hells bells

I think the Collingwood team looks soft. With the right mindset we'll be too tough for them. That's not something I can remember saying about a Demon side in a long time.

I think it's the old Olympic Park oval.

I was thinking exactly the same thing.

I can't believe the current betting market. Collingwood are warm Favourites 1.45 to us at 2.75. I can accept the favoritism on The Pies side of the ledger but I would've expected 1.80 to 2.20 for example. They are playing horrible football.

I have a good feeling about this week and the next. 2 in a row hoodoo about to be broken.

36,248 only 700 to get to the record.

49 Weideman 53 Max King 54 Trengove 55 Hulett 56 Hunt 57 JKH 58 White 63 Michie 72 ANB 75 Mitch King 78 Petracca 79 Joel Smith

I noticed on the half time coverage that as the players went to leave the rooms to go on the ground Ken Hinkley pulled them back and and gave them a bit of a spray. Ling said he thought that maybe Hinkley sensed that they weren't 100% switched on. I wonder in the process driven stats based coaching world that seems to have taken over, whether ANY of the coaches in our panel sensed anything before last weeks debacle.

Forecast is for 16degrees showers and windy. If it's wet, going tall may not be the best option.

No I wouldn't say he looked tired. I was standing behind the interchange and the call would come from a guy on the computer. "Weideman, Hulett off - King, Frost on". I got the impression it was more time on ground based than physical exertion based. Remember it was only a Practice Match and they had an extended bench.

Weids played the full game, albeit it appeared they were monitoring his time on ground as he was on and off the bench.

73 for BH I think was Tim O'brien

Petracca played almost entirely on the HFF. I don't recall him starting in the middle but he may have when I wasn't paying attention. Most of his touches that I saw were in close. He would get the ball inside - hand off to a team mate - break away - get ball back and then kick. His disposal looked very clean. Trengove was in the guts. I'd almost say he was like an old fashioned Centre. In the middle for the bounces and then linking up in transition. He also looked dangerous drifting forward. Seemed to read the ball in flight better than most and was in best position to take the mark. He got two and wasn't far off clunking another couple. He didn't play like someone who had missed 2 years of footy. He looked a class above. Grimes was on the wing for most of the game. Did a few nice things, but it was a typical Grimes game. Didn't stand out. i thought Stretch was very quiet, hardly seemed to touch it in the first half. Did better in the 2nd half. One thing about Stretch which was good was that as soon as he got the ball he looked to play on to keep the ball moving. The Kings where difficult to decipher. Similar body size, similar movements, similar numbers. It's hard to say one was better than the other. I remember thinking that I hope Gawn doesn't get injured because they both looked pretty raw. ANB - I like him, he was tough, worked hard inside and outside. Has a neat kick and was good in close. He was constantly on the move and obviously has good endurance, he kept running at the end when others had slowed down. I can't judge what the level of opposition was like as I haven't watched enough VFL. There was obviously a number of Hawks players on the ground as there were a number of high jumper numbers getting around. Number 73 and 78 and 42 for BH were particularly good. I haven't been able to work out who they were.

I put this in the "Starting as Favourites" but could easily have gone here too The issue is that the playing group as a whole are basically lazy. There seems to be an attitude of doing just enough. A powerful side yesterday wouldn't have taken Essendon lightly but would have aimed for and worked hard for a 10 goal plus win. We don't do that, we don't ever do that. I reckon it's also why we have bad starts to the game. It's almost like we wait to see what the opposition is going to do before we judge how much effort we're going to put in. Its the same reason we never put away any teams. We get to 4-5 goals up and then just go into cruise mode. It is purely attitude - we are not professional enough to have the same mindset for every match - we don't know how to be ruthless. Until it changes, we will remain perennial strugglers.

