Dee-tonator

Our forwards would probably trip over the dog.

Another no-show like today would truly make us mince for the Pies. The Johnson experiment is surely over. He has everything except talent. Lever is under-cooked but even that does not excuse his woeful performance today. Presumably Viney and either JVR or Jefferson will come in to shuffle the deckchairs on our rapidly sinking ship. If Viney is still not ready, genuine fears for his career will not be far away.

Votes? For that appalling mishmash of awful goalkicking, constant turnovers, fumbles, misdirected kicks and general amteurishness? You have to be joking!

Unbelievably shocking goal-kicking today from what masquerades as an AFL forward line. God help us if we play like that against the Pies.

Is he good enough to play VFL nowadays?

You are far too kind to nearly everyone, Joeboy.

If there are 100 cents to a dollar, how many Levers make a TMac?

Is putrid too strong a word for this mish-mash of dropped marks, fumbles, wayward kicks and woeful defence?

6 Pickett - Mr Electric Legs. 5 Petracca - on full power today. 4 Oliver - the buzz is back. 3 Gawn - stood tall as usual. 2 Bowey - always cool and efficient. 1 Langdon - high work rate and good delivery. Several others just miss out.

Can any other club match our ability to mess up goalscoring opportunities?

I am never happy to see any player injured. Oh, with the exception of Maynard, of course.

Suggested club statement: "With all defenders fit, this was an ideal opportunity to give a veteran a break". Half true, like most PR statements, and a far better way to treat a man who has confounded the critics who claimed he was past it.

Awful PR from the club, given that TMac has been among our best this season. Surely it is not too late to issue a statement confirming that he is being rested this week. Unless of course there is an idiotic plan to risk him in the VFL. Someone deserves a rap over the knuckles. That said, it was a tough call for the selectors with everyone fit.

If Goody reads our meanderings (which I doubt), he will have learned quite a few things from this week's batch of opinions. For instance: Lever must come in. Lever needs more VFL time. Spargo is the weakest link. Spargo is smart and useful. AJ must be dropped. AJ must not be dropped. Sharp offers little or nothing. Sharp offers pace and defensive pressure. At least we have one advantage over the coach. When we get things wrong, there is no clamour for an instant sacking.

Jackson left us because of off-field issues. Now he wants to leave Fremantle because of off-field issues. Haven't we had enough of those recently?

If lowly North can match the Lions, surely we can too. With Petty and Melksham back, Turner can move forward and provide some desperately needed ammunition up front. Jefferson's non-performance has silenced his many advocates for the moment, and Fritsch seems to have lost the plot completely. Both he and Van Rooyen have only one attribute --- accurate goal-kicking, and in general play might as well not be there. Fritsch is lazy, doesn't chase or tackle, and has lost all confidence, while the slow-moving Van Rooyen seems to think his only task is to take spectacular pack marks, at which his success rate is poor. We'll miss Viney but otherwise I think Goodwin can field a better-balanced side this week. The remaining unexpected and unwelcome issue which has now become clear is, of course, lack of fitness. Occasional fourth-quarter fadeouts can happen, but with us it occurs almost every week. Maybe it's time to put Selwyn Griffith's performance under the microscope.

All codes of football are about only one objective ---- scoring more goals or points than the opposition. If you can't do that, no matter how brilliant some aspects of your performance may be, you do not have the better team. As the saying goes, winners are grinners, losers can please themselves.

The better team is always the one that wins the game. If you waste nearly all your opportunities, your are a poor team. Our glaring forward weaknesses mean that we are seldom the better team these days.

Could any AFL team win a game with a lineup that included Fritsch, Jefferson and Van Rooyen up front? With even a half-decent forward line we could have put the result to bed by three-quarter time. Meanwhile Turner was wasted in the backline. Baffling.

6 Langford - classy all-round performance. 5 Gawn - won the ruck honours. 4 Petracca - provided forward momentum. 3 Pickett - a few exciting bursts. 2 McDonald - reliable as ever. 1 Langdon - did the hard yards, as always

Fritsch + Van Rooyen = goal drought.

Wanted --- a complete forward line.

I'm glad Melksham got off, of course, and agree that he deserved to, but I still don't like the deliberate push-in-the-back tactics we see so much. To me, it seems a cowardly way of taking an opponent out of the game instead of competing fairly for the ball. Maybe a 50 penalty for blatant instances of the offence would get it out of the game pretty quickly.

For a team that was thrashed by North Melbourne on the way to a 2-5 record, every game is a danger game.

No superstar. Just a great team man, solid, reliable and effective. If he keeps going as he started the season, another one-year deal would surely be on the table.