Wiseblood

Hogan, Watts and Weideman can still bring the ball to ground. The resting ruckman didn't really work in the way you mentioned above on the weekend - Spencer kicked three, but it wasn't because he clunked some pack marks, and I don't think I saw Max take one mark inside 50 on Thursday night either. The idea is okay in theory, but I still think it takes some running and pressure power out of our forward line and we just can't afford to take it out of our side.

So if you take the wins out of it, and look at what I bolded, I could ask the question - what more do you want from a side in some practice games? It's nothing but a dress rehearsal, so how can you score it? If we can see a clear game plan, improvement in the players and a (generally) fit list, what else should we be expecting if we aren't worried about the score line? If we want to look purely outside of wins/losses, then we played very well against the reigning premiers, look terrific against a bottom 4 side (as we should) and were in the game until the end against a Top 4 side in Perth. To me, that shows improvement across the board, even if we still need to iron out some kinks, especially in our game plan. But that's really all you can ask for in March.

I suspect we'll know much more after the practice game against Port next weekend. It's good to see that we had plenty of players who were fit to play in the intra club, and getting some run into the legs of guys like Kent and Jetta can only be a good thing.

I'm surprised you haven't given our JLT season a 1 out of 10, going by your comments above. Both our wins are put down to the opposition being 'rusty', while you give the Saints credit for a huge win over Carlton even though they were resting most of their star players, who all played us the week before. I wonder, had we lost in the first game and won our final 2, if your views would be different. What I don't like is the fact that you've just glossed over some good football, some clear improvement from the players and a gameplan that, when executed properly, will tear teams apart. Instead, everyone is 'rusty' and we can take no credit for the wins we had. Pretty short sighted view of the last month in my opinion.

That may be the case, but the rest of his point (which you failed to highlight) is valid - he doesn't cover the open spaces well, didn't win a huge amount of hit outs in the ruck and doesn't offer a whole lot around the ground. I'll give him his due in that he kicked 3 goals and gave us a target up forward, but he provided little else. I'll be very, very nervous if he gets picked for Round 1 as I don't think it will suit Etihad or help us stop the Saints' run from half back. I'd love to be proved wrong but I just don't see it happening.

Hardly. He missed a session that he normally does as part of his management program, but didn't give the sufficient notice or explanation. I highly doubt that it's going to derail his career or their season. That said, I don't mind seeing the Hawks in struggle town. They are well overdue.

Yes, I should go back and fix it up as others have brought it up as well. I hope most got what I meant, though.

All good points, Steve. Can't argue with much of that. I thought your point about our entries inside 50 was pretty much spot on. We've got too many tall forwards at the minute who like the ball kicked on their head. Hogan loves it and, when he gets the chance of a one on one contest, he can beat anybody and take the mark. The problem is getting it to him quickly enough. Gawn and Spencer aren't your leading types, which is why I think they like playing Weideman as his game is predicated on leading and marking the footy (even though he didn't get near it last night). Dunstall touched on it for most of the night, in that we dominated periods of the game but our usage once we got it to half forward wasn't up to scratch. The small forwards are a secondary issue, but it was quite prevalent that we missed their influence once the ball hit the deck last night.

He turned the ball over with his first kick of the night, under no pressure, coming out of the backline. Other than that he wasn't too bad. As you say, his contested marking down back was a highlight.

Of course they do. I don't think that's the issue, though. It was our turnovers that allowed them the free space to cut us up on the rebound and we had no answer for it. Cut out the high turnover rate and you cut their scoring rate as well, regardless of the ground we play on.

We need to wait and see on this one. Jetta has just returned to full fitness from a quad injury and we'll know in the coming weeks where he stands. I haven't seen the press conference so I can't comment on that, but I highly doubt he's totally fallen out of favour over a pre-season. It wouldn't make a whole lot of sense.

I don't think it was either, however it was apparent that it was something we missed last night. As soon as the ball hit the deck the Eagles were generally able to run it out quickly. Petracca and Brayshaw needed a Kent/Garlett there as they are too similar in their play. Having a zippy player at the feet of our talls will help us jag a few extra goals and add some pressure to the opposition backline. God knows we can't let St. Kilda waltz it out of their backline with ease in a fortnight's time.

I could be wrong, but I don't feel as though the breakdown of the zone will be as bad on a smaller ground. Subiaco is much wider and therefore a team like West Coast know how to find the gaps easier, which they did when we turn it over. When we've played on smaller ground in the first two rounds our zone defence has been great and, even when there has been a turnover, we've had the rebound generally covered. Granted, one of those games was against an extremely average Carlton side, but you could see what we were doing. The Eagles just had too much space on the bigger ground and we kept giving them easy goals through preventable turnovers. The one thing in our favour, at the minute, is our midfield. I think we won more than our fair share of the ball and, when we used it well, we looked dangerous. The addition of a Kent/Garlett will also help our cause down there and I think it's an area that we have the Saints covered in. Hopefully this is a great learning experience and that we now have 2 weeks to tighten the screws and iron out some of the kinks we found last night. I'm happy for us to have it happen in JLT3 than Round 1... as long as don't make the same mistakes again!

Perhaps I'm giving the team the benefit of the doubt, but I'm putting it down to an off night and playing on a dodgy surface. Not to mention the last quarter where the dew set in and players were fumbling left, right and centre. We made some bad errors last night, and we still need to get better under intense pressure, but I don't think on the whole our skill level will be that bad this year. It was a tough night in Perth in hot, slippery conditions, and I think we'll handle things far better on Etihad.

And I'm part of that 99%. I'm talking about this game and his role in it which was brought up ad nauseum every 30 seconds, or are you too slow to work that out?

I didn't realise it needed to be brought up all night. Check the Trengove thread, I care about his role in the side, I just don't care about his role in this game tonight being analysed with every second post.

Overall the effort was great tonight, but the execution was poor. There's no denying that. The Eagles made us pay for it and it won them the game. I felt as though we matched them around the ground but we exposed our backline which we simply cannot do. It's not talented enough right now to stand on it's own two feet and our midfield and half forward line need to support it better by eliminating the turnovers. Lots of positives, though. Oliver was super and will only get better. Hunt and Salem are primed for big years, Spencer gave us something, Lewis was a cool head under pressure and Brayshaw is another who is getting better each week. Lots of our better players were down today as well - Tyson had a mare, Benire turned it over and Maxy didn't exert his usual influence. When you factor in that, as well as the turnovers, then a 4 goal loss is a fair reflection. We are a big chance to roll the Saints in a fortnight's time, and if we add a couple of pure small forwards, add Jetta and Hibberd to the mix and make the right selections re: tall forwards then there is no reason why we can't win in Round 1.

Who gives a flying [censored] about Trengove? Jesus. He isn't playing, move on.

It matters little now, but Gawn just got clobbered in the back of the head in front of the umpire... play on. How he missed it is beyond me, umps have been disappointing tonight.

Oh Jesse. As soon as Dunstall talked him up I knew he would miss!

He's certainly had a few chances to stake his claim in this last term and he hasn't taken them - dropped mark, missed a shot and fluffed a handpass that would have released ANB.

I love Jayden Hunt. What a ripping goal! Back to 11 points!

Well done, Jack! Good work from Bernie, too. Back to 20 points.

If it means we leave Perth with no fresh injuries then it can be as bruise free as it likes.

Spot on, red. Effort has been great, but it's deflating when we make simple mistakes that cost us goals. As you say, the addition of Kent/Garlett, Hibberd and possibly Frost (if fit) will make us a better side.