Preview Changes & Preview for Semi Final 2 vs Hawthorn @AO

[Hammer#8]

Bartel saying it will be the best win in Ken's coaching tenure, did he forget Round 1, 2019 vs Melbourne?!

 

[Duck Farmer]

Who handed out a world record thumping against the current premiership favourite ? Port Did.

Who beat an everything on the line Freo when it was a dead rubber ? Port Did.

Who was on an awesome pre finals run ? Port was.

With Butters now cleared and a fast, clearance dominating midfield, you will be hard to beat.

Who will have a massive home crowd behind them ? You guys.

I'm reading this with the tune to the Stonecutters' song going through my head.

 

[ibd77]

No way ! Ultimate bogey side - much prefer the Hawks.

Well the SCG suits our high press game which isn't an high press game at the SCG .

 

[KrispyKremeMullanikka]

I'm reading this with the tune to the Stonecutters' song going through my head.

Live scenes to Vic Media mafia secret meeting with Kenny (the leader), CD, Caro, Wheatley, Robbo, McGuire and all the other Hinkley followers

 

[PowerBaz]

Does Kenny just roll out the Bell Park vid of him screaming?

 

[Expat power]

Butters cleared by the club to play on Friday.

Also, is there a reason why we couldn't keep him 'in doubt' to try and sike Hawthorn?

That may be happening, maybe he's actually not playing but we're saying he is.

 

[El_Scorcho]

I'm reading this with the tune to the Stonecutters' song going through my head.

We sure do love to attach the Stone of Triumph come finals time.

 

[ClintEastwood]

Imagine being named Willem.

 

[ClintEastwood]

I’d roll the dice on Marshall over Dixon.

I can't believe I'm actually advocating for Marshall to play, but if I wanted to win this game, yeah I'd want Marshall in over the inanimate carbon rod too.

 

[El_Scorcho]

Marshall should have played last week, playing 2 bollards was never going to work, they need to pick one out of Dixon and Ratugolea and not clog up our forward line with players who don't move. We're also low on kicking skill with Houston and Farrell out.

We got too caught up in wins against sides that didn't make the 8 and didn't make a very obvious change.

 

[ClintEastwood]

Nah, it was right to play Dixon last week. We thought that after having a week off to freshen up, he might resemble a human being out there like he did last time after a break, instead of a lumbering concrete pillar.

But ya can't put up with 3 touches and zero score for two games in a row.

 

[240volt]

I’m not even drunk and I would play Marshall over Charlie this week.

 

[El_Scorcho]

Nah, it was right to play Dixon last week. We thought that after having a week off to freshen up, he might resemble a human being out there like he did last time after a break, instead of a lumbering concrete pillar.

But ya can't put up with 3 touches and zero score for two games in a row.

I'm fine with them playing Dixon, i'm fine with them playing Ratugolea, but you can't play both of them. Our already stagnant forward line slows to a complete stop.

I like Dixon better because he can ruck really well, and i'd get him into the ruck earlier to work him into the game. Dixon is far more likely to wind back the clock than Ratugolea is to kick a bag IMO.

Not really sure why the consensus on here is that Charlie needs to be dropped, I think his form has been significantly better than Esava's overall. Last week was bad but Esava hasn't kicked a goal in 4 games.

 

[ClintEastwood]

Not really sure why the consensus on here is that Charlie needs to be dropped

Then ... we don't have much to talk about, lol.

 

[Willsy10]

I think Marshall is a better option than both Esava and Dixon.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[El_Scorcho]

Then ... we don't have much to talk about, lol.

3 touches in a final is pretty bad. But he's competing with a guy in Ratugolea who had 6 touches and hasn't rucked for us at all.

I don't think we're dropping both of them. Who is more likely to make an impact?

 

[Pat07350]

After BZTs game last week he is lucky he doesn’t get dropped and they send Rat back and have Marshall fwd.

