Wiseblood

Bit harsh when we have J Smith, AVB, Hannan, Lewis, Garlett, Lever, JKH, T Smith and May out of the side for Round 1. I know some of those aren't best 22, but they add to our depth. Every team begins to scrape the barrel a little when the injuries mount up a little.

I noticed prior to the start of the season that Nathan Jones said Jack was in the best nick he had been compared to the last few pre-seasons. Smoke and mirrors, maybe? Who knows. But he clearly wasn't fit on Saturday. I want the old Jack back.

That's a good point. We almost lost our first four that year, if it wasn't for a ripping Cameron Bruce snap in the dying stages of the last term (and don't get me started on the rubbish 50 metre penalty against Jared Rivers that almost cost us the game!) It goes to show that a season isn't over in the first 3-4 rounds if you lose a fair chunk of them. We went on to win 5 in a row after losing the first 3, and we had a better run in the finals than '04 and '05. Edit - we actually won 11 of our next 12 games after losing the first 3.

No, but you can be in the right position to do it. One thing we still do too often is have players sucked into the contest, while we allow them a free man off the pack. If they win possession, they flick that handball out and are away. That has nothing to with pace, but has everything to do with either the instruction to get numbers around the ball, or an inability to know when to stay out or to go in.

Chandler is on the rookie list, so he would need to be upgraded. It sounds like he has some skills but isn't ready for AFL footy. Stretch and Petty play different positions. What it shows is that we aren't really in the position to make big changes at the moment. Would Chandler really be a better option than Spargo? Probably not. Would AVB or Joel Smith be a better option? Of course, but they're out, so it leaves us without too many troops waiting in the wings.

Of course they make that decision, Einstein. It's just my opinion, which is that Viney won't be dropped, even though I agree with what LH said in terms of his fitness. Being captain changes that.

I agree with that, and I think we took too many safe options due to our lethargy on the weekend. We didn't push hard enough to take the risks in moving the ball quickly. We turned it over, they then ran it out with ease because they were set up to do so. When we take the risks with our ball movement, we look the goods. We barely attempted it on the weekend and it showed.

And just to go with the above - they make mention of GWS being in the same boat at the beginning of 2018 and taking time to get rolling. The writing has been on the wall, no doubt, but I also think it's been out of our hands. We're doing the best with what we have.

Maybe unfit isn't the right word. I think match fit might be better. He looked off the pace big time on Saturday, but so did others like Brayshaw, Oliver and Tom Mac. They, with others, have had interrupted pre-seasons, and a shorter one at that. It's not an excuse, just fact. I think this little snippet from an article, prior to our scratch match with the Pies, is telling: The Magpies' quest to go one step further than last year’s Grand Final has been buoyed by one of their shortest pre-season injury lists in recent memory. With Nathan Buckley’s tenure as coach constantly riddled with fightful runs of injuries to key players, the Magpies will go into Friday week's practice match against the Demons with all but five players to pick from. Melbourne, meantime, have had 12 of their best 22 had injury interrupted pre-seasons. Clayton Oliver (both shoulders), Jack Viney (ankle), James Harmes (shoulder), Oscar McDonald (hip), Jake Melksham (ankle and hamstring), Aaron Vandenberg (shoulder), Christian Petracca (knee), Neville Jetta (shoulder), Mitch Hannan (knee), Steven May (hamsting), Nathan Jones (hamstring) and Tom McDonald (elbow) have all had injury interrupted pre-seasons That's not to say that some if not all of those players won't be available early in the season, but clubs will always talk about the importance of numbers on the track doing the majority of the pre-season

What's the fastest way to move the ball from one end to the other? By kicking it forward and hitting targets. Leg speed, while handy, is overrated if your ball use is good.

If it's anyone else, then I agree. But he's the captain. I can't see them dropping him from the side. I get your point, though, and I think they may have rushed him back a few weeks too soon. It's too late to change it, though. It just won't happen.

