Bang Bang Bang

If his head is already in Perth (and the signs do say it's a possibility, we've seen it with Frawley and Howe) then surely he'll ask for a trade at the end of this year, not next.

90% of the game's really good midfielders would have hit 3/3 or 2/3 of the chances he had in front of goal today. He fluffed all of them which must be demoralising for the team (it certainly is for the fans!). Thank God BenKen was running past him for the last one or it would have been 0/4. Won't be dropped though, at least he found the footy and he had a dip.

6. Kennedy 5. Vince 4. N.Jones 3. Garlett 2. Tyson 1. M. Jones Wow, goes to show what a performance it was. Kennedy was phenomenal but Vince and Jones were below par, Garlett was fumbly and Tyson and Matt Jones were poor. Gawn, Pedersen, Hogan, Garland, Watts, Brayshaw and Kent all had 10 touches or less. Thanks for showing up lads.

According to the Casey twitter feed. ANB: 26 touches and 2 goals Petracca 20 Trengove: 19 and 2 Weideman 3 goals

Essendon, with their bunch of washed up Grandpas and kids, had 128 more possessions and 16 more tackles than us. So much for a team full of 'competitors'.

I'm not as confident as others. It's still just 22 blokes vs 22 blokes with a scoreboard that starts at 0.0.0 vs 0.0.0. We lost to them twice last year and both times the swagger on here leading up to it was exactly the same. They also beat Carlton by 10 goals not long ago. I think we'll win but anything can happen. If you offered me a 4-5 goal victory now I'd gleefully accept it. If Daniher kicks 5.0 again I'll [censored] lose it. Hate that [censored].

Just watched the final quarter again. - Our first two goals were both started with a C. Oliver centre clearance. - Jack Watts kicks a goal within 90 seconds, and his extravagant celebration with teammates comes with the clear message. "We can win this" - Hogan 3 goals, one assist (shepherd on the line), a nice pass to Kennedy (who missed) and the match saving spoil. True definition of a 'match winner'. - Kennedy was directly involved with 3 goals. He also thwarted a GWS forward thrust at a critical stage with a near 'impossible' spoil (i.e. running back with the flight without impeding his opponent). - Garlett was involved in multiple scoring chains once pushed up the field. - Tom McDonald very involved and regularly hit target by foot.

He's a beautiful kick when he wants to be (remember that goal against the Dogs in the NAB Cup?) but misses so many targets by hand and foot. Either he's lazy or a poor decision maker or a combination of the two. I'd strongly consider sending him back to Casey with a clear focus on improving his disposal. I think it could work.

After half time he had 13 touches. In the final quarter alone he kicked 3.0, laid a brilliant shepherd to allow vandenBerg's scrubber to sneak through, hit up Kennedy for a shot at goal and produced the match saving spoil. Forgive me for squeezing him in there.

I think the tackle free against Viney was there. I have a big issue with Wilson driving his head into N.Jones' torso in the third quarter and receiving a free kick. This is literally nothing else Jonesy could have done, terrible decison. The push in the back against Frost was probably fair enough, but I dunno, I think most people would have rather seen that paid HTB.

He is still a terrible kick and has no poise.

Roosy's reaction at the final siren was golden.

6 - Viney 5 - Kennedy 4 - Watts 3 - T McDonald 2- Hogan 1 - Oliver

At 3 quarter time I was trying to convince myself that losing this game wasn't the end of the world, then in a blink of an eye we were in front! Ben Kennedy was unbelievably good today, I think he'll be one of the recruits of the year. Hogan's lethal from inside 40m, he can stutter all he likes. I thought it was a good move putting him in the midfield. He got 7 touches there then went forward with renewed energy and won us the game. I think those who questioned OMac's and Frost's inclusions were justified. OMac wasn't too bad but Frost doesn't look up to it (reasonable last quarter though). Those questioning Matt Jones' selection (me!) can eat some humble pie. What's happened to Tyson? His disposal by hand and foot is deplorable. Last, but not least, Clayton Oliver. Once in a decade talent IMO. Will be a champion.

Oliver has 17 touches and a tagger sent to him on debut. Strewth!

Kennedy will be one of the recruits of the year. We still lack polish but I'm going to enjoy the kamikaze approach to our footy this year. Viney is an absolute maniac.

One of the most underrated skills in footy is the ability to get one's hands free in a tackle in order to dish out an effective handpass. Voss is probably the best I've ever seen do it but Cripps does it as well as anyone I've seen in the time since then. Absolute superstar.

It still doesn't add up for mine. Dunn played the same amount of minutes in the NAB Challenge as vandenBerg + a VFL game to go with it. I could understand it if OMac had shown tremendous form in the NAB Challenge, but he looked a million miles off. I'm baffled! Matt Jones did impress me in the practice games but I'm still uncomfortable with him getting a regular game. The coaches seem to love Frost. I get it, he's athletic and versatile. That must be very appealing. But I'm a long way of being convinced. Outside of those three it looks a good side on paper. I fully expect Brayshaw, Dunn and Lumumba to be in before long.

Dunn is a hardened 28 y/o, 160 gamer and one of the first picked when fit. OMac is a skinny kid who did little to impress in the NAB Challenge. With some luck, he'll replace Dunn 2-3 years down the track but there's not a hope in hell he gets picked ahead of Dunn next week.

Happy to be proven wrong down the track but he doesn't look AFL standard to me.

I wonder how long Bernie can keep playing for. He's 30 now but in career best form, and doesn't rely on pace or athleticism to dominate. I hope he can play at least another 3-4 seasons!

Kennedy and Oliver have cemented their spots for Round 1. It turns out Kennedy can kick, already like him more than Howe. We all love Oliver but how good was his handpass to Salem in the last quarter. You can't teach that.

3 goals and 18 touches to Garlett. I wonder how pick 68 is going for Carlton.

Grimes should have swallowed that mark. He squibbed it.

Ben Kennedy, wow! Never knew he was such a maniac. Kicking drop punts rather than floaters this week too - Round 1 lock. Watts, contested marking, don't argues, goals. Who is this man? Salem's kicking has been poor today, and all pre season for that matter. I think Vince should predominantly take the kick ins. An underdone Lumumba has to be a better option than Wagner for Round 1. He looks way out of his depth, not another vandenBerg unfortunately.