Raph Clarke did not lose us this game

[mightysainters]

I beg to differ Raph is pathetic and is only getting a game for reasons that escape me... perhaps because of X's form previously? Perhaps because Ross Lyon is blind sighted to the fact he can't play...
Richond supporter? Heaven forbid we criticise one of our players because they are sacred cows of course... If i'm a richmond type supporter than you're a collingwood supporter champ...
Raph did cost us 5 goals yes our midfield got smashed but his continouous turnovers and his direct oponents kicking at least 4 goals kicked on him... He IS slow and not 'deceivingly quick' and he has the worst footy smarts I have ever seen...
Get a grip and no doubt he will be dropped but I guess you guys will figure that as unlucky will you? We have played him in 3 games to our detriment and due to the mediocre teams and games we played we were never as exposed as friday night...
His only kicks consist of 10 metre chips over the top... and his handballing is to a player with a defender already rapping him up he is the main instigator of the hospital passes and kicks perhaps U should watch the game again or maybe even watch it live as it is far more evident live...

[mightysainters]

Also its Raphs decision to go and get someone for a suitable matchup and not play on the ruckman and don't say that Ross Lyon meant for him to play on them because no he did not... it was raphs player who went off and he just matched up on the guy who came... that is where you find a suitable matchup...

[plugger66]

Also its Raphs decision to go and get someone for a suitable matchup and not play on the ruckman and don't say that Ross Lyon meant for him to play on them because no he did not... it was raphs player who went off and he just matched up on the guy who came... that is where you find a suitable matchup...

Surely you ar joking. You think a player decides that after a week of meetings and working out who plays on who.

[mightysainters]

during the game yes i do.... in a team meeting you do not go through every player every possible matchup... Eventually Raph was moved off the big guys but that was after instructions...surely raph could of off his own accord decided it was a miss match... everyone he went on was the main target...because he is a terrible defender and has bad decision making...

[plugger66]

during the game yes i do.... in a team meeting you do not go through every player every possible matchup... Eventually Raph was moved off the big guys but that was after instructions...surely raph could of off his own accord decided it was a miss match... everyone he went on was the main target...because he is a terrible defender and has bad decision making...

Well that tall ruckman didnt kick on goal on him and who should have played on him if it wasnt Clarke.

[mightysainters]

At that point in time Blake could of done a better job... or either fisher or Hudghton

[meher baba]

Also its Raphs decision to go and get someone for a suitable matchup and not play on the ruckman and don't say that Ross Lyon meant for him to play on them because no he did not... it was raphs player who went off and he just matched up on the guy who came... that is where you find a suitable matchup...

Surely this is taking to an extreme the tendency of posters on here to refuse to blame supercoach Barney the Dinosaur for anything that the players do wrong.

Do you mean to say that, if a ruckman comes into the forward line, nobody else is lined up on him, and the runner (who is almost constantly on the field) doesn't tell Raph to go and match up on someone else, he is meant to work out an alternative matchup for himself.

I recognise that good old Barney doesn't have much of an idea of what to do on match day, but I would have assumed that he - or SOS or someone up in the box - was continually monitoring the defensive matchups!!

[mightysainters]

I agree but it is up to the players too to an extent when someone does come on for that point in time before the coaches make a change if it a glaring mismatch you make the change... the players do have brains and constantly do make changes themselves...

[Red]

Raph may not be up to it but your using him as a scapegoat for the other

so called great players who went to water under pressure. Ball, Roo, NDS,

Lenny, Gram, X, Monty, Kosi, Schneider were always either second to the

ball or bundled off it after quarter time. Some on this site gave votes to

guys because they had possessions that went to no one. Blaming one guy

is counter productive, this team didn't work hard enough and their skills

were pathetic all night and I'm not sure that Raph was the reason. If we

aren't going to be the fastest team we need to make sure our skills and

work effort are above average and we don't get outcoached like we

were.

[mightysainters]

i'll agree but sometimes you do need to point out guys such as you did and provide evidence or your reasonning and i agree with what you said about our players... but just like BOG in wins you must point out the WOG's too and it was Raph Clarke as the worst...

