Wiseblood

I think it speaks volumes for his leadership within the club that, even after all the injuries and the amount of football he has missed, that he is still voted in by the players and coaches to be a part of the leadership group. Got everything crossed he can get over the bumps in the road and once again become a key cog in our push to be a better club on the field.

No need to change your 'point' now. You made the point of 'who do we play on Ablett' as if we are amateurs, and I told you what we did, and how McKenzie had him covered. Nice deflection though. And no, no one accepts that, but it's a clear reflection that we still have a long way to go. Our two opening games also showed the ability that this list DOES have when it all comes together.

No, I work in reality. The club needs the money. Right at this point in time that supersedes anything else we can do at the minute. Roos and Jackson sell the club, but any supporter with half a brain knows that the money we get from playing games up there is crucial to our survival in the short term. Yes, results play a huge role in this too, but that will come. Once we are stable and the club is more competitive then we won't need to play games up there anymore, but right now we don't have that choice. I still like this paragraph from you though: "the disaster that was yesterday has probably done more damage than will be recovered with 20 NT games. I am sure I am not alone in feeling like all the good will that started to build up with the Roos tenure has just completely been wiped away and we might as well be at round 2, 2013 with that [censored] Neeld giving the worst pre-game speech you've ever seen, live on national TV, to precursor a flogging that would normally be seen at junior football level. I am absolutely sick of it. IDGAF what anyone says, reigning premiers, preseason, missing key players, yes that's all true but we were outscored 18 goals to 2 after quarter time and quite frankly we don't deserve to be in the Australian Football League if that's the pathetic level of competition we dish out." Disaster? How old are you? 10? Most over the top, ludicrous paragraph posted after a pre-season game I've ever seen.

McKenzie did last year, and he beat him. One pre-season loss has you wetting your pants and dribbling in thread after thread.

What's yours? You're basing it on the fact that we got smashed by the reigning premier. We played with no forward line to speak of and our midfield was totally outclassed by the best team in the comp. Darwin has nothing to do with that. The gulf in ability and class is what did us in. You can't say that when we come back from the NT that it changes anything in terms of how we play. We won two games last year and stunk it up regardless of where we played.' But, hey, you go ahead and crack it about a pre-season game. Throw a few things around the house, have a go at a few posters, eat some curry and drink some beer even. But the fact remains blaming the NT for how we play is an excuse, and a soft one at that. We should be able to play anywhere and follow it up the next week. We should be able to travel and get ourselves up the following week. It's just facts.

There is also evidence to suggest that we haven't been able to follow up after any game, played anywhere in Australia, for a few years now. Darwin has nothing to do with it. We need to face the fact that we are playing games there over the foreseeable future. Not only do we get money from playing the games there, but we get a foothold into the NT which can help sponsorships and future memberships. Using this 'follow on' effect from playing games there is a cheap and sort sighted attitude. As they say, we need to win games no matter where we play them and learn to back it up the next week.

At least this is against the reigning premiers - if we were being smashed by Brisbane then I'd truly be worried, but the Hawks are red hot at the minute, so this is no surprise.

I think it is actually. No better way to sit down and watch video of where we went wrong against easily the best team in the comp who are pretty much at full strength today. Great learning experience with the new game plan for me.

We weren't scoring at the time which would mean we were struggling to get the ball forward. Didn't realise stating the obvious was a 'woe is me' type post. Not sure about JKH but Salem isn't playing if you had read the team lists, as he wasn't even named in the squad.

Never said it wasn't to be expected, just pointing out that we are no doubt struggling to get the ball forward, particularly with our 3 first choice talls not playing.

21-1 early. Obviously struggling to get the ball forward. Jones is back on the ground after the Lewis hit so that's some good news.

Early update is Hawks 6, us 0. Howe and Trengove have both had shots on goal but not scored from either. Not much else to go on at this stage.

True, but I don't think they have the freedom to be as brutally honest as we want them to be. They give the score updates pretty quickly but I'll certainly be here for the game summaries from those who went.

I don't think so. Our best bet is someone giving updates on here or following the Dees twitter account.

I still think we have the ability to kick a score against sides while we miss the 3 big talls - it won't be an easy thing to do, but Fitzy, Pedersen and Howe are decent targets to kick the footy at, and if we can have JKH roaming around at their feet then I think we'll be alright. As others have mentioned our opening 5 games aren't too bad and it still gives us the opportunity to put some wins on the board and build some confidence. Hogan and Dawes have time to mend from their injuries and come back ready to go without being rushed. It hurts not to have the big fella down there but we can survive.

1pm I believe it is.

I'm not worried. JKH to kick a Sean Charles style bag of goals on debut.

Agree 100%, and I think he is showing this potential because he is injury free and given a big role as part of the midfield. He was overlooked a little up north with Scully, Ward and others being given more time in the middle (although he was injured for most of last year), but he is exactly what we need. When was the last time we had a midfielder who could get a hard ball, take the tackle and somehow still have time to shoot out an accurate handpass to the advantage of a team mate? It's fantastic to see. Lots of positive last night too. Hogan and Watts got games under their belt. Even though he coughs it up I thought Spencer was better this week and I love his mongrel, you can tell he just loves putting on the red and blue jumper. I thought Toumpas had a good game, particularly in the second half, and it was great to see him go back into a pack in the last quarter and take a mark. Our midfield can get it's hands on the footy and we actually look like a side who can stay in games and not be run into the ground. We have some good players still to return which leaves me genuinely excited for a season for the first time in ages.

The turnovers hurt, but I hope Roosy is still encouraging them to take the game on. Until our confidence is up and we have some games into the younger fellas we will still make mistakes and look silly at times, but outside of that we already look a far, far better team than the one we had last year. Plenty more positives than negatives.

Matt Jones turns it over again. You're killing me SMALLS!!

Nope. Hawkins just dropped it flat on the ground... play on.... ridiculous!

And held Georgiou before it got there. Umps have missed a heap tonight.

That's what happens after our first decent win in a few seasons. We all expect it to simply happen again and anything less is not good enough. We are still making mistakes, which we will do, but there are still lots of positive signs for us.

You should be a coach as, you know, you seem to know it all. Toumpas is 19 and it's NAB Cup, but don't let that stop you from totally writing a young kid off. You go right ahead there.

Strauss wasn't named in the squad to begin with.