whatwhat say what

oliver is doing things in his first half dozen games that cripps wasn't. the kid is going to be special.

Jones?

Amazing hands. I agree that he's more Voss than Diesel...but comparisons to either is what's so exciting! His first five games have been terrifically exciting.

i would be absolutely shocked if hunt or wagner were dropped. the former gives us great pace coming out of defence and the latter is playing a role similar to jonas for port i reckon - undersized backman who can 'play tall' and excels at zoning off. i definitely want salem back down there to just add a titch more class to the side. michie out. it's a matter of how do we combat their surprising height up forward? campbell rotates in the ruck with roughead and redpath, dickson is a classic third tall, stringer is one of the most exciting players in the competition, the bont is even better and drifts forward too, and then they have a mosquito fleet who rotate from midfield to forward. they're going to have the same issues with us - hogan and watts are our keys, but pedo and gawn are dangerous up forward when on song, plus kennedy, kent and garlett forward, and then the rotating likes of trac, oliver, jones, tyson. their match-ups will be stretched too. it's clearly the game of the round for mine.

that's been the only game i've been really disappointed in so far this year. even the loss to the aints last week you could see where the team was trying to do the 'right thing' - we just couldn't execute. whereas against the bombers we looked so tentative and scared of losing. anyway, back to the topic at hand...prestia has looked a shadow of his former self this year. second round pick?

his pace is electric. there's a moment just before 3/4 time where he zips btw 3 gc17 players and whilst his possession isn't the best - sideways handball to wagner, but impossible to see what options were presenting for him downfield on the telly - it's his pace and evasiveness that makes him a super tricky match-up. very exciting.

i am beginning to think the loss to the peptides was the loss we had to have!

Dogs-Crows is a great game. I can't wait to play Footscray next week.

I would prefer Lumumba not to be there either, but the coaches seem to like to have him in the side. Stringer is going to be a tough match up and Macrae, Libba, Wallis and the Bont are beasts in the midfield. It's going to be a ripper. At the G!!

Unbelievably difficult this week...even more so as just watching on the telly not at the game. 6 - Gawn: he was immense all game 5 - Viney: I have always thought he could be our Joel Selwood...could he be better than Joel Selwood? 4 - Jetta: he's just about my favourite player, I love the way he plays and he's a player who's fought so hard 3 - Jones: it's always great when he's hitting the scoreboard, and that Gawn to Jones move inside 50 is sublime to see 2 - Harmes: his game for the club, he was a terrier defensively and just added huge hustle and bustle around packs 1 - Hunt: an attacking weapon off half-back, his speed and line-breaking is brilliant last two spots could've been raffled btw Harmes, Hunt, Oliver and Petracca. Oliver and Petracca are going to be lethal together. Exciting times.

Going to be a cracker. Salem and Lumumba are the obvious ins - who out? Michie and...Stretch? I would rather the latter than Lumumba - would be happy to just Salem for Michie, and Michie was fine too. Stringer does not look happy with a massive bandage on his thigh now; copped a big corky.

god this is fun.

unbelievable.

i want to double their score now.

PETRACCATTACK!!!!!!!!!!!!

our defensive intensity went up tenfold after half time. we also lowered our eyes going inside 50 and it's made a big difference. we've been quietly impressive.

we're looking like we are going to lose it on the outside again. it's been symptomatic of all our losses this year (and the narrow win against gw$) - the minute the oppo are able to get the ball loose in space, we're dead meat. we also are very handball happy.

blues are playing okay footy but the pies have been shocking this year after so much hype, most of it self-generated. blues will match up well on us again, just as they did last year. and i agree with everyone - aish plays like a softer toumpas. at least toumpas tries to tackle.

16 tackles? Really? Get him back in the seniors. Stat.

We definitely looked flat, and it could be argued that our players were cooked from the shorter break. I guess we will see this week.

double ouch.

must've been a heavy hit! having a big case of the second year blues.

watching from level 3, hickey was very effective around the ground i thought. didn't mark it but also didn't allow gawn to impact the way he has in recent weeks. hickey drew even with him i thought.

hogan - he's a freak nathan jones - played like cotchin salem - absent, then concussed watts - excellent second efforts petracca - started very nervously viney - the new sellwood lumumba - offers no leadership gawn - beaten around ground tyson - good last quarter dunn - offered little coverage kent - a barry crocker frost - where'd he go? pedersen - embarrassing and inept vince - on media street tom mcdonald - looked very slow hunt - overwhelmed and exposed bugg - no celebrations again kennedy - ineffectual and underwhelming garlett - chocolates to carab jetta - exposed too often wagner - can't defend individually harmes - was he playing?

his run up is fine cos - on the whole - his last five steps, his head positioning and his ball drop are very steady. it's only when there's a slight deviation from these key last vital ingredients that it goes awry. he's a bona fide superstar in the making. 26 games...it's freaky just how good he could potentially be.