Leaderboard

Credit where credits due, Touk Miller is a star.

Yeah we didn't look amazing but if you think that was a poor performance I think you're underrating Gold Coast. And the weather. Not sure the last time we played in hot and humid weather. I reckon the game ends quite differently if we nail one of those many misses in the fourth quarter. And don't forget we've again held our opponent to 19 scoring shots despite missing four premiership defenders. The risk with that backline was evident tonight though. Tomlinson was just OK and whilst Hunt and Smith did some good things defensively, they also turned it over a number of times each. We sorely lack Lever and Salem back there. Jackson and Bowey were unreal, Petracca is the game's best player, and I was really impressed with how Sparrow, Jordon and Pickett worked into the game after each struggled a bit last week. Wasn't the best night for Brown, Fritsch and TMac but we've pocketed a road win without injuries and I'm happy with that.

I just can’t believe how this guy has turned his game around. A couple of years ago he was my number 1 delist and now he is a fixture in our team and deservedly so. Well done ANB.

Jake Bowey should be ineligible for the Rising Star when he already is a star.

I know we've had a lot of very good talent come through in recent times, but I can't remember a player come into the team in recent times and be as composed and assured as Bowey. This kid is unbelievable. During the games now when the ball ends up in his hands I find myself breathing a sigh of relief because he just always does something good with it.

Sexton had three touches. Smith was great.

Anyone who kicks 7 IS BASHING THE DOOR DOWN!! Mitch Brown is a clever footballer who knows where to run to get the Footy, His preseason was hampered BUT if anyone can remember... He WON us the game vs Hawks LAST year when we were stretched. Of the others mentioned on this site, and I am recounting from my training Diaries Van Rooyen is the next biggest thing, he Reminds me of a developmental Jack Gunston! Woewodin also is a Diamond , Albet Rough, he is a version of Jack Viney but with more "Finese" No disrespect meant here either! Bailey Laurie, well I can seen why we recruited him as he has smarts and good skills but has been hamstrung with injury Also the one that really impressed me pre season was Mondiz -Wakefield! Re Weeds... as much as I want him to succeed there is something missing and unless something clicks I just cannot see him playing too much at Dees!

Langdon playing a hard running wing role in those conditions and playing 100% game time is not human.

Drop Bowey - too small- will never make it

Was at the game last night. Petracca had a pretty big collision with Viney in the second. He looked pretty sore and absolutely cooked after that. You'd watch him at stoppages with hands on hips looking wrecked. Then the ball would go up and he'd just hit the boost button again and will himself through the packs. Incredible. Geez Jacko and Bowey are just impressive kids. Kozzie thoroughly deserved that goal in the third. He'd worked his backside off through that quarter. A really grinding win but we had lots of those at the start of the year last year too. Keep banking the points boys.

Very tough on Brayshaw. He was very solid tonight.

While Tommy certainly isn't in smashing form, one not the things he does do well is get up the ground, provide an outlet target and contest. He rarely gets beaten 1 on 1, enables the team to reset once the stoppage occurs and I think that probably pretty important to our structure and game style.

Weid was pretty decient for most of 2020, when many said it was T Mac's cards that were marked an Weid would be our key forward from then on. It's Rd 1 VFL, I'm happy to give Weid the benifit of the doubt and see what he can do. It's a long season and who knows.

It’s hilarious to me how some of you still believe goody will make a bunch of changes after a win

On playing with this group: ”I’m really happy at the moment. It’s so good to be a part of a team like this…and the culture we have here and what we’re building. Yeah, it’s just a great place to be and we’re all enjoying our footy.” On his partnership with Max: ”…and to learn off a guy like Gawny so early in my career, I can’t ask for much more. So yeah, just loving playing with these guys at the moment.” On the contract situation: “Yeah, who knows? Just focusing on footy right now, just leaving that stuff to the manager.” Nothing there imo.

Was at the ground. Haven’t been a Smith fan but he played well with many excellent spoils, good rebound and repeat efforts. He holds his place without doubt!

reminded me of when we'd play the good teams with 4 or 5 missing from their defence and watch as their 'second' defence would still carve us up in the end. and you'd think how can this be ? I think we are being harsh on Hunt. yes disposal can be iffy at times but people might underestimate his aerial defence and ability to shut down the opposition running goals. He helped stop many potential goals tonight. not saying he had a great game but no way will he get dropped for that effort, gave it 100%. but yeah my headline tonight was Bowey, he is Zen like with his reading of the ball coming in. never seems to over commit, is super clean and hits his targets. special mention to also to Clarry so had Rowell moved onto him as a tag and gave him a football lesson in the third.

