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Unlike others, I don't overly worry about the draw, because we have no idea who'll be an easy or hard opponent. The Dogs went from 7 to 14, while the Suns slid down the ladder. Port didn't meet expectations. Most of all, I don't rate many teams. Nearly half the competition plays finals. Ordinary sides play finals. While we haven't beaten the likes of North or Sydney in years they don't overly concern me as opposition. When we take the next step we will beat sides that have previously had the wood on us. Footscray beat North and Sydney and the year before lost to both. Things change... Why we can be better: Viney missed 6 games with a fracture in his leg and still came runner up in the B&F. Has taken his game and fitness to a new level this preseason as he seems to have been freed up from a "run with" role Gawn missed 9 matches after debuting in round 10. He's been one of the preseason standouts after a terrific second half of 2015 Dom Tyson played 90% of the year with a medial strain and hamstring issues - missed 7 games. Has been outstanding in match sims Dean Kent (rated incredibly highly inside the club) only played 4 games due to a hamstring off the bone Mature age rookie Aaron vandenBerg missed 8 games through injury and looks in peak condition this off season Salem was a revelation in the first 7 games before getting injured and only playing 10 for the season Nathan Jones carried a neck injury all year and was below his best Petracca will debut as a 20 year old with a huge body and injury free will impact games of footy Angus Brayshaw was the sub many times and wasn't quite the same player after getting concussed in the first 5 minutes of the West Coast match - expect improvement Frost gives us athleticism and flexibility in attack and defence - only played 3 games last year Naturally, we can't rely on him, but I expect (hope) Jack Trengove to make a successful return to footy, which continues to add depth Hogan will kick 60 goals this year Our transition and ball movement is much quicker than previous preseasons - will it hold up under the pressure of AFL. David King expects us to win "5 or 6", because he doesn't rate our style of play Keys: Luck with injury. We need our best players playing. Other teams have luck with injuries and it's about time we did Ball movement. If we're slow and hesitant we won't rise up the ladder Goals - we need to get midfielders kicking goals, as well as support for Hogan and Garlet.. Can Watts kick 30, Gawn 15, Kent 20, Petracca 20... The Dogs had 8 players kick 15 or more and we had 2. They also had 2 players kick 50+ In 2014, Port had 9 players kick 15 or more with 3 kicking 40+ If we don't spread the goal kickers we won't rise up the ladder All things considered I expect 9-10 wins, but if all goes well and the players/club get belief I believe we have the capacity to exceed those expectations It's time

To anybody who thinks we will eventually lose Jesse back to WA, he really likes Melbourne, didn't think much of Perth growing up, has settled well into the Melbourne lifestyle, especially the live music and coffee culture...has established really good friendships with JKH, James Harmes and Petracca....has total respect for one Nathan Jones and wants to give him the success he craves.........and wants to payback the club for the way they have looked after him during his back issues...don't think the money would be an issue with him....just got the feeling back in my arm after shaking hands with him and wishing him Happy Birthday on Friday

It is kinda funny that Terlich having a great game in a match sim can cause a minor freak out. Players can elevate their game at almost any stage of their career. He no doubt knows it's now or never and full credit to him. If his training and performances warrant selection, he gets selected. It's not a cause for panic or necessarily a sign of the team going backwards.

Bernie would get a good laugh out of that, I had a go at him at training on Friday, told him he was in rehab when I last got to training before Xmas, said with his history of hamstring issues, they are working on strengthening them (even at his age), the broken finger didn't help, said he knows every blade of grass personally around the perimeter of Goschs reckons he has run on every one of them, said he is feeling even fitter than last year, and a total believer in the program he is on Dom Tyson was bitterly disappointed with his output last year, has worked his arse off at training, increased his size and strength as well, looking at repaying the supporters As for Kent if he can play like his training wow

I for one don't give a stuff about bookies (other than the fact that, being married to the ALF administration, they are running and ruining our game all sports)

Geez we dodged a bullet in not being able to retain Scully on a massive contract. Think we offered him $700k or so for a long time, yet he still walked. And we got Jesse as a result.

