Did we learn much?

[WayneJudson42]

Surely we learnt that we're going to persevere with Ross Lyon's inept style of play once again in 2009.

It doesn't work. Never has and never will.

How do you know? You didnt watch the game.

I saw most of the first half.

It worked in the 2nd half. You should've stayed tuned.

[plugger66]

Surely we learnt that we're going to persevere with Ross Lyon's inept style of play once again in 2009.

It doesn't work. Never has and never will.

How do you know? You didnt watch the game.

I saw most of the first half.

So you lied on the other thread when you said you didnt watch it.

If I'd said I didn't watch it, then yes, I'd have lied.

But I didn't say I didn't watch it.

Didnt you say this.

For once I'd just like to see a contest or two without a whistle being blown.

But alas, I won't.

Which is why I watched the cricket instead of the footy on Friday night.


And which is why footy barely interests me these days.

That to me and I rekon 99.9% of people would suggest you didnt watch the game.

[rodgerfox]

Surely we learnt that we're going to persevere with Ross Lyon's inept style of play once again in 2009.

It doesn't work. Never has and never will.

How do you know? You didnt watch the game.

I saw most of the first half.

So you lied on the other thread when you said you didnt watch it.

If I'd said I didn't watch it, then yes, I'd have lied.

But I didn't say I didn't watch it.

Didnt you say this.

For once I'd just like to see a contest or two without a whistle being blown.

But alas, I won't.

Which is why I watched the cricket instead of the footy on Friday night.


And which is why footy barely interests me these days.

That to me and I rekon 99.9% of people would suggest you didnt watch the game.

To me, and I reckon 99.9% of people, that would mean that I didn't watch Essendon and the Bulldogs on Friday night.

[WayneJudson42]

Surely we learnt that we're going to persevere with Ross Lyon's inept style of play once again in 2009.

It doesn't work. Never has and never will.

How do you know? You didnt watch the game.

I saw most of the first half.

So you lied on the other thread when you said you didnt watch it.

If I'd said I didn't watch it, then yes, I'd have lied.

But I didn't say I didn't watch it.

Didnt you say this.

For once I'd just like to see a contest or two without a whistle being blown.

But alas, I won't.

Which is why I watched the cricket instead of the footy on Friday night.


And which is why footy barely interests me these days.

That to me and I rekon 99.9% of people would suggest you didnt watch the game.

To me, and I reckon 99.9% of people, that would mean that I didn't watch Essendon and the Bulldogs on Friday night.

Just call me Mr 0.1%

For someone who hates footy, you sure like talking about it.

Nothing like a loss to drag you out from under your rock, is there?

I've really missed you, btw.

[rodgerfox]

Surely we learnt that we're going to persevere with Ross Lyon's inept style of play once again in 2009.

It doesn't work. Never has and never will.

How do you know? You didnt watch the game.

I saw most of the first half.

So you lied on the other thread when you said you didnt watch it.

If I'd said I didn't watch it, then yes, I'd have lied.

But I didn't say I didn't watch it.

Didnt you say this.

For once I'd just like to see a contest or two without a whistle being blown.

But alas, I won't.

Which is why I watched the cricket instead of the footy on Friday night.


And which is why footy barely interests me these days.

That to me and I rekon 99.9% of people would suggest you didnt watch the game.

To me, and I reckon 99.9% of people, that would mean that I didn't watch Essendon and the Bulldogs on Friday night.

Just call me Mr 0.1%

Seriously?

There's a thread about the state of the game, in which I make a post pointing out that I chose to watch a cricket match over a football match.

How can what I wrote possible suggest that I didn't watch us play on Saturday night???

[plugger66]

Surely we learnt that we're going to persevere with Ross Lyon's inept style of play once again in 2009.

It doesn't work. Never has and never will.

How do you know? You didnt watch the game.

I saw most of the first half.

So you lied on the other thread when you said you didnt watch it.

If I'd said I didn't watch it, then yes, I'd have lied.

But I didn't say I didn't watch it.

Didnt you say this.

