G-max

He went at 88% disposal efficiency against Freo with only the two ineffective touches out of 17. 1st in rebound 50s in the comp with 33. 10th in total marks with 37. 15th in contested marks with 8. Hogan is still 1st overall with 13. 2nd among defenders in Supercoach points per game (112.2). He's 15th overall. Having a great start to the year.

Keen to hear more about this.

Can someone tell me more about James Harmes? Is he a prospect to get a game this year or is he a long-term project? Inside mid? Outside mid?

And hell yeah Viv Michie. Been waiting to see what we have in Michie and after a full preseason he looks the goods. Feels like we have depth with those types of inclusions. I'm also very pumped about ANB, seemed very mature and confident in his chat with Burgs. Nice to have some genuine prospects on the list. A point of concern from recent weeks: Ben Newton's tackle counts in our last three: 3, 0, 0. Lay a tackle Benny!! Zero against Adelaide was very poor. Dom's had a slow start to the year, hopefully he finds some form soon.

I remember thinking it was a tough knock on Brayshaw and wondering how he'd deal with it, looking for him on the ground and then seeing in the replay that he bounced straight back up. So good! Reminded me of Salem when a similar thing happened to him last year. Gotta love that toughness, it's exactly what we need and have lacked. And those are some sticky tackles. Great to see him evade the vest. I feel like Hogan and Brayshaw are leaders and will take it upon themselves to lift the club rather than jump ship if we go off course. I think it was last week in Adelaide I saw Brayshaw pulling captain Jones aside from the 3QT melee. He's got a big heart and he's not afraid of anyone. I can't decide who I'm more excited about, Brayshaw or Hogan.

The bookies have responded in kind to Heeney's good form. He's down to $3.75. Hogan is steady at $9 - as he has been since before the pre-season and Brayshaw is still at $21. Wait until he gets a full game, he'll lay 10+ tackles and people will pay attention. It was a bit sketchy but we had a Brayshaw to Hogan goal in Adelaide on the weekend. So excited about both of these guys. We haven't had a nominee since Viney in round 21 in 2013.

Anyone know what happened to Frost? Poor form from Fox Sports not finding footage of the incident. I would have liked to see footage of the foot injury.

Today was the first time in a long time that a legitimately classy player (JKH) was left off the team. I thought Kent would be left off but he would have been equally unlucky. That's a good sign and it's great that Terlich, M Jones, Bail, McKenzie are in the VFL because our developing players are now in a more competitive VFL side. With Dawes back, this is a solid forward line: HF: Dean Kent, Jesse Hogan, Jack Viney F: Jeff Garlett, Chris Dawes, Jack Watts Will be interesting to see where Frost plays since he's starting on the interchange bench. He's a very interesting player and if we can mould him into a ruck / forward that's huge for us. Roosy and co must be aware of how shallow our ruck depth is outside of Jamar. And Frost is a big unit. Having him around the contest at stoppages is a big plus, he's good at ground level and he fits the mould of the more agile modern rucks like Grundy and Martin. Definitely want to see us smash GWS. Hopefully last week has given the guys a template for playing four solid quarters. Can't believe the Dees are still paying $2.55. Seems too high.

Kamdyn McIntosh turned 21 yesterday so he's well and truly in contention.

Pull me up if there's some kind of taboo around betting odds but I find it interesting to track how the bookies see the Rising Star race and to track it as the season progresses. I looked up the market before the NAB cup and we had the top 3 in Petracca, Brayshaw and Hogan. Since he didn't play in the NAB cup Brayshaw dropped off a bit but he'll soon rise up if he keeps up today's form. $8 - Nakia Cockatoo $9 - Jesse Hogan $9 - Patrick Cripps (CARL) $10 - Isaac Heeney $10 - Matt Crouch (ADEL) $10 - Kamdyn McIntosh (no idea where he was at before tonight) $12 - Jed Anderson (HAW) $16 - Angus Brayshaw --- $151 - Billy Stretch, Alex Neal-Bullen $251 - Oscar McDonald, Mitchell White, Jayden Hunt --- Always gamble responsibly, obviously.

I was expecting to see more of Lumumba today. Obviously he kicked a crucial goal but he couldn't seem to get into the game. Got pinged for holding the ball a couple of times. Not hating on him, if anything it means we'll be even better when he's in form.

Just brilliant. I nearly lost it when Toumpas couldn't make the handball into the goal square, then from no where came Lumumba and kicked a goal. And didn't he looked stoked about it!? Probably the thing I liked most was that it wasn't just Jonesy putting up a fight. Newton, venders, Brayshaw, Garlett, Frost. All added toughness to the side. It's great seeing Garlett in the forward line. It's been said before but every time he gets the ball he looks dangerous. He was a couple of milimeters away from kicking three when his snap was touched off the boot. Garland was great too, showed a bit of his 2013 form. T-Mac was crazy good. Very crucial in defence. Speaking of defence I thought we looked shaky in the second half. GCS clearly put on the after burners but we couldn't seem to stop their advance. I know he's slotted straight in to our best 22 but Howe looked under-done today. Got beaten in defence a couple of times. He's good when he gets it but. I've got nothing but good things to say about Frost. We already know he's quick, but a couple of times he looked really good contesting after his initial tap in the ruck. I remember one time in particular he grabbed the ball at ground level, dropped it on to his boot and found a man in the forward line. I'll have to watch the game again (I was at the ground) but I was impressed. I think we can safely say that the Dees recruitment have done a great job (I believe the phrase was "master stroke"..?). No regrets about taking Brayshaw. He may already be my favourite Dee.

His tackles were strong, he completely locked his man up multiple times. Also looked composed under pressure with clean disposal. I got on him at $17.00 for Rising Star. Him or Hogan, I won't mind.