Based on yesterday I reckon 1 game too early. R3 - Casey Practice Match 75% Game time R4 - Casey - Full Match R5 - Melbourne debut v Richmond - Anzac Eve I reckon Jack Trengove is a chance to return v the Pies

The issue is that the playing group as a whole are basically lazy. There seems to be an attitude of doing just enough. A powerful side yesterday wouldn't have taken Essendon lightly but would have aimed for and worked hard for a 10 goal plus win. We don't do that, we don't ever do that. I reckon it's also why we have bad starts to the game. It's almost like we wait to see what the opposition is going to do before we judge how much effort we're going to put in. Its the same reason we never put away any teams. We get to 4-5 goals up and then just go into cruise mode. It is purely attitude - we are not professional enough to have the same mindset for every match - we don't know how to be ruthless. Until it changes, we will remain perennial strugglers.

Both Kings looked pretty dangerous up forward. It was difficult to judge their impact in the middle, but based on clearances I'd say they were even with the opposition. One thing that annoyed me with all the Casey forwards was their poor positioning when Casey were heading into the breeze in the 2nd and 4th quarters. They were always playing from behind and as you'd expect the ball kept dropping short. Had they played in front I've no doubt they would have all picked up at least another goal. Must have happened a dozen times.

No sign of Viv

JKH didn't do much to be honest, not from lack of trying. He moved around very well and did a lot of leading but never seemed to end up with the ball. ProDee might have noticed him getting more of it but tbh I thought he was only average.

I thought White was disappointing, tbh he looked a little overweight and slow. Wagner was good but his first movement and action is to look sideways. He probably had a dozen kicks at CHB that went sideways. They hit a target, but didn't advantage the team all that much. Grimes was solid but he was far from dominant for someone who should be a level above VFL.

Just on Frost he does some absolutely spectacular things, like bursting out of packs and sprinting through the middle but his kicking is terrible. I'm not sure what his role is or will be in the future. Not a forward and he is not a reliable kick for goal and is kicking from Defence would be a liability. Not tall enough to be a decent ruckman.

Kicking was outstanding, can't think of a miss or at least a complete clanger. Pace wise, he had plenty of time and space around him whenever he had the ball. He looked to be getting around for the most part at about 3/4 pace. I don't recall him sprinting or needing to sprint at any stage. He never looked rushed but didn't look quick like Hunt, Stretch and Frost

ANB was Best On Ground and I expect him to come in. Dunn was solid, didn't do much wrong. He probably comes in too. Trengove was probably next best but I think he'll need more game time before coming into the Melbourne side. I thought Stretch was pretty poor to be honest.

I arrived about 10 minutes into the first quarter and as I walked in Trengove took a strong mark and kicked a great goal from about 40m. It was a great sign. It took me quite a while to work out who was who so I might have missed some of the good work by the MFC listed players in the 1st quarter by half time I had them pretty much pegged. Having said that it took me till the last quarter to pick out Jayden Hunt. Alex Neal-Bullen was the best demon player over 4 quarters, played in the centre and was constantly in the game, kicked a couple of goals following the ball forward. Dunn played well at full back, looked short of a gallop but seemed to get better as the game went on. Half way through the 3rd quarter he came off for a spell and i heard him say to someone on the interchange that he was fuched but he played a good last term. I think he'd be right to come in next week. Trengove was in everything early, moved very smoothly was clean and made good decisions. Looked to be doing it pretty easily at this level to be honest. He was rested for almost all of the 4th quarter. Petracca was very good in patches, he was off and on the bench a lot and came off about half way through the 3rd quarter. He has great hands in traffic, very soft. I was surprised to see he had 20 touches. Hunt - As I said I didn't realise it was him until the last quarter and he was good. He used his speed a few time and broke the lines but tends to blaze away and not kick it to the advantage of the forwards. Weidemen was good, took some good marks, positioned himself well in the forward line and kicked straight from what I saw. Still very raw, but isn't afraid to throw himself into the contest. Hulett - another i didn't realise who he was until late. Will need time but did some nice things leading up to the wings. I'll think of more later, any questions just ask. Cheers, HB

One of the king's gets a steadier