For once I'd just like to see a contest or two without a whistle being blown.

But alas, I won't.

Which is why I watched the cricket instead of the footy on Friday night.


And which is why footy barely interests me these days.

That to me and I rekon 99.9% of people would suggest you didnt watch the game.

To me, and I reckon 99.9% of people, that would mean that I didn't watch Essendon and the Bulldogs on Friday night.

Yep you have got me on this but why would you even bother watching the Saints if you hate the game so much.

[Sainter_Dad]

What I learned - Leave the coaching to the coach. Not even the assistant coaches got anything out of the boys!!!!

Second half - when Ross was coaching 45 points to 11!!!!

Believe or Burn!

[rodgerfox]

Yep you have got me on this but why would you even bother watching the Saints if you hate the game so much.

I wouldn't say I 'hate' the game.

I find it boring and frustrating.

Astonishingly to me, I now find myself more interested in other sports.


I still have a link to the Saints, so I still have an interest. However I wouldn't say I have a passion anymore at all.

[WayneJudson42]

Yep you have got me on this but why would you even bother watching the Saints if you hate the game so much.

I wouldn't say I 'hate' the game.

I find it boring and frustrating.

Astonishingly to me, I now find myself more interested in other sports.


I still have a link to the Saints, so I still have an interest. However I wouldn't say I have a passion anymore at all.

Thanks for the clarification... we'd never have guessed otherwise.

Our door is always open to bandwagon supporters like you.

[mbogo]

1. The dude with THAT avatar should post more often.
2. It is February and everyone is still on holidays.
3. Some new players showed some stuff.
4. Goddard will be unmatchable.
4. If you want to win a pre-season you play your best players and risk big injuries.
5. We have decided that number 4 is not for us in 09.
6. Everyone is excited.
7. Sos won a bet with RL??? And got to coach for awhile before RL said WTF am I doing?

[rodgerfox]

Yep you have got me on this but why would you even bother watching the Saints if you hate the game so much.

I wouldn't say I 'hate' the game.

I find it boring and frustrating.

Astonishingly to me, I now find myself more interested in other sports.


I still have a link to the Saints, so I still have an interest. However I wouldn't say I have a passion anymore at all.

Thanks for the clarification... we'd never have guessed otherwise.

Our door is always open to bandwagon supporters like you.

The term 'bandwagon' suggests that my interest would increase if we do well.

That's not the case.

My interest when we were looking like a bottom 4 side last year and the year before, was no different to when we were a top 4 side last year.

Minimal interest.

[joffaboy]

Unfortunately -and I am sure RodgerFox wont take any comfort in this - but I agree wholeheartedly with his sentiments.

The AFL has sanitised the game so much that there is hardly a contest anymore. I spend more time at the football looking to see what the umpire is going to do, more than the actual and real stars of the game, the footballers.

The AFL have elevated umpires to untouchable infallability. Add to that the kneejerk change to rules just about every time there is a story in the paper about an issue, and Anderson and Demetriou have wrecked the essence and soul of the game.

For ages I railed against percieved negative posts from RodgerFox. i believed that he was just whinging and baiting. The above that I have outlined coupled with my own clubs cash grab at the expense of loyal and paid up supporters has really dampened my passion for the game. I look at this season as just another compromised fix that is not that much better than WWE.

I didn't watch either cricket or footy last friday night. I only watch on Saturday because the Saints were playing. I still haven't gotten around to getting my membership, where once I was as keen as mustard. I will still get a membership - sometime - but my passion and enthusiam for this once great and proud game is faltering with every rule change, and every denial of justice from the AFL.

[st.byron]

Yep you have got me on this but why would you even bother watching the Saints if you hate the game so much.

I wouldn't say I 'hate' the game.

I find it boring and frustrating.

Astonishingly to me, I now find myself more interested in other sports.


I still have a link to the Saints, so I still have an interest. However I wouldn't say I have a passion anymore at all.

Thanks for the clarification... we'd never have guessed otherwise.

Our door is always open to bandwagon supporters like you.