Absolutely. He hasn't put a foot wrong. But where does he play? It sounds as though he has been playing the forward/ruck role, and at the minute I can't see is dropping Tom or Weid, and you would think Preuss would get first crack if they went for another tall to play that role. I know some won't agree with that, but I just think it's the way it is. However, I'm pleased with his progress and I think he will at least get a crack in the seniors at some stage this year.

Agree with all of that, Moonie. Our backs were under constant pressure due to the lack of midfield pressure. May wouldn't have stopped it, but he would have helped.

The changes we make may end up being minimal. Obviously, Steven May comes into the side for either Frost or Oscar, but outside of that I don't see many changes being made. There were a number of players who didn't cover themselves in glory, but who is really ready to go at Casey? KK needs at least another week to build his match fitness you would say, while someone like Stretch might get a look in, although seeing him not named as an emergency gives us an idea of where he sits at the minute. Lewis probably isn't ready to go, and with Garlett, Hannan, AVB and J Smith still on the sidelines, I don't see us doing much else. The other possibility is Preuss. Do we give him a run, or do we back in Max to respond and for the Weid to give us a little more when he goes in there? For me, it's: In: May Out: Frost

Yeah, he's quick, but can he play? We can't add speed for the sake of it. I'm all for giving the kids a go, but they will need to bring more than just speed to the side for me to be convinced.

Trac looked unfit, but he did have off season surgery. He strikes me as the sort of player that needs to be fully fit to hit his straps. Anything even slightly below and he struggles. Think back to the time he hurt his finger - prior to that he was on fire, then the injury occurred and he came back and struggled to find form for weeks. I think Trac will be a slow burn for us this year, which is not ideal, but just the way it is. I'd actually play him as a permanent full forward and give him the space to move around. Get Tom up the ground a little to provide the contest, then let Trac do his thing one on one. He'll kick a few bags.

Did you see him play today? All we're missing is the odd good game, and some regular mediocre ones.

I want to address this in two parts. One - I think we actually made every effort to address some of our needs over the off season. We recruited another key back in May who, alongside Lever, will keep Frost and Oscar out of the side, something many on here have wanted for a long time. We also recruited KK to give us some further run and drive off half back and through the wings. We also drafted Toby Bedford, a small forward for the future, and Kade Chandler, who can play a similar role. We've also been crying out for a second ruck, and we recruited one of those too. Two - for the holes we haven't supposedly filled, where were the players to fill them? They don't just grow on trees. Of the players who either moved clubs or were potentially up for grabs, who did we not chase that we should of? I'm sure I'll have missed someone somewhere, but I think we made a conscious effort to improve our list with the resources and players at our disposal. I would agree that personnel is the issue, but only in the context that it relates to how poor our off season was for many of our key players. Otherwise I still see a list brimming with talent and potential, and one that got us to within a game of a Grand Final appearance.

It does put it into perspective a little, even if it doesn't take anything away from our effort. There are 22 rounds to go and the season is a marathon, not a sprint. I don't think any of the above five, outside of the Bombers who have been terrible, would be panicking at this stage.

It's one positive to take from the weekend. Bombers have been absolutely deplorable.

Let's just... calm down. Even a little. @rjay - while I won't necessarily argue that there are a few warning signs there, I think we need a far larger sample size on the season before we truly know where we're at as a side. Calling for this player to be dropped and so forth isn't going to fix the issue. In fact, the issue isn't personnel based, it's game plan based. With a hint of a poor off season sprinkled on top. We have essentially the same side that got us to a prelim. We have a coach who has shown he is willing to change things, and he previously put together a game plan that was extremely solid. Outside of a few poor games, we took on all comers with it and played exhilarating football. So before we all jump off the West Gate, let's show a little patience and allow the side to get rolling, to get back to full fitness and to deal with the changes we need to make with the new rules in place. Let's have some faith in the players and coaches who got us to our first finals series in a decade to turn things around.

Ken Preuss has gone mad... ?

But what does that have to do with your comment on Gary Pert?

Sarcasm or not? I can't tell.

We played about as well as those kids would have at junior sport!