 

[ClintEastwood]

3 touches in a final is pretty bad. But he's competing with a guy in Ratugolea who had 6 touches and hasn't rucked for us at all.

I don't think we're dropping both of them. Who is more likely to make an impact?

Rat wasn't great either, clearly (not Robinson Crusoe there). But he was more effective up forward than Dixon. I bet you could throw him into the ruck too. Could hardly lose clearance any worse than we did anyway.

You see Rat as competition to Marshall, which blinds you to anything Rat does. It's hard to have constructive debate with someone as utterly blindly devoted to Marshall as you are. Have you asked yourself in a serious way, why you are? I'm truly interested, no sarcasm at all.

 

[Powerade 08]

Ratugolea will play. Dixons hemorrhoids are warmed up

Do not forget every Todd Marshall

4

Todd Marshall

Age

26

Ht

198cm

Wt

94kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.0

2star

K

6.4

3star

HB

2.5

2star

M

3.3

3star

T

2.5

4star

G

1.1

4star

D

8.9

2star

K

7.1

3star

HB

1.8

1star

M

3.8

4star

T

3.0

4star

G

1.1

5star

D

9.6

3star

K

5.6

3star

HB

4.0

3star

M

3.0

3star

T

2.4

4star

G

1.6

5star

fans favourite phrase.

'Not a good day for key forwards'

x 4 weeks in a row

 

[Piesnchess]

This makes a very good point.
This should definitely be used as very strong leverage and ammunition by a very proud and traditional club to bolster the playing group into a savage response. It equates to little more than complete disrespect and contempt for said proud, traditional and successful club of 155 years by an upstart, Johnny Come Lately mob who have been around just on a century and have been by and large gifted successful dynasties by way of being handed a very fertile recruiting zone ( 70s) and consistently questionable umpiring ( 80s & 90s) that turned them into a club of significance after 40 years of arse whippings. Their recent successes can't be derided, they have earned them through hard work and graft with a bit of luck on the way ( 2014 PF as an example) but that by no means gives them any right to carry on with this crap.

If the brains trust can't latch onto this and use this as a spur, then they all deserve to be cleaned out, lock stock and barrel. It should be motivation enough for the players anyway if they have any pride - in the guernsey and personal - to want to add a little more of Hawthorn's dominant and most recognisable colour to their faces.

I'm reminded of a mid season game in Adelaide in 2004 against the Toilet Ducks, whose cheer squad held up the run through with the message ' Remember last September - We're Baaaaaack!! ' in huge letters. The players, to a man, saw that and ripped them apart by about 15 goals. Not one player that day backed out of a contest or played ' nice ' . This deserves the same response.

Jack Ginnivan is a selfish, arrogant little brat, full of himself, he went to the races pre our GF, never asked the Coach, got on the sauce, late night, and played a shocking game in the GF, then rubbed our Coaches face in it, by wearing jockey silks to the flag celebrations. What he did to McStay as a sick prank was unforgiveable, our players wanted the little turd gone. and he went, good riddance,hes a walking time bomb, as Mitchell will soon find out.

 

[El_Scorcho]

Rat wasn't great either, clearly (not Robinson Crusoe there). But he was more effective up forward than Dixon. I bet you could throw him into the ruck too. Could hardly lose clearance any worse than we did anyway.

You see Rat as competition to Marshall, which blinds you to anything Rat does. It's hard to have constructive debate with someone as utterly blindly devoted to Marshall as you are. Have you asked yourself in a serious way, why you are? I'm truly interested, no sarcasm at all.

I definitely saw Rat as picked ahead of Marshall in what I felt was an idiotic move for various reasons.

What exactly is Rat doing? It's not kicking goals. It's not setting them up. He's not a particularly active forward in terms of movement or generating space. He's just standing still under hospital balls and not marking them. I see him as a poorer Dixon, and i'm already annoyed with how stagnant our forward line is when we're just picking one of him. Picking 2 bollard type forwards is ridiculous, you're effectively forcing every I50 to go to a contest.

