Wiseblood

Sorry, I missed that bit of your post re: competing for the same spot. Read it too quickly. I reckon he is a certainty to get a run next week and, as you say, some of the other fringe players didn't exactly push their case for a regular spot yesterday. Let's hope he can take his chance better than others did.

Is it just the 'odd' mistake, though? I can recall a period in the third term where he made back to back errors, and ones that didn't seem forced either. I'm a Tom McDonald fan and I like what he brings defensively to the side, but if we can get the ball in the hands of our better users more often so he has to kick less then I think the side will be better for it.

You can add Frost and Hibberd to that list as well, which again shows our depth and the challenge ahead for Jack to establish himself again in the side. Is there a role for him to play? Possibly, but I think he just needs to concentrate on being a depth player who is ready to take his chance when it's presented to him. He's still an intelligent player who can offer us something, but the combination of injury and the addition of talent has left him in the wilderness a little.

Must be a slow day if George is editing this thread. Did you run over punt kicks dog or something...?

It will get better in time, but overall I thought the umps did a pretty good job yesterday. It was nice to see for a change.

I agree that he can provide some great service to our forwards - but when he is inside 50 he needs to take the shot on goal, unless he is on the boundary. I'd rather him have the shot than potentially turn the ball over, but that's just me.

Salem was terrific today. Got plenty of the footy on the inside, used it well and made good decisions. Stretch was very good too, he is a beautiful user of the footy and he gets himself in the right spots. Melksham did struggle a little but he looked like a bloke who hasn't played competitive footy for 500 days. He'll take time. He did a few good things and a few things that made you cringe, but it's onwards and upwards from here.

That he did. I guess some people are saying that it's less of a risk to take the shot yourself - if the pass doesn't come off then you've given up a certain shot on goal and, with such fierce competition, you can't afford to do that. Today his passes were spot on and it looked good, but I'd also like to see him become a little more selfish and take the responsibility on himself.

True, but our outs aren't that far behind. It's not as if it was a huge gap like everyone was trying to trumpet so they can downplay our performance and make excuses for the media darlings.

Just on Joel Smith - is he eligible to actually play Round 1 as a Category B rookie? Do we have space to elevate him to the senior list at this stage?

All I can say is that, once the highlights of the game as a whole are uploaded, you'll enjoy some promising footy from our boys. Joel Smith was another today who stepped up and took his chance. He might find it hard to crack the 22 to begin the year, but he can only continue to develop and get better from here. Moves very well, is strong in the contest and doesn't look to bad with his disposal. One to certainly keep an eye on.

The Doggies will be the like the Warriors of the NBA - they will dominate everything as they are the media darlings. We'll just need to get used to it. We played some great footy today and I don't mind that it will go largely unnoticed, as it doesn't mean a whole lot in February but it will also help us stay under the radar a little.

I know I was a little harsh of your prediction earlier OD - I just like to keep the optimism up to kick off the year. If I go in looking at a game and thinking we can't win then I'm in for a long year!

Thoughts everyone? We played pretty well today, plenty to like and some of the kids showed their flashes of brilliance. Lewis was our top possession winner, already looking like a wonderful acquisition!

You problem, not mine. He's fine, Dom. Didn't even need to go off, just didn't look good when he went down.

Jesus Christ. Hogan going down like that and I literally dry retched on my couch.

That's a horribly shallow way of looking at it, but to each their own.

4 for Hogan. Very happy with that.

20 touches for Lewis to 3 quarter time. Does it with minimal fuss.

Good stuff from the boys, now to finish it off. We have some serious class in this side now - when we click, we'll be hard to beat, but I still expect us to have some bad weeks as we mature.

The fawning over the Dogs is annoying, but it's preferable to the fawning over the Drug Cheats we'll get each week.

Not yet, although crutches doesn't fill you with confidence. Hopefully they're just doing it as a precaution.

Shouldn't this be on it's own in the 'Major Positives' section?

Spot on with your last comment, but that's the beauty of not only the pre-season but also playing a good side. We can look at what we can fix and what we're doing wrong. Apart from their run on I'm very happy with how we look at the minute.

Yep, he's been terrific. Great decision maker. Brayshaw and, surprisingly, Smith were close behind. Inevitable Dogs comeback, you don't win a flag without some class in your side. Good to go in ahead at half time and we can re-boot and have another crack in the second half.