At the break of Gawn

I'll leave it up to the club to decide if he needs to be dropped rather than listening to people such as yourself whom regularly pots him week in week out. The whole forward line stinks at the moment and no one is in form that I can see bar maybe T-Mac. More fingers need to be pointed at Chaplin and Goody who are structuring our forward line. But back to Watts, he is definitely in the best 22 and I don't know if risking Weideman (who has struggled at AFL level) is the answer when we are still trying to make finals. I'd give Watts one more week to redeem himself, and if he gives little again, put him back in the VFL and tell him to have a big preseason.

Apparently he's likely to be suspended

Let our best team play on a proper AFL ground again. Out: Melksham In: Hannan. Tempted to drop Watts but a) Pedo was worse. B) Petracca, Harmes, Hunt have been equally disappointing the last few weeks. C) we need our best team in our park and he's in it. Dropping him will be conceding no finals this year and giving youth opportunity.

Lots of talk about Watts' form which has definitely been poor. But geez, he's got some mates. Petracca, Frost, Harmes, Melksham.

Because he's fighting off his opponent with the other... Pretty standard.

Big Watts fan, but he needs time at Casey. Not 100% sure if that's the whole problem. Our goal kickers have been down the last 5 weeks. Forward structure and forward entries have been woeful. Troy Chaplin needs to go. Forward structure was better under his predecessor.

This feels like last week all over again. 30-45km winds and at a ground that GWS have a great record on.

Team as a whole is going through patchy form and the stats from Rnd15 onwards compared to Rnds 10-14 (our best period) are pretty damning. Is it Gawn being back which is disrupting things? (as silly as that sounds) was it Jones missing? Was it a combination of Watts, Hogan, Tyson and Viney missing games? Who knows... but, a whole suite of players need to stand-up this weekend if we are going to turn the corner and make the finals.

Another 6 day break. Thanks, AFL ?

I like Hogan but he doesn't have the athletic leap of someone like a Joe Danniher, Ben Brown or Tom Lynch. Hogan is more of your classic FF/CHF mould like Jonathon Brown. I have no doubt he's still going to be a star but he's not going to be in the same category as the aforementioned 3.

They said Mummy out for a fortnight on GWS' website on Friday. Highly doubt he plays this week.

6 marks i50 in the last qtr to them. That's the game right there.

He's allowed 2 poor games I think after a month out of the game. Even Gawn is struggling and I don't think Hogan had kicked a goal from a mark with his return before being injured. His form before being injured was as good as his 2016 form. Needs to improve and impact more contests this week though or he could most definitely be on the outer. I'd almost go as far to say that his form is intrinsically linked to our finals chances. If he fires, Melbourne will fire and win 3 of our 4 remaining games.

If we somehow fall into a position where Collingwood deny us of a finals spot, brace yourselves for some of the worst smug remarks and sh*t eating grins this century.

It's a bitter pill to swallow, but North are very good at Blundstone arena, no matter who the opposition. Just take a look at their record at the ground. http://afltables.com/afl/venues/bellerive_oval.html I predict the Dees will bounce back and beat GWS, Saints, Lions but somehow lose to the Pies after resting on our laurels.

Yep, berated OMac and Frost on different occasions, kicked a shocker to Hogan which ended up breaking his collar bone, and then didn't put his body on the line for that last passage of play. Tmac or Watts would've been better as a loose man.

Weid won't play again this year. Read plappy's latest review. Out: Hogan, Trenners, JKH In: Pederson, Vince, Jones. Trac has to go forward. Would like to see Watts in the ruck again to get some disposals out of him, but I'm afraid Mummy would eat him for breakfast.

OMac got a 1 on SEN player ratings (normally reserved for players who get injured early on in the game),while Frost got a 2. I think you're being too generous to our defenders there.

I've calmed down a fair bit from yesterday. Demonland being down probably a good thing to save us from severe overreactions. Thoughts on the game: Lost it at the coin toss. It was always going to be easier to defend a lead in that last qtr against really difficult conditions. The players were very tired in that last qtr and couldn't capitalize on the wind. Same thing happened the year before, it was a carbon copy just less goals kicked. That ground is a hole and Melbourne should petition not to pay there for a North home game. How about Etihad next time? Oliver was awesome and almost singlehandedly won us the game. 173 ranking points. Funnily, Jimmy Bartel on 3aw didn't give him a vote. Lewis didn't "go" in that passage of play. Maybe if he was wearing a Hawks jumper he would've. It was a tough day for forwards. Tmac easily the best for us. Watts wasn't that bad, still got 73 ranking points which is almost double what he got last week which was a shocker. Also had 3 tackles, one which was an obvious holding the ball against Thompson but not paid. He'll improve again next week Hogan's injury is a huge loss right when he was coming back to form. Pedo is a plodder and won't win us games off his own boot. Petracca didn't play on instinct and over handballed. Worst game for the club. Trengove is gone. No effect on game at all. Not sure what's up with Hannan. And lastly, umpiring was again in their favour. Heaps of bad decisions and non decisions.

Pretty negative today. It was a terrible second half by a collective and too much handballing. Some of the umpiring in the last half was disgraceful.

Tackling is normally pretty good. Was awesome last week. Don't think this is a concern. North's midfield has big bodies.

Never watching a Melbourne v North game ever again until we beat them. [censored] hate losing to that rabble. It's torture watching us play them

Pretty pleased with that second qtr. Not a great day for forwards but competing really well. Watts looks in better touch, has had a hand in a couple of the goals. Melksham, Oliver, Tyson, Hunt (in that second qtr) killing it. Trengove and JKH pretty ineffective.

I'm in Hobart for work but unfortunately flying home Friday night. It's bloody cold here, especially in the mornings. Trust Melbourne to be picked again to play here with North instead of Etihad. Would've been a 10 goal win at Etihad based on how we're going there this year.

Tarrant will be back this week, so unfortunately Hogan won't get that third gamer. Watts will most likely match up against a 4th gamer (Durdin or Neilsen). Surely a good chance for him to recapture some form. Frost on BB with support from Hibberd OMac on Waite. Let's hope Wood is also out. He killed us last time.