Wiseblood

Trac and Oliver both caught high - play on. DER-WAYNE's excuse was that it wasn't for long enough. That makes perfect sense...

What the hell was that from Salem? Sheesh. No talk at all. Smith then smashed Papley in a tackle, so good start for him.

Looks like Joel Smith has gone to Papley. Melbourne supporters collectively pack their dacks.

I'm having flashbacks of our loss to them in 2018, but I feel as though we've matured since then. Plus our back line and overall team defence are in a better spot as well. Dees by 5 goals.

Thought the comments on our pressure are a little off. Apart from the shocker of a third term against the Dogs, our general pressure and team defence have been excellent for a while now.

I agree 100% mate. I don't want him down there, even though I was happy at the beginning of the year for them to persist with it. Our back six has been on fire and the last thing I want to see is Joel Smith crashing packs and spoiling Steven May or Jake Lever.

Plenty of players worth raiding from the Hawks. Frawley. Scully. Frost. Cheney. Fitzpatrick. All absolute guns. Get it done Mahoney.

He'd look good in the orange vest. I'm also happy most, including me, are kind of baffled by his inclusion this week. We felt that way about a few last week and we know how that turned out. Might have the same effect this week as well.

Or would they look to use his athleticism on a wing? Or maybe I need to go to bed?

The changes make sense, although as some have said, Joel Smith is a little bit of a head scratcher. I know some of us are worried about Papley, but then many of you were packing yourselves over Butler last week and he had zero influence. I'm backing in some great team defence to keep him quiet.

Never thought I'd be saying this after the first few rounds of the season, but we will really miss having Hibberd in the side if he does miss this week. I think it would be sensible to give him this game off so he can be cherry ripe for the Freo match, but he has been terrific since making his way back into the side.

I'm not sold on him. Strikes me as a Bayley Fritsch, third tall type forward. We've obviously already got one of those. I think I'd rather see us look to recruit another wing type player to complement Ed Langdon first.

Little bit of Viney bias there, AF. And slightly harsh to call him 'dumb'. Watch it in real time. He pops the arms up with enough lean towards Steele that it not only holds Kent up for that extra second or two, but Viney can then also move further towards and then run with Steele, and thus he doesn't bring any attention to himself.

Spoke slightly too soon there big fella.

Only 22 points up going into the last quarter. I'd be nervous as a Crows fan as the Hawks are well within striking distance.

Dom was great for us in his first few years. Then he stagnated. Others went past him and he got shoved out to a wing. He was slow with ball in hand and was an average, at best, user of the footy. I still have heart palpitations when I think of his horrible kick against the Pies in 2017 that almost cost us the game before the Watts sealer. Even when fit he struggled to get a run with Norf. He wouldn't be in our best 30 players now.

True, but the dominance of Steven May shows why we let him go. Frosty had his moments but he was far too unpredictable, and Goodwin wants a tough, dependable back line. Frosty was the anti-dependable defender, although I did enjoy watching him play. I'm not suggesting you want him back, Pates, more that I've seen other posters throughout this year lamenting how we let him go. I think we've seen enough now to show why we did.

Which tackle was it, LH? I can't even recall him laying a tackle where I thought he might be in even a little bit of trouble.

Happy with that. No doubt the kick could have been a little better, but it was no shank and the decision from Jones was the right one. Oliver just needed to give a little more effort and we would have been praising both players instead of lamenting the turnover.

The one thing that will work against him are the smaller list sizes next year. If everything was normal, then you would expect him to get one more contract for 2021 and for him to then call it a day. But there is certainly some doubt around him for next year. The heart says to give him another year. He has been a wonderful servant for the club and he has stuck by us through thick and thin. However, the head says that we need to move on. We're in this for premierships and I don't see Jones as being part of that. If it came down to giving someone like Tom Sparrow two years or Nathan Jones one, who are you going with? Whatever the decision, I hope it is handled with respect and maturity by all involved.

I think you're letting Oliver off the hook with that second one. I remember at the time being really disappointed in his effort to take that mark - he was in the right position, but was almost expecting some contact so he didn't go hard enough to take it. Had he marked it we were away through the middle of the ground.

I actually wonder how Toumpas would go out on a wing for us these days. For all our recent success, we certainly missed quite a few during that period. Edit - and, by these days, I mean had he someone we drafted in 2018. I don't mean how would he go right now as a bloke in his mid 20s.

I doubt he'll get it this week. However, that doesn't take anything away from the fact that we have a really good young player on our hands here. Has maturity, courage and is a good user of the footy. He should be playing on our half back line for the next decade at least.

He absolutely rubbed it in their faces tonight. And we loved every minute of it!