Bring-Back-Powell

I'm not an expert whatsoever but if any punter out at Casey Fields who saw Joel Smith being put through a fitness test on the boundary line, and barely being able to jog, would contend that there is no way he should've returned to the field in a practice match. There's a chance the injury may not have been further aggravated by Smith returning to the field, but there's no way known it would've helped either. Now 'Smiley' Misson has no idea when he'll play footy again.

^^

He's got a point about us supporters claiming we're on the right track just because we won the inside 50 count. On what metric is an 80 point loss an improvement from a 27 point loss? I can't believe Goodwin was upbeat after the game. At least against Port we didn't have someone like Tom Hawkins pick up the ball in the goal square, wait 20 minutes because none of our defenders were in the same suburb as him and then handball to a rookie for his first goal.

One of the journos (Guthrie) mentioned that he wasn't far off a game last year before he got injured.

Home games against Essendon since 2000: Round 9 2000 Round 8 2001 ROund 17 2003 Round 1 2005 Round 15 2010

Round 15 2010. Tipping a draw to continue the miserable start for both sides.

They're not on their own (T Mac and Jones says hello) but is there any reason why these two high quality defenders have chosen to be in career worst form at the same time? What the hell is going on at the club?

Our lack of depth has been exposed when your scraping the barrel with the Wagner brothers, Stretch, Keilty etc... Missing our forward role players such as VDB, Hannan and Garlett (yes I concede he fell out of our best 22) who all know where the sticks are. No wonder our forward line is a shambles.

And what about the embarrassing ease with how Geelong got their 20 goals in the wet.

Fritsch hasn't responded well to last year's omission from the prelim. Either he's down on form (like 75% of our side) or the recruiters were justified in overlooking him in earlier drafts.

Harsh but fair. He only looked good last year when we were beating up side by 50+ points.

He won't be under an ounce of pressure even if we go 2-20.

How Goodwin can say an 80 point loss is a step in the right direction has me stuffed. The opposition were taking the Mickey out of us to the point where we may as well have been witches hats at GFC training, despite the wet weather. It was a shameful and disgraceful performance.

If his career doesn’t work out, at least he can say he had a beer with Le Bron James.

I don’t think a loss is the end of the world. If we show dramatic improvement in all facets of last week and lose a close game, then hopefully we can build some momentum into 3 winnable games coming up.

$700,000K for a 20 goal per year key forward.

You don't hear many (if any) premiership sides say "we had a poor preseason that was interrupted by injuries and off season surgeries". That is why I won't be livid if we miss the finals. Our preparation has been seriously compromised and I can't see how it won't cost us.

Hopefully Petracca watched the game last night and realised that a player taken 3 picks after him in the draft has left him for dead in terms of career progression. I read somewhere that Roos was massive on De Goey prior to the draft, but Brayshaw and Petracca were no brainers for us at the time.

Can't disagree with that statement. He needs a rocket to kick start his season (like many others).

Serious lack of small forwards in that side.

Ever since quarter time of JLT 1 V's Richmond, it just seems like the club has been a non entity. I can't put my finger as to what's going on at the moment - aside from an interrupted pre-season. From poor performances in all 3 games, to poor discipline in JLT 2, to gross injury mis-management (Smith) to players and on-field leaders not sticking up for one another. The whole club needs a massive wake up and realise that the wholy grail was not beating an injury riddled Hawthorn in a semi final. And speaking of our leadership group, is it any wonder we fell apart last week when you've got: Gawn - playing his career worst game Jones - dropping and/or fumbling 3 basic marks/ground balls in the last qtr Viney - looking 30% fit T Mac - Has he even played a game this year? The remainder of the players aren't going to lift if their leaders are collectively having a pathetic performance

ANB would have to be a sniff to get the axe this week. He killed our momentum with 2 missed set shots int he first quarter. Nail both of those and we could've broken Port's spirits by qtr time with a 4 or 5 goal lead. In addition, his form in round 1 and JLT has mirrored the club's - very lackluster. Some tough calls may need to be made on him and others (*cough* Petracca *cough) shortly if things don't turn around.

My guess would be Corey Wagner.

It's also been about 55 years since another club other than Kane's went from 11-4 to missing the finals.

Anyone flying via Singapore to get cheaper flights?