sisso

As other posters have said Hogan would be mad to go to team just starting it's rebuild: the pressure on him would be ridiculous. Hope like mad he stays but if he does leave we'll no doubt get another top 3 draft pick + whatever else we can squeeze out of the deal.

We've almost got TOO MUCH talent on the list to have them all play at once! OK I'm getting too excited now...

Can't wait to see the big lad out there...just know he's going to do a couple of special things

I agree. All the great sides of the last few years have had an antagonist or two. Steve Johnson at Geelong, Jordan Lewis at Hawthorn and the Scott brothers at Brisbane are examples. Sheedy always made sure he had a mongrel or two in his successful Essendon sides. Sure, Bugg isn't as good a footballer as any of the above but he brings an element of edge and nastiness to our team we haven't had for a very long time. Kent, Viney, Vince and Harmes are also getting into the "unsociable" act. Its great to see!

Bugg is rapidly becoming one of my favourite players. He's just a complete pain in the butt and doesn't care who's face he gets in...when's the last time we had a guy like that?

I reckon Bugg is one of our most important because he's a master of psychological warfare...even sticks it up the oppositions supporters would be just about the best in the business

Got straight in gate 4 if that's any help no problems there

Good point, certainly no excuses in terms of the players we've got available. But then I thought the side we had in against Essendon was the best in 8 years so we need to come out hard from the 1st minute.

I think having him and Dom Tyson in the same midfield would make us a bit too slow. Since he last played we've recruited a lot of midfielders so perhaps they'll use him off half back or half forward if he makes it back.

Some real depth now when you consider we've still got a player the quality of Jack Trengove to find a spot for too if he gets back to his best

Good for us, we suck as favourites...need to learn to overcome this of course

We need Bugg to get into Cotchin about his wife going into bat for him on social media! Never underestimate the importance of having an annoying b@stard in the team to put the opposition off their game: psychological warfare.

He'd be mad to go to Freo who are going back to the start of their rebuild when we are finally coming out of ours. And screwing up his career by playing for boring-ass Ross Lyon!

No idea how we'll go in this game, Melbourne are the most unpredictable team in the AFL. Could win easily, get smashed or anything in between...

They don't really have a ball-winning inside midfielder in their team at all compared to our side which is loaded with them....if we can't get first use and therefore win this game easily it'll be shattering.

Strong looking side for us, plenty of run should be able to make mincemeat of the Bombers you'd hope. That's definitely the best side we've put on the park (on paper) in the Roos era...hope it translates in performance!

Already a more impressive player than the Toump and hasn't even debuted in the real stuff yet. How a #4 pick midfielder should look.

The football media is so hysterical now its beyond a joke. Ox went way overboard in his criticism and if anything made himself look foolish. He has one poor game (even though he still had an impact) and fluffs a couple of kicks and now it's "shocking" and a "disgrace". Sure his run up isn't the prettiest going around but I wouldn't be hitting the panic button yet over one bad game...

Essendon are virtually a VFL side anyway this year!

This pre-season has been far too exciting...I have to remain grounded. Brayshaw, Oliver, Petracca, Hogan all playing together soon, it's too much!

Doesn't sound like Mumford is 100% fit if his ankle is troubling him though. Good chance for big Max to take it right up to him.

Very true. Even against a terrible Brisbane side at the G last year we struggled to put them away...about time the team got over that or we'll never win 2 in a row!

Still got a strong squad in though....best available through the midfield and backline. If we don't smash the young Dogs it'll be a touch concerning...as concerning as practice games ever are

I'm still baffled (but thankful) that St Kilda didn't take him at pick #1

Any team after we've had a win...we just have to win 2 in a row this season. Never seen a team respond to wins as badly as ours has over the last few years.