leave it to deever

I understand your post but I would prefer weid over smith and I think one of them will be in the side. Weid is the future at 19 compared to 26 yo T. smith. Its a shame the other smith (sos) is out injured.

You missed my point. Smith and weids didnt have enough experience. They are not small frwds and there inexperience showed under a strong backline.. Sure we missed a lot but that happens. Having pedo or spencer in for one of those players would have iced it for us.

More to the point Geelong didnt win, it was a case of WE LOST. Not sure I have seen a poorer effort of players kicking for goal. Goodwin needs to call a special day of training where some players kick at goal all day and nothing else. Hogans absence was glaring today with Watts rucking but it was his first offence. Lewis has form in suspensions, so hes a worry. Despite shocking kicking if watts wasnt moved to ruck I think we could have won. Geelong are a very good side and last year they smashed us. We can hold our heads up somewhat. The umpiring was poor today. It was inconsistent on both sides but I felt that quite a few tackles layed by us went unrewarded.

Yep, all that noise abut watts coming back in poor shape ....apart from captain couragious (Jones not Viney) he was the fittest on ground. Elephant 3. Watts was always going to have to ruck despite Gawns injury which left weid (with 5 games) and smith (first gamer) up forward against a very strong defence , Geelong had Menzel and Hawkins (circa 300 games) who together booted 8 goals. Lucky Kent stepped up in his first game back. Spencer or Pedo should have been selected so Watts could replace Hogan as our main full time forward. Weids isnt ready and while Im happy to give him game time, it was a bad call to carry 2 forwards today especially a first gamer.

Ive got a feeling Spencer is really going to fire as a replacment

Fair call. Pederson is a strong utility player. The S. panel were asking a lot of forward line in newbie smith and underdone wied as well as kent playing his first game for the year. Shame the other smith is injured. What with suspensions and injuries its taking a shine of a great start.

Good selection but smith before wied for me.

I usually agree with most of your post mortems but not today. This is a game that if we slotted 3 or 4 out of 10 easy shots for goal we would have won. Throw in a star ruckman out early and a game played where we have lost 20 or so out of the last 22 and I contend that the players werent as bad as you claim. I think inexperience in hannon wied and smith contributed but all in all we had a crack to say the least.

As bad as maxy out is.....spencer is a great replacemet

Bernie was a star against st kilda wasnt he?

We are. One of the most frustrating games though. Our poor kicking was amplified by their good kicking. With max and hogan out we did bloody well against a finals contender AT ETHIAD. How quick we forget.

I would point the finger at 7 others before OM. Hes getting better and will get bigger.

Worst case of yipps ever. Losing maxy was huge especially when players were tired at the end. Missed not having watts at ff. We will reset next week and beat freo. Vince and tyson quiet today. Wieds a shocker but we lost the game by our own foot. Still excited about the future. Hope maxy is back soon.

True. I think playing a first gamer for hogan was always a risk.

Agreed. Played well and aside from the worst case of the yipps we would have won. I think the selection panel stuffed up by T. smith a shocker as well but hey it was his first game. The selection panel let us down in my book. Peterson and or spencer should have been a lock

Whoa gv you jumped the gun a tad there. My point was that womens afl isnt as marketable or is marketed the same as mens. The mens Afl has had millions and millions of dollars spent along with 1000s of angles and catches. The reference to Capper was to sex it up and make it more commercial and not from a lets perve at women standpoint which you projected with your cries of objectification. I can understand the leap I guess but you are dead wrong. I have watched the wafl and enjoyed the standard of skill and talent. Don't be so quick to judge.

Saw him boot a bag at that mudhole called Moorabbin. The saints supporters when quiet whenever the ball went near him. He seemed to be like Ablett senior with just an awesome amount of freakish talent. Perhaps if he had been more disciplined he would be as great but I thank him for the thrills he gave us all.

True but we seem to have quite a few options this year.

I wonder how much of our Ethiad voo doo is in the mind. That said perhaps being round one, the media and players may be focused on other things than our incredible losing streak at this ground. If it continues this year it spells disaster given we play there four times this season. Playing Saints round one at Ethiad is a perfect opportunity to jump them and break both their winning streak against us and our crazy voo doo. Will we go 2 ruck?

So go and get the Tinea back Man! It's clearly the reason we've been losing! Some people have no commitment.

Round One will be interesting on several levels. We can measure ourselves against a team (ST Kilda) that everyone is touting as a finals 8 team. We have a chance to break one of the worst voo doos in AFL in our Ehthiad losing streak as well as stopping the saints winning streak over us. Set ourselves up nicely for winning the first 2 in a row. I rate us as slight faves.

One of my early footy memories is of 1000's of kids with a number 2 on the back of their duffle coats. That and the symphonic sounds of radio commentators going "around the grounds"........over to at Arden st, down to you Kardinia...across to you at lakeside etc. What a game us Aussies have invented. Not too many more sleeps now.

Yes. For my next trick........

Give up drinking. (until our next loss) Cannot wait for this season to start. I hope all the demon faithful will be rewarded this season with a Melbourne final's birth. There is a distinct level of expectancy about this current sqaud. Great to see.

Disagree Billy. Nothing wrong with revisiting the past. Perhaps it will inspire. Our history is what defines our future. PS Nice sentiments in your second post.