For nearly the whole of the last quarter Nate Jones started the centre bounces at centre half back. When did this last happen? Dare I suggest we might have created the start of having some depth?

The quiet achiever - Neville Jetta. Plays it simple, tough as nails and doesn't waste a posession. Knows his limits!

2 minutes ago, Dannyz said:

The quiet achiever - Neville Jetta. Plays it simple, tough as nails and doesn't waste a posession. Knows his limits!

my favourite player.

12 minutes ago, Sylvia Saint said:

He is still a terrible kick and has no poise.

i hate to say it, but he was good today and his kicking looked improved

4 minutes ago, Dannyz said:

The quiet achiever - Neville Jetta. Plays it simple, tough as nails and doesn't waste a posession. Knows his limits!

Absolutely. Great post.

33 minutes ago, Strapping Young Lad said:

Bit harsh on Frost. He was great in his pressure and efforts. And his tackle that should have had the GWS player holding the ball was a ripper. The umpires were utter Sh!te.

 

I was on the opposite side of the ground but it looked like a very, very weird decision.

I admit I got squeamish and left before three quarter time. Today was my first game since the final against the Swans in 1987. I liked the first quarter,but got very sick and tired of watching turnover after turnover, the main culprit Tyson.

And I love the way Oliver gets the ball but his kicking needs to be sorted out: his disposal reminds me of Maloney. if I was Hogan I'd be cursing. It's bad enough having two opponents for most of the day but waiting under those long, high bombs while his opponents have a cup of tea and a bickie before gang belting the ball out of his hands....

 

Good win today but a lot of passengers.

I thought we might have been a bit too cute leaving out Brayshaw, H and Dunn but there are positions open for them next week.

...and the sooner Weed makes his debut the better.

Absolutely Dee-Lighted
I have heart failure but today we proved today that we are a much improved team, a lot of people are pegging GWS for finals this year and a demon team from any other year would have lost that game by 40-50.
YES we did get lucky with them poor kicking, but that is footy, kicking straight wins matches, and the fact that they kicked so many behinds says to me that our pressure is really getting up there.

WELCOME TO THE PARTY Matthew Jones, I said a week ago that I was really happy with his pre-season and thought he was set for a great year and so far he is keeping me a man of my word.

C . Oliver, round 1 rising star, Jack Viney, might be worth a sneaky $100 to place in the brownlow.
And great to see Maxxy Gawn winning the hit outs against Mumford and playing well.

Jack Watts, you bake a delicious humble pie and as a nay - sayer in past years I am happy to consume the bakers dozen.

Ben Ken, T . Bugg...Keep doing what you are doing, guys like you are the glue between marquee players and are the blokes that help clubs become great clubs.
The support acts are just as important as the main acts.

Hogan...Firing when he needed to under pressure with a helthy 3 in the final term but that just says to me that every game you have potential to boot a bag.

Bring on Essendon, lets make this season 2-0 and show the AFL who we are.

8 minutes ago, FireInTheBelly said:

Agreed, should have been 50 metres

Quote

Rules question:  When Pedersen had that shot from the boundary against the point post, aren't the GWS players meant to be further away than they were. One of them seemed even closer than last year?

Is the rule now 10m or what?    I can understand the umps making mistakes all day long (as much as I don't like it) but  how could they get that so wrong.

On another rule, if you are just behind an oppo player who has a mark or a free and you want to run down the ground on your own, it seems you have to run sideways 10m before you start. That seems impossible to umpire consistently.

16 minutes ago, sue said:

Rules question:  When Pedersen had that shot from the boundary against the point post, aren't the GWS players meant to be further away than they were. One of them seemed even closer than last year?

Yes it's meant to be 10 metres, that was a joke. Then they pinged Kent for 12 steps, running into goal and then let Kelly have 20+ steps without penalty. 

Chamberlin was at his worst today.

30 minutes ago, Gorgoroth said:

Should have been 10 goals down at 3/4 time. 

Got out of jail.

Over the last few years that would have been a ten goal loss.

but now we win.

good sides win the close ones now I am not saving we are champions but now we have the skill level needed to comeback and finally starting to believe we can win no matter what.

A good start to 2016.

2 minutes ago, Redleg said:

Yes it's meant to be 10 metres, that was a joke. Then they pinged Kent for 12 steps, running into goal and then let Kelly have 20+ steps without penalty. 

Chamberlin was at his worst today.

Razor Ray achieved his aim. He got himself noticed.

 

23 minutes ago, stuie said:

Pedo out the way and Jeffy to the middle won us that game.

 

Jones to half back also helped 

1 minute ago, Scythe said:

Can the Tom McDonald haters ark up again, please? 

Yes I will ark up and say bloody well done! This was the exact performance I was asking for when I made the Tom McDonald thread. He kept it simple today and was close to BOG. More of that please Tom.

