The Burgoynes cost Port last year

Youve been bagging a kid since ive been coming to these boards Sheik

Have you ever applauded anything he has done???

There are soft players at every club... but i reckon a guy like Houla would stand in front of Saverio Rocca ONE TIME and you will never have to in your lifetime....

I repeat... weak bastards bag kids day in day out...
Houla is not a leader.. he will have the tone set by senior players..
He is that kind of player...

There are few extra hard players at the club.

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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.

Synbad, why is it you can acknowledge Houlihan is not a leader or a tough player and will never be, but is required because you need a balance (which I could not agree more), but you cannot accept that with a Camporeale.

Gary Malarkey... Houla is not our vice captain,senior player, premiership player, best and fairest, second most expensive player, veteran...(your cleverness never ceases to amaze Surrey)
someone like Houla is no different at his age to someone like Campo was at the same age.
The difference is the era they played in...

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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.

Call me what you like Synbad, but the fact of the matter is that Houla will be a senior player and will probably never be required to be a leader. Do you see where I'm getting at or is that just too clever for you?

And I will continue to 'bag' him whilst he stays at the club. Carlton supporters are the only people who seem to rate Houlihan, they can see no wrong in what he does (fair enough to a certain extent given they do barrack for the club). However, the overwhelming majority of opposition supporters I have spoken to are rapt that he plays for us because they know that he isn't going to win the game for us. Many of them say that all their guys have to do is give him a whack behind the ear and he'll go off and meekly to stand in a corner. What sort of reputation is that ??

Stand in front of Sav Rocca ?? If I was at the right age (again) and had the ability (that's been long gone now), I'd be only too happy to take my old place on the half-back flank. I stood in front of plenty of bigger grown men whilst playing, sure I got hit and hurt, but that's part of playing the game. So to suggest that I won't and he would is a nonsense comment and you know it because it will never be answered. And if Houlihan was to stand in front of Rocca, so bloody what ?? He's (like the rest of the players on the team) expected to put his body on the line when the time arrives, it's part of playing the game or are you forgetting that important fact ??

Have I applauded anything he has done ?? Yep, I have actually, a few times if the truth is known. No matter how much I like or dislike anyone, I'm man enough to admit it when they do well and give credit where credit is due, I'm not that totally negative or one-eyed.

Weak bastard ?? Well then, now you have an escape clause to avoid the facts. It's okay for you to tee-off on a 30yo player for an extended period yet if anyone else does the same on a 23yo player, they are labelled a 'weak bastard'. Give me a break ....................

Look Sheik.. i can tee off on a player who is 30 thats right!!!!
Cos he is 30 and cant get any better.
You on the other hand say "Ã

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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.

At least Trevor Keogh had a dip though.

was it tzatziki????

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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.

So what if ?? If I had a dollar for every 'what if' offered on a footy forum I'd be a gazillionaire.

And for the record, the only way that Ryan Houlihan would win a Brownlow is if every other player in the league was ruled ineligible. And, on the remotest chance (I can't believe I'm even considering that it would happen), then I'll walk backward from Sydney to Melbourne. Won't happen and you know it too !!

Furthermore, if he won it whilst carrying OP then I'd dip my lid to him.

Yep, I'll bag every player at the club until we assemble a hard tough unit capable of winning a premiership. I'm not into player idolising and niceties, I'm into winning flags. Houlihan won't be at the club when we next win a premiership (thank god) so he, like the rest of the poop we have on the playing list are not immune to criticism.

Babaganoush actually. (boom boom)

Look Sheik... Houla like Campo and a few others is a peripheral player...
He gets the benefit of the doubt cos he is still a kid.
He does need to stand up next year.

However if something came along thats BETTER id trade him..

But we cant have a group of tough nuts who cant kick the ball..
What youre saying is over summer we will find ourselves a bunch of tough nuts who have good skills too...aka Luka Ball

See thats when i start thinking youre a fool.

Everything happens in stages.
You cant replace Houlihan with Bowyer cos Bowyer is hard..!!!!

