Wiseblood

Considering some of the sides we had to field in the 70's and 80's, I think you'll find he exaggerated just a touch...

Times have changed over the last 110 years.

You never fail to bring a smile to my face YM. Check out this article on the Melbourne website: Casey Countdown Mentions that, if he keeps training like he is at the moment, that Watts could well be playing for Casey in the next fortnight which is exciting to say the least. As for playing now, whats the point? Let him take his time so when we are pushing up the ladder he is fit and firing.

Every time this stuff gets brought up I'm in two minds: On one hand I go to most games with some glimmer of hope that we can win. Obviously we don't and against most teams we simply don't stand a chance, but I want to WIN games, and always will, and I feel sick thinking about losing another 16 games... BUT... On the other hand I know that picks 1 and 2 will set us up brilliantly for the future. With the Gold Coast and West Sydney coming in over the next few years and draft picks being scarce, we have bottomed out at the right time. I think we will finish in the bottom 2 on the ladder this year which will land us one of Butcher or Scully regardless of how many games we win, and we can look forward with some hope for the future. But remember, we are only 2 games in to the year. We are still missing 5 of our top 6 picks from the last 2 years and we have other players to return to the line up. I think we will really start to play some good, consistent footy in the second half of the year and surprise a few team in the process. The first half of the year, however, could get ugly at times!

I don't want to admit it.... but it's true. <_<

I don't like your reasoning at all. Just because we are a tall forward short doesn't mean that Newton should instantly be given a run. He has had his chances and wasted them all. I'd much rather Bailey try something else than play flogs who don't deserve it. Bate was terrible last week but played a better game this week. Only kicked one goal but gave off a few as well (Johnson and Morton) and he played further up the ground. Much rather Bate than Newton.

So now it's no forward line vs. no forward line this week.... should be an interesting game to say the least!

Believe it when I see it. Stick Martin up forward, Warnock on Cloke, Frawley on Anthony and Rivers can play the third man up. Bennell should get more game time with Garland out this week so it will be good to see how he goes. Not fussed with the result on Saturday, Pies will be breathing fire and that makes them very tough to beat. Just want to see Moloney, Petterd, Rivers etc get through another game and for the kids to stand up again!

One thing I think we can ALL agree on is the need to make our forward line as potent as possible. I think that's why we need Maric, Sylvia and possibly Martin down there against the filth. Maric and Sylvia can provide a target and we all know that Maric can sniff a goal, so we need to get them in there. Jetta deserves another week and Stef Martin would be handier down forward than Paul Johnson ever will be. Get those guys in there and we will kick more goals, simple as that.

I know that, but our forward line stinks. Robbo knows how to kick goals and we need all the goals we can get. The sooner he plays, the better. If anything it takes some pressure off Miller and Bate.

Correct. Playing a fired up Collingwood side, Saturday arvo at the G is a great way to not only give us further exposure, but also to see how far we have REALLY come. The Pies will want blood this weekend and it will be interesting to see how our young side goes!

Disappointing for Aussie, BUT, it still gives little Nev Jetta the chance to play some games and also gives a chance for Maric to have a few games in a row. Plus Robbo and Wheatley are coming back through the reserves. It's not all doom and gloom.

It was a warm day and we ran hard for 3 quarters and just ran out of petrol. Guys like Rivers, Moloney, McLean etc are still coming back from long term injuries and we had 4 first gamers. Today we looked slow more than anything. Their smaller players killed us all day.

I also think too many of our players don't run hard enough. Geelong, like you mentioned, are the perfect model - when the turnover occurs and they win the footy they stream forward to give them options. We, on the other hand, simply jog around and look for the handpass in tight situations. We may end up with a few free playes on the wings but there is no-one running back after that. This is when our forwards, who struggle as it is, have to contest againt 2 or 3 defenders. Too many of our players don't run hard enough, and too many of our players are SLOW. We don't work hard to give that option running forward.

I think the problem is that we simply cannot allow teams to have a loose man in our defence. We are bereft of talent down there as well know, so allowing a team to have one extra man will kill us constantly. Miller and Bate didn't provide much today, but how often did they receive good kicks going forward? Not often. How many times did they have to contest against 2 or even 3 defenders? Regularly. Bailey can't afford to let it happen. He needs to make sure we go man on man down there - I think our backline is good enough now to hold it's own without the loose man in defence. But what can we do anyway? Robbo and Aussie are injured, Watts and Jurrah are not ready, Maric is probably still a week away and Sylvia is a pain in the arse (I'm not even mentioning Newton in this list. He doesn't count anymore). Our forward line will take time, no doubt about that.

Cheers for that. Sounds like Spencer will get the nod come Round 1, which is fair enough I think. 1858 - I forgot about Maric! I really thought he showed something late in the year, seems to have that flair and a touch of arrogance about him that we sorely lack, especially in front of goal! He always looks dangerous and as we know he is a beautiful kick! Hope to see him in the side REALLY soon!

I don't think there is a quick fix. Watts and Jurrah are a long way off. You would like to think Miller and Bate would be our two key forwards with PJ resting up there, with Aussie at their feet. Sylvia will play as a small forward and possibly the likes of Green and Bruce will rotate through there as well. It's not pretty though and I think we can all agree there will plenty of games this year where we struggle to kick a score.

I agree in some respects, but I like to think that the players will look back on 08 and realise that we HAVE improved considerably through this pre-season. As WJ mentioned above the conditions in the last didn't help us and we caved. That's still going to happen with a young side. Like us I have no doubt they will be very disappointed with their finish to this game, but I still believe they can take plenty of confidence into Round 1. To anyone who was there, who was out better ruckman - Spencer of Meesen?

I don't think it will. I think we have shown enough over the last month to suggest we will be a much more competitive side in 09. This is the second game in a row in very poor conditions and this time around it's against a full strength Doggies outfit who are pencilled in for a Top 4 finish. I'm disappointed we fell away in the last as badly as we did, but I don't think one quarter will take away all the good work we have done. We will get back some handy players by Round 1 and enter that game refreshed after a weeks break. Many more positives than negatives this time around!

Lovely work Twist! The hitouts is a slight concern, although I have a feeling this will be the case for most of the year anyway. Morton is a star, he has the potential to be the best player from his draft in the future. Cheers to everyone else for giving updates, always very much appreciated.

Welcome to the internet circa 2001. Every football messageboard has posters like you and have for years, so they simply don't tolerate the rubbish. It's that simple.

As far as I can tell they were close to full strength - I know they had Brown, TJ and Power all back in the line-up for the game tonight. We had a good number of players missing tonight as well. Terrific to hear we went on to win the game, just reward for the players after missing out on two games they had every chance to win. Bring on the Doggies!

You have to go all the way back to the NAB Cup game against Hawthorn when we kept them goalless in the third, wouldn't you? (if memory serves correctly!) We have also kicked the first goal in every game so far this year - we struggled to do that in ANY games last year! Cheers for the updates faulty, you have no idea how much they are appreciated!

Sylvia dobs an important goal? Sheesh... good to see we have responded this term after a very poor start!

We haven't kicked a goal since early in the first quarter!! Not good at all... It always comes back to our half forward line, when we get it down there we never seem to be able to do anything with it!