Wiseblood

I know you want to keep running with the OMac theme, but deep down you know it won't happen. Nice try.

In: Spencer, Pedersen Out: Gawn, Weideman Hannan may also get the chop for someone like Ben Kennedy. I'd love to add Hibberd to the list as well but he needs a week or two at Casey.

Neal-Bullen has few tricks? Melksham had little to commend? I want what you're smoking, Joe. It's seriously good stuff.

His second half, once he got the speed of the game back, was sensational. As you say, he makes our forward line better. He is deceptively good in the air as well.

How were they to know that Gawn would get injured? We were 2-0 without Pedersen or Spencer, so they had every right to go with a proper forward to cover Hogan. We were doing pretty well today as well until Gawn did his hammy. Smith was okay in the first half, very quiet in the second. Will probably get another week with Hogan out, though.

What? Outside of Jones he was BOG for me. 28 touches and 8 tackles, easily his best game for the club to date. What more can we ask of him?

True, but then we still had 31 shots on goal, so the unpredictability and the pressure (for three quarters anyway) worked in our favour. Smith will get another week, but depending on form from Casey, you would expect that Weideman and Hannan may be in trouble.

Weideman had an absolute shocker, which clearly shows his misses the influence that Hogan brings to the side. He got their best backman for most of the game and it showed. Not surprised guys like Hannan, for example, have dropped off a little. Tyson doesn't worry me though. Interested to hear what Goody has to say about it, and to also see how the boys at Casey went. We could be in for a few changes again this weekend.

Horribly frustrating loss. Hard to fathom how we lost that game when we had so many winners across the board. Our kicking for goal was ordinary to say the least, but I guess we were due as normally we're not too bad. But those second and third quarters killed us and we should have been 6 goals up going in to the last quarter. But I'm proud of the boys. When Max went down we stood up and gave it everything. Look at some of the excellent performances from guys like Hunt, Stretch and ANB. Guys like Oliver and Petracca gave us something as well. We did everything we could, but when you miss so many shots your luck will only last forever. Shout out to Nathan Jones as well. Mammoth game and further proof that he is a star of the competition. Onwards and upwards from here. Let's go out to the G and smash Freo next weekend.

Settle everyone, the game isn't lost yet... we're actually in front. Still plenty of footy to be played and if we go out there and play 30 minutes of hard, tough and manic footy, then we win the game. Simple.

Bit of class for the Cats coming to the fore at the end, but we're still in front and there is no reason why we can't win this. We've worked our backsides off to this point, but don't lose sight of the fact that we have played some excellent footy (apart from our kicking for goal.) I'm a sucker, but I'll back the boys in from here!

And of those who missed, many were the kids - Weideman, Petracca, Stretch, Harmes etc. Doesn't excuse it, but hopefully Goody went to each one and told them that they owe us a goal in the second half. Something to learn from.

Confirmed - hamstring injury for Max. Not sure how bad it is yet, although I don't think it's a tear, more a strain.

I've also been super impressed with Nibbler. He has been given more midfield minutes this week and he is having a really positive impact. That last pass over 50 metres to Petracca was, dare I say it, centimeter perfect. Another one who has improved over the summer and is reaping the rewards.

Nothing like that, Dom. I believe he either has right knee soreness or it could also be hamstring related. Not good, obviously, but could be a whole lot worse.

Apart from the kicking for goal, we're dominating. Selwood and Dangerfield have had little influence and we're swarming all over them the moment they touch the footy. For all of that, there is still lots of improvement to be had - if we kick straight, for one, then we could be 3-4 goals up right now. We can fix this in the second half. I'm loving this sort of football at the moment. We are taking right up to them and making sure we dictate the terms. Can we sustain it? Not sure, but it's great to see.

I can recall Schache actually saying prior to him being drafted that he would love to go to Brisbane as he had some family ties there. I wonder what's changed to have him potentially entertaining other offers? I know the money would be huge, but he seemed to have a deeper connection than others to the club.

Don't worry, Ken. Viney will have put Dangerfield to sleep by half time so you'll have some company.

Are many people arguing this, TPF39? I think you'll find the angst surrounds the sanctions they got, which were extreme, and the sudden 'improvement' in the health of both Cripps and Rowe, especially the latter who had 'delayed concussion symptoms' but is somehow still playing this week. No one is arguing that what they did was right, as it wasn't. Their actions weren't good, and I think you'll find only a minority think otherwise, but that's not what most are unhappy about.

Sensible changes. Brayshaw is lacking a little form and Kent plays the half forward role better, so it makes sense. Not worried about Gus in the slightest - you can't be in form for your entire career. Hopefully he'll get some game time in the midfield in the coming weeks and play himself back into some form. Excited to see Smith and Bernie is the no brainer. Now we just need to smash the Cats!

It's official - Tim Smith to debut this week vs. Geelong. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2017-04-06/smith-to-debut-against-the-cats

It's a shame AF, but often people only look at their disposal count. If it's low then it must mean they've had a bad game and exerted no influence on the contest itself. It's rubbish. He may have been quieter than last week but, as you say, he impacted the game in other ways than just kicks and handpasses. I'd be shocked if he were to be dropped.

Edit - totally mis-read the info. We are 1,000 members off our record, not from 40k. Sorry all.

I'm not normally a fan either, but I think this one has a little validity. Of the four teams just above us from the weekend in terms of games and experience, none of them have won a game this year. We're on the bottom of that list and we have won our first 2 games, one of which was a ripping win and the other was a total scrap. I think what we can be excited about is that we clearly DO have the talent - as you rightly pointed out, it doesn't always equate to that when you compare teams of similar experience like the Dogs and Norf, but in this case I think it shows we certainly do have good young players and we are most certainly headed in the right direction.

Let's go full stupid and send Oliver to Adelaide for Lever. Don't settle for being a little outrageous, just send yourself right over the edge.