Harsh. Not that RF will care.
I'm also finding my enthusiasm for the game slipping. It's been homogenised, over officiated and 'game planned' to such an extent that a lot of unpredictability has gone out of the game. Good one on one contests as often as not end with a whistle and I just find the chip it around, possession at all costs style of footy utterly boring and frustrating to watch. That doesn't make me a bandwagon supporter WJ42. Have always supported the Saints and will always follow them. But my passion and interest in the game itself has lessened simply because of the way it's being played.

[Little Dozer]

Gilbert looks very confident and will have a big year in 09.

Gilbert looked anything but confident imo. Terribly one-sided too. Needs to lift.

[meher baba]

Forgive me for having a different view.

On the whole, I enjoy watching the game now more than ever.

Part of that is the fact that the Sainters are now one of the top teams (which has been a comparatively rare feature of footy over my life time).

More than that, I actually enjoy the free-flowing, non-stop attacking footy that we have seen in recent years from teams like the Lions, Eagles, Geelong, the Bulldogs and - until two years ago - the Saints.

And I don't feel that the umpiring is any more interfering and annoying than it ever was: many of you obviously don't remember the endless stop/start stuff of the 1970s and 1980s for often unfathomable 15 metre penalties. And I also reckon that umpires are much more inclined to call play on than they used to be.

I'm also in favour of a tough approach to stamping out illegal body contact. I don't want to go back to the old days of all-in brawls and the likes of Captain Blood deliberately setting out to inflict serious injury by sniping at players whose eyes are only on the ball. If that's your idea of entertaining team sport, go and watch ice hockey: where players are basically put into suits of armour and then allowed to smash into each other endlessly.

I would certainly like to see a return to more marking contests and a little less handballing and flooding. I reckon the best way of fixing this would be to restrict unlimited interchange to 20 players and have two players available to permanently replace injured guys. This is an obvious solution, but the AFL won't adopt it: presumably because marketers and advertisers think that it will slow the game down and make it less attractive to NSW and Queensland TV audiences.

And that last point highlights what is really wrong with the game today: the undue obsession of the AFL leadership with expansion, marketing and money. I do not agree with the proposition that "AFL is just a business". It certainly needs to be run in a business-like fashion, and to break even, but it doesn't have to maximise its profits. It should exist for the benefit of players and loyal supporters, not for the AFL and club administrators, PR consultants, advertisers, sponsors and so forth.

I increasingly just feel like puking at the appalling decisions that keep flowing from the AFL's TV-driven obsession with creating new teams in the non-AFL states like NSW and Queensland (rather than in traditional AFL areas like Tasmania or perhaps even the Riverina, operating out of Albury-Wodonga) and then rorting the system to give those bogus teams ridiculously unfair advantages over the other clubs (the rigged draws, salary cap concessions, the financial bailout of Sydney in the mid-90s including the forced transfer of Plugger to that club, Barry Hall being allowed to play in the 2005 GF, etc.).

It is this conscious trashing of football traditions in favour of chasing more TV advertising and sponsorship dollars (and, as a result, endless freebies and jollies for AFL commissioners and executives) that will eventually drive me and many other supporters away.

[MC Gusto]

Yep you have got me on this but why would you even bother watching the Saints if you hate the game so much.

I wouldn't say I 'hate' the game.

I find it boring and frustrating.

Astonishingly to me, I now find myself more interested in other sports.


I still have a link to the Saints, so I still have an interest. However I wouldn't say I have a passion anymore at all.

good. bugger off then

[BAM! (shhhh)]

I have learned that there's a surprising number of people thinking they can forecast anything about the year ahead based on that game.

-Neither side played it's best 22.
-Neither side played a forward line resembling what the H&A season will see, and both fullbacks were rested.
-Experimentation was the order of the day, even amongst those playing it's likely many will not see roles as played in that game.
-Conditions were vastly different to those which either team will generally play in.

While we obviously infer what we can, and it's the first hitout against another AFL team, I doubt either team will look at the most important thing they learned being about the win or the loss.

[WayneJudson42]

Yep you have got me on this but why would you even bother watching the Saints if you hate the game so much.