Dont you get simple logistics??????

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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.

I never said let's replace Houlihan with Bowyer, you've plucked that from nowhere. If another player could be traded in to replace Houlihan, agreed, never in doubt.

And why is it that you can't have tough nuts who can kick anyway ?? Is there some physiological reason that guys who are relentless at the pill have no ability to dispose of it ??

Turn over the list over summer ?? Once again you're trying to pre-guess where I'm coming from. Over a three year period, it will take that long to turn over every player on our list and replace them with young guys via the draft sprinkled with some shrewd trade deals.

If Houla was as hard at it as Mark Johnson he would be one of the elite in the competition.
Every player has their upside and downside.
Andrew Walker has courage and pace but can't kick for peanuts at this stage. Should we get rid of him because he can't kick.
Houla has pace, hardly ever gets caught with the ball, is a wonderful kick. His downside is he isn't the hardest player and he sometimes is a little cute with his kicking.
How come every incident that Houla shirks is highlighted? One of the worst I've seen was by Heath Scotland against Richmond this year. It was weaker than Houla last week and the optus incident put together.

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"We used to sit around and talk about how bad the game plan was." Anthony Koutoufides

Did no one notice him in the 2nd Q put his body in to smother the ball, force a turnover, pick the ball up, kick it directly to Fevola's chest, who then kicked to Waite, who goaled? Even Shaw complimented him for that and a number of players came over to congratulate him. That's a goal directly due to him forcing that smother. Also tackled Harry Miller and forced a turnover. Had as many tackles as anyone (5). And yes he did stand in front of Sav Rocca last year and has done a few other courageous things. He's not going to be hard all the time but it's not as though he never does it.

Bradley and Keogh were not hard players but there is a huge gap in overall ability between those two and Houlihan. I dont disagree every team has them and Travis Johnston is no different to Houlihan but to be a soft player and get away with shirking the odd contest you have to be a very fine player to be carried by the team..Bradley was, so was Keogh.

I see Houlihan in a poor team like we are able to be carried becuase we overall we have poor skills and he stands out as having better than average at our club...put him in some of the better teams and he wouldnt be tolerated...
Rhys Shaw/OBree/Woewodin are all in the same boat at Collingwood...wouldnt get a game at some of the better teams but as Collingwood have little else in terms of midfielders they continue to get games...although the three of them will be lucky to survive into next year.

Houlihan will continue to get a game while we struggle but I dont a future for him when we get better unless he changes his attack on the footy. He did seem to be improving but has regressed and I think supporters have every right to question a 100 game player who attacks the footy like he does...we are in no position to carry anyone....Houlihan should have been dragged and told some hard facts...you have to wonder about the discipline side of it all and has Denis just given it away this year and doesnt care..what sort of message does it send younger players...you can pull out of contests and no one cares...how does a goer like Simon Wiggins feel?....not as skilled as Houlihan but plays with more heart and bravery yet is just fodder for the Bullants..

I actually blame some of it on a lack of leadership..if Houlihan was playing with Brisbane he would have gone for that ball harder because he would have been explaining himself afterwards not just to the coach but to the player group....down at carlton the leadership group lack motivation to do the hard stuff themselves so what do they care...

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"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen

What was Lance supposed to do other than give him a serve, smack him?

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"We used to sit around and talk about how bad the game plan was." Anthony Koutoufides

No ...I expected Lance to pat him on the back and say well done mate..nice lack of effort......you are making me and Campo look good keep it up..they will be begging us to stay...

At Brisbane he would have a got a verbal from Aker, glare from Brown and plenty of contesting work from the Scott boys at the next trainingI would have imagined...Voss probably would have taken him aside and had a quiet word and said the team expected better next time...

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"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen

Well that would be a beauty wouldnt it.
Lance lecturing his teammates about committing yourself to your footy, your club and your fellow players.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

Didn't you see Lance tell him off after the incident? Do you know for a fact that Kouta hasn't spoken to him?

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"We used to sit around and talk about how bad the game plan was." Anthony Koutoufides