SaberFang

Can't wait to see who Roos plays on Clark. Surely won't be Dunny, given their friendship? Actually, not worth worrying about; he'll suffer a season ending injury by whatever round we play them.

Might be a case of the Saints bringing them down to their level, but I thought GWS looked rubbish on Sunday. Some absolute clangers all over the place and another laughable bad game from Scully (subbed off of course) who they persist with purely because of his pay packet. Doubt they'll even renew his contract with so many gun midfielders coming into AFL maturity. Must be infuriating them to have a $1M black hole in their salary cap while trying to convince Shiel and Treloar to stay.

Guess money can buy innocence after all.

The team winning was probably a bittersweet moment for those dropped, formerly best 22 players. Another poster observed that Roos probably gave them a final chance to take their game to another level in the NAB Cup, but all 3 just delivered more of the same (poor disposal, poor tackles, frees against). Not their fault, they're just limited footballers. The decision has obviously been made to inject games into our youth now, due to their far higher ceiling.

Hoges can do that every quarter for all I care. Spills the ball for our crumbers and knocks out a few opposition players in the process... probably causes a few headaches the morning after as well!

Carnage! Love this photo!

Thomas never learns. The umps won't pay him a thing this year. Boy who cried wolf.

Der-Wayne, easily the worst commentator in the Fox stable. Hate to say it, even Brown makes a shocking commentator with his deep and droning voice. Love the bloke, but it's like nails on a chalkboard for extended periods.

Another poor analogy, agreed. Analogies aren't my thing when a bottle of red down, methinks.

Wouldn't drop Nev but in all likelihood he was hauled before Roosy for a 'please explain' right after the match.

If Garland isn't well, pretty easy for my liking. Out: Toumpas, Garland In: Vince, Dawes Sub: Brayshaw. Vince can be subbed off for Brayshaw the moment he shows a lack of match fitness.

Must have missed that. Was too busy comprehending his comment about Freo and Port being most likely to face off in the grand final.

That photo is all kinds of heartwarming, Nash. Is it strange that I have a mancrush on Petracca and Brayshaw's mancrush for each other? In a Vince/Tex mancrush kind of way?

Noticed today that Swallow (the league's second most uninspiring captain, behind M. Murphy) has become an expert at dropping the legs as well. Gets paid free kicks for it, too, but at the expense of holding up play and actually working to his teammates disadvantage; Adelaide constantly got all their players behind the ball and flooded Norf's I50. Pretty pathetic, unintelligent stuff. Wouldn't dream of N. Jones ever resorting to such cheap tactics.

Port looked static and inept tonight, and the skills were worse than the Saints/GWS match. Interesting that the worst games I've seen Port play over the last season were against Freo and us. Do Roos/Lyon know how to shut down their run? Tonight's result would indicate Lyon certainly does, and both our matches against them last year showed that Roos has tricks up his sleeve as well. That ... or they're just coming into the season half-assed or underdone, neither of which seem likely.

Happened a few minutes ago in the Port/Freo match. Polec (I think) ducking his head straight into a Freo player attempting a tackle, all only metres from the Freo goalsquare. Lo and behold, paid a free kick by the ump. Really lose respect for great players when they pull this kind of cheap crap.

Potentially a poor analogy but it's the first thing that popped into my head on Easter Sunday.

The thing I've noticed more than anything in round one has been the pathetic influx of head ducking in every single game. And, even more pathetically, the umpires have been paying free kicks for them like a kid in a candy store. I've noticed an instance of it in every single game thus far (not even just the usual flogs at North), but even in our game against Crossy, when an idiot from the Suns just rammed his head into Crossy and was paid a free kick for no explicable reason. What the hell happened to the AFL cracking down on this, not only for the integrity of the game, but for the sake of protecting players from their own stupidity? It won't take long for this kind of cheap playing for frees results in a catastrophic head injury. And the more umps pay them, the more players will duck their heads into other players. Thoughts?

North: a team full of duckers, divers and divas. Personified by their petulant pest of a coach. Goldstein, Thomas, Boomer, Petrie comfortably amongst the most unlikable flogs in the AFL for their antics. [Censored] culture for a [censored] club. (And who says I have an irrational hatred of Norf?!)

League expansion was a direct result of Fox/Seven wanting 9 matches a round. Of course they aren't going to be critical of their golden goose. Caro isn't affiliated with either corporation and has been critical of them, fortunately.

Hah, North. Been saying for years they're pretenders and nothing has changed my mind. How I desperately hope we can beat them this year.

This umpiring is just sickening. Feel horrible for Saints fans today, never seen such blatant pro-GWS favouritism.

Reckon both teams look shocking. Saints bloody aimless, poor structures, long aimless bomb kicks that get intercepted, handballs to team mates under pressure, missing easy shots on goal, etc. Giants barely capitalising on their inept competition speaks volumes about them. Also getting some very favourable umpiring (an AFL directive I wonder?). Horrible disposal at times though and plenty of playing for frees. If we shake up their confidence early and rattle them with physicality, we're definitely a strong chance.

Didn't see him spray Cross, that's fascinating. Sounds like a competitive beast (like Hogan, Frost, etc.) Loving the mongrel Roos/Taylor has injected into us, exactly as a team dubbed the DEMONS should have! Other teams should dread playing us, knowing they'll end up bruised, battered and bleeding after two hours on the field with us.

Riewoldt's only got a year or two left in him, too. If what we heard around draft time is accurate, their strategy behind taking McCartin was giving him a one year apprenticeship under Riewoldt before he hung up the boots. Think the Saints should've spent more time focusing on midfield depth, because their skills are deplorable.