Demon Dude

there's good and bad with Melksham. he's not overly quick, plays up a bit for frees, doesn't chase very hard/puts in token efforts at times when the oppo has the ball, and can be a bit hungry around goals. but he is also very good 1 on 1, a good decision maker, doesn't get sucked into the contest like most our guys, and is our best user of the footy going inside 50 in a team full of bang it on the boot specialists. as long as he's getting the ball and using it well he stays in the team imo.

well he should be fresh, 2 games in 5 days will probably do him good, so I say get him in.

not worried

out- OMac, Stretch, in- Lewis, Garlett, Lewis coming back in can release Fritsch and Salem onto the wing, which pushes Stretch back out of the team. playing Preuss fwd and having Gawn drop back to help out might allow us to play a smaller more mobile defence without a tall replacement for OMac. Garlett in for goal crumbing around Preuss's feet. if Preuss is injured bring in Keilty.

OMacs a battler and always will be. I doubt he gets a game once Lever and May get up and running but that could still be a while yet. His lack of speed, strength, coordination and intercept marking means he is well and truly towards the back of the pack when it comes to KPDs around the league imo.

backline looked good that qtr. Oscar must be off injured.

I reckon lose tonight and we will struggle to make finals, as we don't play our home ground very well and cant consistently win there, especially with a harder draw. while not expecting us to be guaranteed finals, I was looking forward to this season to see what change in game style Goodwin and co had planned for us to change this, but apparently it wasn't a problem for him, so changed nothing by the looks of it. plus we seem just too underdone this season to have an impact atm. I reckon we will improve in the back half of the season, but there might be a bit of chopping and changing of the team to go yet before we find a combo of players who can win games consistently.

Preuss, Hore, Stretch and Spargo, plus the 22 from last week, should make 26. who didn't get on the plane?

yeah I feel ANB is one of the main offenders of getting sucked into the contest when he doesn't have to, and not effecting the outcome anyway. his hands are no good, especially in close, so what's the point of him doing it. he should go back to Casey and spend some time on ball sharpening up his ball skills and try to get some confidence back.

while hopeful, im not sure that Hibberd and Jetta have another 3 or 4 years left in them. they seem to take a battering most weeks, and it will eventually take its toll on their bodies, just like it has on Jones. speaking of which, if it looks like we cant make finals in the second half of the year, then where does that leave Jones and Lewis? I mean one could argue that there isn't much point in continuing to play them if they aren't going around again next year, and would rather we try to experiment and put time into other players instead. I think its sort of the same for Garlett. if he can't recapture some form in the first half of this year and hold his spot, then its unlikely we will give him another contract for next year.

well I too applaud the Lions. for getting a coach out of the Hawthorn system, instead of the Essendon one.

May is 3 weeks into a 5 year contract yet people already calling it a failure. its a short sighted view imo. sure it hasn't started well, but there's plenty of time for him to make amends yet.

he's a key forward who wont be reaching his peak for about another 4 or 5 years. to say he is no good is short sighted and silly. for his manager to say he is worth 700k is just as farcical.

you're a very strange person.

who cares what they do. I said I wouldn't be interested in him, get over it.

I understand that but I also think we have enough injury prone players on our list as it is.

2 bung knees eh, pass.

hasn't Patton done his knee about 3 times already? I don't think he'd be on my shopping list unless he came very cheap.

with guys like melksham, trac, weid and tmac already in our forward line, how the hell are we gonna get away with playing preuss down there as well? we're already too slow in f50, throw in preuss and that would be the slowest forward line of all time.

looks like it could be CWagner in for Sparrow, and JWagner in for May then. maybe stretch could come in for KK, but although he wasn't flash last week i'd give KK another chance on the bigger ground. I thought it wasn't the smartest move rushing him in last week for a game at an oval with no wings to speak of anyway.

yep we're definitely not fit enough, and combined with our lack of pace all over the ground it means we get opened up easily, especially late in quarters. r1 vs port towards the end of the first quarter I noticed a shot on tv where about a dozen of our guys had hands on hips sucking in the big ones while port players all looked fine. it was then I knew we were gonna be in trouble.

what pressure is Jones going to apply to lock it in when he cant even run fast enough to catch anyone? sorry to tell you this, but Jones is fast hitting the wall. years of being our only warrior in the midfield week in, week out, has clearly taken its toll on the poor bloke. he's too slow and not agile enough anymore to play as a forward, and our forward line is too slow as it is. Jones can only pretty much play Wing/HB these days, somewhere he can straight line the ball, as he can barely sidestep anymore and just about everytime he tries to do a sharp turn he falls over.

I think they said at the time that it popped back in pretty quickly. luckily for him he only has weedy little arms that aren't heavy enough to stretch all the ligaments I guess.

and you reckon ANBs not quick enough but you want Jones forward? ANB kicked about 30 goals last year so id say he's better around goals than your criteria gives him credit for. I guess it must make sense to you, but I have to disagree because it makes little sense to me.

yeah I agree, his running efforts does seem to effect his disposal and hands at times. but he needs to be better or else what's the point of it all. he seems to get in the way of his team mates a lot, so do we really need him going into the contest? it might be another part of Goodies game plan that needs looking at, considering how much our fwd line is getting beaten atm. I mean if I was an oppo coach, without a doubt, i'd be telling ANBs man to let him go, drop off him and stay deeper because he's not going to hurt you with ball use and they'll just bomb it to you anyway.