I wouldn't say I 'hate' the game.

I find it boring and frustrating.

Astonishingly to me, I now find myself more interested in other sports.


I still have a link to the Saints, so I still have an interest. However I wouldn't say I have a passion anymore at all.

good. bugger off then

[saint66au]

Two points if I may...

Firstly, Rodger is by no means alone bemoaning the state of the current game and of course he's entitled to that opinion. The difference between he and everyone else though is that thats ALL he posts about. Never seen someone who can sniff out a negative or potentially negative thread to post his lil "Im sick of footy and the Saints are boring to watch" mantra....then wander off again only to pop up again at the next sign of negativity. At least everyone else has a crack at an opinion on some other topic of interest to Saints fans at some point. Not our Rodg..one trick pony these days. Shame.

Secondly, Meher Baba, you speak much sense in your post and I agree with 99% of it (Oh and love your sig....you prefer the original recording or the movie soundtrack??) Id just like to add my 5c worth.

The new deliberately rushed behind rule looks like will be umpired with some common sense. Unless you "do a Joel Bowden" you wont be penalised and I think thats very fair. However...did our beloved Rules Committee stop and think why people were walking the ball over the line?? Becuase they can relaunch an attack with a kick from FB STRAIGHT AWAY. Whys that? Becuse of this stuuuuupid rule that allows you to kick out as quickly as you like after a behind. What the hell was wrong with waiting til the umps waved the flags? Were they paranoid that Sydney TV audeinces were gonna flick over to the Friday Movie in the interim? God this is a city raised on stop-start Rugby League FFS!!
I reckon teams would be far less likely to walk the ball through if they had to wait 15 secs before they could bring it back in. So..instead of adding a rule, why not just get rid of one!!!!???? Am I missing something here??

[saintspremiers]

In hindsight, I was very happy with our loss against Brisbane for a few reasons:

(1) SOS coached for the night - he is one the best assistant coaches in the league IMO and is definitely senior coaching material....happy for us to have SOS and the Blues HARVS - AT THIS STAGE....(not for ever!).

(2) The first half was a good warm up for the boys, with the intensity lifting in the second half - I'm happy the boys only played half a game of footy this early in the season - plenty of time to build up to full match intensity.

[Solar]

Two points if I may...

Firstly, Rodger is by no means alone bemoaning the state of the current game and of course he's entitled to that opinion. The difference between he and everyone else though is that thats ALL he posts about. Never seen someone who can sniff out a negative or potentially negative thread to post his lil "Im sick of footy and the Saints are boring to watch" mantra....then wander off again only to pop up again at the next sign of negativity. At least everyone else has a crack at an opinion on some other topic of interest to Saints fans at some point. Not our Rodg..one trick pony these days. Shame.

Secondly, Meher Baba, you speak much sense in your post and I agree with 99% of it (Oh and love your sig....you prefer the original recording or the movie soundtrack??) Id just like to add my 5c worth.

The new deliberately rushed behind rule looks like will be umpired with some common sense. Unless you "do a Joel Bowden" you wont be penalised and I think thats very fair. However...did our beloved Rules Committee stop and think why people were walking the ball over the line?? Becuase they can relaunch an attack with a kick from FB STRAIGHT AWAY. Whys that? Becuse of this stuuuuupid rule that allows you to kick out as quickly as you like after a behind. What the hell was wrong with waiting til the umps waved the flags? Were they paranoid that Sydney TV audeinces were gonna flick over to the Friday Movie in the interim? God this is a city raised on stop-start Rugby League FFS!!
I reckon teams would be far less likely to walk the ball through if they had to wait 15 secs before they could bring it back in. So..instead of adding a rule, why not just get rid of one!!!!???? Am I missing something here??

would also allow teams to man up the shorter options and we might see long kicks to contests... hell the ruckman might be of use after all....

[plugger66]

Two points if I may...

