Is it possible this is by instruction ? I find it hard to believe that the coaches don't notice this, and if they're unhappy with it, would they not issue a corrective ? I've heard a number of coaches criticize too many players getting sucked in to the contest, and state some players need to be stationed outside the contest to receive the footy.
That’s the key Paul; Fantasia is getting games because he’s following instructions.
He’s not supposed to get sucked into contests, we’ve got the big bodies to do that. He’s supposed to provide an outlet and make good use of the ball when it does come his way.
He also spends a lot of time talking to his teammates and I suspect that part of his role is to ensure that players stick to their roles.
I’d still like to see him more involved in the game and making the most of opportunities around goal.
Why he keeps getting full game time is beyond belief. Surely motlop takes his place if fit this week.
Fantasia was pretty good on Saturday. He had some critical possessions deep in defence and his pass to Harry for a goal was outstanding. He's still not hitting the scoreboard himself though.
I'd much prefer to have Motlop in the team, but not on the back of a five disposal game in the VFL. If he's fit, he should be dominating at that level, even if the team is copping a hiding.
There won't be much to come out of that umpire complaining, Hardwick's example was Charlie being spun in the tackle but the reality is Andrew didn't halt Charlie's movement or inhibit his disposal so the umpire is correct.
The umpire was correct because the rule says that he/she must give the player with the ball a reasonable time to dispose of it. In the circumstances, that was a reasonable time … and the rules say nothing about 360 degrees.
The tackle definition does not include “impede progress” or “prevent disposal”.
The real error the umpire made in that passage of play was failing to pay Charlie a free kick for a push in the back.
I'm against Hardwick's demand umpires blow the whistle sooner, he seems to think "We the public" want that as the default, which in effect encourages and rewards tacklers. But for me it's the exact opposite of what the general public want, we want the player hunting the ball rewarded, we do not want the sniper who sits off the contests and tackles rewarded.
There’s no logical connection between umpires paying holding the ball free kicks quickly and players being injured in tackles. Andrew’s tackle was poorly applied and allowed Charlie freedom to move and get an effective disposal. Hardwick would be better off focusing on ensuring that his players tackle correctly.
Part of the problem is confusion about the holding the ball rules. A player who has “prior opportunity” must dispose of the ball immediately when tackled. A player who doesn’t have prior opportunity (ie Charlie) must dispose of the ball within a reasonable time as determined by the umpire in the circumstances.
Putting aside team loyalties, what do punters want to see; a player winning a free kick for holding an opponent’s arm or a player taking on the tackler and using strength and skill to dispose of the ball?
I’d rather see Dusty, Reid, Petracca, Crippa, etc take on and beat the tackler.
Hardwick did make one pertinent point; 131 tackles were laid for very few free kicks. A lot of those tackles were relatively meaningless, repeat efforts in congestion, but more than a few should have been rewarded with holding the ball free kicks and some should have been punished for holding the man.
I guess jamming comms has never been done before either? Regarding musk and being ask to turn it on, that sounds a bit basic. His satellite service is always on, the individual connections probably subject to the same capability of taking out any other internet connection. Depending on the method he might be able to.circumvent it, but denying it is harder.
Disrupting communications has been a thing since communication was first employed in human conflict. The Persians would have nobbled Pheidippides given half a chance.
@EB1, propaganda has always been a tool to sway public opinion. At first it was pictures because the majority were illiterate, but over the centuries it became print, newspapers, advertisements television, movies and the internet just makes it easier for everyone to have a platform.
The tools have changed, the actual method not so much. The messages are different but it's all just social engineering.
Jamming Skylink is not about propaganda. It’s disrupting Ukraine’s battlefield communications at strategic and tactical levels.
Ukraine’s vastly outnumbered forces rely on rapid responses to Russian troop movements. That cannot be achieved if battlefield communications are disrupted.
Of course, Ukraine will be doing whatever it can to disrupt Russian communications.
Williams had significant game influence today, fans seem reluctant to give him credit where credit is due. For me his F50 success highlights a fundamental contributing cause of our failings over the last few weeks. How can it be a rookie SF like Williams gets in all the right spaces, while relatively more seasoned SFs like Fantasia, Owies and Durdin cannot?
