TeamPlayedFine39

It’s only a bad trade if the players we took turn out to be worse than the players Nth take. If Pickett is the next Cyril Rioli and Nth takes the Toumpas, then we win. Cant judge any trade before the players take the field.

‘Thin ice’ was perhaps too dramatic, but while he’s a talent, he’s still very raw. Will be a good player, but no rush at this stage.

OUT: Rivers: has showed some good signs and I'm confident he'll be a player. With some errors creeping in, needs to take a break and develop and freshen-up away from the spotlight. Smith: He has his fans on here, but I'm not one of them. Bringing in Oscar as a stopper should free up Lever. vandenBerg: Huge fan of his, but he's not making a big enough impact. Can hurt the opposition with his tackling, but doesn't hurt them with his possessions. Hunt: Not a natural ball-finder and therefore needs a lot to go right for him to have a big impact. Plays a similar style and role to Hannan but, as Hannan kicked 3, Hunt goes out. IN: Jetta, O.Mcdonald, Bennell, Weideman FB: JETTA MAY. LEVER. HB: SALEM. O.MCDONALD. HIBBERD. C LANGDON. OLIVER. TOMLINSON. HF: BENNELL. T.MCDONALD. BENNELL. FF: PICKETT. WEIDEMAN. FRITSCH. Fol: GAWN. BRAYSHAW. PETRACCA. Int: HARMES, HANNAN, VINEY, LOCKHART THIN ICE: Pickett, Lockhart, Melksham.

Keep the questions to what he knows. If they want to ask about onfield issues, invite a senior player or coach onto the show. If you want to give fans an insight into how a club functions during these unprecedented challenges, invite a president.

Good to see a new sponsor on board. Anyone know anything about the extra Zurich sticker on the back of the weekend's guernsey? Zurich chipping in some more $$$$?

Give money, don't give money; that's a completely personal decision that is nothing to do with anyone but you. However, the idea of not giving money because we are currently playing poorly only makes sense if you believe that quality facilities, equipment, coaches and players don't cost money.

We also got Kysaiah Pickett.

In Weid's defense, he could have been clunking them all day long but that won't make the goals only highlights reel. Hopefully a detailed write-up will be posted soon.

THE GOOD... Petracca: Continuing a fine year and, along with Gawn, is one of the few showing the ability to tear a game apart. His confidence is building and you can see that he is starting to treat tacklers with complete disdain in the style of Dusty Martin in 2017. Was amongst our best again yesterday, but still seems to be building his belief; when he gets there, look out! Team Defense and pressure: While our focus has been upon our inability to build scoreboard pressure and kick a winning score, it should also be noted that we kept Geelong to the lowest score by a winning team so far this year. Yes, the quality of the match was lacking, but this is a Geelong team with the capability to kick big scores with 73, 108, and 77 leading into today's 47. The biggest change to last year is our team's ability to keep pressure on the ball carrier, and whilst it's still not at the level I'd like to see it, it is infinitely better that the cricket scores we were conceding this time last season. Unlike round 2, we were able to maintain the physicality and pressure after the first quarter and barring a lapse in the third, it was a much better sustained effort that rounds one and two. Lever, May, Salem and Hibberd, whilst not individually starring, are not conceding... which is the primary role of a defensive unit. Speed: Two things needed to be addressed on-field after 2019, first being some outside skills to complement our inside grunt, the the second was footspeed. It's quite telling that Geelong went into the game with an altered gameplan to combat our leg-speed, where they tried to maintain possession and keep us from running through a turnover. Our team looks significantly faster this year and whilst the balance may not be quite right between marking targets and small running types, it certainly seemed to be addressed. Whilst Tomlinson rightfully copped criticism for some turnovers in the last, the final 4 minutes of the game demonstrated his running power. THE KINDA GOOD... Pickett: Jackovich had IT, Farmer had IT, Jurrah had IT and now Kossi has it. He'd have learnt a lot from yesterday, particularly a couple of moments in the first quarter where he misjudged the pace of the game at this level, but you feel he is close to ripping a game apart. He is the kind of player that opposition players and coaches dread as even if he is kept down for three quarters, he doesn't need much time to do a lot of damage. That's high praise for a player who didn't do any of that today, but you can see that it's there. Rivers: Really impressed by Rivers and, in many ways, it's a credit to him that people aren't falling over themselves with praise for the young man. He has slotted in so seamlessly that most wouldn't even notice that yesterday was his second game. Whist not dominant, he is quick, aggressive, skilled and found himself standing alongside Gary Ablett Jr throughout the afternoon and didn't seems over-awed. He seems to have the temperament of a ten year half-back. McDonald: I am now coming to accept that TMac will not be the player that he was in 2018. That player was strong overhead, lethal when kicking and was able to motor around the field and run defenders into the ground. There is no doubt something physical that is stopping him from playing that way and he is seemingly carrying far more weight than ever before. With that said... perhaps yesterday we saw a new model of Tom McDonald. A big, bustling forward who can provide a target, crash the packs, bring the ball to ground and catch a few along the way. If that is the case, then hopefully we can see Weideman join him sooner rather than later, but after yesterday I'm feeling a bit more confident about what McDonald can provide this year. Midfield: They're all up and running - Viney, Oliver, Gawn, Harmes, even Brayshaw showed some positive signs. However, whilst they dominated Geelong's much vaunted on-ballers, we're not converting this into clean, fluent possession. Langdon struggled to get involved yesterday due to Geelong's efforts to slow down and congest the match. The ability to find an outside runner was identified by Geelong as an area to pressure us in and, for the most part, it worked. THE NOT SO GOOD... Melksham: When Melbourne is at it's best, Melksham's left foot is lethal. His strength and power either delivering to a team mate or kicking for goal is the steadying influence and impact that our team needs. This was left wanting yesterday as several key opportunities were missed or fumbled. He's a long way out of form and, if this match was played two years ago, he would have nailed at least three goals yesterday. Not sure what to do about this one, as he's a class player and they can usually turn things around very quickly, but like Fritsch, he's missing so many opportunities that he's something of a liability at this stage. Conversion: We're working way to hard for our goals and, as someone said in the gameday thread, our scores come from individual brilliance rather than a coherent system. Too many fumbles and not enough poise forward of centre is seeing players succumb, more often than not, to perceived pressure. More players were lowering their eyes yesterday, which is encouraging, but we're a long way off a team that can reliably kick a winning score. Hunt was missing yesterday and Hannan struggled to find space and was largely ineffective. Energy and Enthusiasm: It really seemed to be lacking yesterday. I liked the attack on the ball and the pressure on the opposition, but the team looked very flat and joyless yesterday. There was very little fire and encouragement yesterday throughout the match, even after Brayshaw kicked the final goal.

