Gotta say I'm tired of making excuses for Watts. He's a had a full pre-season and yet seems to have almost gone backwards with some of his skills and decision-making. He simply does not attack the footy the way he should after a couple of seasons under his belt. Needs a stint with Casey to get himself sorted and decide what he stands for as a footballer.

Rivers, Jurrah, Gysberts, Jones and Moloney all terrific. Rivers especially reminded everyone what he's capable of when playing to his ability. Last week there were cries for some leadership from the senior playing group. He provided that in spades today. A shining light in an overall disapppointing day.

Was there today with my best mate (a Lion) and we both were commenting on the off the ball work Watts was doing which was pleasing.

The glaring comment he said to me was that he finds space forward but doesn't demand the footy at all. If he were to jump up and down and scream for the ball and even more importantly get dirty and let his teammates know when his lead was dishonored (via a finger point and a yell) he may garner some confidence amongst his teammates. Looks like he expects the ball to find it's way to him like it would in the juniors when all the kids would look for him

Some observations from today.

Gysberts was outstanding and will prove to be very valuable if he can stay fit this year.

Stef Martin is pleasingly surprising everyone with his manouvrabilty and skill. Has outstanding speed for a big man. Also looks like having a big year. Was interested in the experiment of playing him at CHF initially. Didn't quite work but I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up there or CHB particularly if Max Gawn continues his rapid development.

Starting to see at last some consistent mongrel from Jones, Maloney and Sylvia, particularly at stoppages, but was interested in the Foxtel comments about those three protecting Davey from his regular tag. One of them should have run through Raines today, at least to make him think twice about his regular scragging of Davey behind the play. He needs more protection. Carlton did a similar thing to him last year and put us off our game. It was not until he got some room today that we got going

Wonna was certainly worth his place. If he can remain injury free will be a very valuable player for us.

Best game from Rivers for four years

Bennel continues to improve

Hurrah is the most exciting footballer I have ever seen. It is amazing the number of non demon supporters who say when they find you follow the Dees, that the Demons is their second team and live watching them play cos of Jurrah. A great basis for building a membership, particularly if we can get back to Sydney/Lions game form from last year. We are some way from it still, but I believe we will get closer to it when Mckenzie and to a lesser extent Scully return.

Will Pettard get back in? I would doubt it given his Casey form.

The glaring comment he said to me was that he finds space forward but doesn't demand the footy at all. If he were to jump up and down and scream for the ball and even more importantly get dirty and let his teammates know when his lead was dishonored (via a finger point and a yell) he may garner some confidence amongst his teammates. Looks like he expects the ball to find it's way to him like it would in the juniors when all the kids would look for him

Yeah, good call. As a key forward, you're coached from a young age to really demand the footy if you're a marking target/tall. This is something taught from the grassroots level but is relevant through all levels of footy. The louder, stronger and more aggresive your calling is on the lead, the more likely your teammates are to direct the ball towards you.

Would love to see him get a bit dirty when his leads are dishonored. But only to a point, i guess. We don't want the next Richo/Fevola sook antics either.