Wiseblood

The injury to Weideman is unfortunate as his ability to ruck has allowed us so much freedom in how we rotate Hogan, T Mac and Gawn through our forward line. However, you would think that Pedo is the logical inclusion to play that role on the weekend. He can still clunk a mark and pinch hit in the ruck when they rest Kreuzer and take some pressure off Gawn, just as the Weid has. So, to me, than changes may end up being: In: Viney, Pedersen Out: Weideman, Spargo. Spargo is stiff but I believe Goodwin is right behind the tall forward structure we have going on at the moment and won't compromise that.

So if he's ready, we're a professional club? With 3 wins on the trot I highly doubt we feel the need to 'rush him back' into the side. He played most of the VFL game on the weekend and clearly got through unscathed, so to me that says he will be ready to play AFL footy on the weekend.

No need to apologise - I normally approach these games with some form of pessimism, especially when taking on a team like Carlton who have troubled us a little over the last few years. But at the moment I feel confident that the side as a whole is clicking really well and that we can have them covered all over the ground. The Blues have been competitive, and probably played a little better than their ladder position suggests, but we are far and away a better side at present and we should prove that at the 'G on Sunday.

Weitering has been awful this year, Murphy is decent and the same goes for Marchbank. No doubt they'll have a dip, but with the addition of Viney into our side I see us being far too strong for them all over the park.

We do struggle against Carlton, but so many areas of our game are clicking now that they don't worry me. We can handle their midfield without too much hassle, our forwards are working superbly and our back line is in sync and can handle a player like McKay without too many issues. We should win, and win quite easily.

Just for a fleeting moment you think, deep down, that surely the AFL can't stuff this one up. It's too obvious, too clear, makes too much sense. They laid their hands on an umpire. We know the message we want them to send to anyone playing AFL footy - you don't lay a hand on an umpire, regardless of your intentions. And then the tribunal makes the unfathomable decisions to just fine them, which in turn sends a different message instead - if you can argue you didn't notice the umpire, then it's okay to lay a hand on them. What a horrible precedent the tribunal sent tonight. Neither were any different to Hawkins, yet he gets a week while the Curnow brothers get a small fine. It's outrageous.

I feel as though our kicking for goal hasn't been too bad so far this year. Jesse Hogan has been one who has improved - he has 20 goals and 8 behinds for the season which is a pretty good strike rate when you consider some of the troubles he had kicking for goal a few years back.

Look out @binman - he's moved on from calling people names, like 'an plonker', and just sticking with changing their username in a knee slapping fashion. Maybe his vocab hasn't progressed as much as we thought... ?

Plonker? Your vocab is moving up in the world, jnr. Congratulations. And yes, it's great we are winning games of footy. So great that you had to post it twice. Nice work.

Tomorrow night.

Ed will get a week, Charlie just a fine.

We'll be 6-3 for the first time to start a season in over a decade if we win this weekend. You can cry into your coffee about it and blame the fixturing schedule, but I'll be pretty pleased to see us in this position when you factor in what we've put up with over the last 10 seasons.

Having him whisper sweet nothings in to your ear at training doesn't really count Saty.

I'd love to play those sides again with the team we have at present. Tom Mac being in the side, along with the role Weideman is playing, has made us such a better side. We are getting an even contribution across the ground, and now that our backline is settled we have looked terrific down there as well. If we can knock off the Blues, and do it well, then I'll be pretty excited for the rest of the season ahead as we'll have knocked off 4 teams we are expected to beat 4 weeks in a row. That's a big, positive step forward for a footy club that has struggled with that in recent times.

On the flip side, I'm stoked they've got a win on the board heading in to this week's game. I'd be nervous as all hell if they were 0-8 that we would fall over and give them their first win of the year. Thank goodness the Bombers did it for us. I see us anywhere between 4th and 7th heading in to the bye.

Great to hear Viney get through unscathed and for Tim Smith to be playing well. The bloke would be on the cusp of selection, but when you've won three in a row and done it well it's pretty hard to crack the side. Hopefully we keeps it up so he's ready to come in when needed.

Nice, subtle dig there big fella. How passive aggressive of you. For the record, I was neither offended nor took it personally about your views on Weideman. Your views and opinion, which you're welcome to, were just wrong. I pointed that out, nothing more.

We can only beat the teams we are fixtured to play at any given time. To me, we rolled a rather average football side, but go back through the last few years and you'll see us either struggling or just falling over the line against some pretty average teams. Yesterday's game shows some growth in terms of our ability to finish sides off and also some maturity in getting it done. Stiffer competition will come this season that we'll have to stand up to, but after all the rubbish we've been through I'll celebrate a 70 point win as loudly as I want.

What a load of [censored]. Seriously.

I didn't read any further. I'm done. Cheers.

But I didn't miss the fact that you made a point of knocking his stats from yesterday's game, and that he is the 'glaringly obvious' omission from this weeks team with the point of saying he'll get another 'undeserved' go at it next week. You can hide behind the Tyson as the more likely option part of your post, but your stance on the matter is clear. If you can't see his value to our side outside of what the stats tell you, then I can't help you.

No, it's not, and his retention in the side for this weekend will prove it. I'll back the FD in on this one and the fact we've won 3 on the trot with this forward line rotation, not posters who simply look at stats and nothing else.

What sticks out to me is that Trac needs to continue to build his tank so he can play more meaningful midfield minutes. He seems to bob up here and there during games and do some unbelievable things (weaving out of traffic, keeping his feet etc.) and we look a much better side when he's up and about. However, to do this more often he needs to be able to stay in the game for longer, and that comes back to his fitness. I think he'll be an absolute star and I am not worried in the slightest about his season so far (the finger problem has thrown him off his game a little). With improved fitness he can make the midfield his own and complement the likes of Viney, Oliver and Gus perfectly.

The emergence of Brayshaw as a crucial part of our midfield set up this year is further proof that Goodwin is the right man for the job and that he absolutely knows what he is doing. We all couldn't believe that Gus missed the first few games, but those were given to him to find his feet and get some match practice into him. When he came back we eased him in off the half back flank and then shifted him into the middle over the past three weeks. It's been a slow burn but Gus has had his best 3 weeks of footy for the club and I firmly believe it's been down to how he has been managed to this point. He's coming from a fair way back with the concussion issues and the club (and Gus) have done everything right in getting him to this point. Long may it continue!

This is the same Christian Salem who returned, a week removed from a broken thumb, to have 27 touches, 8 marks, 4 tackles and 2 goals? You're a big something, and it isn't a Demon.