He might, but not as a footballer. Two four hour flights every second weekend for a big bloke with a back to manage is hardly conducive to a football career. Especially when you didn't debut until you were 20.

and i look forward to watching cloke, elliot and howe colliding in mid air. it might even make the air crash investigations show on tv

We at Demonland wish Garry a speedy recovery from his illness. We will return to the subject of his health as the circumstances allow but for the time being it's best that discussion be closed.

I was pretty impressed by the intensity and general standard of the match simulation. Our main issue is still going to be hitting targets by foot, but there were some nice passages of play; and the midfield is looking stronger. I'll eat a little humble pie with Frost, as he looked very good today as a leading/marking target in the forward-line. While I much prefer him in defence i was surprised by his forward-line work. His kicking for goal will be a bit hit or miss. Weideman moved very well, but he needs lots more strength in marking contests. A lot to look forward to, but he's a work in progress and I thought Oscar McDonald had his measure. I was impressed with Oscar today. BenKen ran on to some very good crumbs and used his pace. Tyson looks strong and was again prolific. He looks set for a superb season. Viney was fantastic. He turned one over for a goal when he used his right foot in defence, but overall he looked a class above what he was last year. His pace and tackling was first class. He's been freed up and I doubt he'll tag this year. Stretch is coming along nicely. As is Harmes who did some really good things in the midfield. Hunt's pace is an asset and he too found a bit of it. He butchered a couple by foot, but also hit some nice passes. Hoges was Hoges. Gawn was excellent, but he dropped two marks in the goal-square he should have taken. Clunked the third. He should really impact the scoreboard this year. Hulett continues to look a player. Bugg worries me. He turns it over with poor decisions and kicking. He'll get games, but I'm not a fan. Grimes was good. Played midfield. ANB fumbled today. Kent and Garlett did well. Kent has bulked up, but has maintained his pace and evasiveness. And a pat on the back to a player many of us feel is on his last legs. Terlich was very good - again. He gets lots of it and today hardly wasted a disposal. I've been a critic, but credit when it's due. He's been an excellent trainer throughout summer.

To those who think we're "too defensive" to climb the ladder, I would say this: that argument assumes 2015's offence was either the level the club wants it to be, or the limit of our offensive capabilities. I'd say both those are wrong. From what I've seen and read from the club this year, there continues to be a focus on improving our scoring. It's clear to me that the coaches (maybe Goodwin more than Roos, maybe not) are working on the transition from defence to offence and on making us a more attacking club. So to say we're "too defensive" because we didn't score enough last year is a pretty short-sighted argument. As for capabilities, I'm excited for the improvement Hogan is going to give in his second season of football, I'm excited to add Kent back to the forward line, I'm excited for the Garlett-Hogan relationship to blossom and, most of all, I'm excited for our midfield to improve which will mean more inside 50s, more quality inside 50s, and easier opportunities for the forwards to score. Based on that, we can clearly improve. I'm confident we will.

I don't know why there's such angst about Terlich. Clearly, unless you're a dope, he's not best 22. But just as clearly, he deserves praise for his preseason. He's lost wait and is running PB times. This is a training report, not a best 22 thread.

Enjoy that you can provide info from the mouths of some of our players. But when you say something like 'he didn't think much of Perth growing up' I'm not sure who's words they are.. There are countless interviews in which he makes it no mystery to anyone how he feels about Perth/his home. He loves it. That's not to say he dislikes Melbourne. But you're certainly painting a different picture by saying what you have.

