Swooper1987

We won without him last year against Port in Alice. Rozee got 33, Boak 29 and 2 goals, Houston 28, Butters 20 and Robbie Gray and Drew had 23. Sounds a bit familiar doesn't it? For us Viney had 28, Trac 30, Langdon 24 and Brayshaw 20. Sparrow played quite well with 18, 6 marks and 6 tackles and of course Kozzie kicked 6. Port were in not bad form at the time either. Freo's midfield is pretty good but not as good as Port's.

Likely that he'll miss a couple and be back for Collingwood. He only missed one with the broken hand last year. Not ideal but not insurmountable. Time for a few others to lift.

This is the issue. It's the number of possessions and quality of them that hurt us. We have zero capacity to limit opposition mids either through design or lack of options. Merrett blew us apart and the other Bomber mids had a field day; Brisbane collectively torched us; Anderson and Rowell were dominant (and that was without Miller); we all saw the collective efforts of the Port brigade. We are bereft at shutting down a dominant opposition, or too arrogant with our belief that our guys will just get it done. Unless we find a way to shut down a dominant opposing mid this will continue to happen.

May and Fritsch were the only ones to win their positions. That part is correct, as is the depth of Port compared to us in the middle of the ground. Petracca played a quarter, Oliver was just average most of the night. They got belted by the Port mids. They were both better than Viney and Brayshaw but worse than Butters, Rozee, JHF and Drew. As I said elsewhere, the fact we got three goals in front and only lost by less than a kick was pretty miraculous given that we won two positions on the night. I'm quite optimistic about what might happen this season because I doubt we will be beaten that comprehensively across the ground again this year.

None of the mids tonight. They were completely outplayed.

An absolutely brilliant midfield display by Port. Butters, Rozee and Horne-Francis destroyed our lot. Tactically brilliant to keep the play away from Gawn. Rozee made it clear after the game that a lot of the pre game planning revolved around Gawn's influence. That we got out to a three goal lead and lost by less than a goal is miraculous given how much better Port played.

He'll win on appeal. To uphold this verdict means that any "reasonable" player defending by punching the ball from behind and hitting Max Gawn or any player playing in front in the head, ear, jaw etc will be suspended. There will be nobody left playing. Gleeson's premise is absurd.

It's worth noting that of Gawn's 4 games for the season (I'm not counting Brisbane as he was off by the 5 minute mark) he has polled coaches votes in three of them. The only one he has missed on is North. A pretty solid effort given he's now only a part-time ruckman!

Only two Melbourne players but probably fair enough. I thought Gawn and Viney were our standouts on the day. Hard to argue about any of the GC players who polled. I expect it was Gawn who picked up the 1/2. Both coaches would've had him in the votes.

Gold Coast are the last team to beat Geelong, who have been absolutely dominating teams since. The Suns are a very good team, especially at home. They had some important players out as well. We probably didn't deserve to win but we did. On such results seasons are often built. Gawn and Viney played like the leaders they are and that was the difference in the end, along with Brayshaw putting his body on the line multiple times. The Suns will win a lot of games at home and against very good opposition. Fritsch will not play that badly again. Time for Brown to come back and we desperately need Hibberd to play as many games as possible. I think Harmes might be due a full game too.

6 Gawn - sublime marking when many struggled in the air. 5 Brayshaw 4 Viney (very good last quarter) 3 Petracca (not at his best yet we don't win without him) 2. Oliver 1. Sparrow Apologies to Rivers who was also good.

I thought Grundy really struggled early. He worked his way into the game but he wasn't in the best 6 over the night. 6. Petracca - clear BOG 5. Oliver - another strong performance 4. Chandler 3. Brayshaw 2. Fritsch 1. Pickett

He picked his moment beautifully last night. I don't see the Schwarz comparison. Schwarter had tremendous agility pre knee. Some of his blind turns (1994 finals) were out of this world for a guy of his size. A thumping kick, great field kick, and a clean one grab mark. JVR strikes me more as a young Dermie. In the early stages of his career he was very much a cameo player - a great 15 or 20 minutes here and there but absolutely loved the big occasion. He debuted in the 1982 finals but it wasn't until the 1985 season when he started to play really consistent footy. He hit bodies hard even as a youngster and like JVR was marginally undersized compared to opponents but played a bit taller. JVR loves the physical aspect of the game, he doesn't waste the opportunities he gets and he impacts at important times.

Was at the game last night and haven't seen a replay yet. In terms of overall influence on the result, Gawn and Viney were the difference all the game and JVR was the match winner. Chandler is coming along very nicely, ANB played the sort of game that really suits his strengths, Hibberd did well controlling what looked like our biggest danger in the first quarter and Lever was poised. I'll agree with the ANZAC medal judges and go: 6. Viney 5. Gawn 4. Chandler 3.Lever 2. Hibberd 1. Petracca

Except win us the round 23 game at Geelong to give us the minor premiership, kick 5 in a prelim, lead us to a flag, etc etc.

Sounded from Goodwin's presser that Gawn is playing this week. He is a quick healer, although I guess he has technically already missed 4 given he only lasted 5 minutes into the Brisbane game. Yesterday showed how important he is to our defence. Grundy does some things very well, but defending isn't one of them. Hopefully Lever is right to go too. Beware the wounded Tiger.

Bombers are playing a faultless game really. Collectively we are terrible. None of the names have fired a shot. Good quarter by Petty.

Our big men need to play like big men. Grundy is great below his knees but not giving us enough defensively in the air; same goes for the other talls forward and back. Credit to Essendon, they have a strong plan and they are executing it well.

Petracca 5/4 Oliver 5/3 Grundy 4/2 Kelly 3/2 McDonald 1/1 I thought Fritsch and Rivers were both great yesterday. Tracc had a wonderful second half but I'm not sure he was best on over the whole game.

He hasn't been the best player in the comp in the first three rounds. Who knows what the next 19 games might hold. Lever would be leading our B&F right now.

4-6 weeks is standard for a mid range medial. Max is a pretty quick healer usually.

6. Gawn 5. Pickett 4. Lever 3. Petracca 2. Rivers 1. Oliver Gawn really played a complete game. He was a threat offensively and defensively to the Bulldogs all night. His capacity to push back and either fill a hole or play genuine one-on- one meant that we could cover May's absence. Watching him live at the ground is a real lesson in what it takes to be a genuinely elite big man at this level. English is a good ruckman who played a solid game but he got schooled by Max in work rate and effort, as well as craft.

Two Demons in the top 10 for what it's worth. TOP TEN: 1. Dustin Martin 2. Lance Franklin 3. Patrick Dangerfield 4. Marcus Bontempelli 5. Max Gawn 6. Patrick Cripps 7. Scott Pendlebury 8. Nat Fyfe 9. Christian Petracca 10. Jack Riewoldt

They don't have a great record with their champion ruckman do they? Len Thompson, Peter Moore and now Grundy all left the club in somewhat acrimonious circumstances. Monkhorst and Manson (not quite in the same league but both premiership players) also finished their careers at other clubs.

Absolute robbery! But love it.