Wiseblood

They also upload them on YouTube, Robbo. It's in much better quality there.

It's such a shame too, Nash. As someone who shared each gameday with my old man who has now passed on, and a wife who supports St. Kilda, I end up in the gameday thread to share in the game with other supporters. Yet generally we get that constant negativity for the smallest things and posters who turn up once a week so they can litter the thread with ridiculous comments which others latch on to as well. As Sylvia Saint said earlier, there are some ripping posters on here and you need to look carefully to find them in some of those threads. It shouldn't be that way, but I'm not sure what can be done to change it really.

Fair enough. I have no doubt we will be asking the questions, but it feels like we're on the periphery at the moment. I know everything. Seriously though Steve, I've drawn that conclusion from what I've heard this year. What else can I do? I'm sure we are doing our due diligence but, at the moment, it seems we're on the periphery and if Steven May does decide to leave then the Hawks are in the box seat. Doesn't mean we're out of it, but I just don't think we will see Steven May in the red and blue next season. I'd love it if he was, though.

It's such a strange comment from you, Adam. Maybe it's because Pedo has had such a big month that he has set the bar too high, but to have a go at him about his ruck work when we both know he was giving up serious height to Witts on the weekend is harsh in the extreme. What he lacked in height he made up for with his work around the ground, and while he may not have have had the same impact of previous weeks, he was still very handy on the weekend.

For all our discussion about May, it seems as though the Hawks are the only club being linked to him at the moment. That's not to say we aren't in the conversation or won't become part of it, but it doesn't look as though we have a huge amount of interest in him at present. I still feel like we need another KPD, I just don't think it will end up being Steven May.

Okay, so we aren't exactly at the midway point yet, but with the bye coming up for us next weekend and a fortnight before we play again, I thought it would be a good chance to gauge how everyone feels we've been going so far this season. Here are some questions to answer: Best game so far: Worst game so far: Most improved player: A player who needs to lift: Who is currently leading the Bluey?: Best recruit: Will we make the finals?: For me, it's: Best game so far: The win over Adelaide. The St. Kilda game came a very close second, but everyone thought the Crows would smash us off the park and instead we gave them a dose of their own medicine. In the process we got a glimpse of what this team can be. Worst game so far: I don't think we've played a bad game as such, but the loss to Hawthorn is the one that sticks out for me. We were outplayed that day and, apart from one blistering quarter, we were average for most of the day. Freo game a close second. Most improved player: Jeff Garlett. 25 goals to this point suggests he could kick 50 this year. Totally different player to last year and he has become one of the best small forwards in the game. A player who needs to lift: Dean Kent. At this point of his career you would have expected him to have nailed down a permanent spot, but he has been very poor so far this year and needs to improve in many areas before he gets a gig in the seniors again. Who is currently leading the Bluey?: Clayton Oliver. Easy. Best recruit: Michael Hibberd. Had no idea how he was going to go after 18 months out of the game, but he hasn't put a foot wrong since he came into the side. Great user and just cool under pressure, he makes us a better side. Mitch Hannan has also been terrific, especially over the last fortnight. Will we make the finals?: Yes, we can, but we need to improve our first halves and win a few we aren't expected to. It's an even competition so 12 wins may be enough to get there, but I still think we can do it.

Don't worry mate, you'll be happy in a fortnight's time when Hannan sits on his head and kicks his fourth on the way to a 10 goal victory.

Pies are very, very average. Lions just 10 points down now and they have a sniff of victory.

Or in the Crows, Essendon, Saints, Blues and GC games? I never quite know what your point is these days. It's like you have an idea and vomit it all over your keyboard.

And it indicates that we won, and won well. If that's all the indicator we need then it works for me.

And I'm sure you've looked for that wrong foot as well... I generally like your posts Steve, but holy hell you can be a condescending little [censored] at the best of times. Are you so much better that you are levitating above the rest of us or what?