[plugger66]

At that point in time Blake could of done a better job... or either fisher or Hudghton

So evn though Blake was given a player to tag and Fisher and max had their oponents you think Raph should yell out to them to forget what the coach told them and pick up a ruckman who had no bearing in the first term. Tell me you are not serious.

[mightysainters]

welsh was off when the ruckman was resting in the fwd line... Hudghton would of bee nthe obvious... yer Blake obviously not but Fisher or Hudghton, anyway instead of knit picking that statement how about you respond to the rest that he simply isn't good enough and got at least 4 kicked on him.... through bad decision making and direct oponent

[plugger66]

welsh was off when the ruckman was resting in the fwd line... Hudghton would of bee nthe obvious... yer Blake obviously not but Fisher or Hudghton, anyway instead of knit picking that statement how about you respond to the rest that he simply isn't good enough and got at least 4 kicked on him.... through bad decision making and direct oponent

Because I cannot remember 4 being kicked on him. Can you tell me when and who kicked them.

[Eastern]

Raph may not be up to it but your using him as a scapegoat for the other

so called great players who went to water under pressure. Ball, Roo, NDS,

Lenny, Gram, X, Monty, Kosi, Schneider were always either second to the

ball or bundled off it after quarter time. Some on this site gave votes to

guys because they had possessions that went to no one. Blaming one guy

is counter productive, this team didn't work hard enough and their skills

were pathetic all night and I'm not sure that Raph was the reason. If we

aren't going to be the fastest team we need to make sure our skills and

work effort are above average and we don't get outcoached like we

were.

I disagree. Luke Ball & Lenny Hayes played their guts out (how many tackles?). Kosi was our most productive forward with 3 goals. We were smashed in the middle. A usual beromoter is that you generally win if you have 5 or more players with 20+ possessions. On Friday we didn't and we didn't !!

[BAM! (shhhh)]

Fundamental point - to make a scapegoat of any defender in a game where the midfield got smashed to the point the ball was coming back at them that often is just plain stupid. That you could credit Max and Fisher with actually probably being the bright lights and winning their matchups against the dogs 2 main avenues to goal tells us how badly the midfield was beaten.

Raph will more than likely get dropped for the Geelong game, he was an emergency in for Gardiner, doesn't take a genious to predict he's first out...

More than just Raph should be worrying about their spots for round 4.

[Ralphy]

gilbert .

fiora,

blake.

even dal,

should be worried

[BAM! (shhhh)]

I disagree. Luke Ball & Lenny Hayes played their guts out (how many tackles?). Kosi was our most productive forward with 3 goals. We were smashed in the middle. A usual beromoter is that you generally win if you have 5 or more players with 20+ possessions. On Friday we didn't and we didn't !!

IMO, Ball's the only mid who gets a passing grade from that game.

Kosi's 3 goals are windowdressing - he started well and the first 2 mattered, but the 3rd was in dead time, and he was invisible in between. He needed to find his way to more contests instead of leaving it to Milne and Schneider to attempt to take on multiple defenders in the air.

[Ghost Like]

I just want to know where these 5 goals are and who were his opponents that kicked goals on him. I do not have a problem with constructive criticism of players and I certainly do not agree with there being sacred cows but outright hatred backed up by generalisations passed off as examples are the murmurings of someone very blinkered in their thinking of a particular player.

This thread was that Raph did not cost us the game, unfortunately that was a collective effort. Blake should stick his hand up, if he was being danced around, his opponent was picking up possessions at will. Dal's man kept them in the game, whilst kicking a couple of goals. G's effort was embarrassing. Joey lacked his usually poise. Our midfielders collectively allowed their opponents to kick the bulk of their goals. Without going back to the tape I believe Gram and Gilbo's opponents also would have contributed to the goal scoring.

I do not believe Raph is the root of all our problems and by the evidence of last Friday we do have a few problems to address.

[Red]

Agree Ghostlike - by my count at least 11 of the bulldogs goals came from

their midfield. That says a lot about the pressure put on by our much

vaunted midfield. As I suggested earlier it's easier to have a go at one

player than some of the players people on this site idolise.

