Wiseblood

I think we need to give him a little time though. It's been a while since he's played so he needs to match time to get back into the groove so to speak. But he's been well off the pace today.

One thing the Dogs did well in the first half was their pressure around the contest. Gawn won plenty of HO but each time we got our hands on it we are almost tackled instantly. We haven't had a great deal of room to move.

Well we kept them goalless which is something, and we were a bit better going forward. It's against half a side so I'd love to see us come out and run over the top of them in second half but I'm not getting carried away. I don't see it as something to worry about though. We'll be right.

Apart from a few turnovers, Watts is having a good day. Good on him too.

A classic Matt Jones tackle there. He does it at least once a game.

Ah Jeffy, you're a star!

Finally! A goal! Well done Jack.

Was about to praise Pedersen for the chase... then he kicks it 30m straight to a Dogs player. Sums it up right now really.

How are they getting free so easily? They are hitting targets with ease.

Good pressure there to force the turnover. Took us a quarter to get going last week, hopefully this is the same.

I wasn't saying you were, I was saying the rest of us can't spin what we are watching any other way. And to suggest we 'turn it off' is silly. We love our club, we are just playing poorly.

That's a silly thing to say Saty. We haven't been impressive, we've turned it over, fumbled the ball and our kicks inside 50 have been average at best. People here aren't slitting wrists, just calling it as they see it. If it's bad then it's bad. You can't spin it any other way.

No one is calling the season over mate, but our first quarter has been poor. Our skills in particular have been awful. I'm not worried but it's fact.

We've missed plenty of handpasses in close as well. We drop it way too easily at the moment.

He went and did it again. Horrid.

Playing well... until the ball gets to half forward. Feels like the Dogs are kicking with a bit of a breeze too.

If we play like last week then that won't happen. I was just hoping to see us up against some strong opposition again to see where we are really at. Last week gave us some insight but I was hoping to see us back it up. I'm not worried about the game, just disappointed it won't be against a strong Dogs side.

I'm a bit flat about this game now. Playing basically their VFL side doesn't fill me with excitement.

O Mac, Terlich and ANB didn't make the squad. Dogs have dropped Dahlhaus, Boys, Wallis and Macrae from theirs and have named a very, very weak side. It's shite to be honest. I'm kind of disappointed by that as I would have liked to see us up against close to their best side, plus I don't see the benefit in resting so many of your players when they need match fitness.

I think they are guessing. Squad isn't normally named until an hour or so before the game.

Fair point, but I believe that Goodwin and Roos love him because of the pressure he brings in the forward half and the fact he is handy in the ruck when Gawn needs a rest. He has the pace and agility to match it with others around the ground and, while he isn't a forward line threat as yet, I think we are hoping that he can develop into a good, third tall option in the future. Hogan and, hopefully, Weideman are the future as our key talls. Frost could be the third if he makes it.

I agree with this... but at the same time they need to be practicing in the positions they are going to be playing in for the season. If they see McDonald as our CHB for the season ahead then, unless we have a real forward crisis, that's where we play him so they can continue to learn to be a cohesive back six. Clearly, for the moment, they see Frost as a forward. They'll continue to experiment with him there in the weeks ahead. I don't see the point of trying him once and then giving up and making switches after one game. Doesn't make much sense. Happy to stand corrected if the game starts and McDonald is in the forward line, but I don't think we'll see it.

Wouldn't make much sense to me. While the NAB is used to experiment, I hardly see the point of playing TMac up forward for a meaningless game because Hogan is being rested. Leave him to lead the back six and use the guys who will play forward to play that role.

Essendon Carlton Brisbane St. Kilda Gold Coast Adelaide Melbourne GWS Giants --- Richmond Brownlow - Sam Grimley Coleman - Liam Jones Rising Star - N/A from Essendon

Just want to see the same intent and pressure as we had last week. Now that we have shaken off the rustiness we should be able to go out there and get things going from the first bounce. I'm also interested to see how the forward line functions without Hogan down there. He didn't do a whole lot last week but then he does take the best defender, so I'm curious as to how we kick out goals with Pedersen, Frost and a resting Gawn as our talls. If we can get it down there enough then hopefully our small players can jag a few as well.