godees

Surely the evidence of our depth - or lack thereof - has been our performance in the first half of the season.

We've had a bad run with injuries and our record stands at 2-9.

Our depth is no worse than at least half of the competition but it isn't great. We have about 4-5 players who are good depth when our best 22 is playing but it drops of severely after that. So our depth is partly an explanation for the poor start to season. But what I think was far more of a factor was the quality of players we were missing. Any team, if hit by the injuries we were (to the quality of players) would lose more than they won, and most, like us, wouldn't win at all.

Neitz (missed 3 games/injured during 1 more) - our FF, leading goalkicker and captain

Robbo (6/1) - our backup for Neitz, 2nd leading goal kicker

McLean (7/1) - our best midfielder and clearance king

Johnstone (1/1 and has carried injuries all year)- our most creative midfielder, arguably our 2nd best midfielder when fit

Whelan (6/2) - our best small defender, with Rivers is the glue that holds our defence together

Rivers (8) - the man! Easily our best defender

Bartram (10/1)

Moloney (5)

Plus Green (2), Sylvia (4),Yze (3), Pickett (8), Wheatley (6) (his form in his last 2 games (not matter how people rate him) shows how much of a loss he was) and Jones (1/1)

Only Bruce, McDonald, White, Davey, Carroll and Bell have played every game. And don't say look at Adelaide because they have had nothing near what we have had. 15 of their players have played every game this year and another 2 have missed 1.

We don't deserve to be where we are and although depth contributed a bit, injuries are the reason.

nah.... stanton is easily better than bruce and sam mitchell for that mattter....

Nope. Stanton is a worse kick than Bruce. Bruce is a far better player than Stanton. Stanton just accumulates cheap possessions and turns it over.

I'm fine with that side but the one thing that really surprised me was NO DUNN. Dunn was pretty unlucky to be dropped in the first place having been experimented with outside the forwardline for a few weeks. And now after playing a fantastic game at Sandy kicking 4 goals and against a side with only ONE tradition tall key position back, we have decided to pass over Dunn and go with ONE big key forward. We should be trying to expose their weakness. And even if Presti was playing, Dunn still deserves it IMO.

Showing the Goodes hit is stupid because if Goodes didn't have a good record over the last 5 years he would have been given a week as well. Didak has a bad record and therefore he gets points added pushing it from a reprimand to 1 week.

I haven't seen the incident but I think he will get off because that is the way the tribunal is going this year.

Adelaide were missing - Biglands, Bode, Burton, Hentschel, (and Reilly and Perrie during the game)

We were missing - Bartram, Whelan, Rivers, Pickett, Moloney, Yze, Miller (not sure if that puts us at a disadvantage tho)

Adelaide weren't missing many and we are still missing some - it was a pretty good win. The only reason Adelaide even got close was because we were so scared of losing and went into our shells.

Freo are terrible this year. Collingwood's other wins have been against Kang (very lucky), Rich, Ess, Adel (AAMI), Carl and Bris. They are beating the sides they should beat, but nothing particularly outstanding. Losses to WB, WCE, Port.

I'm quietly confident. Especially if we get Whelan and Yze back.

What Neita did was fine. It didn't seem like he even looked forward which wasn't good, but it was late in the game, Adelaide were coming at us and if they don't have the ball they can't kick goals. If we were able to do that successfully last week, we would have won. It was intelligent play because Adelaide weren't manning up.

But our lack of positive play in the last (before the last 5 mins) was not impressive.

Maybe Fagan is right with his best 22 comment after all. I've always been a fan of Wheatley. He hasn't been that good for the last year but he can play. A couple of years ago he was the player we gave the dangerous medium forwards like Hird - hopefully he can maintain his form and get back there. He is also so important for the kick outs.

Sandringham lost its first game for the season at North Ballarat today. Juice Newton kicked five - a performance unlikely to impress the Demon selectors to give him a chance on Queens Birthday.

Why 'unlikely'? Can you elaborate.

Looks like Dunn will be back - never should have been dropped in the first place.

Yeah, Geelong was terrible last year and they are powering along at the moment, and 1998 - we even beat the eventual premiers during the finals.

A lot of football just depends on luck. Injuries, close games (with a touch luck we could have been 3 and 6 and not out of it), the umpire's whistle. Most of the time you make your own luck, but sometimes it is simply luck. We have had none this year.

If we return to the last year's aggressive tackling and direct style of play I think we can go straight to the top 4. Even though a few of our senior players are letting us down at the moment, you'd be amazed what confidence can do. When the team is losing, it doesn't matter how your own form is, your confidence drops. The team I currently play with hasn't won a game this season either and everyone's confidence is down, even our best players each week feel like they have played so much better in the past. I've feel like I've never played worse in my life.

I'm confident we will be back with a vengence next year.

Bruce, Carroll and Davey are the only ones who come to mind

There are 7 - Bruce, Carroll, Davey, White, McDonald, Miller and Bell

Yeah I'm in sydney as well - it sucks!

Who will come back?

This week we were missing:

Bate

Yze

Rivers

Whelan

Moloney

Sylvia

Plus Bartram and Pickett who are still a couple of weeks away.

I'm guessing Yze and Bate are likely due to being late withdrawals, and Sylvia only had hamstring soreness. As for Rivers, Whelan and Moloney - who knows?

And who didn't impress today? I wasn't there but by the looks of it Biz will definately keep his place.