Just a few thoughts... I don't think we have a best22 anymore, it's more like a best32. "Depth" is not about having decent backup players; it's about changing the makeup of the 22 without weakening the team. How long has it been since we were able to do that? (lol&cry). We now have good "depth" across most of the ground. How many of us put JKH in our best22? He is and exciting young player who has made us leap to our feet and howl with delight. Who gets left out of the back 6? Is there room for Lamumba? It's been a long time since we had to consider these types of questions. We had a bad run with injuries last season, but if we are unlucky enough to suffer the same this season we are much better positioned to cover them. We have also reached a level of developement, as a team, where we can really begin thinking about opponents' structures and game plans, rather than focusing strictly on our own (as Roos repeatedly stated over the past 2 seasons he was obliged to do). Across the board our players are more flexible, able to play multiple roles and positions. Those who couldn't adapt have been delisted or traded away.

Went to training today, really good session, mostly the same drills, match simulation had umpires, Jack Viney tackled Tommy Mc again and resisted temptation to face plant him. Frost is definitely looking at being a forward, did match sim as forward and did goal kicking practice at the end of the session whilst rest were running, spoke to him, feellng really good. Stand outs for me today Hogan, Garlett, Grimes, Kent, Hunt and Matt Jones, quicker ball movement is what they are looking for with two or three options by hard running. There was one lovely coast to coast goal with Terlich being the one who had gut run to get himself alone in the centre square and he had options either side. Weideman and the rest of the young guys did some match sim, he put a really nice left foot step on Oscar Mc to round him and kick a nice goal. On the injury front Salem had slight issue with knee, same with Watts, Oliver is still growing so making sure we don't break him, Lumumba and Petracca are both a couple of weeks away from rejoining main group, Newton is back jogging, a few more weeks, Vince is being eased back in with his history of hamstring issues in preseason ... all this info from the players I asked. Will be putting up some pics on Twitter at Demonpk, any questions feel free.

Jesse grew up in Scarborough and is a Marist/Claremont zone boy, certainly wouldn't be heading into Northbridge, with a long list of friends from the Western suburbs. He still keeps in regular contact with a lot of the Claremont and Marist boys and catches up with them whilst he is back in Perth. I know a few of the lads he knocks about with and families he grew up with. In case you hadn't heard they have coffee here, Freo is well known for it. A lot of what I hear does little to concern me as to wanting to return to Perth, but until he signs there is always that doubt, there are some circumstances which concern me but whatever happens, it happens. I don't believe for 1 minute this nonsense he didn't like growing up in Perth. His family no longer lives in Perth but he spends a lot of his off season and in season his breaks back in Perth. He spends that time here, heading out with mates from his childhood. The main reason he would want to stay in melbourne is to stay with the new mates he has formed bonds with and to be part of something with them Jesse and his manager are playing this game perfectly he has 2 more years to run and barring a shocking injury his price will rise and rise. Currently you have Freo being talked about, they wont be throwing the kitchen sink money wise at Macarthy just more than GWS were offering, but don't think for one minute if there is any talk of him wishing to return that Meth Coast wont also be in the race. Josh Kennedy will be 30 next year so hardly commanding massive dollars or a long term contract. We currently have him and since Roos and co came on board we are certainly in the box seat and IMO he is ours to lose, we just need to keep this momentum going and keep heading in the right direction with this young core we have and not rest on our laurels. We will know by early 2017 what Jesse's intentions are

Am having 5 mins to self at a Wed reception. Great convo with 2 filth supporters ( both rellos lol ) one understands the cas DeNovo thing ( strangely an ex AFL player !!) The other caught up in criminal law analogies not grasping CAS at all. Fascinating Must go red wine calling Just thought I'd share. How others perceive this is quite fascinating

That could be more important than many realize.

HL didn't put a time frame on return, he is back running and has been doing heaps of indoor work, looks super fit body wise, can't see him being too far away, needs to test the ankles with twisting and turning etc though Spoke to Alex S who is head rehab guy, got a bit of a straight bat about Oliver 'is a young guy, making sure we don't break him, no real issues', he did a heap of work in rehab

From the Herald Sun article. Looks like the lads who've been around a while are feeling pretty good about the season: Jones admitted it was the most excited he had ever felt heading into an AFL season. “It’s so refreshing for guys like me and Lynden Dunn, Jack Grimes — guys who have been around a while. Even guys like Jack Watts and Max Gawn that were inducted into a pretty tough time at the footy club,” he said. “Now we’re seeing some reward for our effort and we’ve got a lot of young players who are really exciting. They’ve got some serious talent and the main thing that excites me is that attitude and mentality to compete and want to get better. “We’re on a journey, there’s going to be some ups and downs. But I’m confident in the direction that we’re heading and in the future we can be a very successful side with the group we’ve got.”

