What's this quarter final talk? We've won two nab cup games. Shouldn't we be in a semi-final by now?

A few observations:

At least four goals were the result of Sylvia's long penetrating kicks into the forward line. Beautiful to watch.

Watts looks like a footballer and Jurrah is amazing but still has more to offer.

Like the look of Cook, Maric has the awareness of Daniel Bell but showed a bit.

Joel Macdonald just gets better, loved the work of Rohan Bail.

James Strauss is not a smart footballer, would liked to have seen more of Blease.

Two words... Jack Grimes.

Moved into the middle in the last quarter/half (whatever you want to call it), and straight away our midfield looked better. He is a gun and he belongs in the middle.

Really really impressed with Garland (no surprises there), Joel McDonald (surely a clearance player in his past life) and of course Liam Jurrah, but more importantly seeing how well Jack Watts reads the play and what a difference some upper body weight has made to his positioning in marking contests. Also great to see Maric getting involved, Martin showing some serious improvement and Jake Spencer hitting a target... sort of.

I think overall our disposal was pretty good, and when I think back to the days of handballing aimlessly it makes me smile to think how far we've come. We no longer handball into walls, we do it with real purpose.

Also thought Lucas Cook did some nice things, and happy to see Tom McDonald keep his feet in the contest. He should have a talk with Bate! B)

P.S.- first round NAB Cup rules are SH*T!!! WTF is up with the out of bounds garbage?

P.P.S- umpires still rob us blind everytime!

What's this quarter final talk? We've won two nab cup games. Shouldn't we be in a semi-final by now?

Do the maths...

Just finished listening to the SEN broadcast, and even though it is only the NAB cup, I am delighted to have won at AAMI, against two different teams and to progress to round 2. A few observations:

That is the the most boring, passionless, pedestrian commentating I have ever heard. They could have been reading a recipe for leek soup.

Great to hear Maric do so well. Petterd will have to fight him for a spot. This is good pressure to have.

Matty Bate has also significantly raised his hand for a forward line spot.

Against Port, our backline seemed to fumble a bit - was it greasy?

My man-crush is swinging significantly over to a certain Mr. J watts. Contested marks, intelligent football and was a presence in both games.

I haven't laid a bet in 20 years but Sylvia will have shortened Brownlow odds now.

We have seen how far Cook and Howe have to go. But it was great to have them out there.

Finally, I heard Blease's name called out in a match. His career is up and running at last

I am not too fussed about how far we proceed in the NAB cup. Let's give the whole list a game or two and see how they gel. But I can switch off and relax now until the start of the season (or at least until next week!)

Maybe so- re the SEN commentary, however listening to Russell on Foxtel was just down right woeful. I think everone was rusty tonight, although I thought the umpiring was quite good. Great effort by our players to get through. I agree re pressure for spots to play.Great to have that position.

Good result. Greaat to watch them play. Jurrah is just amazing. Watts is looking impressive, Sylvia is a star. Trengove also looked very good in the second game. Spencer showed enough. Anyone else think that Spencer and his big man awkward style reminds a bit of a certain champion Irishman. Obviously a long way off, but just a thought.

Go Dee's!!!:)

Boundary line rule is a shocker. Totally stuffs up the game.

Sorry people, I'm in Darwin, so an hour and half behind. Can any body shed any light on the throw by Gerard Healy to Liam Pickering on the boundary line, that Mark Kleiman has taken a job at 3AW?

Two words... Jack Grimes.

Moved into the middle in the last quarter/half (whatever you want to call it), and straight away our midfield looked better. He is a gun and he belongs in the middle.

wierd....... i thought he was very, very average although mainly in the backline.

Yeah, I'm beginning to wonder if there's anything much to take out of a game with as big a rule change as the boundary line one. Our form so far has been good, but so good that people will start picking us for winning the thing? Making the 8 as a certainty? No. We've been keeping our heads above water, getting plenty of the ball... but we're not scaring any of the big teams here.

I want us to win EVERYTHING, and it's great for our players to enjoy wins, especially young players. I think Green must be the only player in the side to have experienced a win at AAMI (and maybe Joel McDonald in a past life), that's how shite our record is over there.

Take what you want out of it, it's a stupid competition with stupid rules, but wins are wins and there are plenty of good signs from individual players.

wierd....... i thought he was very, very average although mainly in the backline.

He gunned it when in the midfield, and that is where he belongs. He had stupid matchups down back, like Westhoff who was killing Rivers (who had a poor night), but he is a natural in the middle. So good below his knees, so smart, reads the play so well, and a good kick. We have to find a replacement for him down back because he is wasted down there. IMO he isn't quick enough to break the lines as such off half back, even though defensively he's pretty good.

Also gotta remember this is his first game in 6+ months. He missed nearly half a season with groin related back hamstring strain, or something.

Is Maric eligible for Rising Star this year?

No, he's played 12 games.

wierd....... i thought he was very, very average although mainly in the backline.

Agreed, he wasn't bad but he wasn't in the best. Tries to be too fancy with his passing at times.

You should have listened to mmm. They may have been all adelaide poeple but they wernt biast and it was an enthusiastic call. Liam Jurrah helped them out by doing exciting things. But it was a good call by them.

Another thing this will put a smile on the presidents face.

Two words... Jack Grimes.

Moved into the middle in the last quarter/half (whatever you want to call it), and straight away our midfield looked better. He is a gun and he belongs in the middle.

P.S.- first round NAB Cup rules are SH*T!!! WTF is up with the out of bounds garbage?

