Forest Demon

I am shittin bricks. If I was player, you would all be bemoaning my panic handballs and decision making.

Yes, he showed glimpses, but that is as much as you can expect from a first year player. He was on his way to being a handy player. But today, there aren't even glimpses. Anyway, let's hope he gets going.

I strongly disagree. Go back and watch his first season, and there was plenty to like. I thought he has always lacked the top end speed, but had plenty of smarts and was such a tidy kick. But for whatever reason, injury, confidence, whatever, he was a better player that year than he is today.

And many of those appearances were half games due to being sub. No doubt he looked like he had it in his first year. But he has not only stagnated, he has actually gone backwards. Big year for him.

He is a gun. And I wouldn't have complained had he pipped Hogan for the Rising Star. But gee, what a quinella. If those two continue their trajectory, they will be two of the best handful of players of the next decade.

Yep, Manchester City is a bridge too far, but I think Mooy is good enough to be a regular for a premier league club outside of the big 4 or 5. Would love to see Rogic get fit and have one more huge year at Celtic. He has shown many flashes of brilliance this year, but just can't get the continuity with his fitness. One consistent year and then he can make the move to a decent club in England/Spain/Germany.

I am not as sold on Luongo as others are, but he definitely goes ok. Rogic and Mooy on the other hand are potentially world class footballers. Rogic just needs to keep his body right and get fit. And Mooy is ready to move to a big league. Anyway, wrong sport.

As good as it seems Petracca could be, there is little chance he will walk into the seniors based off one intra club/match sim in the last 18 months. He will play VFL for at least a couple of weeks before even being considered I think.

The injury list looks pretty decent, but we have some real talent getting over injuries and ready to come back into the side over the next month.

Well deserved. I thought he would be eased into it, but he made it clear during the NAB Challenge he is already best 22. Good luck and let's hope it is a win to remember for him.

It is a fair point. They have still had a fair few first rounders, so they should have been able to pluck some young talent, but they either traded them away, or butchered them. They put up a list of their drafting on one of the footy shows recently, and it was diabolical.

Squads not named yet. Footy Show and League Teams just having a stab in the dark in all games except Richmond/Carlton.

Chris annoys me, but Brad really really shits me to tears, and so do North Melbourne for some reason. Would love to see them free fall out of the 8, and him get the flick, and I think it is a real possibility. Although, a soft draw might see them sneak in there. Blows my mind when last year, and less so this year, "experts" are tipping them to be in the top couple.

Obviously a win would be ideal, but this is the first year where I don't think it would be season destroying if we lose. For the first time in many years, I am confident in the direction of the team, and if we lose on Saturday to a good side, I still think we will win at least 4 or 5 of our first 10. I think a loss would be disappointing, but not seasons de-railing, while a win would really set the season up for a shake at the 8.

We have a tough midfield with some battering rams in there. They still have some lighter mids like Whitfield, Scully and Conglio. So I think our best bet is getting on top physically and dominating the clearances with Gawn, Jones, Viney, Tyson, VDB etc. Of course they still have Ward and Shiel who are both absolute guns, and a few others, so that makes it tough.

I think it was pretty common knowledge he was injured very early in the pre-season. Agree on the state of the injury list though. Although realistically, even though Trengove and Petracca are "available", they are still a few weeks away from being ready due to injuries.

Dead set, David King is having a laugh. Does he honestly think Simon Goodwin is doing his own thing, and Roosy is going to take back over this week and flick a switch and change the game plan? Idiot.

Bummer. Thanks.

Sounds like Weideman has been good. I may have missed this earlier, but is VDB playing? I know he was named, but just haven't heard a mention of his name yet. Really want him and Brayshaw in next week.

Our draw for the first half of the season seems favourable. If we can win 5-7 from our first 10, then who knows what will happen in the second half of the season if finals are on the line. And there will always be sliders, and sides who look tough to beat now, are rubbish come round 14 or 15.

He seems to take an eternity to get a kick away, and constantly gets smothered or bumped as he kicks. I can't quite tell whether it his technique or whether he is lacking the awareness that someone is closing him down.

Tend to agree. There best bet is trading away the current crop and rebuilding from scratch with youngsters, who are unaffected by the whole saga. They made a solid start last draft with a couple of top ten picks, and they should be aiming to stockpile more first rounders in the next couple of drafts as well. I will happily give them one in 2017 for Hurley.

He is, but we can upgrade at least one right away.

As for where to now. I still think he should play off half back. If they are thinking of selecting Wagner, which I get the feeling they might, I would personally much prefer Grimes.

I have made it clear on here that I still think he is worth his spot and isn't as bad as some make out, but... there re is no doubting he isn't the same player he was 5 years ago. He was tough and took plenty of intercept marks, often putting himself in the way of danger in doing so. Now he is more of an outside player who collects a fair bit of the ball, and this means his kicking is even more under the microscope. My theory was that he suffered a few head knocks and concussions, and changed his game slightly because of it, perhaps even subconsciously.