Bedford and Chandler have shown almost nothing when given their opportunities at AFL level. Spargo isn't getting dropped for either of them in the near future.

What’s the record for intercept possessions in a match? 16 for Bowey last night puts him second in the league by 1 so far behind Frosty. His ball handling last night was out of this world.

I thought he handled it pretty well, considering he's a 20 year old who's probably been told by his manager not to give anything away. He's not the trained media performer whose 'at the moment' comments should be read in to

Bowey , goodness me !! How good is that kid. Did he have one dodgy possession tonight ??? An outstanding player and we have him

I thought Smith was really good. Defended really well. Was composed with ball in hand. Nothing wrong with him game. Really wish the club was honest re: Lever. If it’s gonna be a month just tell us. We really miss Petty!

That's one take. My take is he does his role really well. He crashes packs, he has had innumerous 'almost' marks, and he gets up to the wing and motors back. He's doing a fine job, of creating space and distractions for BBB and BF. In all genuineness @loges - What do you think his role is? (as your take is that he is having difficulty filling it, and or unsure of what's expected)

Been saying for 2 years throw him to CHB and let’s see what he has. If it worked Petty could return forward. Weid appears to have the tools to play off half back, and it’s easier to play there and build some confidence than be a key forward with limited opportunities and someone sitting off your left shoulder all day.

Weeds is now a shadow of the shadow of a player he used to be.

Positives in my view so far. Howes looks impressive, has pace and makes solid decisions it seems. Impressed with smith's defensive marking, taj has been solid and looks like he has an afl body already. Dunstan next in line for a mid position and may keep Sparrow and Jordan on their toes a bit. Brown dominating up forward and Van Rooyen playing well for his first official hit out. Bedford probably close to best on still, has real intensity around the ball and has been pretty clean. Melksham didn't get a lot of the footy but his iq showed through and when he had the ball he was dangerous with it. Good to see Laurie get his hands on it a bit and spend some time in the centre. Have high hopes for this kid and reckon he has the goods. Daw serviceable but is definitely a "break in case of emergency" player. AMW doesn't seemed overawed at all and looked like he belonged at the level. Negatives Rosman probably had one or two touches for the half, seems to get lost or ignored on the footy field often. Was in a good spot a couple times for a switch but wasn't used. Has plenty of tools to work with but has a long way to go. With his height and speed/endurance mix I wonder if he should be used as a high half forward link up player ala tom lynch of the St kilda Adelaide variety. Weideman is low on confidence and should be really owning games like these were we are dominating the scoreboard and forward 50 entries. The dropped chest mark in the goal square (Sun may have been in issue) is painful, he often has these nearly moments but can't capitalise. Not sure the ruck experiment is ideal for him, would rather see him in the 50 all day and have brown ruck for the sake of his development and confidence. More leads, more marks and more shots on goals. My thoughts anyway.

He would probably be the most un-talked about AA player of the last 10 years if we're being honest. How many people in your friendship circle would go straight to Touk Miller when talking about best mids in the competition? This the point I'm making, he's finally getting praise not only from AA selectors and experts but the common and wider public footy fan too.

Love that we are banking wins while the rest of last years top 4 are falling apart.

I would like to see a positional change for Bowey. Langdon hasn't played to his normal level lately which is probably because Salem isn't there. They are a wonderful link-up combo. Bowey played an excellent and attacking game so I would like him to play on Langdon's ie the attacking, side of the ground rather than the defensive side. Bowey has the vision, ability to stop and prop and the kicking skills we need on the attacking side. On the attacking side he would be in a better position to take May's kick ins as Salem normally does. We are missing Salem and while Rivers was the person to replace him no-one has really stepped into his role. The closest we can do imv is to put Bowey on Salem's side of the ground. That would enable Langdon to get back to his best.

Yes, the last thing we should do is over analyse. But for mine, "at the moment" casts real doubt over his availability to front up against the Bombers.

Yeah, leave him alone. Track wouldn’t have thrown him under the bus like that unless the club was confident.