? Frawley/Holland (at least one will have to stay - hopefully Frawley), Miller, Dunn (wouldn't want to see that tho), Ward

I'm keen to move on from the pain of that loss very quickly. They sure know how to frustrate us - play frustratingly terrible for 3 quarters then make an amazing come back only to lose with a goal with less than 2 mins to go.

And I happen to be one of them, getting rid of ND doesnt change the fact the players arent firing. U only need to look at St Kilda to see what a bad idea it was to fire Grant Thomas, bet they regret that now. I do NOT want that to be us

StK had somewhere to fall. We don't.

to what end does putting him in the emergencies achieve? if we don't want to play him yet, we shouldn't, if we do we should, no point putting him in the emergencies if the club doesn't think hes up to it.

i maintain we'll have 22 blokes out there on sunday that are good enough to win, provided their attitude is right. i have no doubt about it, and while i'm pretty cut up about wheels again being injured (where's his career headed?) i really think we have the players left that can do the job for not just the supporters, but each other

Putting him in the emergencies shows he is close to selection which he should be. He has played 3 good games in a row - Frawley hasn't even played 3 games and is in the team. I don't understand why they won't let him get a taste when he is playing well in the VFL yet Miller gets none of it a few weeks in a row and stays in the team.

According to the AFL site, Whelan is out with 'foot' - so this is a new injury because he was out with a hamstring, right?

I hate seeing him in the outs, Rivers and this OP rumour and Bartram - it really depletes our backline. This injury curse just doesn't stop.

But worst of all is Sylvia, I wish this guy could get a break - he could be a seriously good player if he did.

I didn't expect Newton to get a game this week but I would have been encouraged by emergency. What is going on with this boy? I know Finks is aware of some plan the club has with him, but surely it wouldn't hurt to put him in the emergencies which by all reports, he deserves.

As good as it is to see Frawley in there, this has to be one of the most disappointing selections this year. Every time we take a step forward with injuries, we take two back. I'm beyond frustrated. I don't care where we finish this year but I want to see a win, and soon. This losing and the injuries are getting to me.

Who would Holland play on, with Thompson out of the side?

Leigh Brown or Hale/McIntosh if they rest forward

Yeah OP doesn't really make sense given they have been saying he has been out with hamstring and back things and at this stage being 0-8, what is the point of covering up something like that?

I' pretty sure he left us for $$$$$$$

What is the point of doing it now? Why not just wait til the end of the year? ND is not a bad coach, he is just not good enough. He has been with us for 10 years and put his heart and soul into it. I think he has earnt the rest of the year. Give him a chance to redeem himself a little. But DEFINATELY sack him at the end of the year.

Each to their own.

Belly over-cooked one kick which cost us the turnover, but apart from that, all his passes were fairly spot on.

He had some horrible match-ups, like Staker, but he kept his head and worked his guts out.

He has been our best defender in 2007, and you can't really fault him. His opponent is yet to kick a bag.

Come on Jaded, take the blinkers off. I know we all have our players and see the good things they do and not the bad but this week, I think you are taking it a bit far. I like Belly too, and he was far from our worst, but it was probably his worst game for the year. Didn't do much rebounding, one terrible turnover, well beaten by Staker and although it was a bad matchup, Staker is not that great a player.

Can anyone answer the questions?

Why does Gerard Healy hate us? (I have some inkling that it might be something to do with his brother but???)

Why did we wear the red jumper?

I'd rather finish last then anywhere in the vicinity of 8th-11th which is where I think we will.

Why do you bother?

GODFREY - COULDNT KEEP ANYONE QUIET TODAY. HIS PURPLE PATCH IS OVER. MADE SOME GOOD CLEARENCES LATE 4

Nope. Godfrey, in my mind, was easily in our top 3 today, with Johnstone and Sylvia. No, he wasn't able to keep either of the 2 best midfielders in the AFL quiet (one of which is possibly the greatest ever - was unstoppable today), but his work in the contests was excellent. Without him, I'm not sure we would have won any clearances at all.

Bruce - must be traded

Green - must be traded

Our future does not lie with these two players. Enough said.

I see your point but remember Woewodin, that would do more damage than good (even if they did a "Woewodin" at their next club)

This game was horrible to watch. We were completely out-classed, out-muscled, out-thought and OUT-RUN. And at this stage in this season from hell, for me, the loss wasn't that hard to accept, it was pretty much expected. However, there were 2 things that annoyed me no end:

1. The commentators - Grybarse, Jackovitch and Gerard Healy (don't care how their names are spelt). Just they were so one-sided and practically barracked for the eagles. I can understand Jackovitch obviously. But why does Gerard Healy hate us so much? Every single game I hear him commentate he almost openly barracks for the other team. He is a former Dees player FFS, but he hates us. They bagged us CONSTANTLY. Yes, we were bad, but even when we got to 25 points down in the 3rd quarter they still gave us nothing but criticism. What is the point of bagging a team like they did anyway. The majority of people watching the game would have been Melb and WCE supporters. The WCE supporters wouldn't care about Melbourne so all they are doing is alienating half their audience. And their calls about umpiring decisions were unbelievably biased. Bunch of [censored].

2. WHY DID WE WEAR THE RED JUMPER? There is NO clash whatsoever with WCE, and there was even less of a clash last week against the bulldogs. Is this a club decision? If it is, they need to be sent the message that it is NOT our 'away' jumper because WE DON'T HAVE ONE. Unless there is a clash, we should ALWAYS wear the traditional jumper. And if it is an AFL order, well, if I didn't think they were they stupidest, most incompetent bunch of people to be running a sporting organisation ever, I do now.