I thought that Williams played with freedom and made his own luck. Perhaps our regular small/medium forwards are too focused on performing defined roles to take a chance.
Of course, Williams is a very talented footballer whose skill set is similar to Jack Martin’s and a level above that of Owies, Durdin, Fantasia and Motlop.
That snap for his fourth was a bit hungry, could have laid it off by hand. Doesn't look a natural forward, but I'll take any goal we can get
There was no-one else in a better position and Williams had to take the shot. How many times did we waste forward 50 entries with too many handballs and forwards not willing to seize the moment?
Why is TDK expected to be Buddy Franklin when he goes forward?
It’s a bonus if your ruckman can get a goal or two when they rest forward. They should be expected to keep a tall defender engaged and make life a little easier for the regular key forwards.
Again, are you taking the p!55 or what? Tom got smashed by Witts today, if ever you needed two rucks with one parked in the fwd line it was today. I dont know why they didn't park TDK in the goal square for his rest instead of the bench (like the resting ruckman did in the good old days). Sometimes old is new.
No, Tom didn’t get smashed in the ruck. Witts got more hitouts but few ended up as GC clearances. Most of Tom’s hitouts resulted in a clearance to us, and Tom’s second and third efforts at stoppages played a big part in that.
Tom had twice as many effective disposals than Witts and took important marks around the ground. Witts was a virtually a non-event around the ground, apart from the goal he was gifted.
From what I could see, Tom went to the bench for running repairs and because he had no gas in his tank.
Never in doubt really. My only complaint is that we should have won by more … and that we kept pinpointing Mac Andrew. He could be one of the best players of this era without our blokes kicking to him.
Kudos to the coaches for the forward line adjustments and kudos to Charlie for the work he put in to get on top of Andrew.
Some of the whipping boys in Ollie Hollands, Zac Williams and Orazio Fantasia deserve acknowledgment for their efforts today. Williams showed enough to suggest that he could perform a Jack Martin role and he was effective when he went into the midfield too.
De Koning was outstanding against Witts and was probably more effective than a combination with Pittonet would have been.
Our defence was miserly, our midfield was brutal and our forwards were pretty good for a work in progress.
Perhaps he has emboldened a few, but he isn't the first in recent times by any means. Berlusconi and Orbán immediately spring to mind as forerunners. I've said a few times that the left is basically dead, and the world is shifting to the right, with barely any exceptions, and barely any resistance.
I would be very reluctant to attribute any trend setting to a bloke who has never had an original thought in his life. I think that his success in being elected to the Presidency and getting the presumptive Republican nomination for the next election may have emboldened populist and totalitarian leaders. They have more ruthless and successful (if I can use that word) authoritarian figures to follow, as has the likely Republican nomination himself.
The problem with those simplistic analyses is that they don’t take into account goals that aren’t scored by Charlie, Harry or Tom but are the direct result of balls kicked to them, that is, the crumbing and scrambling goals scored after a marking contest.
In fact, Charlie has kicked quite a few goals after crumbing marking contests.
One thing that has struck me this season is how often we’ve targeted players other than Charlie, Harry and Tom inside 50. Owies with a total of 15 from both inside 50 targeted kicks and opportunistic goals is our third highest goal scorer.
Ahead of all is the cumulative total of 60 goals from kicks targeting Cripps, Cottrell, Kennedy, the Hollands brothers, Martin, Durdin, Fantasia, Hewett, Walsh, Acres, Cerra and Pittonet as well as goals arising from their crumbing and pressure applied to lock the ball inside 50.
We don’t need another forward 50 target. We need a small forward who can make the most balls targeting our key forwards that go to ground and who can force turnovers and stoppages inside our forward 50.
Avian flu generally doesn’t last too long. It’s a lot easier to limit the transmission of a virus when you can eliminate the birds and animals that are infected or are at risk of infection. Over 400,000 chooks have already been slaughtered.
Hopefully, it won’t spread to our dairy herds. Apart from the loss of milk production, avian flu is more likely to infect humans from other mammalian hosts.