P.P.S- umpires still rob us blind everytime!

Agree, Grimes is THE ONE we absolutely mustn't let GWS anywhere near.

NAB rules are SH*T like you say, they change them for the 1/4 finals don't they? (crazy)

Umpires at AAMI... pathetic (didn't let the game flow, but who gives a stuff, we won!)

Much to like about Melbourne tonight. Maric looked good, Watts showed a lot of class and smarts, in fact most of the younger players showed they had improved.

The down side was Strauss doing a few dumb things and McNamara looking a bit out of depth in the first game. All 3 sides in this game looked rusty, but we did show some exciting glimpses of play, especially in the forward line.

The clear standout in this game was that the out-of-bounds rule is garbage. One of the attractions of this game is to see the players full on bore in at the ball. The out-of-bounds rule means that if players do this, touch the ball and it goes out...it's a free to the opposition. It does not reward endeavour near the boundary line, it punishes it.

Agree, Grimes is THE ONE we absolutely mustn't let GWS anywhere near.

NAB rules are SH*T like you say, they change them for the 1/4 finals don't they? (crazy)

Umpires at AAMI... pathetic incompetents (but who gives a stuff, we won!)

grimes will never leave the dees!

also thought rivers played really well jaded

sylvia /jurrah / watts / trengove / marric / jetta / martin / green / grimes/ mcdonald best for mine (i know it's nearly the whole team)

saw some skills tonight that i haven't seen before from the team we looked GOOD.

Both adelaide's kicking for goal was atrocious dunno why? very good to watch us win over there though - we didn't miss bruce at all

The down side was Strauss doing a few dumb things

I hope to eat humble pie but I don't think he'll make it. It's his third season and hasn't developed much.

The Crows/Power game is absolutely terrible. These teams are going nowhere, I thought Adelaide were a smoky for the flag but even though they're playing bollocks rules I'm writing them off. And Port may as well just give up now.

So, see you in September when they win the flag.

Good, Jacky Watts..

Not sure how we won both of those, but I'm loving it!

Maric is and will always be a VFL player at best...and Strauss looks similar in terms of decision making...

Love Grimes defensive work..but I'm not totally sold on how good he is yet, he still occassionly gets that weird tunnel vision/slow wind-up kick that just goes to the most randomly bad spot.

Hate it when our players try to fend off tackles... Have seen it fail a lot in the last 3 years... Unless your name is Jamar, Frawley or Sylvia don't bother trying!

Apart from this one momentm Garland was impressive tonight.

Jurrah makes me smile... but damn, I forgot how worked up I get watching the Dees play. It's only the NAB Cup! Poor neighbours.

Real Deal Dees 2011.

So Strauss is no good because he punched a ball out and gave a free away due to stupid experimental rule...

Please!

He is good depth, rather him than the previous tools we have had over the years..

I hope to eat humble pie but I don't think he'll make it. It's his third season and hasn't developed much.

I think unfortunatly you might be right, only the first hit out for the year but boy does he have some work to do.

I cant believe anyone couldn't be impressed by Maric, he was very good tonight used the footy very well. Nothing wrong with Strauss's game, it always amazes me that people judge young players and form opinions that make them look for any negative they can find instead of focusing on the good signs they show.

We still need to work on clearances but our ability to hit someone in the corridor was great

One night of footy with stupid rules and some demonland members have made their mind up on the future of some players

A great 1st hitout in greasy conditions .

We moved the ball with purpose and we looked bigger , big enough not to so easily get shoved off the ball .

Loved some of Dunns bullocking work , Watts dishing the don't argue and Jurrah seems to have it on a string .

I liked Spencers centre bounce work and Bennell and Jetta looked more assured .

I thought our disposal was good aswell , not as many missed handballs or wayward passing .

Make no mistake , we're headed in the right direction .

Bring on the season and some dry grounds .

Interesting how we managed the kick-outs. On at least 7 occasions the fullback (often Grimes) would kick it short to himself, run 10 and kick it 60 to a contested possession. It seemed to be a good safe option to get over the zone defence. At least it eliminates the risk of turning the ball over within 50 of the opposition goals.

My grump for the night was the coverage on Foxtel - far too many long shots from behind the goals, and going to replays while the ball was still alive. It was like they had their own special rules for the first round.

Two words... Jack Grimes.

Moved into the middle in the last quarter/half (whatever you want to call it), and straight away our midfield looked better. He is a gun and he belongs in the middle.

Really really impressed with Garland (no surprises there), Joel McDonald (surely a clearance player in his past life) and of course Liam Jurrah, but more importantly seeing how well Jack Watts reads the play and what a difference some upper body weight has made to his positioning in marking contests. Also great to see Maric getting involved, Martin showing some serious improvement and Jake Spencer hitting a target... sort of.

I think overall our disposal was pretty good, and when I think back to the days of handballing aimlessly it makes me smile to think how far we've come. We no longer handball into walls, we do it with real purpose.

Also thought Lucas Cook did some nice things, and happy to see Tom McDonald keep his feet in the contest. He should have a talk with Bate! B)

P.S.- first round NAB Cup rules are SH*T!!! WTF is up with the out of bounds garbage?

P.P.S- umpires still rob us blind everytime!

Love Grimes

How good was Garland tonight!

Watts and Jurrah both exciting.

I was really happy with Maric, Can see him only improving.

A lot of positives in the night.

Specially with some good players missing still.

AS for the out of bounds rule, surely this will be the only year it ever occurs surely.