Stupid mid year break

[uptick]

Campo, huge negative old and slow, can't have unfit players, Stanton, and then slow ones like Jobe, and JJ, and Campo all in the one team. Jobe, and a fit Stants, and maybe JJ, nut no room for Campo, none, ever, ever , ever.

[pear]

Campo, huge negative old and slow, can't have unfit players, Stanton, and then slow ones like Jobe, and JJ, and Campo all in the one team. Jobe, and a fit Stants, and maybe JJ, nut no room for Campo, none, ever, ever , ever.

He is a dud and an oxygen thief

[Lloyd is King]

Campo, huge negative old and slow, can't have unfit players, Stanton, and then slow ones like Jobe, and JJ, and Campo all in the one team. Jobe, and a fit Stants, and maybe JJ, nut no room for Campo, none, ever, ever , ever.

He is a dud and an oxygen thief

True.

Never liked Campo, never will.

[jimmyc1985]

Hate it. Stuffs up momentum.

Even though we lost to the ferals, we kicked 7 in the last quarter and avoided a spanking, proving the mental off switch was on in the 1st 3 quarters. Then we have a week off and that loses a footballers most valuable commodity, match fitness.....mental and physical.

We were "on" in the 1st and then we looked slow and reactive after that because we had lost that hard won match fitness, whereas they had played the week before and therefore had the mental and physical playind edge. It may be only worth 3%, but thats all it takes in this contrived equal "competition."

You're having a lend, aren't you? We were shit after quarter time because we were shit and dropped in intensity, and this has nothing to do with the week off. We've blown the opposition away in the first quarter a number of times this year, only to let them back into the match - happened against Carlton, Hawthorn, Freo, Collingwood and Sydney, and again last night. Absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the week off - it's an unfortunate habit our team has got itself into.

To say we lose match fitness because we had the week off beggars belief.

Negatives:

- JJ and Welshs disposal....can it get any worse especially switching from HB to the centre....stuff it up and its a goal everytime. JJ worries me. He appears to have lost a yard big time and with it his quick decision making. Yes he got it 22 times but half the time it comes back over his head just as quick. Wasn't he responsible for MacDonald?

- Picking Stanton. No need to elaborate.

- Umpiring...field, boundary, goal....they all want their minute in the sunshine. Listen you dogs...just do your ******* job and get out the way, showpony's. That Indian goal umpire should be sent back to a Bombay call centre.

- Losing Hille. Stuffed up the back structure bigtime with having to rest Paddy to relieve the Cock.

Positives:

- Nil injury's.

- Fighting spirit. They never give up. Thats like Gold.

- Chook has arrived.

- Nash. Is he a left or right side player? I can't tell. The most skillful player in the team. Anyway, he doesn't miss a target...ever.

- The old blokes of course did well and won it for us, but the young guys continue to do well. Scotty and Matty won't kick 9 between them if it isn't coming in.

I'd agree with most of those. JJ is definitely on his last legs, hence the club's refusal to offer him anything more than a year. Apparently he privately reckons he can go on next year, but on what he's shown thus far he's going to struggle to command another year.
Same could be said of MJ - the opposition are playing through him on a weekly basis now. He got well beaten by Robertson even though Robbo was hobbling around on one leg. Definitely battling is MJ.
Welsh was really good in his first few matches of the year, then since his hamstring complaint has reverted back to the Welsh of 2006 - slow, indecisive and inclined to chip the ball dangerously out of defence.

Still hesitant to say Laycock has 'arrived'. Once he strings half a dozen together like that, then i'll be convinced. But last night was probably his best game for the club. And Nash simply has to stay in the f****** team - Sheedy reckons after last night he'll be dropping a few players, and if he drops Nash it'll just be very frustrating as there's others (who shall remain nameless) who should be dropped sooner.

[rockhole]

Totally agree re comments on Nash. Recall seeing him at training for the first time a couple of years ago and thought he was the best balanced and coordinated footbally in the team next to Hirdy.

