DemonDave

Hunt is nowhere near ready for AFL footy, and his two goals yesterday were of the "Joe the Goose" variety. Toumpas left the field with a head knock after bravely crashing a pack. So neither of them will be in. Fitzy spent the second half sitting on the bench with a blanket covering his legs. Word is an ankle injury. No way he gets up for next week sadly, he was playing quite well on Reid up until that point. There wasnt anybody from the Casey game yesterday, which I watched in its entirety, who screamed 'Pick me!'. Probably the pick of the bunch was McKenzie, but we know what he brings to the table. ANB looked pretty comfortable, especially early, he finds the ball in close very easily at that level, but I suspect they'll ask him to play 2 or 3 good games before reconsidering him. Salem would be the obvious candidate, he had minimal impact from restricted game time, his touch early was terrible but he slowly got back into it. Riley was also pretty decent as the atrocious conditions suited his limitations well. IN: Salem(sub), Riley OUT: Stretch, Harmes

3 players down going into this last qtr. Fitzy with a leg injury?, toump from a head knock and Ed morris with a leg injury

Yes he's played deep forward all day Stuie alongside Jake/Jamar and Max King. Been a barren day standing in that fwd line. Fitzy limped of with a leg injury this qtr. goal to jordie makes it 52-35

Oscar with the first goal of the quarter

Hunt had the first set shot of the game bjdee, but yeah hasn't been a day for forwards of either team given the conditions. As soon as i posted about Salem he came on! Had 3 touches in the first 3 minutes of being on, two of then turnover handballs.

Salem did the full warm up and has the track suit on so i assume the plan is just to play him for the second half

Pies had a couple of kicks inside 50 at goal last qtr that looked like they hit a brick wall they stopped mid flight. Maybe a 2-3 goal breeze?

King with the first of the quarter against the breeze

Only the good teams keep their opponents to 4 goals for the game

D!ck Foster-Smith on the half back line, is he any relation to the Bears own Rod Lester-Smith?

It stinks that successive State Governments have wilfully chipped in loads of taxpayers money to upgrade their hole of a ground, only for them to charge an arm and a leg, close to $60 I think it was a fortnight ago for our seats, to sit in the forward pocket or behind the goals. How can they possibly be crying poor?

I was trying to think who to compare him to, I think AngryAtCasey has nailed it with the Duncan comparison. Seems to play a bit taller than his 185cm, and his overhead marking is a highlight, seen him drift deep forward and kick a few goals at Casey. Rookies don't generally get promoted to continue playing at Casey, so looking forward to seeing how he does against Essendrugs. Will we have too many inexperienced first year players if he comes in, with Stretch and ANB also in the team? I think he'll take one of their spots and play a similar role that they've been doing.

What relevance does a single kick in 2010, in his second senior AFL game have to do at all with the present? Do you think if he wasnt any good at doing what the coaches are asking, that he wouldnt be getting a game? We could pick apart elements of Nathan Jones first 50 senior games and say just how terrible he is if you wanted..

Sorry yes that quote came out wrong! My bad

Dunn played on and destroyed Hawkins who is 197cm and 101kgs two weeks ago. Don't think Danher's size would worry him....

Colin Garland earning 100K less than a rookie-listed player who's played 10 career games? While this doesnt have draftees/trades factored in, it shows what a complicated web of numbers managing an AFL list has become, given you can also back/front end contracts, veterans and rookie lists, restricted/unrestricted free agency statuses. Not to mention match payments as mentioned, inury payments, incentive based bonuses etc etc...

When is the last time we saw: Melbourne: NO CHANGE ?

Yep this is how I rewatch all our wins on Chrome, grab the video downloader, click on a goal in each quarter in Smart replay, grab the URL and have it in no time!

