It seems that this is where we now get pumped - Collingwood and now The Saints.

Having been to both games, it seems to me that the similarities run like this:

1.Once they get a run on (call it three goals ), we do not know what to do. We do not man up, we do not look to take the momentum away from them. This must be the senior players job - Stevens, Koutafides, Scotland.

2.We seem to have no plan B. Before the game we were practising in teh centre ruck drills, with bags, and positions (all whilst the Saints were out there). That was the plan we took into the game, and it never changed. We got smashed. I don't actually recall winning a centre bounce down.

3. We cannot identify our opponents (partly because of our flooding, and partly because of their rotation), but we all seem to play wide of all of them. This leads to them being able to swarm us.

All in all, pretty appalling stuff. But I thopught that DP was talking up our midfield, now being able to rest players, and rotate them.

Is this an issue for DP or Liberatore (Yech, still don't like saying that one).

_________________
"Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I,
I took the one less travelled by,
and that has made all the difference."

Robert Frost

Are you suggesting we actually have a midfield?

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"I had to eat"

Fair call.

But it was supposed to be where we had some currency - Stevens, Scotland, Kouta, and Houlihan.

Inject a few of the kids, AB, Simpson, Walker, Murphy, and I was of the view that we were likely to be on the improve, but it seems not so.

_________________
"Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I,
I took the one less travelled by,
and that has made all the difference."

Robert Frost

Same thing happened against richmond in the 2nd and 3d quarters

Well the midfield isnt actually a midfield its a defence.

If you actually watch whats going on they have all been played behind the ball... tagging or sweeping....
Houla, Carazzo, Walker, Simmo, Scotland...

So how is it a midfield????

Of course you cant play positive football when you have ALL your numbers behind the ball...

The bloke is killing us...

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

No that not quite right

He is not killing us

We are already dead - he killed us off sometime back

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

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Love Cricket? Love me

SO WE CAN TURN THEM INTO DEFENDERS

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

NBH, you should know better. Midfielders are just make-believe, like elves, gremlins and eskimos.

The sooner Kouta retires, the better off we will be....the only thing going for him in the last two weeks is that he has had a bit of agro...i'm worried that i am not going to look back in 5 years and remember the kouta who dominated the comp....i am worried i am going to look back and see the hapless kouta plodding around not really doing much for his millions.

for the good of the club, kouta needs to retire, scotland who is the most unaccountable midfielder i have ever seen needs to be traded, and we need to develop support for houlihan and stevens. Murphy is trying his guts outbut for christs sake, he has played 8 games......what can we expect, he is not going to win us games.

Nick Stevens-Take a look at yourself son.

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Back like a raging case of pubic lice

Kouta needs to retire and Carrots needs a run in the middle, that's a start.

Bring in Russell to take over what Carrots is doing and to keep Walker on the HB. Ditto Bannister for McGrath unless McGrath brings back more of his run and carry that makes him an OK player.

Lappin out of form/carrying an injury. Houla and Stevens copping a hard tag for the first time, our first real test and Scotland has been playing on the HB. Bentick needs to touch up his kicking again but that might just be confidence.

Generally speaking everyone needs to either mind or completely outplay their opponent.

Have I left anyone out?

Bring in Jesse Smith and tell him to fire-up and get angry

_________________
Love Cricket? Love me

Worth a punt, but so is Jackson or Flint.

We have a midfield?

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

I say this from some distance, however would offer the following:

Our midfield profile appears to be very similair to what we have always had and relied on building the 'empire' upon - in and under players with a mix of receivers (qtr backs).
We had Bradley and Campo work very effectively with Diesel and Ratts. It was a successful strategy. Today we are developing Bentick and Blackwell (still relying on Kouta) to get the ball out....with Stevens and Houla to deliver it. That model is either outdated or is open to exploitation.

To my mind the game has evolved. Midfielders today are allrounders and stand out as self sufficient footballers. Nick Del Santo is a great example of this type. Mark Ricuiitto (however you spell his name) another. Michael Voss was brilliant. Ball. Judd.

Kouta at his exceptional peak was our proto type.

No doubt Marc Murphy is a step in the right direction. Maybe Walks will be similiar. But we have some way to build a bunch of footballers who can play an all round game on their own.

Sure you need a blend and nothing is perfect. But is seems we are still stuck in this mode of one type of player for a role.

Sure our priority should be to recruit mid fielders, but lets get guys that are 'superhuman' and can do it all Actually fanciful, but not really a joke. We should throw all efforts at securing the best midfield footballers. Guys that aren't one dimensional.

R.I.P Diesel and Braddles.

It'd probably go well with a mix of all three london, so you can chop and change for the situation at hand. Your typical classy in and under has more to his game than just contested work anyway, Cross and West are good examples.

Some good points, LB. Certainly seems to be the trend nowadays. Kouta wasn't just our prototype - he was everyone's protoype. We need a player that can do his bit in-and-under and still hurt the opposition when in space. We don't yet have this type of player altho as you stated, Murph and AW could be the answer in the future.

Wasn't my favorite opposition player by a long shot but I always thought Libba was a terrific competitor - tackled hard, never gave up, ran all day & managed to still play well when the Dogs got done. I was actually very pleased when we got him for those reasons.

Something's gone way wrong because we just aren't seeing any hardness there. Melbourne have identified it & done something about it…

Also I was so sick of seeing Hayes sidestep his opponent the minute he got the ball. Happenned at least 3 times. Classy player Hayes but you would have thought we'd twig eventually…

We just seemed to be waiting for the ball yesterday. Wierd game.

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#DonTheStash

You are So right!

Time and time again. I couldn't work out if was bad leading or bad kicking, it was just bizzare. And then almost everytime, they picked us off, inevitably leading to a goal.

_________________
"Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I,
I took the one less travelled by,
and that has made all the difference."

Robert Frost

Stevens & Houla win a lot more contested/ hard ball than you think & a lot more than Bentick or Kouta.