Enough About the Interchange Rule Mick
As much as I disagree with what the AFL have done with their decision about the interchange rule for this years NAB Cup, Mick Malthouse just needs to let it go now! He has had added his 2 bobs worth in and mentioned just once or twice what he thinks but enough is enough.
In his latest outburst against the rule he mentioned AGAIN that he couldn’t play players who he would have liked because he couldn’t control their game time forcing him to play players he would other wise had not and also that the fact that if a player goes off with the blood rule that is counted in the total for that quarter.
“I’m waiting for the day that the two sides in the grand final are dead-set locked together and someone goes off with the blood rule at the 23-minute mark of the last quarter and someone has a shot from the goalsquare and wins $350,000 and the other side gets $160,000.
“We’ll see what sort of squawk there’s going to be then.”
I think we all know your stance on the issue Mick lets just get on with playing some football.
On the playing side of things the Magpies got a right old belting on Saturday Night in Dubai by a ready to play Adelaide Crows outfit. The Crows just seemed a bit more advanced in their pre season preparations than the Pies something that I am sure the Crows fans will be happy about it. I really don’t think it is something that the Magpies will be too concerned about given that they were at the end of a 3 week stint of altitude training and are more focused on Round 1.
The Crows looked impressive though and coach Neil Craig looks as though he has changed his game plan into a more free flowing attacking style of play, which was very good to watch. The area that everyone, including myself thought they would struggle in was the Ruck but the 2 youngsters in Kurt Tippet and Ivan Maric were quite impressive. And it looks like they have unearthed a quality forward in James Sellar who led and moved ery well down forward. Skipper Simon Goodwin also looked at home in the forward 50 as well. It will be interesting to see if the Crows youngsters can sustain that standard for 22 rounds of the AFL Season. The signs are good though.
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Here you are Dave here is one blogger in the blogosphere that is talking about Aussie Rules Footy.
Are Magpie Fans loosing patience with Pebbles?
Anthony Rocca is a player that opposition teams love to hate and it appears some factions of the Magpie army may be loosing patience with his on field performances. Coach Mick Malthouse was forced to defend the big fella after he was asked by a member why he was still being selected despite his inconsistent performances.
Malthouse correctly pointed out that “It’s not just a matter of possesions”. This is something that the general football public don’t seem to understand because it is something they do not see. Rocca may not get a lot of the footy but it is his efforts in other areas that make him a very important part of that Collingwood forward line. When you look at his 2007 stats he was still the leading goal kicker with 54 goal, 15 goals clear of Travis Cloke. Malthouse also quoted another important fact that would probably go unnoticed by supporters “He had the most effective tackles inside 50 by a big man.” And from memory he was pretty high up on the contested marking stats for 2007 as well. The tackling stat is an interesting one and indicates maybe the small orwards need to lift that area of their game.
Although I don’t think Rocca will be the main focal point for the pies going forward, which you would think would be Cloke, he still provides some much needed team based 1% er type acts that the players are well aware of even if the people watching the games are not. I reckon the Magpies will get great value from Rocca if he is playing more of a decoy role and creating some space for the other forwards like Cloke to lead into. He is also very good in a contested marking situation, even if he doesn’t take the grab he must still be able to bring the ball to ground and provide some crumbs for the small forwards like Didak and Davis. These small forwards rely heavily on this sort of contest from the big guys.
Post you thoughts below on whether you think Rocca has still got something to offer the Pies.