Was rapt in Chook's game and provides us now with even more forward line options with Hille back in the team. Some of his palming was compared to Farmer (big call!!) on the radio. His goal from the boundary was classic

[BenDoolan]

I'd agree with most of those. JJ is definitely on his last legs, hence the club's refusal to offer him anything more than a year. Apparently he privately reckons he can go on next year, but on what he's shown thus far he's going to struggle to command another year.
Same could be said of MJ - the opposition are playing through him on a weekly basis now. He got well beaten by Robertson even though Robbo was hobbling around on one leg. Definitely battling is MJ.
Welsh was really good in his first few matches of the year, then since his hamstring complaint has reverted back to the Welsh of 2006 - slow, indecisive and inclined to chip the ball dangerously out of defence.

Still hesitant to say Laycock has 'arrived'. Once he strings half a dozen together like that, then i'll be convinced. But last night was probably his best game for the club. And Nash simply has to stay in the f****** team - Sheedy reckons after last night he'll be dropping a few players, and if he drops Nash it'll just be very frustrating as there's others (who shall remain nameless) who should be dropped sooner.

JJ made a lot of errors last night. Love the bloke, but he looked a shadow of his former self. I actually thought they gave him 2 years

Agree with the Laycock comment. He was fantastic though last night. Watching the replay this morning, the Ox simply said we must perservere with him. I'd agree with that, if he simply shows enough of those efforts. I've been on his case most of this year as everyone would know, but I'm the first to pat the bloke on the back for good performances - and he was great.

Jay Nash. I have liked the way he goes about his footy. Last year I was a big rap for him. This year, he's showing even more - and this is after missing a big chunk of the season due to a bad injury. I reckon the club thinks very highly of him, and he aint going anywhere in a hurry. He's in the team and deserves to be. Great skills.

[Doctor Fish]

Campo, huge negative old and slow, can't have unfit players, Stanton, and then slow ones like Jobe, and JJ, and Campo all in the one team. Jobe, and a fit Stants, and maybe JJ, nut no room for Campo, none, ever, ever , ever.

He is a dud and an oxygen thief

True.

Never liked Campo, never will.

Are you kidding? You people need to take another look at the replay. We wouldn't have won if it wasn't for a couple of quality possessions from Campo in the dying minutes. Sure he didn't have a great game and I'm not exactly a huge fan either, but when it counted most he was putting in bigtime. Oxygen thief eh??? You people need to pull your respective heads out of your asses...

[BenDoolan]

Ben I reckon that sitting on the bench giving him 10 minutes at the end of each quarter is BS. He showed last night what he can do when he spends most of the time on the ground.

As I said elsewhere, change him in the pocket with Hille. Old fashioned yes, but how can anyone match up on that?

Oh yeah, I agree with that. But, unfortunately, Chook really hasn't demonstrated any reason for him being on the ground at all up until recently. He hadn't appeared to be able to leap, run, extend or actually move much at all. Very hard to leave a guy on the field when that is happening. But yeah, when he looks mobile, active and "dangerous", by all means leave him on!!!!

[jimmyc1985]

Jim ....serious question....have you ever played Football at any level?

Yes, i was a shitkicker in the school 1st XVIII or onballer for the 2nds.

I just don't see any causal nexus between us having the week off and supposedly losing momentum. As i said, the pattern of our game last night (great first quarter, then let our guard down in the 2nd and 3rd, then fight back in the last) has been evident throughout the year in at least half a dozen games.

Some teams come back crap after having the week off (like Melbourne, West Coast, Sydney, and, to some extent, us), some teams come back better after the week off (like St Kilda, Richmond and Collingwood), and some teams don't miss a beat (having the week off doesn't seem to be effecting Geelong today - currently belting Swans by 8 goals). I just don't think there's a consistent, blanket effect of having the week off.

The same question arises each year in Finals, when one team in the prelim comes back after a week off and the other doesn't - some players appreciate the extra week off as a chance to 'freshen up', others prefer to play without the extra break.

