Laidley benches red-hot Nathan Thompson

[moomba]

But that's the problem with him moomba mate, he disappears when it matters most. A behind when he could have put you 6 points up with momentum and then he vanishes to the bench?

I've no doubt you wouldn't have been close if not for his 5 goals, but it wasn't enough. A champion would have dug deep for those few minutes. Jeezus, Dipper played with a punctured lung.

Like I said before, I'm a bit disappointed with him going off. If he was cramping up I have no problems with it, a bit of cramp you can play on with but anything worse than that and I'd want to see him off the pitch. Don't know what the case was so I'm not going to be overly harsh.

Simple fact remains, that for all the gloating that there has been and will be this week by Hawthorn supporters (they are happy and good luck to them, but they seem to want us to be miserable about it as well) we didn't lose the match because of Thompson, and he will go down as one of our best on the day.

 

[jackson_rules]

so did Lappin, in a GF.
STARTED the game with cracked ribs.

dipper didnt have all this medical making him virtually pain free

 

[mattyc2422]

Simple fact remains, that for all the gloating that there has been and will be this week by Hawthorn supporters (they are happy and good luck to them, but they seem to want us to be miserable about it as well) we didn't lose the match because of Thompson, and he will go down as one of our best on the day.

No doubt about that, but his self-removal from the ground decreased your potential chance of winning the game which is enough.

 

[mighty mick]

Obviously the problem at the roos (re:walking off) is lack of discipline on Thompsons behalf.Would he have walked off if a Malthouse or Sheedy or Matthews was in charge?

Maybe we shouldn't blame Thompson as he DID kick 5 goals , maybe the roos have too many passengers right now?

too true 10 -11 goals a week is not gonna win you games, the forward setup needs work and this stop start kicking to set up a forward attacks has to be scrapped in a day and age where footy is played at a basketball pace.

 

[Robbie]

He's obviously had a brain fade, but I don't think the coach would make a difference, other than perhaps a player who would do this would never be on the list in the first place.

It's one of the strangest things I've ever seen. Not sure who was on the bench just before he came off and who replaced him, but I was suprised Sav wasn't thrown up forward. If he takes it anywhere inside 60 with 5 points the difference he would have been a chance.

 

[campbell]

so did Lappin, in a GF.
STARTED the game with cracked ribs.

No Nige in the 2003 GF, started the game with cracked ribs and a punctured lung.He also has asthma.

 

[moomba]

No doubt about that, but his self-removal from the ground decreased your potential chance of winning the game which is enough.

Not if he was unable to perform fitness-wise. I don't know the extent of the cramp (if any), so I'm not going to have too much of a go at him for it.

And as I said, if you could guarantee 5 goals from Thompson every week he can spend the last 10 minutes of each match on the bench as far as I'm concerned.

 

[mattyc2422]

Obviously the problem at the roos (re:walking off) is lack of discipline on Thompsons behalf.Would he have walked off if a Malthouse or Sheedy or Matthews was in charge?

Clarkson would have made him play BH 2's and then sent him to the box Shawshank Redemption style.

 

[mattyc2422]

Not if he was unable to perform fitness-wise. I don't know the extent of the cramp (if any), so I'm not going to have too much of a go at him for it.

And as I said, if you could guarantee 5 goals from Thompson every week he can spend the last 10 minutes of each match on the bench as far as I'm concerned.

Even if he did have cramp, he was a far better chance of making/winning a 1-on-1 contest or at least creating a contest for your crumbers than Petrie did.

 

[moomba]

Even if he did have cramp, he was a far better chance of making/winning a 1-on-1 contest or at least creating a contest for your crumbers than Petrie did.

And Petrie was a better chance of giving a lead, or chasing after a defender if we turned the ball over (which we are prone to do).

Two sides to every argument.

 

[bugsy]

Not if he was unable to perform fitness-wise. I don't know the extent of the cramp (if any), so I'm not going to have too much of a go at him for it.

And as I said, if you could guarantee 5 goals from Thompson every week he can spend the last 10 minutes of each match on the bench as far as I'm concerned.

If thats the way you feel then no one is going to change your mind set.
Have you ever played the game at senior level?
Do you really think someone who kicks five goals deverse the right to take himself off when the game needs to be won?

As for cramp.
What you do is signal to a trainer, tell him whats happening so the coach can set up a move.
Dead set, you must be female or never played the game to think the way you do.
Which is it?

 

[SaintsSupporter]

I lost all respect for Dean Laidley when, with 2 minutes left in the game and Kangaroos desperately needing a goal, a shot of the bench comes up and you see Nathan Thompson, Sav Rocca and David Hale all on it. Absolutely shocking coaching.

 

[Frankston Rover]

If Thompson was cramping why, then, did he stand on the boundry line for the last 3-4 minutes with his hands on his hips?

I think the someone is covering for their coach.....

 

[moomba]

If thats the way you feel then no one is going to change your mind set.
Have you ever played the game at senior level?

Yes

Do you really think someone who kicks five goals deverse the right to take himself off when the game needs to be won?

If a player doesn't think he's fit enough to play (no matter how many goals he kicks) then he should go off.

As for cramp.
What you do is signal to a trainer, tell him whats happening so the coach can set up a move.

And then the final siren goes with a player that can't run in the hands of the trainer, smart one you are.

Dead set, you must be female or never played the game to think the way you do.
Which is it?