Beveridge IMHO was totally motivated by cosying up to his employers. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if Gordon put him up to it having some understanding of how those involved have operated in the past. After all the Dogs are seriously affected by the Essendon fallout. Their problem is they are blaming the wrong people: like the MFC, they should have had nothing to do with the Bombers post the 2012 scandal until the issues were clarified. For an organisation heavily associated with crisis management lawyers, supposedly expert in risk management, you would have thought they would at least get that right. Instead, they blame everyone else but themselves.

12 wins and no floggings think we will be much improved and would like to see some 10 goal Victorys so I can sit back and enjoy the game instead of being on the edge of my seat.

Hey Dazzle, this is why Saty is the best poster on the site. We get information nobody else provides. Just rumble over the stuff you don't like. BTW, no issue with the way you've responded recently to Saty. First class.

Give Dawes a break - he got shafted by Collingwood when they recruited Quinten Lynch as their second key forward / ruck (who by the way was injury prone and only played 18 games over two seasons and kicked 18 goals). He has played 44 games and kicked 43 goals and at least is still on an AFL list. He topped our goal kicking in 2014 and has filled a hole for us whilst Jesse developed and busts his guts / gives his all for us when he is out there. I wish him a speedy recovery and hope he can really overcome the injury and show his worth to us all during this year. Personally I'd love to see him kick one after the final siren to beat the Pies by a point on Queens Birthday!

That's why I mentioned our best players didn't get injured. We should be able to cope with injuries to our mid-level players. We should have greater depth of senior players this year. My other point is that people saying we'll improve as Frost and Salem should play a full season. This doesn't make sense to me as other players will no doubt get injured obviously I agree that the less injuries you have the greater the chance to win

I'm a born and raised Victorian but love it over here. That said I still feel the pull of home every so often. Jesse is a competitor and wants a flag. In the grand scheme of things I truly believe we have a better core of youngsters to help him achieve that compared to Freo. I reckon they'll really slide this year.

It will have to be a massive turn around for Terlich - he was rarely mentioned in the best players for Casey last year, and his match reports were hardly glowing, often criticising his positioning and decision making. Will keep an open mind, hoping to be pleasantly surprised. He has to perform this year, who knows whether he can crack a spot in the 22, but he is giving it his best shot, which is good on him, interestingly he was very good on Friday, with the main culprit for turnovers being Viney, so you can never tell..........last year because of the mass of injuries we had, he played with a couple of hampering minor injuries, ankle and hand.....he is hard and competitive, and yes some of skill errors in the past have been horrible, but who knows we may have fixed those

I know that Lumumba has missed a fair chunck of pre season but i think your underestimating his value. We all seem to forget that his All Australian year he was one of the best running half backs in the game. I think it took him a while to adjust to our defensive game whereas this year i expect to get back to his best with our new free flowing game style. Lumumba still has a big role to play for us.

saty, with the sub gone i don't think there is any such thing any more as a bench player. just 22 players all of who get a rest on the bench at some time. you don't pick a bench player any more just the best 22 according to positional requirements. it's fairly common to see one or more key players on the bench now at the start of a quarter. of course during a game if one player is having a bad day he is likely to spend more time on the bench but with an average of <1 rotation per quarter per player this will likely only be minor. younger players with few games may spend longer on the bench, but overall there is not much scope for any player to monopolise the bench unless injured

Wow Just read Beveridge's comments: Beveridge hit back at suggestions the players should have said something at the time. "Anybody who steps out of line or is a boat rocker probably doesn't last that long," he said. [The AFL players are all just sheep who follow their past player idols, therefore they have done no wrong. And if you do raise a voice you wil be punted out of the club - nice. Mind boggling comment] "The Essendon players have been treated like a European cycling team who should know better. [Why should the EFC be dofferent from nearly every other sport in the world?] "Well, no, they shouldn't know better because they had no grounding to work from." [Well what are they doing on their 20 hours of lectures on drugs every year?]

