Do you reckon that Dennis has removed the shackles over the last few weeks ie allowed players to have their head and be more attacking and that has conributed to our better performance 0r is it that our young guys waite fisher betts carrazzo simpson bentick are all playing collectively better or is it that we have got a more even team performance from all our squad and this has injected a boost of confidence

the words "brad fisher" spring to mind...

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agree Brad Fisher has improved the side and is a very good and promising player but I think the reason is not down to one player

Campo out of the midfield

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I think it's the responsibility Dennis has thrown on the young guys, giving them key roles. It's just injected so much energy into our game, it actually looks like we give a damn.

We havent played teams that are much chop...

were not going THAT well.. but there are real signs.

And Campo is no longer in the guts and Lance is no longer at CHF.

Whats happened is the kids are taking a step up.. so Denis is doing something right with their development.

How good was Bentick Betts Simmo Waite and Fish over the last couple of weeks
Were not relying on the old guard anymore.. and thats a good thing..

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A few changes here and there.
As Mick said, Campo out of the midfield.
Also, Lance into the backline.
Waite spending more time forward.

Our forward line of Fev, Betts, Fish, Waite, Simmo and T-Lo has been really exciting to watch lately.

Carrots in the middle more often.

Some of these moves are paying off really well.

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Campo out of the midfield. Simpson and Fisher really playing well. No huge reliance on Fev and Bentick giving us a bit of grunt. Barnie giving us a cointest that we have been really lacking in the ruck.

We are definately not playing as negative plus Simpson & Carrazzo have stepped up in the middle. We always seem better with Betts harrassing backmen and Lance has been solid down back. Guess its a number of things.

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I reckon the change in the midfield, Carazzo, Bentick etc being given more of a run. Barney and Fish back in the team....Scotland has been great the last few weeks. Its a number of things, lots of positive's with the younger players.

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exactly....at the richmond game i actually felt a rush of confidence when the ball was kicked forward with both fisher and waite marking awesomely and eddie picking up the crumbs...

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Inspired by the One-Minute Sculptures of Erwin Wurm

"All in all is all we are..."

Anyone mentioned no Houlihan pulling out of contests and always looking to receive the ball, rather than clearing a path for his teammates?
Having someone who's always looking to benefit from others hard work who bust their gut, whilst not pulling their own weight must be a downer for the side.
Funny how the past two weeks we've had better performances!

Maybe its the kids in the middle or Kouta, Stevens and even Scotland getting more of it.. Gotta admit Kouta has been back to his clearance best over the past 2-3 weeks.

I think Fisher has played a huge role in the forward, always presenting and can take a grab. Takes the pressure of Waite a bit and I think Waite has seemed to enjoy his footy..

Could it be Pagan sharping the AXE in front of the player over the past 3 weeks and the club playing hard ball and saying its either our way or the highway....

Getting French back. Bryan may have a good kick, but he's no No.1 ruckman at AFL level.

Getting Fisher back.

Simmo starting to click.

Playing inferior opposition.

Junk time games against teams who can't make the finals either.

I'd have to agree with all of that. The players have been shifted around to good effect.

Carazzo, Bentick and Simmo through the midfield, Whitnall and Camporeale to the backline to support Thornton and Teague, Waite and Fish improving up forward, Kouta, Stevo, Scotland and today Matty Lappin back to red hot form.

What I saw today though was desire to win the ball. If they were behind then they would find a way to get to the front or spoil at the contest. Wiggo holding no fear and running back into the pack. I love Wiggo. Can we keep him?

Not how I see it at all.

If anything it's actually the complete opposite. If we consider the stretch from rounds 16-19, about which I presume is the period we are talking, with the exception of the Hawthorn game, we have played 3 teams that have basically had to win to have any chance of playing finals going into that game.

The games against Freo, Richmond and Port were as important as they get for those clubs. And we rolled Richmond and certainly could have beaten Port Adelaide. Freo we were probably never going to win but it was an improved performance nonetheless. So when you look at Richmond now ok they won't make the finals but they had more to play for then we did. Freo too would have had more on the line than Carlton going into that game. Had Port not beaten us yesterday their season was over.

Not quite sure where you're coming from John?

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Barnaby French for mine. You could see yesterday that when he was off the ground that Port started to dominate the middle.

That's not to slag off Chris Bryan, but he's still learning the caper....

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The game plan is completely different.... no more flooding, no more 8 man backlines (not bagging the tactic, everyone does it)... but being prepapred to trust an open forward line and licking to advantage as much as possible.

Although we lost, I loved the second quarter when we had an 8 man fwd line (effectively) with WEilliams sending Tredrea down to FB to stop the avalanche. Thornton was FF for a full 5 minutes. We played fast, attacking footy to an open forward line. All this without Kouta, Stevens, Campo diong much at all.

The return French and Fisher has fixed up our team balance.

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But Blues2005,

Freo are crap in Melbourne.
Richmond have been crap since Brown broke his leg.
Port have been crap all season.

We beat one of those teams, and competed reasonably well with the other two. I really don't see this as a sign of any great resurgence on our part.

We've had virtually no injuries since French and Fish came back, so we're playing now with our full list.

Thinking that we've turned things around is pretty dangerous in my opinion. Look at what we did last year - won 3 out of the last 4 and thought 'wow - everyone was wrong, we're going to be back quicker than we thought' and look what happened.

When the acid was on, we've been woeful this year. Smashed by teams who were playing well, week after week.

A few decent games against soft opponents isn't enough to convince me we're making much progress with the list we've got.

Some of the kids are good and coming on well. But every club can boast some good kids who are stepping up, so a few guys like Carrots and Simmo and maybe AB aren't going to propel us up the ladder.

Lots, lots more work to do.