grazman

You beat me to it Hardtack. Bit damp underfoot at the moment (Manuka has very good drainage though) and sky clearing out here in the Western badlands where the weather blows from. Should be tropically balmy by the time the game starts and will only require the one beanie!

I thought it was his left hand he lacerated and they removed some of his hamstring tendon to repair the damage... but it was a while ago now and my memory has never been that reliable.

I was wondering if Billy had played as I'd hardly seen him mentioned. Looks like from the stats at least he had a reasonable game. 13 Tackles would indicate that his work rate at least was there.

We won the free kick count, but I have to agree in the second and third quarters and it was the same umpire. I think Mathew Nicholls must have a poster of Razor Ray in his locker. There's a funny thread on Big Footy about him.

Port are very Jeckyl and Hyde. Beaten at home by Richmond and in terms of form they haven't really beaten anyone in the 8 (except for Sydney at the start when they were depleted on their way to 0-6). We don't usually play well after being in Darwin, but I think getting fresh legs back in is a must. We will need more than just Tyson and Watts, depending on Casey form I think we should also consider Stretch (outside run) and maybe Kennedy/Trengove if Viney doesn't get up.

Looking beyond the current season I think there were a number of pleasing signs for us. Firstly add any two of the missing Jones, Viney, Watts, Tyson and Salem and I think the outcome of last night looks a damn sight closer, which is something to consider because Adelaide are a genuine top 4 side. How good is Petracca, His awareness and delivery is unbelievable, while he's not getting a heap of the ball at the moment he will in future years and he's absolutely going to tear games apart. Add him to Jones, Viney, Tyson, Oliver and that's a very good contested ball bunch in the middle. I thought JKH for the first time didn't look out of place last night. We are really starting to bat deep now with genuine AFL players. (although its difficult to replace your best 6 at any stage when injured) Obviously while they are young and need games, ANB, Smith, Hannan, and Wagner are all going to push hard for selection with a full list. You can add Brayshaw and Stretch to that list as well. Finally on a side note - Lever looked to have injured his Hamstring again last night. That would be a concern for any team wanting to throw money at him. Everytime I see Sydney win and Zak Jones sing the song I think to myself he's the one we should be pitching for.

and wasted every single one of them.

I think Viney's injury is an AC. I had a similar one about 12 years ago. I'm pretty sure he will play, might need some pain killers though. Doubt that he'd be in trouble for the hit on Hurn, both were going for the ball -you can see Jack looking at the ball trying to take possession in the air.

Get Ready for Nick Riewoldt then.... urghhh!. Seen nothing from Nick Dal Santo on Foxtel that leads me to believe that he should be involved in the media either. Trouble with the industry is they tend to celebrate the 'superstars' by rewarding them with jobs in the media where there insight is nothing more than captain obvious moments. At least boundary riders like Dipper and Cam Mooney had/have lively personalities.

Ahhh - I see you've fallen for the player that is a spud against every other team, but played alright against Melbourne once in their career. See Tim O'Brien.

I think it is, they are young and with youth comes inconsistency, but when we were charging in the last quarter all were prominent. Watts could learn something about attacking the ball in the air from the likes of Hunt and Hogan.

Haven't since 64 -and he certainly didn't in 88 and after that. That's why the club has invested in Viney, Hogan, Oliver, Salem, Petracca, Hunt etc. They are super competitive.

looked like cramp, you can see him stretching his calves.

Couldn't believe it when he missed that shot, surprising as he is a really good kick. He did have a very bad corkie so I think that kick was a bit of an anomaly.

I don't usually hate on Melbourne players, but Melksham just gives me so many reasons.

Is it Essendon or Melbourne fans booing Milkshake?

After the JLT series I'd have VDB in the best 22 along with potentially Joel Smith in time. VDB's importance to the structure, particularly with Watts going into the ruck and providing the decoy option so we aren't kicking it to Jeffy in one on one marking contests shouldn't be underestimated.

Stretch and Weideman are emergencies for tomorrow, might be some late changes perhaps.

ditto

We're still a very young side and are transitioning from being an average team to being a good team. We see that in patches in matches. The upside is that only a couple of quarters this year have been below par in terms of intensity. Yes we overuse the ball, but that is part of the transition to learn how not to do that. I am bullish about the future when we transition from being a good side (would help to have 22 fit players including your best 6 out there) to being a very good side.

We recruited Smith and Keilty as KPF insurance along with Pedersen. We have four ruck men on our list. I'm not sure a fifth would have provided the right list balance given that most sides only play one ruck man in the team. The issue with our list is it's age/game profile. We just need to get more games into our developing talls like Weideman, Oscar, Frost, McKenna, and Joel Smith (who I think could play CHB), You can throw Hogan in there too for a KPF that's only played two seasons of AFL. I agree re Lumumba and Melksham though... very odd recruitment decisions. Most supporters (including from their original clubs) didn't rate them - why did we? I think we win with Bernie and Hibberd. I am ambivalent about Tyson though, does he wear contact lenses?

Makes the idea of Hawthorn trading Cyril for a couple of top 20 picks (as has been suggested) to get back into the first round a bit silly then.

Aaron VDB as well, I think we underestimate how important he is in the role he plays. Big body that runs the angles. Doesn't get a heap of it, but would have been handy yesterday.

In Fiji with the Hong Kong Rugby Seven's on... no such luck. I will be sitting down to watch it soon though.

Ok, not having seen the match yet as I have been O/S can you tell me what % you would put on us winning the match with Hogan and out of interest what % with Pedo?