CHF

I was about to post exactly the same thing.

I find him a frustrating player to watch. To my mind he has a lot of talent but I get the feeling he is a player that waits for the ball to come to him rather than be a player that goes to the ball. It may be that he does not read the play that well and is a pace away at the ball or it might be aerobic fitness.

Sue, maybe I should have made it a little clearer. I thought that my first sentence made it clear that we would be selecting the best team available for the different circumstances given the differences between the Saints and Tiges.

I hope that the selectors just pick the best side for the Saints game on Saturday and then sit down and do exactly the same thing a couple of days later for the Tiges match. We need to win the games one at a time. Pick the best side available and then after that match is over assess the players and their condition and pick the best side available for the next game.

I would look at Jetta and Lewis into the team for the Saints. I am not sold on Preuss. While I think he did a good job last week and his couple of goals were good, I see him at this time in his development as a very limited player that we should use in critical circumstances. Against Sydney was the prefect opportunity and the way he was used against Alir was structured coaching at its best. I will be interested to see how he is used in future games. It will be up to the coaching panel to work out the best most effective way he can be used each game. I hope they give him a simple straightforward game plan each week and look to his future development over coming seasons. If he is not ready for the Saints I would give Keilty a run and make sure he is well briefed on his role. he has the added ability to ruck a little with a good leap and can also have a run down back if required to cover defence.

For the Saints name the best 22 available and hit them hard. For the Tiges, assess the aches and pains from the Saints game and look at who is available for the match and put together the best side available. With a bit of luck we have the game in hand early with the Saints and we can 'rest' a couple of key players for the last quarter and have them a little fresher for a few days later. We do get an additional 3hrs recovery time than the Tiges and I hope they have a tough hard match against the Swannies the Saturday before.

Good to get the first win on the board for the season and excellent that it was against the Swans in Sydney. I have watched the replay a few times now and there are a few things that stood out for me. To my mind there was less overt celebration when a goal was kicked. It was more "ok. now we look for the next one.' rather than "that's great let's jump and whoop and leave ourselves open to a counter." I loved the way we structured our attack on the ball in the second half. We looked much more like the team of last year. We attacked in numbers at the ball carrier with a number of team mates around the scrum waiting to receive or step in if required. I liked Petracca's game and it is a significant building block for him for the rest of the season and seasons to come. He is starting to realise that he has the power and skills to do a hell of a lot more than he has been doing. Preuss was interesting. He filled a very good role against Alir. It may have been a role that was formulated by the coaching staff and if so, well done and well done that man for doing it so well. In the next couple of pre-seasons I would get him to shadow Max in his training. The way that max has matured in his training and body management is a credit to him and should be a profile for our developing big men.

Not expecting much tonight with the extensive injury list we have. With Jetta and Lockhart out I count 10 on the injured list that would play in the 22. that is a lot of preferred players and depth missing from the list. While not expecting much, I think it will be close as I do not rate the Swans this season.

Good to see Preuss in as it will give us a few options to try during the match and will have Sydney asking some questions as to how we may set up. If Preuss can more than hold his own in the ruck it will give us a chance to swing Max forward and possibly use TMac to shore up the defence if required. It will just make us a bit more flexible. I see Jones has been named on a HBF. a good thing if he is played there in my opinion as he should give some critical leadership support to the defence.

Our defence is rubbish

So, here we are two weeks into the new season without a win and there are a number on this site that are calling it 'season over' already. I am not one of them. The list we have is the same one that played good footy last year so they know how to do it. we have had a shorter preseason than in recent years and we had a large number of players that went under the knife to fix niggles. All have added up to a slow start to the season. Week 1 we were as bad as we could be. Last week I saw and overall improvement in the general play with the highlighting of structural problems in our forward 50. This week I think we will see another step up in overall quality of play and we will win a tight one to be 2-1 after the first three rounds.

Jones and Viney to the VFL

We are having our pants surgically removed.

Have paid up in Feb. [censored] off here

Yep. Same in Europe for me

I travel a lot with bases in a few places. I have a base in Spain and another in London with travel through Africa and the ME. Suitcase Ex-pat.

R14 May vs. Hogan at the 'G'. The second time the Dockers play at the "G" for the season and the last time they at that venue for the season.

I have no idea at what our results might be next year. I want to believe that we will end the season better placed than last year. This is what I do know; There will be times when I am over the moon at the way the team plays, there will be times when I want to put my foot through the screen. there will be times when I call the players/coaches idiots and times I will think they are pure genius.... So it will not be too different to last season. Improved list, fit players and manageable injuries would all go a long way moving us towards the ultimate goal. I have some guesses. 3rd place after H and A Earn a GF place Brayshaw to win the Bluey Tmac to kick 60 Weid to kick 50 Geelong not to make the 8

I would not put it past Bell to trade 5 to Adelaide himself if he gets it for Neale and then offer us 8 and 23

I thin,kit needs to be kept in mind that the Hogan trade, if it happens did not have to be dependent on the Neale trade as Freo had pick 6 that they could have used to sen d to us as part of the trade. They were greedy and sent it to Port for a range of later picks. Therefore they did not have a low first round to trade with us. It also set up this chain of trades wiating to happen. It should be noted that to date they have not used any of the picks they gained from Port.

They can wait for two years and get him for nothing and pay 6x6

I would suggest that first Freo have to buckle with regard to the Neale deal so that they can get pick 5. if they do fold on that then it would be a significant backdown by them and I could see Bell going aggressively at the hogan deal to get his feathered cap.

No. it has gone a bit quiet. The last I heard was that hogan was happy to play with MFC next season and MFC were happy to have him play with us next season.

I do not understand Freo and their attitude to trading at all. (mind you I don't think I want to) Hogan has 1 year left on his present contract. Asks us if he can explore his options with Freo. MFC agree on the understanding that we would need to get fair value in any trade at this time with Freo. Hogan and Manager meet with Freo. Freo do their due diligence ( I would imagine this would include a clear understanding of Hogan's expectations and those of the MFC) Freo announce that they will no longer be looking at Hogan as they cannot meet MFC trade requirements (no mention of the contract requirements of Hogan and his management and an inference that there may be some unspecified problems) Freo meet with Hogan on Saturday after Bell's announcement that they are no longer interested Been reported that MFC would accept 5, 23 & 30 Given all that I would say that there is not a lot of goodwill between Freo and Hogan and hos management or between Freo and MFC. As negotiating strategies go, Freo's approach is more than very strange.

This reflects 100% with the whispers I have heard.