Firstly, Rodger is by no means alone bemoaning the state of the current game and of course he's entitled to that opinion. The difference between he and everyone else though is that thats ALL he posts about. Never seen someone who can sniff out a negative or potentially negative thread to post his lil "Im sick of footy and the Saints are boring to watch" mantra....then wander off again only to pop up again at the next sign of negativity. At least everyone else has a crack at an opinion on some other topic of interest to Saints fans at some point. Not our Rodg..one trick pony these days. Shame.

Secondly, Meher Baba, you speak much sense in your post and I agree with 99% of it (Oh and love your sig....you prefer the original recording or the movie soundtrack??) Id just like to add my 5c worth.

The new deliberately rushed behind rule looks like will be umpired with some common sense. Unless you "do a Joel Bowden" you wont be penalised and I think thats very fair. However...did our beloved Rules Committee stop and think why people were walking the ball over the line?? Becuase they can relaunch an attack with a kick from FB STRAIGHT AWAY. Whys that? Becuse of this stuuuuupid rule that allows you to kick out as quickly as you like after a behind. What the hell was wrong with waiting til the umps waved the flags? Were they paranoid that Sydney TV audeinces were gonna flick over to the Friday Movie in the interim? God this is a city raised on stop-start Rugby League FFS!!
I reckon teams would be far less likely to walk the ball through if they had to wait 15 secs before they could bring it back in. So..instead of adding a rule, why not just get rid of one!!!!???? Am I missing something here??

The only problem with your arguement about the walking the ball through is that the Hawks didnt play on straight away in 8 out of the 11 times they did in the GF anf Joel Bowden didnt play on straight once after he did it. I didnt like the rule at first but I think it is a good rule because you are given 2 options.

[saint66au]

Two points if I may...

Firstly, Rodger is by no means alone bemoaning the state of the current game and of course he's entitled to that opinion. The difference between he and everyone else though is that thats ALL he posts about. Never seen someone who can sniff out a negative or potentially negative thread to post his lil "Im sick of footy and the Saints are boring to watch" mantra....then wander off again only to pop up again at the next sign of negativity. At least everyone else has a crack at an opinion on some other topic of interest to Saints fans at some point. Not our Rodg..one trick pony these days. Shame.

Secondly, Meher Baba, you speak much sense in your post and I agree with 99% of it (Oh and love your sig....you prefer the original recording or the movie soundtrack??) Id just like to add my 5c worth.

The new deliberately rushed behind rule looks like will be umpired with some common sense. Unless you "do a Joel Bowden" you wont be penalised and I think thats very fair. However...did our beloved Rules Committee stop and think why people were walking the ball over the line?? Becuase they can relaunch an attack with a kick from FB STRAIGHT AWAY. Whys that? Becuse of this stuuuuupid rule that allows you to kick out as quickly as you like after a behind. What the hell was wrong with waiting til the umps waved the flags? Were they paranoid that Sydney TV audeinces were gonna flick over to the Friday Movie in the interim? God this is a city raised on stop-start Rugby League FFS!!
I reckon teams would be far less likely to walk the ball through if they had to wait 15 secs before they could bring it back in. So..instead of adding a rule, why not just get rid of one!!!!???? Am I missing something here??

The only problem with your arguement about the walking the ball through is that the Hawks didnt play on straight away in 8 out of the 11 times they did in the GF anf Joel Bowden didnt play on straight once after he did it. I didnt like the rule at first but I think it is a good rule because you are given 2 options.

Point taken but in Bowdens case he was sucking time off the clock as soon as playon was called..not really trying to get the ball forward......and had to be very very careful where he kicked it...hence his decision to repeatedly walk over the line when the perfect option didnt present itself. As the rule stood last year a defender could head into space as soon as he saw the offender head for the line...knowing that theres no time to be picked up. Make the FB wait...different scenario.

I just think the ramifications of a rule that was changed for asthetic reasons only are too great..and that rescinding the rule is better than adding yet another one, albeit that it looks like its gonna be used sparingly

[plugger66]

Two points if I may...

