raph

[Beej]

Byrnes destroyed Clarke in the last quarter and was an instrumental part in bring premiership glory to the Cats.

God, everyone knows that Byrnes has no right boot but Clarke got turned inside out three times! Seriously dumb footballer.

Byrnes smashed him in the last. We'd have the ball inside 50 and be piling on the pressure only for a fortuitous clearance to find its way to Byrnes. Byrnes time and time again would get around Clarke too easily allowing the Cats' defenders to regroup.

Pressure is released, Geelong gain confidence by withstanding an onslaught while we rue another missed opportunity and begin to ask ourselves, "what more can we do?"

It kills ya.

Losing a game of football is never the fault of one player, one mistake, one missed shot on goal, it's a collection of all the mistakes. Raph definitely made his fair share.

[desertsaint]

look let's not sugarcoat it -raph had a very poor game and would be hurting. mind you ross should not have matched him on byrnes.
ross had a poor last half - nerves probably - we were dominating but then we went too defensive and tried to bomb the ball long. he also didn't give ball enough game time given how well he was playing.
dempster was a gamble that didn't pay off - like johnson for the cats.
again ross has to wear this.

king was very disappointing, and milney and schneids both tried hard all day, but they're there to kick goals.
bottom line - nerves looked to be our undoing. i wouldn't hang anyone on that effort. very unlucky.
the team and ross have been magnificent all year - all will learn from it and improve.

[skfc58]

every time he gets the ball i close my eyes hes not up to standid has to go im from wa everybody i speak to feels the same to slow sorry

[Solar]

every time he gets the ball i close my eyes hes not up to standid has to go im from wa everybody i speak to feels the same to slow sorry

must not be of standard if everyone you know in WA thinks this

[SainterK]

every time he gets the ball i close my eyes hes not up to standid has to go im from wa everybody i speak to feels the same to slow sorry

As do Richmond supporters with Richo, yet he nearly won the brownlow last year

[Eastern]

What odds Raph for the 2010 Brownlow? !!

[Milan Faletic]

What odds Raph for the 2010 Brownlow? !!

My father accidently put $100 on number 28 for the Brownlow a few years ago instead of number 26. That player was Leigh Montagna and he got laughed at. Infact he made the Daily Telegraph in Sydney for silly bets. i sent him the paper when I was living in Sydney. Not so silly now.

I bagged the crap out of Brendon Goddard a few years ago and look at him.

Maybe, just maybe, Raph Clarke will come of age. I think he is nearly there. He needs confidence but is getting better. So I am sticking with him.

Goodnight

[Bernard Shakey]

Byrnes destroyed Clarke in the last quarter and was an instrumental part in bring premiership glory to the Cats.

God, everyone knows that Byrnes has no right boot but Clarke got turned inside out three times! Seriously dumb footballer.

Byrnes smashed him in the last. We'd have the ball inside 50 and be piling on the pressure only for a fortuitous clearance to find its way to Byrnes. Byrnes time and time again would get around Clarke too easily allowing the Cats' defenders to regroup.

Pressure is released, Geelong gain confidence by withstanding an onslaught while we rue another missed opportunity and begin to ask ourselves, "what more can we do?"

It kills ya.

Losing a game of football is never the fault of one player, one mistake, one missed shot on goal, it's a collection of all the mistakes. Raph definitely made his fair share.

The fact that Byrnes is twice as quick as Raph, is not Raph's fault.
Comes down to the coach, who has already admitted he stuffed up with not playing Bally in the second half.

A different matchup with Byrnes in the last quarter, may have produced a different result.

[bigred]

What odds Raph for the 2010 Brownlow? !!

My father accidently put $100 on number 28 for the Brownlow a few years ago instead of number 26. That player was Leigh Montagna and he got laughed at. Infact he made the Daily Telegraph in Sydney for silly bets. i sent him the paper when I was living in Sydney. Not so silly now.