Still buzzing this morning after making the trip down as usual. And to think I almost thought twice about it this year given the exhorbitant prices they charge for crappy seats down there..... I thought this was our best 'team' effort, as the cliche goes, for a long time. Nary a poor player to be seen, everyone was up for this one today. Even perennial whipping boys did their job: Matt Jones- was given the job similar to he did on Bob Murphy to quell the milestone man, who was BOG for them against Port last week and he certainly did a good job on him Chris Dawes-From the moment he clunked that big contested mark on our wing, he was a very handy player today who was in lots of score involvements/goal assists, he really does bring out other forwards into the game Jack Watts-3 weeks of consistent footy now, he's really stepped his game up a notch, given the freedom to run a wing, he now seems to have a lot more time with the ball in hand, can run sideways to create space for himself, and is now willing to absorb a tackle to free up a teammate, his footy brain is the best on our list. Ruck Combo-"if Gawn doesnt get you, Spencer will!" proclaimed Sandy Roberts on the telecast (yes as soon as I came home I watched the replay). Not only was their ruckwork and marking around the ground a revelation, they'd also clearly been told that when the ball is bombed long into the forward line, do your best to bring it to ground for the smalls, they did this on several occasions, as did Howe and Dawes. The coaching battle was a big win for us. Viney quelling Selwood, Jones on Enright, Vince running with Blicavs, Dunn on Hawkins, Lumumba given license to run off Kersten to create and break lines. And the gameplan of kicking the ball long along the flanks to the big fellas, and then again long into the forward line for the talls to bring it down worked a treat, so often our goals game from quick long counter attacking footy that left massive gaps in their defensive structures. The Kids. Brayshaw gets better every week, his will and reading of the play is immense. J Brown and King were clearly enamoured by him in the comm box. ANBs workrate from the VFL started to translate as he gets a feel for the intensity at this level, 3 goals an unexpected bonus. Stretch looks comfortable, and not afraid to go in for it despite his lean stature. The sheer elation from the other smattering of demons fans in our area at the siren was fantastic, I was too nervous to say 'we're going to win' until about 2 minutes to go, lest Geelong got an expected run on.,until my Dad sitting next to me said it for me, we could then smile and enjoy the remaining time left. A truly great day out.

I took this one, didnt get the rest of the scoreboard on there for perspective, but I wasnt the only one of the very few Dees supporters around us that took a similar snap!

Perception of players performances is a funny thing isnt it? Last week I watch ANB have 35, and everyone was frothing at the mouth at his performance (myself included). This week Bail has 34 and a goal, and barely a whisper about how well he played & that he should be in next week. He's one that is clearly a notch above VFL, as his pace gives him an edge, but doesnt have the application at senior level. We've had a knack for having quite a few of these guys, Valenti, Magner,Nicholson, Couch, etc etc. Jordie and Terlich also marking time it seems, one or both will be delisted, and if White keeps up his development could be a 'like' replacement upgrade.

The VFL publish the weekends record on their website after every round, here: http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_page.cgi?c=1-118-0-0-0&sID=60274 White copped a massive hit to his jaw just before 3/4 time in a side on tackle/bump. The trainers were doing all the tests on it as he stood outside the huddle, didnt think he'd come back out there if the medical team were going to be cautious, but to his credit he came back out.

I thought it was his best game for the season, he got himself to a lot of contests today through hard work running. He reminds me a lot of his brother with the way he reads the play so well. Right now what he needs to do is drastically build up his core strength as he still gets to easily pushed aside by players shorter than him. He's not ready for senior footy this year but one we can enjoy watching develop over the next couple of years

Inside mid has great vision and loves kicking the ball low and flat to clear it out of packs. Decent size his body is probably ready, maybe only question would be leg speed at afl level bit hard to tell as all his balls are won in close. 21 second half posessions today easily his best game, he read both Ruckman really well when they took over in the second half. Will they give gone a game against the saints? He'd be more comfortable than billy was but perhaps patience and a couple more games of that standard would give selectors no choice. Very impressive game

Give Brad Green the coaching gig!