Bring-Back-Powell

I voluntereed to vote this week so I may as well provide my 2 cents worth: 6) Miller - One of the best games of his career. 3 important goals 5) Bruce - Was a force when we were up and about. At the moment he is our most quality player...and thats not a great sign considering he shanks every second kick. 4) McDonald - Whoever gets 30 touches and 6 tackles in a game deserves votes. 3) Godfrey - Tried his heart out all game, showed committment and kicked 2 goals. Got better as the game wore on and deserves a game next week. 2) Brown - 26 touches and 9 marks. Deserves a consolation vote or 2. At least shows heart. 1) Moloney - In and out of the game but did play a part in our comeback.

Your mates with Reid aren't you DD? Whats he like as a bloke and footballer?

Pretty weak segment and interviews. Lyon hinted that J Frawley was in line for a round 1 debut had he not got injured. When it came to the last player (Jack Riewoldt), the only thing Lyon asked him was "So do you have a manager" and Riewoldt replied "Yeah Nah, I've got one. Ricky Nixon from Flying Start". Really interesting stuff that

He was far from our worse on Friday Night and therefore must be retained. I'd be sharpening the axe at blokes like Chris Johnson (yes he had a great NAB series but has yet to show anything in H & A) who ran around like a headless chook and Matty Bate who continued his lacklustre pre-season form last week. CJ looks like the sort of player that is an absolute star in the VFL, but isn't quite up to it in the rigours of a helter-skelter home and away game. I've been saying this for 6 months. I hope he proves me wrong. We need a win on Monday, and therefore we must play players who are good enough to get us over the line. I think Yze's moment in the sun may arrive this Monday. If I'm wrong then Sandy for the following weekend.

The last time we played Hawthorn, when both teams tried to rough each other up, the Hawks kicked the first 8 goals of the game (in 2005)....and Hawthorn were on the bottom at that stage! Apart from last year (when we beat them by 76 points) they've been a bogey team for us, and I'm seriously concerned on Monday. Don't get sucked into how badly they played against Brisbane, they'll be just as fired up to atone as Melbourne.

May I volunteer to do the votes for Haw V Melb. What are the current odds on Holland winning this Demonland player of the year Never thought I'd see him high on the leaderboard. Perhaps Mr Bruce, Mr Johnstone and Mr Green should take notice of the current standings!!

Good stat YM. Thanks for the reminder. But it still doesn't make the tripe that was served up last week any easier to swallow.

The last time we tried that tactic against Hawthorn we lost to them by 7 goals when they were bottom of the ladder at the time. (2005). We always come off second best when ever we try to rough the opposition up. We're just not a tough nasty team.

Give Yze one very final chance against Hawthorn due to injuries. Did a few clever things last night, but missed a couple of crucial marks and lost all confidence from then on.

Aaron Davey - Please grow up (in reference to the 2 late stupid bumps and mouthing off at Gehrig when he was killing us. He always gets sucked into St.kilda Even got done for striking in 05.) He's starting to get sucked into his own publicity and for a guy that took the long road to the AFL, he should know better. $20 his brother has a better season then Aaron.

I find it amazing that ND and the players kept saying "Round 1 is the focus, not pre season games". Perhaps if they made a concerted effort to take the pre-season seriously, perhaps they may have been better equiped to handle last nights disaster. After all they are dress rehersals!! I saw the warning signs against Geelong and Hawthorn but I was seduced by everyone's optimism about us being a contender...and therefore ignored the warning signs. Well we are not a contender and we'll seriously struggle to make the 8.

Adem Yze - Proved Demonland wrong

I'm tipping 55 in 18 games this year. Isn't getting any younger and is prone to the odd injury. Should get his 3 goals a game, but hopefully Davey, Robbo and Yze chip in for their 3 or 4 goals to help share the goal-kicking workload.

Good list, but I'd have Davey sneaking around the top 10 mark. He's amazing goal kicking wizardry and run downs (most of the time) are invaluable to the side. He just needs to produce in September. Also, when Davey missed his 2 games last year ( V Sydney and Carlton as well as Hawthorn NAB Cup this year) it just showed how impotent our foward line was. You realise his importance when he's not there. No Yze??

He got reported in the NAB Cup for tripping, and therefore has carry-over points. He could very well lose his streak due to suspension...wouldn't that be ironic! The fact of the matter is if he plays similar to his pre-season form, he'll be playing for Sandringham by round 2 or 3. He's got a hell of a lot of work to do to remain in the side. Having said that, I'll be happy if he breaks the record, but would feel a bit for Jimmy Stynes.

St.Kilda 12th??? To low IMO That will give them some added motivation tomorrow night.

Great Looks like Godfrey's the perfect replacement for McDonald.

Yep for sure. The first thing I read after the match. It also would be good if that bloke (I think he was called Good Oil) brings back the Player Ratings out of 10. That was good reading! It went missing after 2005.

9/10. Absolutely pumped for the season opener. However if we were playing Freo away my excitement levels would dip down to a 6. Very excited about the first 4 weeks as all our games are at the MCG, albeit against finals contenders (St.K, Freo and Geel). I believe the only way we can make top 4 this year is if we're 4-0 after round 4 and 6-1 after round 7. This means we can only afford to lose to Sydney in round 5 or Dogs at Telstra Dome in round 7.....before we head off to West Coast. We also play 1 more game at the MCG than last year...due to finally playing Collingwood twice in the one season!!! We also play Carlton twice at the MCG...surely we'll take care of them this time. On the flip side, my excitement levels dip down a bit after I think about our pre-season performance where there was very little improvement shown and very few highlights....bar Jones, Moloney's comeback and Jeff White's 3 goal haul against Richmond. Could go either way for the Dees and Daniher. Traditionally 2 teams come into the 8 and 2 team drop out. Could very well be us??

I wouldn't go. Season opener is way more important than an engagement party. At worst, your better half won't talk to you for a month, but its all worth it

Just wondering whether anyone knows or thinks that Pickett will play this week against St.Kilda. I'd love to see him out there for the season opener. He just provides that X-factor in big games at the MCG. Can he play with just 1 VFL game as preparation? Were they resting him yesterday (5 day break) with the view of playing him this week? Has he a hidden injury which the MFC are refusing to reveal? Thoughts?

No Pickett?? He would be in serious doubt for round 1, me thinks.

He's playing round 1. Love it or lump it!! I'm more than comfortable having Yze in the lineup than take the speculative punt on a kid (ie-Buckley). We're here to win games of footy, and there is an 80% chance that Ooze will contribute against St.Kilda, kick 2 or 3 goals and hit Neita and Robbo dead on the chest from the Northen Wing - which he has done countless times at the MCG. Lets focus on how Yze can contribute to the team. You may be pleasantly surprised come round 1.

Should get 6 weeks if it was intentional. The same amount of weeks as Dunn will be out for.

Whats all the fuss about? So what if Ox tips us outside of the 8? Maybe he's right. On average 2 teams will jump into the 8, and 2 teams will fall out. It could unfortunetly be our year to miss the finals...who knows. All I know is our pre-season form has been terrible. (The only thing I can hold my hat on is that we've never had a full team in). I've seen 3 out of the 4 games. Not much has impressed me. The Geelong game last week was awful, I'm not sure why people are putting a positive spin on it. Except for positive cameos from Moloney, Miller and Jones we were just plain insipid. We've got a hell of a lot of work to do to turn around our pre-season form if we're going to be competitive this year. I don't think 10th is an insane prediction, from what I've seen so far.