Could have a similar effect to "dropping" Shane Watson.I like the team. Garland is still a player who I wince every time he gets the ball. Had a good 2013 but didn't get going last year. Two very important games up front vs GC and GWS. Have to win one of the two, it gets rockier after that.

Awesome photos thanks for sharing. Be nice to see ANB get some run in the seniors this year.

It was weird last night seeing a news update with VFL highlights of Brayshaw and talk of him looking set to debut in round one. I could see him sharing the sub vest with The Berg.

Would be nice if we could be talking about Petracca in the same breath as Brayshaw as a potential Casey call-up. Hopefully he bounces back but it's a big hit to his development. We'll have to be patient with him just like with Hogan. I saw us paying $1.14 for vs the Bombers and was half tempted to bet against us, knowing our potential to cave. We are a long way from deserving such short odds against anyone.

The NRL system is ridiculous. As frustrating as the waiting game of "will he?" or "won't he?" is, playing for one team while already signed with another is infinitely worse. One crucial part of free agency is that the league has to do its best to ensure clubs don't speak to player agents prior to the free agency period beginning. If they are found to do so there must be penalties / reprimands. I'm an NBA fan so I'm used to how free agency works across the market. The NBA at least does a good job of protecting draft picks so the likes of Scully aren't able to jump ship for 3-4 years, and after that their free agency is restricted and the drafting club can make higher / longer contract offers than other clubs. This is really important because small-market teams struggle to draw marque free agents and the draft is often their only option. The other thing that commonly happens is that if a club gets any indication that their star player might not be committed long-term, they will make a trade ahead of time to prevent them leaving for nothing. That doesn't fully apply in the AFL due to the ambiguous compensation system but for someone like Dangerfield, the Crows would have got a better return trading him this past summer than if he leaves and they receive whatever compensation pick(s) it ends up being. That is of course based on the assumption that he's signing with the Dees in 2016.

Here's that chase down. https://vine.co/v/O930WdKHu1E

Wait, what injury did he sustain? Was it him that went off with the blood-rule in the first half after crashing in to two Bulldogs?

When I saw Lynden Dunn at a centre clearance in the second half I realised the coaching staff may have taken the foot off the gas just as much as the players. Let's hope the boys can sustain the first-half effort for four quarters when the real games start. I liked the run and carry from T-Mac out of defence. HL looked good around stoppages. I even saw Garlett at a stoppage (though that may have been in the second half). Awesome to see Garlett crumbing a few Hogan drops like we all imagined he would after the trade. Gee Frost was quick on the chase down wasn't he? If he can gradually improve as a forward over the next few years that would be fantastic. I missed the third quarter, but vandenBerg did come on in the second half, right? I hardly saw him in the fourth and the stat sheet says all he managed was a tackle and a handball. I haven't got used to him wearing Gawm's old number yet. The guy I'm still most uncomfortable with having the ball is Col Garland. Maybe it's something to do with his appearance, but he hesitates and looks to kick backwards and it reminds me of our impotent attack of recent years. Yesterday I got a similar vibe from Crossy, who sprayed a few off the boot out of defence. I'm going to forget about the second half and call it a Roosy strategy to lull our opposition into a false sense of security (i.e. the Dees still can't close out games, no need to bring our A-game).

Great to have the whole offseason together in one place, I like how it sounds. We do this every year but I'm finding it easier than usual to get excited about our chances next season. Firstly, we're still a long way off. I don't have high expectations in terms of ladder placement next year. I hope we go up but it will be a win if we're competing for a finals spot in round 15-18. We have to find a way to score consistently. So much of that rests on Hogan. Hopefully he's ready to contribute but I'm nervous about that. So much pressure on a guy who hasn't even played a game yet. Clearly Mitch Clark couldn't handle the pressure, hopefully Hogan can take it. I just hope he stays healthy, that's all I want to see. If he's healthy, other teams will be tempted to send multiple defenders at him and that will free up Dawes. I actually really like Dawes as a 2nd or 3rd tall. Garlett is the wild card. I absolutely agree that he's worth taking a punt on. Hopefully he can settle his life outside of football and focus on getting his game right. With him providing a legitimate option as a leading and crumbing forward below Hogan, and if Hogan is what we think he is, they will be our no. 1 and 2 option in our inside fifty. The group will have to learn how to play winning football and turn around the corrosive lack of belief. Hopefully some leaders step up. In time, that leadership may come from Brayshaw or Petracca, but right now we need another couple of guys to join Jonesy, Viney, Tyson, Jetta, etc as on-field leaders. Heretier despite his off-field quirks is a great footballer with finals experience and toughness. He stood tall for Collingwood. We've added another General to our back line in Lumumba. A break out from Michie, Reilly, Newton, JKH, Salem, Kent, Frost or Toumpas is essential for next year. Hopefully all of them take a step up but we need more toughness and leadership. I'm talking fist pumping enthusiasm, and a desire to lead the charge as we crush our opposition into the ground. My pick here is Salem. I like what I've seen of him. Not afraid of the contest and very clever around the goals. If he can cement a place in the side as a forward I will be stoked. Newton looks like a fiery competitor but I don't know anything about him besides a 4 minute clip some Geelong fan put together when he thought they might pick him up. A lot of ifs in there, not to mention the biggest one of all - if everyone is healthy - but that's what this time of year is all about. I'm pumped for preseason. Can't wait to see what we've got in all of our new recruits. Which players are we most excited / optimistic about?

Did anyone listen to 3AW to hear this supposed bombshell drop? Sounds like a good headline to an unlikely story.

On the upside, only 15 more posts and you can start bagging people out.