As Eze says
and man I am a fan of our number 9, just in case there was any doubt,
We can’t change what’s done. We need to look to the future.
Two years ago we were top for bloody ages. And just let it slip.
Then last year it was a mess. It reeked of rigidity and giving up. And failure meant some blame being cast I’m sure, and people who were close falling out.
Look I’ll always try to support ex-Nix. Oli was our captain. I won’t bag him, unless he gets into us. I want every ex-nixer to do well. Even Rudan. Though preferably him somewhere a bit distant if he must!
I don’t think we’ll solve damage done last season to friendships- that’s between them to sort out. And whoever was in charge it wasn’t working.
Now it has its moments and we’ll see. The pundits never get it all right. That’s why we play football.
Would love someone to follow up with the refs though (and a real sidetrack I should take to the proper thread):
1) Did Corica or any AFC staff member approach any of the refereeing team about grappling at any time?
2) Given that in the second and third incidents with Cosgrove there was a low probability of getting to the ball and affecting play, how does that sit with the directive to allow play to flow, allow more genuine contests and give fewer cards?
Can you reassure us that a player going to ground is not rewarded ahead of a player who tries to continue the game? This leads to no contesting the ball, as some players build a career on going to ground rather than contesting properly. Particularly with the standard set, late on Callan Elliot had two hands on Armiento who’d beaten him and was heading into the box, but Elliot received no sanction- either foul or card.
3) Verstraete is a tough tackling midfielder who never shies away from a challenge. However, at least two times it seemed to us he stayed down trying to gain advantage from the referees. Avoiding contests or hiding culpability and gaining advantage from the referees seemed to be a second half tactic of AFC. To our point of view, when Eze was given a yellow card, it was he who was the victim of a foul by Verstraete. Have you reviewed that challenge at all and are you still happy that that was a correct decision?
4) Will this new standard for contesting the ball be applied evenly across the competition?
and man I am a fan of our number 9, just in case there was any doubt,
We can’t change what’s done. We need to look to the future.
Two years ago we were top for bloody ages. And just let it slip.
Then last year it was a mess. It reeked of rigidity and giving up. And failure meant some blame being cast I’m sure, and people who were close falling out.
Look I’ll always try to support ex-Nix. Oli was our captain. I won’t bag him, unless he gets into us. I want every ex-nixer to do well. Even Rudan. Though preferably him somewhere a bit distant if he must!
I don’t think we’ll solve damage done last season to friendships- that’s between them to sort out. And whoever was in charge it wasn’t working.
Now it has its moments and we’ll see. The pundits never get it all right. That’s why we play football.
Would love someone to follow up with the refs though (and a real sidetrack I should take to the proper thread):
1) Did Corica or any AFC staff member approach any of the refereeing team about grappling at any time?
2) Given that in the second and third incidents with Cosgrove there was a low probability of getting to the ball and affecting play, how does that sit with the directive to allow play to flow, allow more genuine contests and give fewer cards?
Can you reassure us that a player going to ground is not rewarded ahead of a player who tries to continue the game? This leads to no contesting the ball, as some players build a career on going to ground rather than contesting properly. Particularly with the standard set, late on Callan Elliot had two hands on Armiento who’d beaten him and was heading into the box, but Elliot received no sanction- either foul or card.
3) Verstraete is a tough tackling midfielder who never shies away from a challenge. However, at least two times it seemed to us he stayed down trying to gain advantage from the referees. Avoiding contests or hiding culpability and gaining advantage from the referees seemed to be a second half tactic of AFC. To our point of view, when Eze was given a yellow card, it was he who was the victim of a foul by Verstraete. Have you reviewed that challenge at all and are you still happy that that was a correct decision?
4) Will this new standard for contesting the ball be applied evenly across the competition?