure has been exceptional for the past 6 years, and now that the blow-torch is truly on he is still dignified. I still remember poor Drummy when barra took it upon himself to sack him - he honestly didn't see it coming. I think CC will be waiting for the tap on his shoulder - he certainly won't be taken by surprise when the time comes.

I think he'll get a gig elsewhere, and I think he'll do well. But to suggest that the Freo coaching job is a poisoned chalice is nonsense. 2004 we underachieved. 2005 was worse. The first half of 2006 was shocking. So far 2007 has been embarrassing.

Connolly can coach, but for whatever reason there was a wedge driven between him and a large group of players a couple of years ago. They tried blaming Larcom, and Harvey and Shaw were brought in to try to smooth over the cracks. If given another opportunity CC will learn from his mistakes, but his time is up at Fremantle.

 

[dominguez]

i think might be worthwhile throwing Drum in as well...

Connolly said on 6PR that Drum will get his opportunities this year.

He also conceded that Murphy and Mundy have gone backwards.

 

[dominguez]

I know it would be a big slap in the face for him if he was to be sacked now, but don't you think it might be an idea to start preparing for the future? I would like to see Harvey as caretaker coach for the next 7 games, which could serve as his audition for the job. Which is not to say that he's necessarily the best man for the job, but he could show his wares for 7 weeks.

Mike Sheahan suggested that if we lose to the crows then Connolly won't coach us against the cats.

 

[freocynic]

I have seen several times this year where clubs are playing draftees from last years draft and these kids are firing.

So what we are saying is that we have a selection problem with the kids we draft. We are not picking the kids that are walk up starts.

Is this a problem with a recruiting manager?? or is it because we traded away our picks???

We have a BIG PROBLEM with our recruiting manager. The coach may have the final say on who we recruit, but he gets a lot of input from is recruiting manager. He is CC's (and was Drum, and Neesham's eyes and ears at WAFL, VFL, SANFL & state under 18's carnivals, anywhere we can find footballer's.....Ireland maybe...probably not, too obvious!!!) He has been there from the start and hardly ever gets mentioned - but some of his recruits/trades do. Usually for the wrong reasons. His name is Phil Smart.

Smart by name, not so smart by nature

 

[malpaso]

I think the key is: Who cares about WAFL form?????

Leave it alone, let it die...

There are players in the AFL who are good players who dont play all too well at WAFL type levels and there are players who do. Really it's just a window to certain AFL type qualities that coaches/selectors pick up on.

If you get put into the AFL selected side, play your guts out that's what your paid to do.

 

[malpaso]

You know, I wish - I really, really, really wish - that we were in a better position right now. Not for myself as a supporter (although that would be nice), but for CC. Top bloke - still manages to keep his sense of humour and "play nicely" with the media when everything appears to be crashing and burning around him.... For his sake, and for everything he has put in and done for this club, I wish things were looking better. I hope when he goes (and I do believe it will be a "when", not an "if") - I hope the club / board afford him some dignity and acknowledge the positives, and not just focus on the negatives. Good man that Connolly.

Yeah your right IP, however that does not an AFL coach make.

He's just not mongrel enough to get to the player's at Freo.

 

[theGav56]

Drummy was a nice guy too, it would be a shame if Connolly was treated in a similar fashion. I guess the only positive of the Connolly/Schwab relationship is that Connolly won't have to suffer the same lack of respect.

Nothing to do with whether they are nice guys or not, the way Drum was sacked was disgraceful episode in the clubs history, and if that type of thing is repeated then it is shame for the club.

 

[Slacker]

We have a BIG PROBLEM with our recruiting manager. The coach may have the final say on who we recruit, but he gets a lot of input from is recruiting manager. He is CC's (and was Drum, and Neesham's eyes and ears at WAFL, VFL, SANFL & state under 18's carnivals, anywhere we can find footballer's.....Ireland maybe...probably not, too obvious!!!) He has been there from the start and hardly ever gets mentioned - but some of his recruits/trades do. Usually for the wrong reasons. His name is Phil Smart.

Smart by name, not so smart by nature

Not to sure on that one FC. Does Smart have anything to do with the elephant hunting that we indulge in every trade period? Once you hear a big name on the trade table you just know that freo is there waving draft picks around.

Funny thing is that we may have been better off getting Jon Hay, might have put them off trading for a while.

 

[Lach72]

I know there are numerous threads about the team selected for this week's game v Norf, but I dunno, I just felt like addressing this "issue" in its own thread, and asking the question... Is anyone else disturbed by the selections for this week?

I know I am - it is just "same old same old"... The same old tried and unfortunately not necessarily "true" players, getting wheeled out time and again to try and win a "must win" game, when they have not exactly been all that successful in winning these games thus far this season...

There's nothing new, nothing different... Just the same old same old...

Like I said in another thread - the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result. If you always do what you've always done, then you'll always get what you've always got... You can't continue to do the same thing over and over, yet expect a different outcome.


The team:

FREMANTLE
B: Roger Hayden, Luke McPharlin, Scott Thornton
HB: Heath Black, Antoni Grover, Steven Dodd
C: Des Headland, Josh Carr, Shaun McManus
HF: Ryan Murphy, Matthew Pavlich, Dean Solomon
F: Jeff Farmer, Chris Tarrant, Robert Warnock
FOLL: Aaron Sandilands, Michael Johnson, Peter Bell
I/C (from): Byron Schammer, Paul Hasleby, Matthew Carr, David Mundy, James Walker, Shane Parker, Daniel Gilmore


My thoughts:
Parker: Two games into his return, and he's really not done much at all. 34 years old, not going to be here next year, wonderful servant but TIME IS UP.