Tracy Homes Micheal Warner Mark Robinson

This years draft has given us some excellent quality to work with, some of which we should see later in the year. Petracaa will be a significant upgrade on Jimmy T, who while skilled just could not pull it together for us, did not accumulate possessions and did not always dispose of the ball well. Frost will add a lot more depth to our forward line and MacO Jnr will help bolster our defence. Players like Grimes, Lumumba, Matty Jones, need to lift their game to keep their spot, if they can do that then that will be a significant improvement over last years form, if not we have players waiting in the wings to do so. Hullet looks to also give us another option forward where in the last year if Dawes was not there we were looking for Pederson and when he was not available we had to take backs to cover. And if Max can stay fit all year that will be a significant bonus and give our mids more first use of the ball. We have a much better team this year more mature, hopefully fitter, and more attacking game plan. Yet that by itself does not win games, as we saw last year in some of the games we won and lost. We won against sides that had much better teams, balance, attack capability etc... the difference is that their disposal was usually worse than ours which resulted in them turning the ball over or kicking points instead of goal.

I must be on my own thinking Howe will be a bad loss. i think we'll miss his intercept marking and mostly good disposal from defence. He was/is a better defender than forward but I think everyone remembers his laziness as a forward rather than his effectiveness as a defender. Howe's better games for the MFC were as a defender.

Howe? I certainly won't miss his lazy efforts and casual turnovers off the half back. Personally I would have kept Cross for another year. Kennedy will be my surprise packet. Think of it as another Dean Kent. Goes in hard and doesn't take a backward step. Has never really been given a full game because of the sub rule. Bugg is your typical Paul Roos type footballer. Reminds me of Nick Smith of the swans who will just get the job done every week.

No, we need A-graders to become a top 8 side. Your best players determine your fortunes far more than your also-rans. Btw, this isn't an argument against depth, more-so a recognition that it's quality players that make the difference in any climb up the ladder.

No Longer Andy, Those days are now behind us, there is a new breed of players that wont put up with that shite any more. They wont put up with any mistakes from team mates that don't toe the line. The hold no fear of any team.

Agreed. Some posters should re-watch our win over Geelong last season. Matt Jones was one of our best. Also wish people would remember that neither of these players can be faulted for their effort, endeavor or comittment. These things matter. They do not deserve the venomous attacks that are all too often made against them on these forums.

I was thinking more of the werewolf & zombie crowd. The Demons would be the natural club to support for the undead. They embody our "never-say-die" spirit. A part of our supporter group we don't often get to see.

Thanks to the lop-sided AFL fixturing it is going to be difficult for us to move up the ladder this year, despite what I think will be improved performances on-field. As Chelly has shown the bookies have 4 teams below us. We play each of them only once. Maybe that gives us 4 wins Above us in the betting we have Suns, Giants, Adelaide, Collingwood, and Bulldogs. 2 games against Collingwood and the Suns. Adelaide game is fortunately in Melbourne. Can we win half of those games? That gives us 3-4 wins. Win them all? Gives us 7. So beating all these teams gives us 11 wins. I don't think we are at the stage of beating Hawthorn, Fremantle, WCE, or Sydney. To really progress we have to start putting wins up against North, Richmond, Port and Geelong. We have shown we can beat or compete against these. So with our draw we need to beat 2 or 3 of these sides, not drop games against Bulldogs,Adelaide, Suns, Giants and Collingwood, and definitely win against Carlton, Essendon, Saints and Lions. A big call in anyones book.

