Reactiveness in adverse situations is not a development plan.

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Love Cricket? Love me

I will take full responsibilty for him - I got number 32 on my jumper at the start of last year. I jinx whoever's number it is that i get so next time no number for me!

He is not doing too bad this year although he sticks to his man and only his man sometimes - but alot of our team including our 'stars' do this just not necessarily in the backline. It is interesting to note that our backline is actually performing as one of the better of the compitition at the moment scorewise and considering the supply that the oppisition midfield get that is a pretty good effort.

Dont forget the guy was taken as a rookie so there is every liklihood that is all he will ever be, and if I recall he did come to us as a forward and the only reason we promoted him from the Rookie List was he kicked a few goals in a few pre-season practise games (if memory serves me correct).

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

This comment seems to contradict typecasting players as forwards or defenders. In adverse situations the reaction usually might be to turn a backman into a forward i.e. Whitnall against Hawthorn.
Whitnall move was reactive I agree but if Pagan did not make the move he would have been bagged anyway.
Simmo and McClaren to defence I would argue was premeditated and not reactive.

Barry could be a half-back in the NFL with the strength he has for his size and the way he steps past blokes... I'm surprised he hasn't been approached.

But back on topic, I've seen Fisher in defense before but IIRC was providing value up forward at the time so was moved back up there fairly quickly. I would suspect with his knee and hammy issues at coming back from that his ability to cover a suitable forward may leave him a bit wrong footed at the moment.

Fish played in the back pocket in the practise games first season but Denis saw those hands and thought 'my God I can completely stuff this kid's talent up, no worries!' (then he walked off rubbing his hands and clicking his heels)

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

I meant in AFL games I've seen him line up for half a quarter on the flank.

Game at the dome a couple of years back, maybe even last year.

I don't know what everyone is complaining about, Thorno's record is top notch this year. Robertson to no goals; kept Pavalich very quiet; moved on to Micky and kept him honest; and kept the dangerous Williams to two, I think. Fair bit of variety there. Could be all flukes, I suppose. Richo was starting to get on top of him and may have really killed him had he not been moved - but then again we'll never know that. And remember, Richo's got it over him in every facet of the game you can name - speed, height, strength, experience and talent (when on game). With all that arrayed against him, you'd think TBird wouldn't get a look in but he got in a few good spoils.

Right from day one he's been face to face in the goalsquare with some of the games best forwards and has mostly shown plenty of poise and calm, always seems to have time, knows where he is going and his disposal is generally sound. He's no speed demon (ridiculous tho to compare him to Walker) but is long-striding so probably covers ground quicker than he appears to. And that's playing back stop behind a poorly performed side over a number of years.

Agree that he would be better further out from the goals especially on a lesser forward. And agree this scowling at teamates evrytime he gets beaten is a bit disturbing - you'd think someone would have smacked that out of him by now.

I remember Earl Spalding circa 94/95 yelling at another Carlton player - and Denis Commetti's reaction was 'Earl we don't really want to see that' - I remember it well as I had rarely seen disharmony on the field -Unfortunately with Thornton I have become desensitised to his rants at his team mates as it happens every week.

I'd like to think one of our leaders would take young Bret aside and let him know that blaming team mates publicly isn't positive for the team and probably membership numbers either.

Thornton is obviously highly strung... but thats not necessarily a bad thing.... but its a personality trait that should be recognised by the MC.

He goes off when there are marks inside 50... he has 30 seconds to stew on it.

There's a degree of trying to change him, but its very hard (or impossible!) to change a guy and learning to work with this slighly destructive personality trait and bring out his best qualities is how to manage the player properly.

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Love Cricket? Love me

Sometimes it comes with maturity rather than having to be taught. From what I have seen this year Fev looks like he has ironed out some of his bad traits. He is married, kid on the ground another one coming, puts a different perspective on how you look at things.
I wonder what Brett has outside football?

I reckon Fevs about 2-3 games away from dropping his bundle again - the effort he put in in the first 3 rounds wasn't as evident on friday he started to slip = Hopefully he will pull his head in again

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

Any chance of giving me the tattslotto numbers for Saturday night?

Sydney is probably right, because, like always, Fevola is being hung out to dry at full forward in a shit team. THATS when he drops his head

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Love Cricket? Love me

So who supplies the lubricant? You or Sydney?

Sydney Blue and I are having an amazing run of agreement lately. Does that mean I'm now on the "out" list??? Deano????

What can I say.... we're both just fans of development that have no faith in Pagan anymore.

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Love Cricket? Love me

I'm quoting you all the time now... don't take this as me targetting you.

Thornton never used to display this frustrated behaviour, he used to be pretty composed. In the last 18 months, he has had dummy spits fairly regularly at training and in games, might even stretch back a bit further, the memory's a bit blurred on this.

My point? It fits in with how he's played since injuring himself, he's been very jaded. Either he's fed up with what's happening in the middle ala Fev, or he's being very hard on himself and it's taking its toll, along with the physical niggles.

It's not that he hasn't handled his jobs, it's just that he hasn't been at his best for a while now. Not that he wouldn't be dropped in a better team, very good defender, not a star, but a very valuable member of our team.

Watch out Jimmae your IQ is going to be questioned soon. Be warned.

I don't think anyone could have stopped Richo on Fri night!

Hang on can we wait until Fev does drop his bundle before using this as proof of Denis's ineptitude.

Otherwise I get to say we'll probably win the flag next year which just shows how good Denis is.

Opinions are fine Tyrant but you know, let's all remember they are just opinions.

So you and SB agree except he thinks Denis is responsible for eveything bad - oh hang on, i get the feeling you do to. Walker's not as good as he could have been (possibly) Fev will drop his bundle (possibly) Denis has favourites (possibly) Denis has retared the development of Spoorn, Wiggins and Livo (possibly). etc. No proof yet, just your feelings on the whole thing based on what - on the fact that Wiggins, Livo and Sporn do not appear to be very good footballers (AFL wise), that Denis plays De Luca, that Bannister Chambers etc where drafted (all with late picks but hell, lets just go with this) that Fev is about to drop his bundle (you and SB think - mind you if Fev had kicked straight he would have had 5), and that Simmo has not been played back (he has) forward (he has) Carrots has been played (well forward, back and middle) betts (forward and middle) and Lance is only moved as a reactive thing (like all coaches should do at times). Missed anything? Anything factual, rather than your gut feelings that is?

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!