the cold hard truth

[Bojangles17]

Having ebbed and flowed from fits of rage following the calamity in Cairns on saturday, they say the truth sets you free. It gives me no pleasure at all to say it , in fact it hurts like hell as many of the lads have tried their guts out but elite sport takes no prisoners...The reality of outr plight is half the side picked ea week is no bloody good at all with zip chance of improvement remaining.

The edwards
whites
foleys
mcguanes
brownes
jacksons
and so on are all liabilities and yeah ive prob protected a few more...so consider this when we approach ea week with half a side that are well short of the mark and it is much clearer why we are being pantsed.

All good though, we're much better for knowing this at r 17 or so...coz this should mean 10 changes to the list as opposed to the 5 or 6 they may have intended a month or so ago.

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

Having ebbed and flowed from fits of rage following the calamity in Cairns on saturday, they say the truth sets you free. It gives me no pleasure at all to say it , in fact it hurts like hell as many of the lads have tried their guts out but elite sport takes no prisoners...The reality of outr plight is half the side picked ea week is no bloody good at all with zip chance of improvement remaining.

The edwards
whites
foleys
mcguanes
brownes
jacksons
and so on are all liabilities and yeah ive prob protected a few more...so consider this when we approach ea week with half a side that are well short of the mark and it is much clearer why we are being pantsed.

All good though, we're much better for knowing this at r 17 or so...coz this should mean 10 changes to the list as opposed to the 5 or 6 they may have intended a month or so ago.

Agree!...the last few losing games...its like being whacked in the face with a big cold wet mackerel... ...

 

[Bojangles17]

Agree!...the last few losing games...its like being whacked in the face with a big cold mackerel... ...

precisely, there's a core of players that are gawnnnnn and they are picked week in week out

 

[Madtiger2006]

Foley would make probably every afl team. Mcguane would make most too I reckon. Here's some defenders who Mcguane may be better 1 on 1 than and probably no worse in composure/skill

Rivers(melb)
Schofield(wc)
Thomson(north)
Lonergan(geel)
Robert-Thomson(syd)
Henderson(carl)
Mcguire(bris)
Pears(ess)
Williams(foots)
Carlisle(port)
Dawson(st kil)
Gilham(haw)
Silvagni(freo)

Mcguane is no where near as bad as our supporters make him out to be. Our defence is one of the most bombarded defences every season. We'd be alot worse off without Mcguane. It's time our supporters stopped taking everything for granted

 

[1980]

Told you so

 

[Madtiger2006]

2 tall defenders who are good players should be moved on this year because they'll be in the way of younger developing defenders. They are the replaceable and not overly tall Thursfield and Moore. Gourdis maybe a third go. Time to develop Rance, Grimes, Astbury and Post while Mcguane will give us the 1 on 1 strength and experience

 

[Madison]

Foley would make probably every afl team. Mcguane would make most too I reckon. Here's some defenders who Mcguane may be better 1 on 1 than and probably no worse in composure/skill

Rivers(melb)
Schofield(wc)
Thomson(north)
Lonergan(geel)
Robert-Thomson(syd)
Henderson(carl)
Mcguire(bris)
Pears(ess)
Williams(foots)
Carlisle(port)
Dawson(st kil)
Gilham(haw)
Silvagni(freo)

Mcguane is no where near as bad as our supporters make him out to be. Our defence is one of the most bombarded defences ever season. We'd be alot worse of without Mcguane

Haven't seen a lot on the the list so I'll comment on what I do know.

Rivers was playing quite well before he took on Cloke. But Cloke is monstering EVERYONE this year.

Lonergan has been really good for the Cats, he's taken quite a few big scalps this year.

LRT has been pretty decent for swans.

Henderson has played two games in defence. Against us, and the pies.

McGuire no good, i'll give you that.

Pears has been alright I thought.

Williams is good, played badly against North. But Petrie is in super form. Williams has been pretty decent before that.

Dawson played his best game on the weekend. Only conceded one goal to Josh Kennedy.

Gilham isn't KPD? And he is a rebounding defender, you bet your ass he has more composure and skill than McGuane.

Silvani - has he even played this year? I thought he'd been injured.

As per - you have NFI.

 

[Cathal Brugha]

If we could get an early first=rounder for Foley I would take it.

 

[Madtiger2006]

Haven't seen a lot on the the list so I'll comment on what I do know.

Rivers was playing quite well before he took on Cloke. But Cloke is monstering EVERYONE this year.

Lonergan has been really good for the Cats, he's taken quite a few big scalps this year.

LRT has been pretty decent for swans.

Henderson has played two games in defence. Against us, and the pies.

McGuire no good, i'll give you that.

Pears has been alright I thought.

Williams is good, played badly against North. But Petrie is in super form. Williams has been pretty decent before that.

Dawson played his best game on the weekend. Only conceded one goal to Josh Kennedy.

Gilham isn't KPD? And he is a rebounding defender, you bet your ass he has more composure and skill than McGuane.

