DubDee

Gee Jordie Mckenzie has improved his disposal

scully said as much the year he left. words mean nothing Hogan cant predict the future so doesnt want to say something he might regret even if he is 99% sure. fair enough i reckon

I agree mate. reasonable. one can only dream of 'good'

I might be on my own but I reckon footy is in a good state. I really enjoy watching it (despite being a Dees fan). Last year the race for the flag was quite open, 5-6 teams could have won it and I think it will be even more open this year. the race for the top 8 will go down to 13-14th position i reckon areas for improvement sure.

change 6 years to 10 and I'll believe you!

The Butcher Cup. Let's see if he can sneak one in for a point. Port's team looks better on paper - more quality mature players, even without Dixon and Ryder.

will be great to Oliver, Wagner. also Hunt and Frost 3 players to be dropped from the squad by satdy: maybe M Jones, O Mac and ANB? the team has a real young feel to it. not many over 24, in fact, not that many over 22 yo!

the headlines in the papers are a disgrace. NEVER before has a player with 2 year left on a contract had the headline: "talks put off til the end of season". that phrase always refers to a player having one season left on their contract. the casual observer (idiot) that doesnt read the article will look at that and say - oh Hogan is gone. just puts pressure on hogan and is negative publicity for the Dees. The media always kicks clubs when they are down (aside from the bombers). when we win a few they'll be the first to jump on the bandwagon saying we will make the top 4. such lazy, biased journalism

No question, Hogan. Could be the best player to ever play for Dees. Massive call obviously. He could actually destroy teams this year if we give him some service and lift the inside 50 count

One thing is for sure, it's officially time to panic!!

nah you just get your money back. you neither won nor lost

had a look on sportsbet, no luck. they usually have hundreds of markets for AFL incidentally: Gawn is paying $12 to be AA and Hoges is paying $23 to take out the coleman. i like those odds also think Mills at $8 is a monty for the rising star

how many games have Salem, Kent, Hogan, Tyson and Viney played together? answer - not many. Man im excited to watch these guys play together and get on the same wavelength. aside from Hoges all had injuries last year

think its fair to assume the following wont be available for the seniors round one: JT, Dawes, Newton, Petracca, Lumumba. with petracca and Lumumba back soon after round one once they play some casey for match fitness Vince should be right. So overall not too bad. JT was never going to be right and we wont miss Dawes or Newton much

so you can be banned from a sport for taking drugs and then make money off it in the media while you are banned? wtf

that the Hawks are even considering Fitzy as a replacement for Roughy just shows what a massive hit it is for them (no offence Fitz) i imagine they will just play two rucks, mcevoy and ceglar and Fitz will only get a run if more injuries occur good luck to him. but he had chance at the Dees and this was in years when we had amazing forwards lines including Rivers, Garland, Frawley

So, not one plausible reason listed yet. The lack of respect shown to a club champion is embarressing. The thread from last week was full of it. He was reluctantly talked into helping the club appoint the coaches. I would give my right nut to have a player such as Lyon to play in the current team with hoges. Great leadership, such skill, some of the best kicking for goal ive seen. rewatch 1994 final against dogs if you don't recall how good he was. Ten goals in 3/4s. He and the Ox were on fire! Gaz is one of my all-time favs.

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 think we need to stop using injuries as an excuse or a reason we will improve. Several teams had a worse run last year like WC, lions, Suns, pies. Aside from Viney none of our top 5-7 players were injured eg vince jones t Mac. Injuries happen every year and although we had a fair few injuries we need to be able to cope with this. Like it or not we will have 5 or 6 injuries at most times from round 1 as it is the nature of the game.

I'm so torn on this season. We will certainly improve but nearly every other team will also improve. Anything could happen which is exciting in itself and we couldn't have said this in years gone by. We could win anything from 6 to 13 games IMO. the season is so short that it makes the afl so unpredictable. I have port and the pies 100% in the 8 as much as I hate to say that. I reckon the eight could change this year more than any other year.

This is a blow for us if he can't play much this season. If pedo gets injured as he tends to do then we are very short in the KPF area. I am hoping frost can turn himself into a decent fwd but I am not convinced on the little I've seen. Looks more of a natural defender. Poor kicking for goal and average marking. Again this is all based off 3 games so I'm hoping he can do better. Looks loke The Weed and Hulett will get chances. With the sub going as well maybe we will see Gawn and Speno playing together more

Man it was enjoyable to watch that Geelong win again. So many great games from our youngsters. Viney, Gawn, brayshaw especially. So hard at it Can't wait for the season to start!

This could be the year when we prove a lot of people wrong and after the past decade of agony watching us play, by God it will be sweet. Essendon will be lucky to win 3 games for the season. There will be distractions galore with law suits and players thinking of leaving. Eg hooker free agent. They have picked up players that not one of the 18 teams wanted even on their rookie list and suddenly they'll be good? Seriously. Why would these guys give a rats. It's just a pay check for kelly, stokes etc. i hope the Dons and Carlton stay on the bottom for years.

Got plans this weekend? You do now if you've got Foxtel or have a dee supporting mate that does. From midnight on Friday night for 24 hours it is nothing but Melbourne games. A few from 2015 and a few older ones. In true Foxtel form they don't give the year of the games just the teams and round. I assume they will all be wins ? so tell your other half to take the kids to see the grandparents, buy a slab and enjoy some footy. Ive been hanging to watch some old matches as I've got a newborn and am up all hours with nothing to watch. And Foxtel have only had that guest programming on which is basically the same finals played over and over. Don't get me started. Anyway, thought some of you might not notice that this was happening.

All we can do is hope Toumpas turns it around and becomes the better player