Gee interesting chart there DC. I am amazed that there were only 139 bananas produced in 2012 and only 18 bananas exported in 2011, hardly seems it would be worth it. I mean I eat that many myself in a year so thank heavens we produce heaps of our own here in Oz.

Couldn't disagree more, and is the major thing that worries me about this season. Hogan is the only legitimate goalkicking tall forward option we have, likewise Garlett as a small/medium forward. Dawes, Pedo and Watts have been round long enough, and can't be relied upon as goalkicking tall options. The rest have no track record, and I'd be over the moon if Frost managed to kick more than 20 goals in a season as a key forward. Unless we get over 20 goals from the likes of Petracca and Kent, and 2-3 mids kicking 15+, I see our attack as being impotent.

I saw all of the match sim - but missed the build-up stuff, but concur with most of what has been said and Terlich was probably BOG - Apart from twice intercepting errant Viney kicks, I think he was involved in almost every early goal for the no-bib side - which included the defensive A team. Grimes may have almost shaded him late in the day for BOG, although I'd reckon Viney was the most prolific - most turnovers too. The green bibs side had basically our forward set-up for Port Adelaide game - subject to no injuries. This was Hogan, Frost, Watts, Kent and Garlett. Only 5 because the sixth played up the ground. For those wondering if Hoges being Hoges meant he was starring, then I'm afraid he was having a day like against Carlton last year. In fact he even had to drift back to defence to get a kick or two after a quiet first but pitted against T-Mac or Dunny. The run and dash from Terls, Hunt and Wagner down back meant our B defense team looked pretty slick. The baulk Weeds did on Oscar was pretty nice and shows he knows what he'd doing. Hulet was very prominent and got on the end of a lot of breaknet speed breaks but in my view there was nothing mega special that stood out - he looks to me a very solid citizen though. Salem was good until rested, Watts laid a really strong tackle at one stage and showed he is over his quad setback. Kent led up ground like a full-forward and agree he might be a real livewire for us. One the down side I actually thought both Col and Oscar were very tentative and out of synch with the more-attack minded style Goody is trying to implement. On the positive side, the tackling and more so the ability to stick tackles was the best I have ever seen. This was a practice session and yet almost everyone of our midfielders laid at least a couple of strong tackles - Stretch and Viney laid about 10 each.

We've supposedly got some of the best development coaches in the league. Why should people be surprised if there's some actual ... development. Yes, even to players who we thought had none left in them.

What a smart alec reply. Sniping from your keyboard again. Proud of yourself? Why don't you just refrain from reading his comments and making inane comments so that those of who appreciate Saty's comments can take them on board for what they are worth.

I have a solution to the problem that might just work. I suggest that the Essendon and its insurer pull out of the appeal and instead take their $500k to a roulette table at the Melbourne Casino and plonk the whole lot on either black or red (fittingly, the EFC colours). If they win with the first spin then they should consider themselves $1m ahead and if they're really daring they can repeat the operation. Worse case scenario is that they blow the $500k (which will go down the toilet anyway if they proceed with the appeal) but at least they'll get a bit of a buzz in the process.

Is this the same David King that said St Kilda wouldn't win a game last season!!! I think this is a good sign for us. Onward & upwards....

This is the logic. At some stage the players sue EFC for compo. EFC's insurance company are actually the one's that will pay out. The insurance company says "So you want us to pay you $34mill because you were found guilty by CAS. We think the CAS decision was wrong. The only way to prove that would have been to appeal. Did you appeal? No! Well then it's your fault you are still found guilty it's our view if you had appealed you would have got off and we wouldn't be here fighting you off. So bad luck we aint paying." Whereas by appealing they make sure the insurance company/EFC cannot argue this." What would you do? Given it's not going to cost you anything. If the players appeal and succeed they won't have a compo case against EFC. If they don't appeal they might do themselves out of any compensation. They've got to be sitting there hoping their appeal is going to fail. Forget about saving reputations. That isn't going to happen even if they win on the technicalities they are arguing. This has the potential to go on for years if the win on appeal. If they lose then it goes no further. If they win, then it potentially goes back to CAS to hear the appeal just on limited legal issues. Whatever that outcome either party can appeal to Swiss Fed Crt then the losing party can appeal again to the appeal court. Potentially another 4 hearings at around 6-8 mth intervals after the 6-8mth interval waiting for this appeal.