Silvani - has he even played this year? I thought he'd been injured.

As per - you have NFI.

And yet they would concede more goals than mcguane in a richmond jumper. I think it's you who has NFI and you supposedly barrack for the club. I'm sure those players turn the ball over 10 times in a season too. You rate a player on the 10 mistakes he makes a year but not the dozens of quality things he does. Ignorant knob looking for an All Australian in all 18 positions on the ground.

 

[Rodney Dangerfield]

I'm with you MT,Foleyis still pretty good and will be better next year and Mcguane is a bit of a whipping boy.
He's had a horrid career where he gets bombarded on a weekly basis often against blokes he shouldn't be playing on due to our lack od defensive depth.
He's no star Mcguane but I reckon he can hold his head high most weeks and has a good crack.Granted if we were to get some real quality in he might struggle for a game but we don't.
The only thing I'd disagree with is Kel Moore.I think he's important although his body is a real worry.

 

["The Roar Is Back"]

McGuanne, is to slow and clumbsey to play on smalls, to slow to play on mid-sized resting on-ballers , to small and ordinary in his body work to play of genuine talls and his skills aren't good enough to be any good offensively , he's useless and quite possibly our worst KPD option now and going forward !
Thurstfield for all his flaws makes McGuanne look very 2nd rate in deensive work !

 

[The Rusty Trombone]

Have to say I have seen McGaune play some seriously good games this year. The Saints and Bombers Rd 1 . With how quick the ball has come into our backline this year I'd be happy to keep McGuane.

 

[Hong Kong Phooey]

Mcguane is not at AFL standard sorry,his skills and decision making are terrible to say the least.
He has been in the system now for a while and improvement has been non existant.
I would loved to be proven wrong, as I have so far with the improvement in Rance.

 

[IDGAF]

Having ebbed and flowed from fits of rage following the calamity in Cairns on saturday, they say the truth sets you free. It gives me no pleasure at all to say it , in fact it hurts like hell as many of the lads have tried their guts out but elite sport takes no prisoners...The reality of outr plight is half the side picked ea week is no bloody good at all with zip chance of improvement remaining.

The edwards
whites
foleys
mcguanes
brownes
jacksons
and so on are all liabilities and yeah ive prob protected a few more...so consider this when we approach ea week with half a side that are well short of the mark and it is much clearer why we are being pantsed.

All good though, we're much better for knowing this at r 17 or so...coz this should mean 10 changes to the list as opposed to the 5 or 6 they may have intended a month or so ago.

Its not all good ... these are supposed to be our "experienced bodies" with the exception of Browne. Chop all of them and we will be younger than GWS and Gold Coast put together next year .

dont get me wrong . i agree on your calls .

Edwards - just another one who pinched 2-3 years more at this level than he should have .
Foley - you just cant miss 2 years of footy this day and age
Mc Guane - like most of the horses i back , just hasnt "come on"
White - same
Jackson - was always limited but has gone backwards at a rate of knots

All those boys at this stage of their careers should be part of/pushing for the leadership group .

Does not bode well at all , throw in Thursfield

We cant develop a footballer to save ourselves .

Admittedly they are from the era previous to Hardwick but sheesh .

Sigh

 

[Bojangles17]

foley is an interesting one who Im certain will figure prominetly in post season discussions. In his current form he is playing Tambling type "nothing" footy as in you wouldn't know he was out there...the great unknown with axel is 12 months in from a break in his footy will he be ready to DELIVER...rodan did...and I reckon a number of clubs would be prepared to suggest he could too. do we take the risk or keep him...right now he is in a state of emptiness that contributes zip to the side

Mcgaune at best is reasonably good in the contest...Not great...not poor , quite ok. Beyond that he has nothing...offensively...below par...decision making under pressure, below par...Can we improve with his type in the side...Nup

the others i've mentioned are battlers at best, their flaws are obvious and needn't be put under the microscope, so put them all in the side and sheesh is it any wonder we are failing week in week out

 

[Bojangles17]

what this underlines is the need to change the mix in our side, dig deep into the second tier comps where a number of decent players have been plucked and give them the opportunites these boys have had.

 

[peejay]

If we could get an early first=rounder for Foley I would take it.

If we could get an early first round for Foley the world would have turned upside down.

He is damaged goods - a pick in the 40's would be the best we could expect.

And i have been/ am his biggest fan

 

[mitch richmond]

I find midfielders play better when they get to rove to their own RUCKMAN and not the opposition RUCKMAN. Edwards(what is he? 22 with 80 games), White and Foley would be great roving to a Darren Jolley, Dean Cox or Matthew Kruezer. Shane Edwards would be one hell of a footballer if he was playing for Collingwood right now. And on the other side of things if Jarryd Blair was roving to Andrew Browne or Angus Graham every week he'd be getting slagged off like Matty White. Similarly Ben Reid would be getting beaten every week and copping it like Luke McGuane! And don't think Sharrod Wellingham would be the player he is without a RUCKMAN.