Viney is a beast, pure and simple! Several times I saw him go head first into the contest and come out with the ball.

Oliver wowee enough said. He is born for this game. Those clearances in the last qtr was so crucial. His awareness is quite freaky. Did anyone see his Fox Footy interview after the game? It was an absolute belter! He was literally pinching himself and just overawed with the whole occasion.

Matt Jones take a bow! He has worked on his kicking and decision making and just kept it simple. Kudos to him. Keep playing like this and he'll be fine.

Vandenberg after a slow start really ran the game out well.

Watts.. Sign him up asap! he has arrived!

Jones, GAWN, McDonald, Garland Kennedy Garlett were all fantastic today.

Special mention to Hogan to keep fighting it out till the end. 17 disposals and 3 goals is a great return after Davis had the better of him.

Still not sure about Frost.

Pity Garlo let through 10 goals. 

I feel especially chuffed about it because it took the whole team doing their jobs to get there.

I think pretty much all of our players will be feeling like they deserved to be a part of the win.

Possibly the best feeling out of this is that we are right on the cusp of fielding a complete 'good AFL-standard' best 22, week in week out.

---

And you've just got to laugh that Jesse Hogan was having a really terrible day yet finished with 17 disposals and 3 goals.

Phil Davis had an absolute blinder of a game on him - I just can't help wondering what happens if the opposition simply doesn't have a serious tall defender capable of going with him? Will we see four quarters as effective as that last quarter? Scary.

Y'know... like... what if he's matched up on someone like... say... Patrick Ambrose?

---

The other question is, where are we going to fit all of Brayshaw, Petracca, Trengove, Dunn and Lumumba?

Decent crowd today:  28,505

Bodes well!

12 minutes ago, FireInTheBelly said:

Agreed, should have been 50 metres

Quote

Rules question:  When Pedersen had that shot from the boundary against the point post, aren't the GWS players meant to be further away than they were. One of them seemed even closer than last year?

Is the rule now 10m or what?    I can understand the umps making mistakes all day long (as much as I don't like it) but  how could they get that so wrong.

On another rule, if you are just behind an oppo player who has a mark or a free and you want to run down the ground on your own, it seems you have to run sideways 10m before you start. That seems impossible to umpire consistently.

51 minutes ago, Gorgoroth said:

Should have been 10 goals down at 3/4 time. 

Got out of jail.

Over the last few years that would have been a ten goal loss.

but now we win.

good sides win the close ones now I am not saving we are champions but now we have the skill level needed to comeback and finally starting to believe we can win no matter what.

A good start to 2016.

Such an impressive last quarter - that is what Roos has brought - confidence and belief.

Negatives before positives: 

- Tyson first 3 qtrs were sloppy and 'bad TJ-like'

- Oscar isn't ready. And they should have played an underdone Dunn or Lumumba.

- Frost playing near Jesse is like trying to fit a Porsche and a Hyundai into a narrow garage, I'm nervous every time, just let the Porsche have the effing space 

- the above was the main reason for our impotence, that and Pedersen/Gawn clogging too

- Bernie getting used to his role resting across half back will take two months I reckon

Positives

- Oliver. Christ!

- Watts plays like this 5 times a season, if he can double that stat, he will be top 6 in the bluey 

-Hogan's last term cements him as a star. He's a game winner

- Viney first half was immense

- McDonald was very McDonald; he is a great CHB.

 

Loved the finish. Jones finally has a team with as much heart as him.

loved the win and hate to be picky...but Gawns tap at the last centre bounce was Stkilda all over again. I was amazed we didn't get that right. All Melb players behind him and he taps forward? Anyway...post match review will at least be a good place to be this week, Bank the win and great fro morale but I think you gotta say we've got a lot of room for improvement also.

 

Yep Sue you're on the money with the Pedders shot at goal. Yet VDB gives away a 50 on the wing for running about 9 metres inside their bloke - both were slightly odd

3 minutes ago, stuie said:

 

Gee that's a big turnaround from 1 hour ago when you were saying "{censored} pathetic", "same old Melbourne" and "game over"....

 

Glad to see a win can't bring you down from your high horse Stuie

Just now, sue said:

Is the rule now 10m or what?    I can understand the umps making mistakes all day long (as much as I don't like it) but  how could they get that so wrong.

On another rule, if you are just behind an oppo player who has a mark or a free and you want to run down the ground on your own, it seems you have to run sideways 10m before you start. That seems impossible to umpire consistently.

It's definitely 10 metres. It's going to be one of the most inconsistently applied rules you'll see this year. The other being the dangerous tackle rule.

The way both rules are designed it gives more control too the umpires discretion, and we know they are incompetent. Its going to be very frustrating.

MATT JONES   I rest my case, when everybody else plays their role, he can play his

39 on my guernsey for last 5 years

Watched Kennedy at VFL level  just didn't get a run at the Pies