DistrACTION Jackson

We've got Carlton, Adelaide, Bulldogs & Collingwood before the bye. Realistically we could be 8-4 heading into the bye. After the bye we have Port, Saints, Fremantle & Bulldogs. So realistically we could be 11-5 after that stint.

How does Viney look?

How good would another Yze running around be! One of my all time favs.

What a farce. The AFL think they are doing the right thing by trying to 'grow' the women's game but I think it will have negative impact. The level of games next season will be abysmal and people will stop watching. They should have kept the same teams for 4-5 years and then try to integrate new sides (maximum 2 per year).

It's the wife's birthday so I can't make it.... might try sneak a few quarters on TV. Really got to come out and put the Saints away. There are no stand out sides in this competition and everyone seems to be inconsistent (except the Tigers and Eagles). So we've got a huge chance over the next 3 weeks to establish ourselves as contenders.

I feel Sloane is similar to the players we already have, while Gaff is a genuine point of difference. Gaff! Gaff! Gaff!

My hope is that we bring in Gaff as a replacement for the two..... may be just a dream though. He would compliment our side perfectly as that gut running outside mid.

I'll give this a go as it is always a bit of fun. One thing I feel we've got wrong to start the season and that was rectified against the Bombers is the balance within the side. We have played some players who may be 'in form', but including them limits the overall team. Wagner is the prime example, I'm not knocking him as I think he has been decent, but really he is fighting for a similar spot to Hibberd and having them both seemed to hurt our drive from the backline. I also think we were playing too many 'inside' type players and need the outside run, with Hannan provided last week. B: Jetta O Mac Hibberd HB: Hunt Lever Lewis c : Salem Jones Vince HF: Trac Hogan Melksham F: T Mac Weid Garlett R: Gawn Oliver Viney Int: Tyson Brayshaw Hannan Fritsch Emg: Spargo Frost Harmes Neal-Bullen This is assuming all players are at their best. I love little Spargo but if Garlett finds his best form he is a proven, 40 goal a year small forward so he has to be in. I think Harmes and Neal-Bullen have good potential and are long-term players but they just miss out and Frost is an obvious back-up for a tall if required. I didn't like when we played the small forward line, I don't think it works for us and you need genuine gun small forwards which we probably don't quite have. We need to play to our strengths and the biggest is that we have two of the most mobile KPF's in the game in Hogan and TMac so Weid can easily play as the 3rd tall and back up ruck.

My general feeling is unders for both.

Gaff is the one we need as a free agent. Would compliment our mids so well and would be that gut-running link up man on the wings of the MCG that we lack at the moment. Get him Dees!

Agree that we still have a lot to work on but I think we can take the way we played in the second half and use that as confidence over the next few weeks. Some things I was happy with today: Angus Brayshaw: thought he was outstanding in the 3rd quarter and seems to be moving well. If he can get his confidence back and start to work towards his best this will go a long way to helping us reach finals. Christian Salem: thought that he looked good across half back and would prefer we use him more there with stints in the midfield. He can win his own ball but I prefer him as more of a distributor. Bayley Fritsch: love the way this guy goes about it and he looks to be building confidence that he belongs at this level. Could become a very handy medium tall in the mould of Jack Gunston. Charlie Spargo: great debut by this young fella and just love his attack on the ball and man. We have really been lacking that energetic, quick forward and when Garlett is down we seem to struggle. Hopefully he can get back to his best and these two could really cause havoc up forward together. Mitch Hannan: great return game for his and he is another we really need to get back to his best. I could see him becoming a really damaging wingman and I think this is what he should be aiming for. Max Gawn was great again, I thought Sam Weideman fought on hard after a tough first 3 quarters and clunked a few great marks in the last. There is no point playing him at Casey anymore and we just need to keep playing him. He will have a game where he kicks 3-4 goals soon, I can feel it.

What is everyones obsession with draft picks? We stocked up on them the last 5 years. Gaff is a free agent and is a gun and exactly what we need, someone who can run and spread from a contest. If we don't go after him we are stupid. We just need to keep topping up our list through trades and free agency to plug the holes we find, he nucleus of the team is there.

Got a feeling Spargo will play this weekend. We need quick players who tackle, this is his specialty.

He's struggling anyway. I'll back us in to beat them no matter what side they put on the park.

The Pies have been good, but the Crows have been absolutely insipid tonight.

They lost this one at the selection table. Walker, Fogarty, Lynch, Jenkins, Jacobs, Talia, Hartigan, Kelly, Doedee. Wayyyy too tall for a wet weather game. Only need 5 of those playing. Jacobs, 2 tall forwards and 2 tall mobile backs. Also shows how hard it is to replace your best players. Both Crouches out and they are poo. We had no Gawn, Viney, Hogan & Jones for large portions of last season and it was never mentioned by the 'experts'.

How does Viney, Wines and Martin at all relate to Wagnr and Omac?

It looks like the players had a quieter day spent at the Botanical Gardens judging by Instagram. Good to hear TMac & Viney running a bit more now. Will be great to have them both at full fitness for the 2nd half of the season!

I love seeing things like this. Players working hard to get the best out of themselves! That is what wins you flags, not just talent alone.

Harmes played against an AFL standed side, Balic a poor VFL standard side. The only change I can see is bringing in a tall forward/second ruck if we prefer to use that structure this week. If not then unchanged.

Totally agree with this Wiseblood. While I'm happy with the win, I'm also not getting too excited as it was only North Melbourne. It seems the players also view it this way which is nice to see and I think as the side matures and becomes used to winning it will just be another game, another win, onto bigger things. While I acknowledge we have a lot of room to improve, it's important to note that every single side in the competition is in the same boat, even the undefeated Power who almost lost at home to the Lions! I think because w focus so much on our own side, we fail to see the deficiencies in our opponents. We are definitely not at our best, however we are in 4th spot with a health percentage. The next 4 weeks are huge for this club, starting with the Hawks this Sunday. Win that game and we are up to our necks in it this season. Go Dees!

Our defense looked a lot better with Frost, OMac & Lever as the 3 talls. Obviously Lever's kicking was poor but I don't think he has poor skills, I think he just had a bad day. His marking and reading of the play was good and we was able to kill a number of kicks into the backline. I think our backline will get stronger as the season goes on.

Nice! We could have a formidable back 3 for the next decade in Mcdonald, Petty & Lever if he comes on. I see he is also 197cm which is a really good size and as he gets stronger he may be able to take the gorillas.

It's a six day break? We had 3 in a row last year.

There is absolutely no need to have a 3 game series in AFL. If other teams feel the Grand Final should be moved to different States then I guess that could be explored, but having a sudden death Grand Final is so much more entertaining. I don't think I could even be bothered watching the other 2 games unless we were playing.