The response of a bloke who knows he's been called out and he has nowhere to go. Admit it - for years you've waffled on about W-L being more important than anything, and when we start winning we can't celebrate it unless we play a whole game well. Hypocrisy at it's finest so you can stay negative for as long as you can.

Yes, that's very true. The second half was down to us, not them. We stopped their momentum and put them to the sword. However, the first half was an atrocity that we should make sure we never watch again.

It's okay to not be impressed, but that's such a shallow way to look at the game. Make no mistake, we were terrible in that first half. You would be doing well to find many positives from it and you could argue it looked like our season was over from there. But WE took the momentum away from them in the second half and then put them to the sword. It was a performance full of leadership, good ball use and great team play. To take that away from the team is poor and doesn't reflect on the hard work to get back into the game, even though it would be nice if we could play like that for longer so we aren't in that position.

Here's something we can all enjoy: Clayton Oliver had another 35 touches, 21 contested possessions and 11 clearances. What a player. I wouldn't trade him for anyone in the competition right now.

Good point, SJ. He used it very well this week and he was stiff to be dropped a few rounds ago. The other one that stood out for me was Melksham. Had a huge impact on the game and he looks a much better player since being released from the half back line. Let's hope that continues as well.

I have still liked his game over the past fortnight, though. He is clearly playing well as a defensive forward, he has good hands and he is getting to the right spots to hit the scoreboard. He just needs to put a few kicks through the big sticks like he did against the Crows.

Agree with much of that, SS. The 'tsunami' analogy is spot on. We played 1.5 quarters of good footy, and in that time we kicked 14 goals. Granted, the Suns aren't great opposition and they tired, but it shows how good we are when it clicks. Imagine playing like that for 3.5 quarters?

Gawn and Hogan play and we probably win. Granted, Ablett is a huge out for them but we were missing some very good, and important, players as well. An unenjoyable win is correct, but I'll still take the win.

You could be forgiven for wanting nothing to do with the club after the first half. I didn't. I thought I was going to take a two week hiatus from the site, from the club, from anything to do with Melbourne. It was close to the worst half of football we have played for some time. We played lazy, arrogant footy and for the first time I really saw no leadership from our players. You could almost sense that we thought this was a game we would win without too much effort. It was horrible to watch. And then it all changed. Our leaders, especially Jones, took the game by the scruff of the neck and said 'we've had enough'. Against the wind we worked super hard and got ourselves back in front before going on with the job in the last term like we should. We played some terrific footy and it was clear that our changes worked as we had plenty of run to finish off the game. It was great to watch. A few things stood out: I have loved the development of Hannan over the last fortnight. We are seeing a good player form right before our eyes. He can be a real weapon for us. Nathan Jones stood up big time in the third term and gave us some real leadership. It was fantastic to see. Jeffy Garlett has been sensational this year and it was so pleasing to see him kick another 4 after a quiet game. I thought our changes were spot on this week and really gave us run we needed to not only get back into the game but to finish it off as well. No doubt the first half is something we need to fix and fix quickly. But, we are 5-5 going into the bye and we can rest and hopefully get a few key players back for a big second half of the year. We may not be a finals side going by tonight's effort, but we are well and truly in the running. Bring on the Pies in a fortnight!

Told you all at the end of the first term not to worry. I was right... thankfully...

Disappointed with the late Matera goal, but overall not too disappointed with the start otherwise. That's easily a 3-4 goal breeze and it's difficult to kick into. Before we all suffer in our jocks, lets see how we respond with the breeze in the second term. Lots of footy left to play.

Bugger off Matera.

Good mark and goal from Harmes. Good finish too into the breeze. We are clearly the better side, GC just getting a bit of luck from the breeze at the minute (and thanks to a few silly turnovers)

We just have to stick with them here against the wind. Matera just kicked it through post high from 55. You can tell we are trying to use it well going forward and hit up targets but it's not coming off at the minute.