Just someone that doesn't know the extent of Thompsons fitness, so I'm not not going to shoot my mouth off and pretend that I'm more knowledgeable about the situation than I am.

You obviously are prepared to do that, and good luck to you.

 

[Joffaboy]

If Thompson was cramping why, then, did he stand on the boundry line for the last 3-4 minutes with his hands on his hips?

I think the someone is covering for their coach.....

When asked at the press conference, Laidley said Thompson was totally spent and took himself off. Said that Thompson was team orientated and thought that he wouldn't be able to contest or make defensive efforts and that Melbourne would rebound too quickly if he stayed on.

Dont know if that is sufficient as an answer but there you go. Dont know about Rocca or the other tall on the bench.

 

[mattyc2422]

When asked at the press conference, Laidley said Thompson was totally spent and took himself off. Said that Thompson was team orientated and thought that he wouldn't be able to contest or make defensive efforts and that Melbourne would rebound too quickly if he stayed on.

Dont know if that is sufficient as an answer but there you go. Dont know about Rocca or the other tall on the bench.

Interesting mentality. I'd rather have him on and go for the win and potentially lose by 2 goals if it doesn't pay off than take him off and perhaps only lose by 1 goal.

 

[OneEyedHawk]

Not if he was unable to perform fitness-wise. I don't know the extent of the cramp (if any), so I'm not going to have too much of a go at him for it.

And as I said, if you could guarantee 5 goals from Thompson every week he can spend the last 10 minutes of each match on the bench as far as I'm concerned.

He had no concerns fitness-wise, other than being 'rooted', as he put it. Was a bad decision on his behalf, him being the red-hot forward at that stage, surely he could've dug a bit deeper for the last couple of minutes in such a crucial match for his club.

That said, he was brilliant before that, and probably the reason the Kangaroos were still in the game, so...

On a completely un-related matter, I can't believe there's currently no thread on Sam Newmans comments pre-game, that the Kangaroos are unequivocally, 100%, guaranteed moving up to Carrara. According to him, they have been offered 1.2 mil to play their 3 matches up there, with the stipulation being that they must eventually move there for good. Personally, I don't rate Sam highly at all, but he did seem very adamant that he had a reliable source and that this was most definately the case.

 

[Infamy]

Laidley should have just told him to shut up, get in the goal square and provide a target

If thats actually what happened

 

[Frankston Rover]

When asked at the press conference, Laidley said Thompson was totally spent and took himself off. Said that Thompson was team orientated and thought that he wouldn't be able to contest or make defensive efforts and that Melbourne would rebound too quickly if he stayed on.

Dont know if that is sufficient as an answer but there you go. Dont know about Rocca or the other tall on the bench.

Complete bulls*it.

Thommo stood on the boundry line with the look of someone who couldn't believe where he was. In the background, was Rocca, head in his hands.

Now if you believe Laidley (which I don't) Thompson came off and told Petrie to go to FF. Have you ever heard of a player telling another player where to play? Laidley is the coach FFS, not Thompson. Laidley should have told Petrie to come off and either put Thommo or Rocca at FF.

IMHO, Laidley made a move, it turned out to be a horrific mistake so he's blamed 'cramps' and is now hoping to hell that this blows over. I predict Laidley will either lay very low this week or push some other topic forward.
Like umpire, ground surface at Docklands or Fremantles game plan....

 

[moomba]

He had no concerns fitness-wise, other than being 'rooted', as he put it.

If that is the case, then I very much sway toward your line of thinking.

Still have a 5 goal 110 minute effort from Thompson any day of the week.

 

[bugsy]

If that is the case, then I very much sway toward your line of thinking.

Still have a 5 goal 110 minute effort from Thompson any day of the week.

LOL!

 

[Tas]

Obviously the problem at the roos (re:walking off) is lack of discipline on Thompsons behalf.Would he have walked off if a Malthouse or Sheedy or Matthews was in charge?

Maybe we shouldn't blame Thompson as he DID kick 5 goals , maybe the roos have too many passengers right now?

Nah, it is not a discipline issue. Senior players are given responsibility with making certain judgement calls. He felt that it would have given us the best chance to win by coming off, if in the next piece of play Petrie got the mark instead of it being spoilt and goaled and we won it would have been a brilliant move.

Petrie dropped the mark and we got a point I believe and lost the game. It didn't work out. If Thompson was there and he was unable to even get to the contest people may have just been critical that he should have been taken off...

When you lose then you are in a no-win situation, everything is your fault.

The decision didn't bother me because at least they had the mentality of trying to win the game.

Thompson definitely didn't have much if any support on the forward line, but when you often have 30 players in your forward line since half time it gets a bit hard to find much space there to kick goals.

What we need to do is learn to play floods more intelligently.

 

[Jeffrey]

Why is this thread still going after 7 pages?

What is the big deal?

If you only just realised that Laidley was a crap coach and Nathan Thomson was mentally weak, you don't follow AFL footy.

Nothing new was learned today.

 

[OneEyedHawk]

If that is the case, then I very much sway toward your line of thinking.

Still have a 5 goal 110 minute effort from Thompson any day of the week.

Yeah, they asked him multiple times about it on MMM, and he just said he was 'rooted', was completely spent, and felt the Roos would be better served with the fresher Petrie in his spot.
No doubting it was an error, but perhaps more of a judgement error than the more serious charge of lacking heart.

 

[Flag Man]

BTW, I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank Hawthorn for Nathan Thompson and John Hay.

They are progressing nicely.