If it was for a promo, I would suggest he was wearing it to attract the Adelaide viewers.

Dees by 11.

DerWayne just referred to NicNat as 'the best Ruckman in the league'... he's not even the best ruckman on the ground.

If that’s their need, they’d ask for Brayshaw. Whilst I wouldn’t want to do that, many would see that as fair.

Crossed to Essendon from Gold Coast as a 23yo for a future second round pick (ended up being pick 35). Now 25 and hitting his prime, he wouldn't come cheap; Essendon would ask for a lot.

Agree. Plenty of evidence to suggest that the more limited the player, the better the coach.

The emoji seems to have been posted in the comments of Nev's Instagram account.

Basically, yes. It's completely absurd the way people can behave online with zero consequences. He's going viral now on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and it'll be the highlight of this little pr!cks year.

It's terrible, but extremely difficult to stamp out. 'jaydeen238' is a troll account, no posts, not following anyone, and just followed by two other troll accounts. He'll spend all day online being 'edgy; and offensive and it'd be his dream come true if one of his comments is picked up by mainstream media. It puts everyone in an almost impossible position - calling him out, getting into and argument, or raising his profile is exactly what he wants you to do... so what can you do?

I can only suggest that when they reviewed that game and the way we fell away in the second half, they decided we aren't in a position to carry a player who isn't 100% match fit.

The club has said that Bennell was left out as he’s not quite at match fitness and is still being managed. Fair enough considering he only managed 50% game time in round two. He’s building.

Recruiting is going to be even more of a guessing game this year and scouts will need a lot of luck on their side to really nail their picks. It is extremely rare for the top underage players list to hold steady through the U18 season. Players drop off or shoot up in the rankings very quickly in their final underage year, and even then there's still a lot of luck/guesswork involved. There will be plenty of players who would have ordinarily gone in the first round available in the 20s+.

As far as the first round in the 2020 draft goes, I'm taking the approach that we have already made that selection when we picked up Pickett in last years draft. I'm happy with what Kosi has shown thus far to think that he has the makings of a good player and a worthy first round selection.

Nice to see Jobe Watson introduced as a “2 x All Australian” player despite winning one of those in 2012... Richmond by 24.

Yep. There seems to be a bit of the Jack Watts ‘get some games into him’ attitude at play... hopefully not.