I bagged the crap out of Brendon Goddard a few years ago and look at him.

Maybe, just maybe, Raph Clarke will come of age. I think he is nearly there. He needs confidence but is getting better. So I am sticking with him.

Goodnight

Wont happen @ St Kilda.

Raph Clarke is the St Kilda whipping boy. You know its true.

You can all defend him until the cows come home, but the bottom line is, this bloke must feel like the whole world is against him when he takes the field.

A heap of saints fans are just daring him to fail....How the hell is he supposed to get more confident?!

**** me....Tony Delaney got more support than Raph.

I think its disgusting personally.

[Con Gorozidis]

What odds Raph for the 2010 Brownlow? !!

ill give you 1000000000000000000000000
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to 1

[Con Gorozidis]

What odds Raph for the 2010 Brownlow? !!

My father accidently put $100 on number 28 for the Brownlow a few years ago instead of number 26. That player was Leigh Montagna and he got laughed at. Infact he made the Daily Telegraph in Sydney for silly bets. i sent him the paper when I was living in Sydney. Not so silly now.

I bagged the crap out of Brendon Goddard a few years ago and look at him.

Maybe, just maybe, Raph Clarke will come of age. I think he is nearly there. He needs confidence but is getting better. So I am sticking with him.

Goodnight

thats rubbish logic...... lots of people thought bj and monty would be good. thats your 2 bads.. logic that u made 2 bads means that people might be wrong on raph is not logical. makes no sense.

why do the clarkes get sooooooooooooooooooooo many more chances than everyone else? there is somehing romantic and emotional about them. i have no idea what it is. but it exists. if we look at cold hard facts...... they are no good.

[groupie1]

The reason this is an interesting post is not for people's opinions, which are all bulls***, but the fact that the opinions are so divided. Raph Clarke has to be the most divisive player we've had... maybe ever.

I personally think he's a star in the making, think when he plays instinctively he uses the ball beautifully, think he's exceptionally quick, think of him as in the same mold as Koutafidies and Goddard. I think his problem tends to be fitting into a team structure; when he has to think about what to do, he often coughs it up. I also think he just makes mistakes.

But I don't intend to invite agreement or disagreement with all this; simply interesting what it is about Raph that divides opinion so much. Is it the glaring gap between his best and worst? Is it that we will likely see his best and worst within the one game? Is it the built-like-Carey-plays-like-Longmire thing? (And some d**khead on this forum is gonna say 'Longmire was a good player', but before you do, d**khead, understand this and believe it - you missed the point).

Earl Spalding (Carlton + Melbourne) was a bit like this. Some loved him, some hated him. He showed moments of genuine very-goodness. And other moments of utter awkwardness.

Is Raph the US in the St Kilda line-up? The every man? The guy Superman saw when he saw us ordinary folk? We all know none of us could do what Roo does on a football field. We admire Baker's unwavering commitment and physicality. We know we couldn't react with the kind of composure and skill under AFL pressure as a Dal Santo or a Fisher. Is this Raph Clarke debate actually US seeing ourselves in Raph? Flawed, mistake-prone, HUMAN? Capable of brilliance, prone to error, struggling to fit into a structure?

I like this debate because it is so rare to find opinions so divided. We all can agree that Luke Ball has heart but lacks fitness, Blake is a great physical presence in the backline, but has awkward disposal, Schneider is incredibly skillful, Jones can't kick very well. But when it comes to Raph Clarke, nobody can point a finger to anything, we either love him or think he's not up to it.

[Schillaci]

couple of observations about raph, who, i agree was beaten by a quicker opponent.

1) we might not have made the grand final at all if not for his final quarter against the bulldogs in the prelim.

2) he's being played out of position. as i've said before, he is not, and never will be, a close-checking defender. i'd play him as either a tall onballer, winger or half forward.

Yep.
Hasn't had a great year by any means but is a talent worth keeping/developing.