whatwhat say what

Is suntan set on Balic because he played with Brayshaw and Roos Jr last year, plus had time at the Dees as did Brayshaw the year before?

saints have one player on their injury list. one. makes the world of difference. they've also got a heap of players with a welter of experience: - riewoldt - montagna - ray - dempster - gilbert - schneider with big game finals experience. steven and armitage are like two nathan joneses for them too. make no mistake, they've recruited well but they've also been astute with who they've let go and who they've got playing on.

if we were unfortunate / incompetent enough to finish it that position, it'd be whichever of schache or weitering that wasn't selected i would expect. or, better yet, do another tyson / #9 for #2 / our second second rounder trade again. preferably without giving up the later pick too.

there's no doubt that his expected worth has been thrown by the last minute offer from gws last year - don't forget, whilst melbourne might've liked it, it was ultimately jeremy's choice to stay with us and not leave. gws were pretty sneaky making the offer with a half an hour to go in the transfer period, and there's no telling how much it's messed with his head in terms of where his place is within the side and where his value lies on the open market. personally i still think he's best utilised defensively; he gets absolutely lost deep forward.

Still not worth it for gc17. O'Meara is an elite player when fit, but his knee issues would also be a consideration.

5th? i'd say he's about on a par with viney, just behind vince and jones. he's so damaging with the ball in hand, plus he's arguably the best tackler in the team...the wellingham one where he got injured excepted.

it'll be interesting to see what essendon play like today, given that they've completely recast their side in the wake of injuries to bellchambers and carlisle. mckernan is a player who'll never stop trying, but has limited ability - however, he does get around the ground to impact contests. i guess daniher rotates with him? they're going to need to completely rejig their forward line; watson to play deep? hurley to go forward? they're definitely looking nippier down there with the inclusion of winderlich, the merrett bros, zaharakis rotating through etc. i agree with everyone who says we need to have some fresh legs coming in after the darwin game. OUT: bail, m jones, spencer, (brayshaw?) IN: lumumba, jkh, newton, (michie?) fitzpatrick would also definitely have to come into consideration, as we don't have an 'occasional' ruckman without pedersen available as well, and he could simply go wherever daniher goes, be it deep forward, up the ground, or into the ruck. the biggest concern re that is that we're way too top heavy with fitz joining dunn, t mac, garland, hogan, dawes, gawn, plus howe all in the side limiting running rotations. could this be the week howe gets dropped?

N. Jones - Never stops trying Dunn - Had better days Hogan - Fumbled and frustrated Watts - Better second half Toumpas - Constant mistakes, again Dawes - Had limited opportunities Viney - Kept putting in Brayshaw - Massive blow early Gawn - Big let down Tyson - Much improved tonight Stretch - Gonna be good Cross - Effort and errors Garland - played his role Vince - Best tagger ever? McDonald - still so young Neal-Bullen - Impressive young player Garlett - A tackling machine Howe - Never ever chases Bail - Too many errors M.Jones - See directly above Spencer - A mistaken selection Jetta - Made some mistakes

I didn't think we were 'awful' per se, but we weren't good. Meth Coke were very good, had a good run with the umpires, and are clearly a better side than us.

17-8 free kicks, ridiculous

17-8 free kicks, ridiculous

Their kicking skills make me red and blue with envy...fortunately right up until they have a set shot. Surely that was a mark to...oh, okay. Nil all draw between the 2008 top 2!

Great goal, now another please!

Masten's work rate is outstanding - either Watts or Tyson is his match up, probably the latter.

Eagles pressure outstanding

SPENCIL!!!!!

I was terrified Toumpas was going to stuff up the Joe the goose

Unbelievably soft by Matt Jones.

Loved the way he looked at his hands, shocked he hadn't marked it.

We can't get it forward of wing currently. Fortunately, they're missing the set shots. Hopeless by Matt Jones.

Sure does. I feel the same way! Howe switched defensively.

spencer lumbering like it's nobody's business. he looks cooked. anb needed to kick that, and he did it superbly. super-timely goal.

how're they always able to have a man standing free in the middle of the ground?

what we need is the afl to have a common sense approach to fixturing and program the darwin game THEN the bye, not vice-versa.

hogan starting to get super-frustrated - and just another dodgy meth coke free...