DubDee

agree. guess I was more referring to the fact that these guys were either injured or carrying injuries most of last year and didnt play much together when all firing Cant wait to see Gus playing again - think ive forgotten how good he is.

5 days to go!! anyone care to offer their predictions for round 1? i had a look at the teams from round 2 last year against GWS for a bit of context/comparison. Dees scored the first 4 goals before bending over and conceding 9 goals to nil in the 3rd term. I actually have some confidence now that we will be able to weather a storm a lot better this time around. Interestingly, Giants will be without McCarthy (scored 3 goals that day), Cameron and Treloar. these are 3 very significant outs. 2 main fwd targets and arguable their best midfielder. Dees missing Cross, Jamar, Dawes, Howe and Newton. With all due respect, we will not miss any of these greatly. in fact their replacements will improve us. Importantly, Salem, Viney, Brayshaw, Tyson etc being a year older, fitter, more confident will be significant. Last week, I was thinking a 3 goal loss but I think we can do it. GWS are very good and could well win a flag in the next few years but I think if we limit their run ons and play hard footy we can win. Prediction - Dees by 2 points N Jones and M Gawn the difference Dubdee to get drunk post match. feel free to add your predictions/analysis/thoughts

How did mitchie go? 2 goals but much else? i think he is building some decent form so wouldn't be surprised if he is upgraded this year

are you seriously suggesting that us playing in Melbourne does not give us a better chance of winning versus playing in NT?

you cant say these are expected to make the top 8. firstly there are 9 teams there and secondly there are top teams missing. this is the middle group - 3-4 of which will make finals. tough draw but we need to start seeing ourselves as the equal to these teams. we beat the Tigers, pies and adelaide. we can certainly beat the suns and hopefully GWS and dogs. im hopeful of a 50-50 record aginst these teams. this is our year to take the jump!

I agree. by "hard" it means playing teams twice like dogs/crows and not playing twice the Pies, Cats of GWS. I think id prefer the hard draw if thats the case! there are so many middle teams that the rating doesnt say too much. unless you have Freo/WC/Hawks twice or something extreme like that

Watch city play tomorrow night at aami. Get on the sauce after. Rest of weekend... Replays of old Dees matches

"we are Melbourne" apparently try to re-connect with our city wtf

what a joke, more NT home games?! fk me i thought we were going to take winning seriously and our finances were under control. this deal could well be the difference between making the finals or not. the travel, the heat, backing up the next week 9 home games out of 22 is a joke. well 8 if we continue to play one at etihad.

Gee we are looking good injury-wise. anyone know who is definately unavailable for round 1? Dawes Newton JT and these 3 are short termers. great position to be in.

They finished in the bottom four and now are missing 12 of their 22 for the year. replaced them with retirees that have no reason to care aside from their pay cheque Morale low, talk of any decent players they have leaving. kids will get played to early. goddard will get tagged and is mentally weak so will not lead well i am honestly tipping zero wins for them, there is a some chance of an early win, but its unlikely. chances are Hooker or someone will leave so whats the motivation to finish second last? miss out of pick 1 and 2 I AM ENJOYING EVERY MINUTE OF THIS!!!

And some people think nab is not important. Has created a lot of positivity and confidence heading into round 1 go Dees!!!

well im glad we haven't over-analysed this media interview

worst bit about all this is I couldnt stop myself from thinking he had signed for 8 years on 1.1m/year

yeah I wasnt having a go at you - just the system cheers

didnt viney fracture Lynch's jaw? I think we are roughly agreeing - I just think the system for how many weeks someone gets is BS

and you can hit/bump someone fairly in a marking contest or hip and shoulder and they miss 10 weeks. so what? collision injuries happen and its too simplistic to say and eye for an eye. if that gets 4 weeks, what would a deliberate elbow/punch off the ball get?

just a bit of banter guys, settle down like the arrogance that Hogan shows. like that the Ox is holding Hoges to very high standards. The Ox is poking the Bear (Hulk) watch out round 1. Hogan is angry

Stiff to get 4 weeks. If he had of hit the bloke in a different area of his head and he played on, He would have only gotten one week id say. Luck has a lot to do with it

I reluctantly rate gws. I do have some confidence in our organisation and hardness - which I can tell you is the first time I've saf that in a looooong time. Reckon its 50-50 would be awesome to get up. Then smash the cheats by 187 to break that other hoodoo

If pedo suspended, no way frost will be dropped. He must play for structure deespencer

We should have won this easily. 4-5 easy goals missed have to eat some early humble pie and say Bugg was very good. N jones I'm tipping to have a career best year. He was a major reason why we dominated the last 3 quarters.

You reckon our application may evolve? Hope not, it was pretty bloody good

Wouldn't surprise me if he gets a week

We haven't beaten them for 10 years.