Marshall just gets an inordinate amount of hate on this board for someone who has been a pretty productive forward for us over the last few years, to the point where people are advocating for a guy who hasn't kicked a goal since the 3rd of August to stay in ahead of him. I used to think it was just that Port supporters have a warped sense of what the average 2nd or 3rd KPF is doing at AFL level each week, but the Ratugolea advocacy has thrown that out the window, because Ratugolea isn't doing anything at all, and never has as a forward even when he played for a well coached team with great delivery inside 50. People have absolutely lost their minds on this issue. Even an out of form Marshall is head and shoulders above Ratugolea. Being annoyed with Marshall's output is fine, wanting Marshall to be more physical is fine, but he's 100% best 22 at the moment and it's not particularly close.

 

[ClintEastwood]

What exactly is Rat doing? It's not kicking goals. It's not setting them up. He's not a particularly active forward in terms of movement or generating space. He's just standing still under hospital balls and not marking them.

Someone's gotta stand under the incessant long-bombs into the 50, under Hinkleyball.

I see him as a poorer Dixon

He's a better Dixon, currently. Saying that, neither played well, clearly.

Marshall just gets an inordinate amount of hate on this board

Is that an answer to my genuine question about why you're so blindly devoted to him? (for a moment I was gonna ask if you think "blindly devoted" is a fair characterization, but of course you don't think so).

But really, is the above line the only reason for your devotion? Is there no more proportional reason?

I put the same question (in reverse) to myself, in anticipation. It took me a looong time to go from liking Marshall as a player, to never wanting to see him play for us again. It's not as if I suddenly took a stance against the guy and that was that.

 

[El_Scorcho]

Someone's gotta stand under the incessant long-bombs into the 50, under Hinkleyball.


He's a better Dixon, currently. Saying that, neither played well, clearly.

Okay, play one of them. I don't think he's better than Dixon at all. Dixon will do the same job but will also contribute in the ruck and on the scoreboard.

Is that an answer to my genuine question about why you're so blindly devoted to him? (for a moment I was gonna ask if you think "blindly devoted" is a fair characterization, but of course you don't think so).

But really, is the above line the only reason for your devotion?

I put the same question (in reverse) to myself, in anticipation. It took me a looong time to go from liking Marshall as a player, to never wanting to see him play for us again. It's not as if I suddenly took a stance against the guy and that was that.

It's not blind devotion, it's a response to his unfair treatment on this board. If we had 3 better fit key forwards, I wouldn't want him picked either. Maybe next year Dixon plays on and Finlayson finds some form and Marshall isn't best 22. This year though, he clearly is.

Even in this season (where you've decided that Marshall has been so bad that he should never play for us again), you're advocating for Ratugolea who in his 6 games as a KPF in 2024 is behind Marshall in every important KPF metric. Marks, Goals, accuracy, Marks inside 50, Score involvements, goal assists. Apparently wanting a forward who is more productive in every metric is "blind devotion".

 

[ClintEastwood]

it's a response to his unfair treatment on this board

I think it's more than that, but I'm not gonna ask again.

Even in this season (where you've decided that Marshall has been so bad that he should never play for us again), you're advocating for Ratugolea who in his 6 games as a KPF in 2024 is behind Marshall in every important KPF metric. Marks, Goals, accuracy, Marks inside 50, Score involvements, goal assists. Apparently wanting a forward who is more productive in every metric is "blind devotion".

I can't be bothered right now to troll through a bunch of stats to prove what most of us can see with our own eyes: that Rat has had more influence playing forward since he was moved there, than Marshall has for a long time. Let's leave it at that, and move along.

 

[VineValerian]

Hilarious as it would appear, I'm picking Port.
Whenever Kern is given his last rites, the team plays out of their skin and pulls off a victory no one saw coming.
I predict similar this week.
Gets us to a PF which our idiots in charge will considor a stupendous effort given our injuries, and he'll be on board again.
Bloke is perenially kissed on the old todger by a fairy