We are the Reigning Premier. Other sides want to knock us off. We won’t be getting too many easy games, particularly in the first half of the season. We have to be ready. We haven’t defended a Cup before. Don’t be too harsh. We got the 4 points and no injuries Onward…

Generous on Tomlinson who I thought was beaten numerous times tonight. Jordon may be rarely sighted but had 22 touches and provides an important link in the chain.

Bowey was poise personified. Can't remember him look flustered or screw up a disposal all career. Trac you champion. So humble and grounded after a 41 possession game, and throws in the cheeky comment about getting Dogga signed up at the end too. Finger on the pulse.

I agree. I was a bit surprised by his frankness. He would usually just play a straight bat to it. Regarding the tactic, I reckon he valued testing end of game defence ideas and developing good habits when defending a lead. We were caught out a few times last year, namely the Adelaide match. Nothing beats practicing a tactic in real match conditions.

Have to admit I've completely forgotten how a Victorian winter feels like after 20 years in central and North Queensland. The missus and I both took hoodies to the game. I cant even comprehend an overnight minimum under 20 at this time of year. And humidity? We were happy to be 1000km closer to the south pole for a change. It was quite cool for us. Was nice to see a game for the first time in about 7 years though.

Weideman is not going to make it. Just doesnt have enough mongerel in him to mix it with the big dogs. This contract should be his last.

Van Rooyen looks like a proper footballer Woewodin can play Chandler next in line Weideman May have played his last game for Melbourne. Would prefer the journeyman Brown to Weid

Me too. I feel so much more relaxed now that we have won a premiership. I don't have that feeling in the pit of my stomach on game day any more. We lose a game? Yeah. It's going to happen. I know we are going to be there in September in one way or another.

So Neal Bullen has played a lot more midfield minutes so far this season and he’s been really really good. But I can’t help thinking that we miss his forward pressure and the downside of him playing midfield is that the ball is leaving our forward 50 with much greater ease now.

So refreshing to be on this forum after a 2 - 0 season start. Entirely different mood to previous seasons when we could well have been 0 - 2 and jumping down the throats of each other and our players. The game scenarios we have faced this season, trailing to the Dogs and Suns and being challenged could easily have seen us loose the plot and throw the game in previous seasons, but now we have the confidence, poise and disipline to stick to our systems and grind out the wins in a clinical controlled way. In that last quarter we weren't dominant, but also looked pretty much totally in control. I love this winning feeling. GO THE MIGHTY DEMONS!!

It’s so important for us to keep banking those 4 points any way we can while our backline is held together by May, a 9 gamer and a bit of sticky tape. The one area that I wasn’t pleased with last night was the connection going inside 50. We cooked so many entries that we would normally eat up. I wonder if the conditions just sapped us of energy. We were hitting them sweetly going for goal and then after half time it was a disaster. Again maybe we ran out of petrol and at $2 a liter couldn’t refuel. Anyway onto the next.

If Weideman has a really good game today then Tmac's position must come under serious consideration right? Even if Hibberd is fit, they won't bring him straight back in after missing 4 weeks of no match play. He'll need a full game in the VFL to see if his calf can get through before he is considered in the AFL. If there is one player I'll be keeping a close eye on today at Casey it's Deakyn Smith. Speedy half back who's got good poise and skill. He's the one I want putting pressure on Jayden Hunt.

And Fritsch was worse, should Dunstan play full forward too? Hunt wasn’t good but he was part of a defensive unit that gave up 10 goals from 60 inside 50’s including only 4 goals after half time. Unless we have a defender to replace him with I can’t see him going anywhere. Particularly not replaced by a one paced midfielder who got chopped from the Saints

He also got absolutely smashed in a contest and has been playing in defense. He just does the team role every single week. When he ran on without a helmet I was just thinking his poor mum must be beside herself.

Out: Hunt, Bedford In: Lever, Hibberd Sub: Jordon Hibberd is a very good matchup for Stringer, who is Essendon's only good player. If no Hibberd, then a straight Lever/Hunt swap.

Good teams get wins when they play poorly. We played very poorly, but fact is we are missing most of our backline, had a short preseason and we’re in unfamiliar humid conditions. Personally, I am very glad to bank to 4 points

Pressed hard but held on as needed. Bloody hot and humid. PS Tracc is so well spoken. A true leader on and off the field.

Jackson and Bowey, so glad they’re ours right now. Brilliant games by both.

Good tough win. Gold Coast are genuine improvers and will push plenty of teams this year.