whatwhat say what

toump tried hard today. i'm a perennial critic, but some of his kicks were great, and his tackling and defensive running much improved. he still made a few mistakes and there were a couple of instances where he'd get the ball in space and just...stop. he needs to back himself to run and carry - it's why we recruited him.

interesting to see morris on him to start - he was too strong for him. then they shifted chaplin on to him - he was too quick for him. he's coming more and more of a difficult match-up for opposition coaches due to the way that he has a nice blend of height and speed. finally, we might be seeing what we will get from him.

see mitch clark's tweet? compared him to luke hodge meets simon black.

god it feels good to be on the winning side of the ledger. i understand why jones will get the votes, but watts was bog for mine. 19 disposals, 11 marks, 3 goals straight, 4 tackles. the game-changer.

Absolutely sensational today I thought.

What sort of flag is it? A grand old one!!

11 marks to Watts now.

Watts and Pedo are having big games, which is just as well as Dawes is having a Barry Crocker. Game is better on TV (where I've watched the second half) than live (where I watched the first).

also, his dad max works for the club. speaking to someone who follows this stuff closely, he said if we do end up with pick 3 or so then at this stage he expects we'll be taking brayshaw. he also expects mccartin to go #1 over wright, as he's a genuine kpp forward / defender with wright being more ruck-forward than forward-ruck.

one thing that we can't afford is to lose mcdonald or dunn if frawley does go. that whately article posted by billy has this fantastic quote: the only way the editor could have made it better (in my mind) was if that line about pedo ended as coupled with these quotes and we can see where we're heading:

Really hope we get him for a third or fourth round pick.

Luke Ball.

The 20 players to watch at the NAB AFL U18 Champs Interestingly, Peter Maynard, who works for the club, has a son available for selection this year, and Cal Twomey rates him in the top 20. No mention of Billy Stretch. From what I've heard about Maynard, he's a bit like Luke McDonald for North - clean with the ball coming out of defence. i can't believe the way that sydney (and presumably gws?) gets access to the best players from nsw/act via the academy in much the same way father-sons are eligible. heeney is meant to be a very good footballer.

Oh, and Vince. My god, a depth of mids!!

Plus Viney. When was the last time we had three mids as the first-tagged option??

Sad, but what a great life.

I suspect it might've been Scharenberg, and given his foot injury we might've actually dodged a bullet there.

Oh, biggest thing I'd like to see improved - don't go to ground so easily. He spends an inordinate amount of time on hands and knees around packs.

There were positive signs again yesterday. Urgency and quick decision making still need improvement - the decision to hold into the pill and then try and pick out JKH deep in the forward pocket was unnecessarily finicky when Dawes had been screaming for it one out at the top if the square. Two things that impressed me were the two goal-saving tackles, and perhaps even more so he twice had the ball sat on his head - first time he crashed the contest, the next time he held the mark. Keep improving both these aspects - defensive intensity and willingness to back himself in the air - and he'll keep coming along nicely. I know people often compare him to TJ - in their respective sixth years, how did their performances compare, notwithstanding one was playing permanent mid and the other a high half-forward?

For what it's worth, everyone's favourite recruiting journalist, Emma Quayle, gave Watts third best on for the Dees behind Tyson and Cross. She put Libba and Griffen top two for Footscray.

Thanks for the report. Those numbers for Blease are super-encouraging - tends to indicate that in the wet he was running all day and working hard. Exactly what we need him to do to take Byrnes' spot in the side. Sub option next week?

there is a hell of a lot to like about this kid.

we're still not good enough. lots of work to do. you'd presume it'd have to be byrnes out next week, salem into his starting spot. blease as the sub?

Gawn gone home, aka Frawley playing?

Massive concerns that Toumpas is still showing little at 'seconds' level.