Goffer

Liking the team selection more and more - if McCartin is out then we won't be short a tall defender, in one fell swoop we've gone from a short back line to a good matchup

I reckon they'll double-team Hogan, he usually does well against them and kicked 7 in one of the games last year. I would say this is probably why Weideman was chosen, he takes one of those off Hogan and offers more on the deck than Spencer.

Few observations: •pressure seemed to be patchy, when we were 'on' we created opportunities and forced them to turnover. When we eased up or pressed too far forward they exploited the gaps and cut us apart on the counter. Omac especially was horrendous, needs a spell at Casey. Garland offers more at the moment despite some brain fades. • Hogan, Gawn and Spencil will be triple teamed by defences this year, we need crumbers to exploit spilled contests. • Umpiring was truly bizarre tonight, the deliberate OOB especially was applied inconsistently.

Late outs for the Weagles, Giles dropped so Petrie will be in the ruck on his own.

Have the Dogs put out a decent squad? Iirc they put a reserves team out against the Lions so we've played them at closer to full strength.

I'll be along too, happy to meet up if anyone's grabbing a beer at half time

Stoked for this game, we had the goods on the Eagles last time but kicked ourselves out of the contest. I know from friendship with some WC people they are taking this one deadly serious, so it should be a good hit out that simulates the intensity of Rd1. Last time around we lacked the nous to put that away, I'm thinking the addition of Lewis could give us some X-Factor (that and their somewhat makeshift ruck division).

Bolton is on a hiding to nothing in that job. Strikes me as similar to Neeld actually, premiership winning assistant coach thrown in the deep end at a dysfunctional club with a VFL quality list (although Carlton still have pretensions to being Big 4, which has an extra level of pressure. Right now they've no forward line (Levi Casboult lol) their midfield depth is shallow, their ruck relies on Kreuzer staying fit which isn't a safe bet, and their defence is based on Weitering. All clubs suffer injuries and any club in the comp would be hard put to replace players of their quality, but there is literally no one on the Carlton list who can replace Cripps or Weitering if they go down. Another season or two like the last couple and Cripps might fancy returning to WA to replace Priddis at the Weagles instead of playing a lone hand in midfield. Their strategy of building through the draft is flawed, throwing young players in to stem the bleeding didn't work for us and won't work here. It is an absolute indictment of everyone associated with the footy club that we've lost to this rabble in successive seasons. If we are serious about being a ruthless outfit this mob need to be put down by 10+ goals in Rd 2 when we play them.

Could have used her as soundtrack at a few games here over the years

Been mentioned on the news in Perth that upwards of 25% of the turf at DS will need replacing following concerts in successive weeks. While the AFL and ground staff are adamant that it will proceed at Subi, the Eagles are reportedly preparing to relocate the match to Leederville Oval, the home of their reserves club East Perth. This is concerning news either way, not sure it would be worth risking some of our best 22 for a dead rubber on a questionable pitch. Thoughts?

If rumours posted by Lions fans are to be believed he'd be more suited for the Bombers or with Dane Swan.

Hopefully not, alot of rumours about his behaviour on BigFooty

Freo missing out yet again

It's been confirmed by Mahoney on the AFL website that Pedo will get another contract for next year and that Dawes won't be offered a new deal until the club has gauged the level of interest in market interest in him. Realistically there aren't too many clubs who's be interested in him, possibly Freo to add some structure to their forward line, but can't think of many other suitors at this stage. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-10-04/melbourne-to-offer-cam-pedersen-a-new-deal http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-10-04/chris-dawes-has-to-wait-on-decision-on-melbourne-future

According to AFL website Pedo will be offered a contract extension for next year, think this may be end of Dawes term at the club.

If he had shelved negotiations behind closed doors it would have been less problematic than the status quo. As it is, when Hogan received leave post the game in Metricon Stadium (with Stretch) to travel interstate and visit his family, the talk in all the WA media was focused on Hogan coming to sign a 10 year contract with the Dockers. We see the same thing now, despite it being off season and his holiday time. Do you really believe this would have attracted the same attention if Hogan hadn't publicly shelved contract talks?

Unpopular opinion maybe, but I think the club made a serious mistake publicising the contract discussions at the end of last year. If the negotiations had been conducted behind closed doors the issue of his renewing the contract would only be surfacing this trade period, but putting it out there to the media and subsequently being smacked down as we were was possibly the worst outcome for all parties. It has put Hogan under the microscope at a sensitive time in his life and made the club look weak.