Wiseblood

We don't need him in that role anymore, plus our backline takes more of a zone approach, which is one of the reasons why we got Lever who is the master at it. I can see why you want to keep him there, but he'll be of more value to us up forward this year.

The backlash when we traded for Melksham was ridiculous at the time. Melksham is proof that patience is required with any deal. It took him half a season to settle, but he's looking better and better with every game. He is looming as a very shrewd piece of business.

I know that @stevethemanjordan has a Colin Garland tattoo on his chest. He might share it if you're nice to him.

I agree with your assertion that Gus had, in the context of how everyone else played, a rather poor day out and he is fighting for a spot in the side at the minute. After his concussion issues I'm happy to give him time to regain his confidence at AFL level. In fact, I'd give him the whole year to do it. I still think he can play a big part for the club going forward, but he's coming from a long way back, and therefore I'd be happy to give him plenty of time to improve. He will struggle, at the minute, for a spot in our Round 1 side though.

Frost was left out of the side, but was in the original squad of 30, while Kent is still coming back from injury.

Have we? That's news to me. We might have thrown him in there rarely during the main season, but I don't recall us doing it 'several times'. But your opinion is totally blinded by some sort of hatred for the bloke, which is evident in your last few posts. Not sure what you have against him, but it seems as if he's personally offended you or something.

And you know this how? Don't confuse an opinion with outright lies.

I agree with most of your analysis Dee, but this is a head scratcher. It's the JLT series and we've flagged that we want to use Jesse in the midfield a little more. It's the perfect time to trial it when there are no points up for grabs and losing a couple of centre clearances means nothing. If the experiment doesn't work, then I assume we don't do it much at all in the future. It's harmless to do it now. To suggest sticking him in there a little today makes a mockery of getting rid of Jack Watts, that he's out laziest trainer etc is one of the most bizzare things I've read on here. Seems like an outrageous over-reaction to me.

Absolutely, and I think we've chipped away at this aspect of the club for a while now. For too long we've had blokes getting games when they shouldn't and we've rarely had enough pressure coming from Casey on blokes who are under performing. I have a feeling that is about to change, and as you say, it's a great problem to have.

We still have JLT 2 to play, where we may well see the return of Tyson, Garlett and Jetta, but from today's showing there are going to be some very, very stiff players missing out in Round 1.

So much to like about today's performance. What stands out to me is how we look like a team, rather than us relying on certain players to drag us over the line. We have real quality across the field at the moment and you can see that each players in confident in those around him. Lots of players really stood up today - ANB and Harmes were excellent, Salem grew into the game with his field kicking, Jesse kicked 3 and looked dangerous, while our backline worked really well together. Lever will be a gun, but guys like Hibberd aren't far behind him. The second term was a tough one for us but I thought we regrouped well in the conditions and put them away when we had the chance. And Bayley Fritsch has oodles of potential. Can he sneak in for Round 1? It will be tough. Onwards and upwards, great to have the footy back!

He's been going okay, but hasn't done enough to put himself in contention for Round 1. Just the 10 touches and 2 tackles to this point in the game.

WHAT. THE . FRITSCH

I want it to happen too, but can we fit him in? Garlett is an automatic inclusion down there, while Melksham and Bugg have shown enough to suggest they might be ahead of him. Same goes for Hannan. It will be tough to select a side in Round 1, but what a good thing that is!

Absolutely smashed them that term. Granted, we had a pretty good breeze behind us, but it was the clinical way we put them to the sword in that term that really impressed me. Interested to see how we play out the game, but they've shown us enough to suggest we have the capability to improve on last year's output.

It was great play from the Old Mother!

How good was Hibberd there on Waite? Terrific stuff. I've also been impressed with how quiet we've kept their tall forwards today as well. They have barely gotten a look in.

Spot on, DA. Our transition work today has been a highlight. It's also good to see us putting our good work on the scoreboard.

Super ruck work from Maxy and great finish from Harmes.

A few centre bounces, but he's generally spent the bulk of his time forward.

Hogan has me on the first half chub of 2018. More of this please, Jesse.

Classic Hogan goal - one one one, uses the hips, goal!

How good is Hibberd's field kicking? 2 early points, we need goals.

Jacobs has been giving him the very hard tag. Still had 7 touches and 4 tackles with some time on the bench, but your point is valid. He'll get more attention than ever this year.

I agree, but his transition to playing well in the midfield will take time. He needs to learn to hunt his own footy and get in the right positions. Spending most of his time forward means that he can allow others to dictate the play a bit. His work up forward has been excellent but, as you say, his effectiveness in the middle has been lacking. I think that will improve in time.