45HG

Poor thing. I'm with you Nash, it needs to be enjoyable in other ways...somehow! Edit: Welcome and well said 13thflag

Players with 150+ games (3): Mcdonald, Bruce, Green. Mcdonald is past his best, Bruce puts in and Green is quality. 2 best 22. Players with 100-150 games (2) : Miller and Davey. Miller probably isn't up to it and Davey is a quality player who, I think, still needs to find a damaging role in the team. 1 best 22. Players with 50-100 games (11): Rivers, Moloney, Macdonald, Sylvia, Jamar, Jones, Bate, Bell, Johnson, Bartram and Dunn. Rivers is overrated (in my view), Moloney puts in, Macdonald has had one game with us, Sylvia has become very important as had Jamar, Jones is very similar to Moloney, Bate has had two very good seasons in the past 3, Bell, Johndon, Bartram and Dunn aren't up to it unfortunately. Possibly 7 best 22. Players with 20-50 games (6): Frawley, Morton, Warnock, Petterd, Martin and Garland. Frawley, Morton and Garland have all become very important to the team, Warnock plays his position pretty well, I rate Petterd but just can't find a place in the team where he would be critical and Martin is a bit of a bit player. Possibly 5 best 22. Players with 0-20 games (20): Wonaeamirri, Bennell, Jetta, Grimes, Cheney, Maric, Jurrah, Watts, Mcnamara, Trengove, Strauss, Scully, Bail, Tapscott, Gysberts, Gawn, Fitzpatrick, Blease, Mckenzie and Spencer. Possibly where our best 3 players lie in Grimes, Scully and Trengove - whilst Jurrah and Mckenzie are also best 22. 5-6 best 22. The older brigade: Bruce, Mcdonald, Green, Davey. The middle brigade: Rivers, Moloney, Macdonald, Sylvia, Jamar, Jones, Bate, Frawley, Morton, Warnock, Petterd, Martin and Garland. Garland, Morton and Sylvia will be big ins - but Rivers, Moloney, Jones really do have to step up. Jamar will need some time to get back into it. Warnock probably plays near to the top of his ability each week. The young brigade: Grimes, Scully, Trengove, Jurrah, Mckenzie, Strauss, Bennell. Agree with Green here, our quality is in our youth and they put in well. If, by older players, Green includes those with over 50 games (Mcdonald, Bruce, Green, Davey, Miller, Rivers, Moloney, Macdonald, Jamar, Jones, Bate, Dunn) I'd say only one of them had a good game on the weekend. Of the younger kids (Strauss, Scully, Trengove, Grimes, Frawley, Mckenzie, Warnock, Petterd, Bennell and Spencer) I'd say 4 had good games. The problem I have (equal to our forward setup) is that we don't move the ball well enough. We need to attack the game, take risks and back the other players. But before we do this, we need to play a settled 22 that can learn from each other's games. Missing Garland, Sylvia, Jurrah and Morton really hurt on the weekend. Basically, I say that there are only 10 players on our list with over 50 games experience who are best 22 and of those 10, 4 need to step up and 1 we haven't seen a lot of. That's really only 5 players on our list with over 50 games that I feel confident in leading the team.

Can't fathom how you can say Watts has been "struggling" at Casey. How many games has he played there this season?

Damn Dogs!

Freo are up 118-61. At the moment we're not last!

Yes. My opinion doesn't change after one game.

I agree with you Redleg, however I also feel that the speed at which we move the ball always comes back to hurt us. Maybe the opposition exploit it, but we move the ball at pedestrian pace and are never able to make the most of a turnover as we should

We'll be right. Just give it time. Lots and lots and lots of time.

This thread shouldn't start until Monday

Breath in, breath out

I think Rivers is our most overrated player.

Grimes Green Junior Scully Trengove McKenzie

9, 13, 16, 18 and 31. I thought Frawley battled manfully and of course Jones. I think, however, that without a forwardline that will be the norm

100% agree. I'd argue he's our only A-grade player at present

I heard it to and the first thing I said was "geez I wish I had've seen Flower play"

45, 716

Jamar-Grimes FTW. If we can stop them from springboarding it out of our attack I reckon we could be a good thing.

I'm in Pauly. I'm not sure who's going to have a longer year - the Dees or "Grimes is God"

If I was Clarkson, I'd play Hodge off half back. That'd almost kill us straight away.

Haha you got me

Cool. I assume you know what I do for a living.

I did remember that - if you think that rain tonight would mean less than 50,000 would attend you're on another planet.

The ruck seems the key position on the ground in this match (especially if you were at the Bombers pre season match). I see no logic in playing Jamar at Full Forward. I'd be telling him to prepare for 4 quarters in the ruck.

2007 saw us play another potential top four side in the opener and we couldn't reach 50,000. Any Melbourne team who is in form and playing a high-drawing team is likely to draw a big crowd. Collingwood playing any Victorian team in the season opener would pull a big crowd - but why would the AFL need to start with it? Those crowds can be pulled at any stage of the season. I agree if we had the Pies first up that there would be a massive crowd, but tell me a Victorian team that wouldn't result in a massive crowd against the Pies first up? We've had two season openers in the last decade. That seems fair to me, especially considering that they didn't pull big crowds. I'm unsure why you bolded "in form" and "high-drawing side who is also in form" - neither side will have form leading into round one, I don't see why the AFL wouldn't go for a match up that would pull a big crowd.

I take back my previous post