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Messages
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Messages - Mantis
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 4 2024 Pre Game Prognostications Carlton vs Fremantle in Adelaide
I wouldnt want Pittonet leaving.....TDK isnt designed for continuous heavy duty ruck action imho and we would be left with nothing
but rookie and ruck novices. Its not that easy to get competent second stringers who can actually compete and break even with most teams No 1 rucks and while ruckman can be overrated in terms of importance when you lose your main ruckman you find life more difficult vs the better teams.
Something funny about what I have seen lately. Harry and TDK get around the ground by foot very well for their size. They also play like ruck types that do better once the ball is in play both in the air as marking targets and getting the ball at ground level, rather than purely tap out specialist ruck type players. Harry isn’t a ruck. He can play there. TDK isn’t a specialised forward but can play there. Keep these two and swap to meet match up needs. Maybe we need mobile ruck and forward types with leg speed, endurance and ability to play the ball at ground level. Most sides learn how to play to the advantage of an opponent ruck tap style and intercept the tap out. The key tap out specialist might not be the best for a club. It works well at times but clever mid field players read their predictable taps. Their bulk makes them slow at ground level. Poor with endurance and their marking skills become their only fall back skill. If Jack wasn’t on a long term injury list, Pitts would probably not get more than two or three games for this entire season. I might be wrong and won’t claim to be an expert but it looks like things are about to change. How to inject speed at every level. Players that can get the ball below their knees and generate some transition the other way. Cripps might eventually just be used as a thug. Tough body to crash through smaller guts and hurt them or something else. Big body to absorb the pressure that would target the Double Dutch or Walsh and others. I just hope we get better with silly cute disposals. Just kick to targets with percentage play. Don’t be a smart arse. Back on TDK. He has huge potential. He needs to keep working. He is far from elite. He has many things to learn. He could be anything and is starting to show some real team benefits. I just hope he doesn’t get complacent as he has so much to show and he needs to deliver. I like what I am about to see. Let me see it young fella. Work hard buddy.
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 4 2024 Pre Game Prognostications Carlton vs Fremantle in Adelaide
Next four games - three will be against teams in the top four. If we are deserving of top two finish then next month will shape that.
Freo
Adelaide
GWS
Geelong
No easy games in this group. Walsh back soon will help us. We need all the help we can get. Considering no Doc, and no Jack. Plus limited ruck stocks. Our pressure will be put to the test. If that holds up we could win more of these games than we expect. Bring on the mental focus Voss. Bring that on.
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 4 2024 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs North Melbourne
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The Sports Desk / Re: God help me - the Test Cricket thread
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Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Jack Silvagni is getting hitched.
Congrats.
Now get to making babies already.
We need the next generation of Silvagnis coming through.
Too soon?
Never too soon. Quite a few Silvagni names have played at senior level over the years. Can they produce some boys and girls to continue the tradition? I wish them both a wonderful life together.
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Blah-Blah Bar / Re: The classic/fave car thread
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Blah-Blah Bar / Re: RIP Bill Hayden
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Blah-Blah Bar / Re: The classic/fave car thread
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Blah-Blah Bar / Re: State Elections
The guy is a flog. Publicly said it's not for me to decide who my successor is then tore strips off of them for daring to challenge his apprentice. He was a great politician and great at winning elections but is Victoria better than it was a decade ago? No, not by any measure.
What he said x2.
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Blah-Blah Bar / Re: State Elections
Good luck to the new leader. You know you can’t continue your role based on the reputation of your past leader. You now need to dig deep and make some new changes and choices. A larger population of Victoria will not even know who you are. I wish you the best being given a huge task with the worst budget going around in the political world. I am seriously thinking of moving to Queensland. Way before my property has little worth.
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: 2023: A review
Your job is to review all the players efforts and performances. We will review everything else and strive to be more unified at every level of the club and get the long term sustained results other clubs have achieved. We can’t expect a good result next season based on this season. We need to eliminate losses that repeat for 2, 3 or 4 games in a row. That is not a result of a true successful club. This is the foundation we have created. Now we build on it to be better. Not just next season, but every season to come. That is when multiple flags happen. Take a rest for ow, but the plan for the future is ready to begin soon. “If you fail to plan, you actually plan to fail”. Start on the new plan and get to work.
Cerra and Acres are two examples of players I thought were good at best, but lazy too often in the past. The roll up the sleeves and do the hard work was not in their DNA, rather than look fancy when they feel like it and let other players do the real work. I apologise for any original comments about my expectations with these players when they played for other clubs. They have leadership written all over their paperwork now. Sure they have quiet moments but they have got us out of trouble more often than not. Just like Saad. Find us a couple of fast by foot, ball carriers one in the middle of the ground and one more rebounding defender and a couple of potential small forwards with evasive abilities and we are well on the way to being a super threat. A special-k type ruck might be a good future project if there is something in the system or available to mature in the next few seasons. They take time to develop. So a junior project is a perfect start for the future.
I would like us to keep TDK as a part time ruck that can swing forward as a target or be an extra tall defender. That damaging utility that is hard to find. He just needs to keep working on getting bigger and stronger and keeping his feet. He is one that has the tools but chooses when to do what needs to be done. When he is hot, he looks like the real deal. Maybe it is a maturity thing. Maybe Voss can teach him how to be consistent.
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL 2023 Preliminary Final Carlton vs Brisbane Post Game Prognostications
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL 2023 Preliminary Final Carlton vs Brisbane Post Game Prognostications
There really isn't a gap.
This is already a premiership capable side...
Our best players are in their prime.
Another year for our young players like Hollands and Motlop
Injured players like Williams and Silvagni thereabouts and available
Plenty of competition for spots and versatility to throw players around when needed.
Some good solid finals experience behind us, when just about all players stood up at one stage or another.
Get that top 4 spot next year, and don't have to travel.
Home and hosed
No gap then. We must have the equal best squad. How did we get beaten up in 3 quarters of football. Sure e did well to limit the damage. However we might have only limited the damage. Same squad and the same result at the MCG in my opinion. We need a couple of skilled small forwards. Another mid with genuine speed. Another speedster defender and a ruck with strength. We are not closer to a flag before we address these issues. We either develop the stock we have or find a few new guys that have physical capabilities. We looked far weaker than our opponent tonight. They look physically bigger in body mass. Just an observation. As an average over most positions.
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL 2023 Preliminary Final Carlton vs Brisbane Post Game Prognostications
There isn't a gap, we were completely buggered and banged up after a very long run. Any side would look good then. If we finished 6th, hence got a much softer run through we'd be playing next week. Sydney and Melbourne were always going to be brutal, contested games. Not so much the other way. Last week for GWS, v Port, was near bruise free in the context of a final.
So if we had to play GWS in or the Saints it would have ended any different. We lost against GWS if I remember. It wasn’t about the run in. Eventually you lose to a better squad. Pick 6 players from the Brisbane squad you would swap for our squad. If the result is Nill, then we lost by being too tired or just by bad luck. We did well to get the result we finished with.