Chris

So then we would be comparing ourselves to the Lions, Saints and Suns who we are ahead of, and the Dogs and GWS who we are behind but they have both had a few more years of development under good development coaches. Out of those only the Lions have a younger and more inexperienced list, but in saying that the team that takes the field is actually older and more experienced than ours.

'Blind Paul' in the box can see it, he calls it balance between attack and defence and openly admits the balance was wrong on the weekend and that the players aren't always getting it right. It is a work in progress which will not be fixed over night into a gameplan that is consistently applied week in week out, we do not have the experienced players to ensure this happens. If you expect us to play that way every week at this point then I suggest you find very effective stress release measures as it will be stressful for the remainder of this year, and probably most of next.

I think you need to replace 'are all' with 'should be'. Make no mistake, the channel 7 execs have more say over the timeslots than AFL house.

Why not be both? I am disappointed about the weekend but am satisfied about the direction of the club. One trumps the other.

The defence suffers when you attack. We spent 2 years with no attack, we now attack and the defence has suffered, as it must if you are no longer 100% defence. Roos has spoken about this many many times saying that there is a balance that must be reached. His comments after the weekend said clearly that the balance is out of kilta and needs addressing.

I think the biggest issue with the defence isn't so much the players but their ability to execute the game plan. McDonald and Jetta are both good. Salem, H, and Melksham can all play their role, none are available at the minute. Hunt and Wagner have shown potential and should be persevered with. The game is going past Garland unfortunately as I am a big fan and I am not sure what Dunn has done to not be getting a game but he is good as a stopping player. Frost is the other who could well be useful as a defender. Our biggest issue with defence is that when the mids and forwards fail as defenders the game plan is too open for the backs to be effective, our current defensive issues aren't just issues with the backs.

I have the samme concerns but think we need to give more time for the consistency to come. Our best is good, with the consistency then we are good, that comes with age and experience. We are basically fielding the youngest and most inexperienced side every week and are puttiñg some very good performances, wait for the consistency and things will be OK. In terms of timeframes I think making the finals next year is a must. If we dont and then have an average start to 2018 then the pressure on Goodwin will be immense and we will potentially back to sqaure 1, which in our case may mean closing the doors.

Roos was teaching the players what it takes at AFL standard. All the talk of defensive game plans was not really a game plan but making it clear in expectation of the players that they needed to do the defensive actions, 1 percenters if you like, before it is even worth trying to teach a real game plan. Roos is fixing a culture that sucked. Beveridge picked up a team that had been developed for a few years by Macca, Beveridge is not the sole reason for the dogs rise. What Macca brings is all about that initial learning (that our senior players didn't have) and sets standards, Beveridge bought the game plan. To a large extent Bolton is getting the same from a team that made finals not too long ago. I think people forget how far back we were, we weren't AFL standard, we were a VFL standard side in every sense of the word. That takes time to fix.

I agree. I don't think Vince has been playing well this year, too many bombs out of packs for my liking, especially when they go straight to the waiting opposition, Jones has been working hard but making mistakes I haven't noticed in previous years as well. They are the most important of the experienced brigade who I don't think are in great form which isn't helping. I don't think the whole team is in great form at the minute. They look tired to me.

Wouldn't it be difficult to both be at your peak and improving?

Are Carlton the next Port, a quick flash of being good followed by a period in the middle as the build wasn't built in a sustainable manner. The dogs are so far showing that if the build is done right then you can stay good. Our development is under the same eyes the dogs had. That guves me confidence too.

Not sure on the distance needed but it needs to be variable depending on circumstance.

I think the biggest issue with the zone is it seems to get sucked up the ground too far. Roos said pre season he wants the ball back closer to our goal,this makes sense and would be why they push so far up, it also means if one or two players slip through then it is all over. The plan needs to be more reactive and if the forwards arent applying pressure, for what ever reason, then the zone roles back 30 meters to reduce our vulnerability. If the forwards are on top then the zone can role forward. It seems they have the same set up no matter the situation.

My realistic position on where we are. Positive: We are young, we have lots of talent coming through, we are developing the players well, our future should be bright. Our current best is good verging in very good. Negative: We are young and inconsistent, we have players who get ahead of themselves and think the win will come. Not sure on our defensive game plan (or it may be the players cant execute it). Our worst is still bad but no longer in the depths of very bad we were in. Overall: Our expectation should be for 10 wins, any less than 8 from this group is a fail for mine. We gave up any potential finals birth this year during the second quarter yesterday. The future is looking OK, if the players develop to their potential then the future could be very bright.

Sick of our players being tackled without it!

Really missing Pederson and Oliver today.

He is trying but isnt playing well

Jones Kent and Viney all having shockers.

Shout out to you to Riot for doing this important and I am sure challenging and rewarding work.

Hilarious, i gather that was actually comedy. Have a watch again and you will see he at the very least drops a shoulder and his body in every tackle. He played for the free every time.

One of Garlett of Rich got a three and the other a 2 and a 1. No way of knowing which was which. It goes like this. Hogan and Stretch have a 4 and 4 and a 5 and 3. Bugg has the other 5 and oliver has a 1 and track a 2. What is left is a 1 a 2 and a 3.

Matheison will have made a bad name for himself in one match, not a bad effort considering it may take another 50 games of bot ducking to get rid of it!

The bug question is will Gawn ever get a Goldy style sheparding free?

If that was conlusively touched then my left nut is in Russia!

you might want to wait an extra day OD. The G is a big place by yourself!