As regards match fitness, i don't see how having a week off can effect it. These guys build up their fitness base over 6 months and then train throughout the season to maintain it. If anything, the "week off effect" is a mental issue. Some teams come back fit, firing and mentally switched on, some back half asleep and docile. But i personally have my doubts that a week off would have any physical effect on any levels of fitness.

[jimmyc1985]

Jim....not hanging shit mate....but 2 XVIII School Footy will not teach you much...

I take your point about the earlier matches particularly the Carlton game but if we blow away the oposition the first and last quarters (won our last 6 last quarters!!) and do SFA in the middle, its between the ears mate! Where is our Sports Psych?

No offence taken. I took no pride in my football exploits at all.

But now you've got me confused - is it just me, or are we in agreement? My two main points that i tried to convey in my two previous posts regarding the week off are:
1) Its effect is not consistent - it affects different players and teams differently. The fact you may have hated the week off in your footballing career does not mean all players hate it - for example, Jason Laycock apparently loves the week off; and
2) Any effect it does have is entirely mental. This would be consistent with premise (1) as the brain is less predictable than the body. If there is no consistent effect on a given player or team with having the week off, then it seems axiomatic that the effect is entirely mental. If there was a consistent effect with having the week off, this would suggest physical rather than mental factors are at play.

Am i on the right track?

[swoodley]

Campo, huge negative old and slow, can't have unfit players, Stanton, and then slow ones like Jobe, and JJ, and Campo all in the one team. Jobe, and a fit Stants, and maybe JJ, nut no room for Campo, none, ever, ever , ever.

He is a dud and an oxygen thief

True.

Never liked Campo, never will.

Are you kidding? You people need to take another look at the replay. We wouldn't have won if it wasn't for a couple of quality possessions from Campo in the dying minutes. Sure he didn't have a great game and I'm not exactly a huge fan either, but when it counted most he was putting in bigtime. Oxygen thief eh??? You people need to pull your respective heads out of your asses...

I agree with you Doc...llike him or not, Campo did a lot of good stuff in this game. I think it's just that most people hated him when he played for Carlton and now can't accept that he plays for us. I've never liked him but I like to think I'm objective enough to recognise when he does well which I thought he did last night.

[j-mac31]

Campo was pretty good early - hit Lloyd on the chest a couple of times in the first quarter and after the crap people said on the old BT ("I can't wait to see Campo putting it on Lloyd's chest 5 or 6 times a night") so often, it was good to finally see a bit of it.

Agree with pretty much everything else said.

JJ may be on his last legs but what about MJ? Started well, but Robertson killed him in the second. Perhaps a move should have been made (in fact did Fletcher go onto him for a bit?) but I don't think he's been too crash hot this season.

And I think McPhee has been pretty average too.

And I'm not going to get too carried away until we beat some good teams at the G. I fear that the Dome makes it easier for our slower, less skillful team to win. Finals are not played there and we need to learn how to win at the MCG if we're going to win a flag in the next few years.

[spikefan]

Having played a bit (obviously not AFL but Seniors nevertheless in a great standard), let me tell you having a week off anytime but particularly mid season gives you the shits...you have to mentally and physically re-adjust having got into a groove.

I agreed with most of your post but I don't think you are right here. 22 weeks without a break is just too hard in the ultra-professionel, ultra fit AFL of 2007. Maybe the game has changed since you played at least at AFL level. I heard from some players that they were tired and welcomed the break. I believe AFL players are so professional that a weekend will not affect their mental and physical readyness - at least the good ones.

[azza78]

I think, scratch, hope that once guys like NatRat and Lovett etc get some match fitness back we'll probably see JJ, MJ and Campo back at Bendigo.

And whilst I'm certainly not a fan, Campo hasn't been too bad from what I've seen. Can hit targets and generally keeps a cool head. Agree that Campo, JJ and Watson should not all be in the same side, and Campo is offering more than JJ at the moment IMO.