Walker: Yes he carves up the WAFL, but he is not the way forward. He carved up the pre-season as well, but has not done a lot when in the Freo side. He has not been "bad" as such, but really, he's just not very good, and surely his inclusion is hindering the development and prospects of guys like Foster and Ibbotson for next season and beyond...

Gilmore: I just don't get it. Yes he played well against Carlton - but who didn't? It was a 13 goal shellacking... If Sandi and Warners are both playing then he's not in there as a back-up ruckman... so what will his role be???

MCarr: Has been out of form all year, yet will probably play every game, just like last year... He's slow, lacks commitment, turns the ball over as often as not.. I'm not quite ready to say "he's finished", but surely he needs to be shown that his place is not a given, and he needs to work hard for it. This week would have been perfect to send him back to EF, with them playing Subi... but no he gets wheeled out to provide us with more of the same. Surely Crowley was not playing any worse than he was and yet he was dropped. Crowley could come in and do MCarr's role better than MCarr IMO.

Mundy: The guy many of us were hailing as "the next James Hird" is now the whipping boy because of his perceived softness. If he's out of form - drop him for a couple of weeks. Tell him until he can display some hardness for Subi, then there are others who will play ahead of him.

Macca is doing enough to hold his spot, IMO. Good to see Murphy playing - he had a quiet game last week for Souths by all accounts, but he was doing alright prior to that and he is part of the future. He needs a few games in a row to find his feet and show if he can perform consistently at this level. I have no issue with his non-selection up to this point, but I do believe they have got it right with this one.

Now we do have a fair few injuries to the guys outside the 22, so that does make it difficult to bring others in who have been playing well in the WAFL, but IMO, others who could / maybe should be considered:
Foster (duh - consistently in EF's best; what more can the guy do?);
Ibbotson (give him some decent game time and tell him to get in there, get the ball and do what he does best - get it into the forward line);
Drum (Ok so he hasn't been setting the world alight for Perth, but some guys just perform better at the higher level - he might just be one of those people. The guy has class).
Crowley (has played well in each of his outings for Subi - has he "learnt his lesson"?).


I dunno - I just get the feeling that this weekend it will not be pretty... All these players who have been doing SFA all season are running out there again... We are a team of largely soft geriatric underperformers at the moment, and something really needs to change...

Shuffling the same players into different positions isn't really doing "something different" (MJ on the ball, Tarrant at FF, Murphy on HFF), it's just playing it safe while giving the impression of trying something new. But the irony is that the "safe option" is actually not that at all... and it gets back to the "doing the same thing yet expecting a different result" thing.

Came across this and thought I'd bring it up to re-emphahise how much thing's have changed.

 

[Lach72]

I was looking at Geelong.
Hawkins, Selwood, Varcoe. Regulars
Collingwood in the last two years.
Dick, Thomas, Goldsack, Clarke. Regulars
Carlton:Gibbs,Murphy.
Port: Westhoff, Gray
That's just a few...so lets wait some more and keep playing the same players who keep taking us to the heights ...If you don't give them an extended run, not 1 game and then out, we will never get anywhere...and we will keep playing shitand going backwards.

OBrien, Cloke, Pendlebury, Toovey to add a few more.

Also this...Mick and his recruiting team had some idea, hey?

 

[dominguez]

There was so much experience in that side, it's incredible how badly 2007 went. Also illustrates how terrible the list management was, just no one to pick under 21 apart from warnock. Compared to now where half the side has played fewer than 50 games.

Great to re-read some posts from my old pal Roundhouse too, wasn't he a light hearted fellow.....

 

[Arcassius]

I know it would be a big slap in the face for him if he was to be sacked now, but don't you think it might be an idea to start preparing for the future? I would like to see Harvey as caretaker coach for the next 7 games, which could serve as his audition for the job. Which is not to say that he's necessarily the best man for the job, but he could show his wares for 7 weeks.

hehehe retrospect

 

[E Shed]

Talk about rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. What an awful couple of years that was 07 08. Still we had to go through it so we could get a low enough draft pick to use on the Golden Child

 

[im_a_lazy_sod]

Barlow <3

 

[prattsta]

Walker - Has been good this year (his best season so far) deserved to be selected after his WAFL game on the weekend. He isnt hindering the development of anyone, if they are good enough for a spot at least he is one of the few making them earn it.

Really prattsta v2007? You want to defend James Walker? Really?

Gilmore - He isn't a ruckman, maybe he will be positioned accordingly for a change. We have plenty of players with much worse disposal who get a free ride each week, at least he offers something other than tackling to the side.

That wouldn't happen to be the same Daniel Gilmore who went on to play the best football of his career late in 2007 as a ruckman would it?

Roundhouse, i am in complete agreement with you on this one.

Weirdly, I still kind of am. We had zero young/new/fresh talent to bring into that side. Disgraceful.

 

[Scham]

Toovey, OBrien, Dick and Cox weren't early picks, and Goldsack wasn't any earlier than Ibbo for memory. Pendlebury was early but like Ibbo was very green and had only just taken up football, very similar stories actually, until of course they were drafted and that's where the similarities end.

Foster is older than almost all of these blokes.

I also wonder how many of these blokes were made to dominate in the VFL before getting opportunities? I would suggest that their coach just identified their talent and was willing to foster it (pardon the pun) and give them the opportunities to develop.

Their coach now sounds like our coach.

As much as some of the "old school" posters didn't like what a few of us were suggesting - it was right then and it's right now. Such a shame we lost 2 or so years with a dud coach.

 

[The Night Shift]

There was so much experience in that side, it's incredible how badly 2007 went. Also illustrates how terrible the list management was, just no one to pick under 21 apart from warnock. Compared to now where half the side has played fewer than 50 games.

Great to re-read some posts from my old pal Roundhouse too, wasn't he a light hearted fellow.....

What nice is Roundhouse posting under these days ??


Great Bump BTW