Firstly, Rodger is by no means alone bemoaning the state of the current game and of course he's entitled to that opinion. The difference between he and everyone else though is that thats ALL he posts about. Never seen someone who can sniff out a negative or potentially negative thread to post his lil "Im sick of footy and the Saints are boring to watch" mantra....then wander off again only to pop up again at the next sign of negativity. At least everyone else has a crack at an opinion on some other topic of interest to Saints fans at some point. Not our Rodg..one trick pony these days. Shame.

Secondly, Meher Baba, you speak much sense in your post and I agree with 99% of it (Oh and love your sig....you prefer the original recording or the movie soundtrack??) Id just like to add my 5c worth.

The new deliberately rushed behind rule looks like will be umpired with some common sense. Unless you "do a Joel Bowden" you wont be penalised and I think thats very fair. However...did our beloved Rules Committee stop and think why people were walking the ball over the line?? Becuase they can relaunch an attack with a kick from FB STRAIGHT AWAY. Whys that? Becuse of this stuuuuupid rule that allows you to kick out as quickly as you like after a behind. What the hell was wrong with waiting til the umps waved the flags? Were they paranoid that Sydney TV audeinces were gonna flick over to the Friday Movie in the interim? God this is a city raised on stop-start Rugby League FFS!!
I reckon teams would be far less likely to walk the ball through if they had to wait 15 secs before they could bring it back in. So..instead of adding a rule, why not just get rid of one!!!!???? Am I missing something here??

The only problem with your arguement about the walking the ball through is that the Hawks didnt play on straight away in 8 out of the 11 times they did in the GF anf Joel Bowden didnt play on straight once after he did it. I didnt like the rule at first but I think it is a good rule because you are given 2 options.

Point taken but in Bowdens case he was sucking time off the clock as soon as playon was called..not really trying to get the ball forward......and had to be very very careful where he kicked it...hence his decision to repeatedly walk over the line when the perfect option didnt present itself. As the rule stood last year a defender could head into space as soon as he saw the offender head for the line...knowing that theres no time to be picked up. Make the FB wait...different scenario.

I just think the ramifications of a rule that was changed for asthetic reasons only are too great..and that rescinding the rule is better than adding yet another one, albeit that it looks like its gonna be used sparingly

But stopping that old rule doesnt fix up what the Hawks did or Bowden. That will still go on and that is more a blight on the game than the chance to kick it in quickly if you want IMO.

[joffaboy]

Seems all of us sad sacks who bemoan the way the AFL is killing the soul of football are not alone in our thinking.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/ ... 42,00.html

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/l ... 12116.html

The groundswell of anger is growing.

But I suppose we are just all wrong. I suppose we are just all whingers. I suppose that if the AFL and their acolytes and apologists keep telling us that the game is "tougher than ever", we should just shut up and believe them as gospel.

lets face it. The game is soft. It has been sanitised by the corrupters of a once great game, Anderson and Demetriou. They have destroyed the soul and essence of football.

And before any rigid thinking boof head comes on and start lying about what i want and dont want on the football field (yes I am talking to you plugger66 - found that quote of mine where I want to see shirtfronts and hits behind play yet ? Thought not you liar.), I dont want to see thuggishness, I dont want to see hits behind play.

What I want to see is a fair dinkum contest witht eh ballin dispute. But what we have now is that

1) players cant make physical contact - even accidently - above the head
2) If a player has the ball all he has to do is duck his head and barge into a tackling player and he will be rewarded with a free kick.
3) A player gets a push and they fall over and stage worse than any soccer player because the umpire - who with the blessing of the Lord Protectors Geishen and the AFL - now think they are part of the entertainment (as told to GT by Geishen himself - he said the crowd loves the umpires theatrics when giving a hold the ball decision).

The game has been hijacked by mamby pamby fairies who have corrupted the rules soul and essence of the game and have compromised the "competition" to such an extent that it now resembles WWE.

Posters here rail against RodgerFox for his negativity. But I know exactly how he feels. The game has been corrupted and compromised, and it is great to see some in the media picking this up and running with it.

And it will only end once we have seen the end of Demetriou the corrupter and his court fool nutless monkey Anderson.