TeamPlayedFine39

Agreed. The Essendon match was the low point of this year; I cannot conceive of one being worse. The next week though we played some great football and almost knocked off the top of the table team. While I'm not advocating 'honorable losses', we have a opportunity to make a big statement this weekend against the Hawks, who incidently are a mere shadow of the team they were for the last four years. Someone in here talked of our gradual improvement, and they are sport on. This is not a revolutionary turn around; there will be ups and there will be downs. But just like I didn't buy into the media hype last week, I don't accept the media (and Demonland) eulogies this week.

Nope. We're building a very good list. Young, inconsistent, frustrating, inexperienced... But very, very talented. We haven't played two terrible matches in a row this year- let's see how this weekend plays out.

I do see what you mean, that is suggesting that these two aren't amongst the two worst lists in the league. Fremantle and Essendon's lists have massive issues that one top four pick is not going to alleviate at the end of the year. They both have some talent missing, but Essendon were very ordinary last year and Freo's slide began halfway through 2015. No system's perfect, but I think this one's working alright.

The current system works. There was a once in a generation situation with the expansion teams coming in; however we have had ample opportunities to rebuild through the current drafting system... we just kept stuffing up.

Good on Carlton. Living proof that developing teams are terrible some weeks and world beaters another.

Watts is playing very good football. Is he the MOST important... I'm not so sure. He's certainly in the top three.

They are capable of some very good footy, but I am finding myself wanting to see them lose today. Really wanna finish above them this year.

In regards to the OP, if the 'we' is referring to Demonland, then yes, we do kid ourselves. We over react to point of talking premiership glory after each win, and enter into a bizarre 'Jonestown' mentality when we lose. We have the collective perspective of a todler; things are either fantastically awesome, or they're earth shatteringly horrible. This is the same list, same coaching panel and same administration that has inspired so much hope and enthusiasm both inside and outside of the club this year. There will be ups and downs, but we are heading indisputably in the right direction.

These threads should be locked until 24 hours after a loss; there are some hysterical, emotional reactions in here.

I'm not enamoured by our Northern Territory second 'home'. I suppose the biggest frustration is that has none of the features of home. When Hawthorn plays in Tasmania, the crowd is very vocally on their side. When we play Alice Springs against Port Adelaide, they seem to have the most support in the crowd.

Far from our worst today; midfield is the first and most important line of defence.

Particularly good after the commentators devoted a section of the pre-game to how tough the 'Beast' was in his debut match with all those free kicks he received.

We can also tend to forget that Braysh and Hullet are basically kids themselves; similar age to the young people RGRS works with. Good on e'm for getting out there.

Must be a pretty good feeling around the club at the moment! Great news Jeffy!

They look cracking. Indigenous round is a great opportunity for aboriginal artists; would love to see more indigenous art embraced all year round.

Those tackles are soul-destroying; opposition players would have been genuinely afraid of him.

He used to protect our smaller, younger players, something that's been missing in a few of our recent 'rebuilds'. I vividly remember Aaron Davey standing on the wing with the ball one night, hesitating whether to kick or carry; Byron comes sprinting towards him and waves him on, then proceeds to clean up the player approaching Davey. Davey takes a couple of bounces and puts it inside our 50.

Literally exemplifies my point.

The longer this thread goes on, the worse O'Mac seems to have played...

If me from 2013 ever heard me complain about a ten goal win, he'd slap me in the face!

Was playing on Schache who had a whopping 2 kicks all day. Developing kpd- Cut him some slack.

Love him! His modesty and easy going attitude was grossly mis-interpreted by some on this site over the preseason.

I'll be just as happy as when a slow, over-weight David Schwarz trudged onto the G against Adelaide.

This thread is quickly becoming a roller-coaster of emotion!

Well... while not what I initially thought, it's still huge news in itself that he's put his hand up for selection. Let's not overlook that great news!