Quite simply the midfield after quarter time was pathetic, and they lost

almost every contest from that time on which put pressure on the backline.

As easy it is to praise the greats when they play well they should also be

criticized when they are ordinary.

[maverick]

welsh was off when the ruckman was resting in the fwd line... Hudghton would of bee nthe obvious... yer Blake obviously not but Fisher or Hudghton, anyway instead of knit picking that statement how about you respond to the rest that he simply isn't good enough and got at least 4 kicked on him.... through bad decision making and direct oponent

Because I cannot remember 4 being kicked on him. Can you tell me when and who kicked them.

He can't Plugger, when you are making it up as you go along its difficult to keep track of where you are up to....

[joffaboy]

welsh was off when the ruckman was resting in the fwd line... Hudghton would of bee nthe obvious... yer Blake obviously not but Fisher or Hudghton, anyway instead of knit picking that statement how about you respond to the rest that he simply isn't good enough and got at least 4 kicked on him.... through bad decision making and direct oponent

Because I cannot remember 4 being kicked on him. Can you tell me when and who kicked them.

He can't Plugger, when you are making it up as you go along its difficult to keep track of where you are up to....

lol - spot on. Interesting that the inernet bignoting hero dissapeared when challenged wih his infantile mistruths.

It is one thing to constructively critisise a player, another to make up complete crap about him just because there is some type of hate agenda going.

Mightysainters has been well and truly PWNED on this thread.

Oh and I agree Raph didn't lose us the game, but was ordinary non the less - just like about 15 or so of his teammates after qtr time.

[maverick]

welsh was off when the ruckman was resting in the fwd line... Hudghton would of bee nthe obvious... yer Blake obviously not but Fisher or Hudghton, anyway instead of knit picking that statement how about you respond to the rest that he simply isn't good enough and got at least 4 kicked on him.... through bad decision making and direct oponent

Because I cannot remember 4 being kicked on him. Can you tell me when and who kicked them.

He can't Plugger, when you are making it up as you go along its difficult to keep track of where you are up to....

lol - spot on. Interesting that the inernet bignoting hero dissapeared when challenged wih his infantile mistruths.

It is one thing to constructively critisise a player, another to make up complete crap about him just because there is some type of hate agenda going.

Mightysainters has been well and truly PWNED on this thread.

Oh and I agree Raph didn't lose us the game, but was ordinary non the less - just like about 15 or so of his teammates after qtr time.

Completely agree JB, he wasn't good enough on the night and had PLENTY of mates.

[mightysainters]

yer because i'm not on this site 24/7 it makes me PWNED because I didn't answer straight away great logic

Its been awhile since the game and due to no more fox footy channel the exact incidents escape me, i have tried to erase the memory of that performance and i'm thankful it has been, many people around me were also teling raph to get off the ground for good reason.... He was terrible.... absolute sacred cows the players are these days... i am making it up am i? How about you attend games and watch them properly instead of through that one eye you have....

Raph is very average and if u think he is anything more than that you are far too accepting of mediocrity... Yes there were many passengers but why can't people point out the worst players? Because they're feelings will get hurt? Some people need to grow up and get there heads out of the ground..... Raph will be delisted if he continues with this form if u disagree then wait and see....

[St Fidelius]

He was as good as ne1 in the first 1/4

then once we lost control of the midfield he like a number of other players got exposed...
surely you'd point the finger at a number of senior players for not performing rather than scape goating guys like Raph and Geary for not performing...

Monty, Dal, X, Blake, Harvey etc all had much worse games

I was excited when we drafted him as I first round draft pick (number 8 over all) and have always found excuses for him because of he never seemed to do a proper pre season, it appears that this year he has, and has not come up (to date)

It maybe a confidence issue with him but ATM a bad pick and maybe another locals, in Mundy, Stanton or Adcock may have been a better picks.

R Clarke has the talent but lacks the confidence and if he does not find it this year he maybe in trouble IMO

[smasherini]

I must admit that I cringe every time Raph gets the ball.You never know what he is going to do next.I doubt that he warrants his place in the team at the present time.