Hey Dazzle, it was a compliment mate, not having a crack at you at all, just a conversation. Just took the opportunity to point out the enormous benefit we get from Saty. Pro is a passionate Demon, backs himself and goes hard and early but I like the inside stuff, the stuff that matters to me. I like that Turls played well yesterday but I don't really care. He's not the future and if he is we're crud. I care that Petracca is back into full training in two weeks all going well. I reckon at this stage of the season we all know who's going well. Gawn, Kent etc etc. We all know that to improve on last year we need Salem, Kent, Gawn, AVB, Brayshaw, Tyson and Hogan to all go well but it's really nice to know that injured players are coming back because we need all our good players on the track. I want a fit list and then we'll see how we go. That's my first priority. Saty is the only one that provides it. Thanks Saty. Doesn't mean I'm not interested and really appreciate the efforts of all training track observers.

There's something about Liam Hulett... I have this weird feeling we have found a massive diamond in the rough here. Not sure if anyone else shares the same thoughts?

By the time I arrived at Gosch’s at 10:30 the boys had been training for 45 minutes, so I missed the warm up and drills that followed. However, I did get to see the start of what was essentially an intra-club match (match sim) for the rest of the session. Three ‘quarters’ of approximately 20 minutes each with two AFL umpires officiating, one with curly hair and some other guy. Firstly, I didn’t sight Dawes, Vince, Oliver, Newton, White, or Petracca- not to say that they weren’t there earlier or were on the other side of the ground. Max King, Lumumba and Trengove were in the rehab group in front of where I was watching, over on the Punt Rd side of the ground. The remaining players were split into two teams- Green bibs: Hogan, Watts, Frost, Garlett, Kent, Kennedy-Harris, Gawn, Tyson, Viney, M. Jones, Grimes, Stretch, Hunt, Garland, Wagner, Jetta, O. McDonald. No bibs: Pedersen, Weideman, Hulett, Mitch King, Kennedy, Spencer, N. Jones, vandenBerg, Brayshaw, Michie, Harmes, Bugg, Neal-Bullen, Dunn, T. McDonald, Salem, Terlich. I may have got a couple of those mixed up because I wasn’t taking notes but they’re pretty right. Saty and ProDee have summed it up well. A few other things I noticed: JKH started ‘on the bench’, came on to a contest in the goal-square and went straight off with something wrong with his upper leg/groin. He lasted less than 5 minutes. Terlich was good at buttering up and running out of congestion. A couple of less players on the field seems to suit a player like him. Garland turned the ball over a couple of times- missing kicks to dangerous spots that resulted in rebound goals. As ProDee pointed out, both teams were guilty of this but I guess the one positive was that conversely they were able to take full advantage of the error and quickly move the ball forward for a goal. vandenBerg knows where to run when his teammates have the ball. Gawn continued his great preseason, working hard up and down the ground. Although he may have dropped a couple of marks, he did take a nice contested mark in the goal-square and also took a nonchalant one-hander running into goal on the end of a good passage of play. Hunt and Harmes were good- they tried hard and although they made a few mistakes they kept backing themselves and taking the game on. Selection for the first few rounds is going to be very interesting. Weideman uses his body well in marking contests but just couldn’t hang onto the ball today. Hulett shows promise- he is a natural forward. Viney’s tackle on T.Mac was beautiful. Tommy, as he does quite often, took too long to kick and Viney grabbed his wrist and right hip and just pulled him to ground. Not as brutal as the tackle on Tuesday, but as effective.