 

[Rayzorwire]

I find midfielders play better when they get to rove to their own RUCKMAN and not the opposition RUCKMAN. Edwards(what is he? 22 with 80 games), White and Foley would be great roving to a Darren Jolley, Dean Cox or Matthew Kruezer. Shane Edwards would be one hell of a footballer if he was playing for Collingwood right now. And on the other side of things if Jarryd Blair was roving to Andrew Browne or Angus Graham every week he'd be getting slagged off like Matty White. Similarly Ben Reid would be getting beaten every week and copping it like Luke McGuane! And don't think Sharrod Wellingham would be the player he is without a RUCKMAN.

It's a theory mitch, and one with some merit no doubt, but the fact remains, we had the best bunch of clearance midfielders in the league last year (we just couldn't get them all playing at the same time) with Simmonds or Graham rucking, before that it was Simmonds or Pattison for a couple of years and we held our own at the clearances and defensively when we could get our good personnel together. For a good 3-4 years we've played practically every game conceding the hitouts, until Graham came along (then we dumped him ), but we almost always held our own in the midfield as a whole.

Until Hardwick took over and pretty much every game we've played without Tuck, who (unlike Grigg) is not a RUCKMAN.

We'd improve with a ruck who could give us advantage, but the reality is, even the top rucks fail to get HTA's often enough in a game to be more important than the smaller onballers. What we're missing more is a fit Jackson, what Tuck gave us, and something resembling a cohesive, effective strategy, both overall and adapted week to week.

 

[kainokaino]

McGuane will TRY hard. That does not make him a good defender.

Our club will continue to be shit if we keep playing people who try hard but are not up to AFL standard.

Hislop, McGuane and White are three perfect examples.

 

[tiggywigs]

McGuane will TRY hard. That does not make him a good defender.

Our club will continue to be shit if we keep playing people who try hard but are not up to AFL standard.

Hislop, McGuane and White are three perfect examples.

Hislop does not appear to have a lot to offer at this stage, and McGuano has has executive decision-making problems, but I don't get the White hate on this board. Has shown consistent improvement during is career, has a real weapon (his pace) which he uses well, and is a game breaker. When he was up and firing early on this year he was quickly becoming a very damaging run-with rebounder/defensive forward who scalped quite a few opponents. Then everyone starts bagging him when he cops an injury!

 

[blxx]

Mcguane is one of our stalwarts at the back. I love watching his signature move, you know the one where he runs past a player standing still and gives off a little handpass to them...WOW that is the stuff of legends! and what about the way he times his pass in sync with the opposition crunching the reciever WHAM! i dont understand why richmond supporters cant see the value and quality that is Luke McGuane!

 

[Rodney Dangerfield]

I dont think anyone is saying Mcguane is a star or is our best defender bit in all honesty what are the options right now?
Moore- injured and quite a concern long term
Grimes-injured
Astbury-injured
Gourdis- he's out now and really he doesn't look much
Thursfield-is another Mcguane but less competitive
Miller- Everyone Hates him too and his career efforts down back weren't great.
Griggs- strictly a ruckman only
Post- might be worth a try.
Rance-Has quickly found himself to be the number one man.
If and when we improve our stocks Mcguane will be in trouble but that time isn't now

 

[Parquet Court]

drafting is great but we cant keep offloading players who are entering in their prime and keep drafting 18 yo kids, its just stupid.

need to pluck from the VFL/ WAFL, west perth and clarement are having great seasons over here, perhaps some key defenders could be acquired.

josh mellinton also looks a likely type with West Perth this year, rangey tall who is still only 19 or 20. it goes against what i just said but we need to be picking a ruckman/ KPP who has some runs on the board so to speak.

then we can plug the holes while the younger brigade develops

 

[Parquet Court]

I dont think anyone is saying Mcguane is a star or is our best defender bit in all honesty what are the options right now?
Moore- injured and quite a concern long term
Grimes-injured
Astbury-injured
Gourdis- he's out now and really he doesn't look much
Thursfield-is another Mcguane but less competitive
Miller- Everyone Hates him too and his career efforts down back weren't great.
Griggs- strictly a ruckman only
Post- might be worth a try.
Rance-Has quickly found himself to be the number one man.
If and when we improve our stocks Mcguane will be in trouble but that time isn't now

moore has had 4 ops on his left hip and 2 on his right hip in the past 12 months or something.

he has a degenerative condition in both of his hips, basically this means the cartialage that buffers the impacts and allows smooth movement is wearing away and this doesnt grow back.

this is really hard to fix and often cant be fixed, there is a surgical procedure that can replace cartialage in the ankles, knees and shoulders but it is pain stakingly long rehab of 15-18 months. im not sure if they can do it on hips yet though.

i havent seen any of his MRIs but if he wasnt playing footy for a living, iwouldnt bother playing footy and then having to go through all the pain he is going to encounter as he ages.

although the word is he can return to training next year, wouldnt bank on him coming good for a continued period of time though