whatwhat say what

that comes down to development, retention, and ability to draw players leaving other clubs to ours. hawthorn have done a remarkable job in the last decade or so. plus their drafting has, clearly, been superb, and astute. so far we've drawn clark to the club, the starting 21+1 is dominated by players picked up late or in rookie drafts, now the drafting and the development need a heap of work. it will be interesting to see whether the club chooses to utilise the two additional picks granted for scully - the issue of retention is one that plagues us, and has done as long as i can remember, with players regularly leaving the club, probably right back to the most infamous of them all. the curse of #31! we need players who can perform as part of our midfield, and they say this upcoming draft is chockers with strong mids. if we're truly as terrible as we looked at times tonight, we might even be in with an outside chance for whitfield, but i somehow doubt it.

the worst thing is that you knew it was going to happen. we're just not good enough. it's interesting that so many people say we're lacking class, and that all those top round draft picks have been wasted. we're not the only ones; some clubs just draft better. the big problem is development, and hopefully that's something that neeld and company will address. he's clearly not impressed by our drafting - two top 15 picks are playing at casey, watts just wants to dispose of the ball as soon as he gets it, and sylvia is just a dumb footballer. our high-end drafting has been shocking for years. morton disappoints or is injured as well.

sylvia wasn't bad, he's just very, very, very stupid.

yeah, about what i expected to be honest, and in truth what i more or less expected last week too. i thought we might show some competitiveness like last week, but alas it was back to the sheer ineptitude of 2011. i think this was worthwhile, however, as it at least shows the new coaching department who will and who won't fight when being slaughtered by a vastly superior team, who are only going to get better, and are deservedly one of the premiership chances. as someone above noted, we don't have a lot of class in the midfield and so rely on grunt. magner's injury is a big blow to the start of the season, as it also poses questions abotu depth, which is something we lacked last year even when he who will not be named was up and pretending to play for us. also, we know we're not even near as good as hawthorn. they're going to be a great team to watch this year. bring on round 1.

the likes of morton, jurrah, mckenzie, tapscott are no chance for round 1 you wouldn't think - simply not enough miles in their legs across pre-season to be a walk-up start in round 1. grimes and trengove will be pushing up that hill to get there in time too. plus i'm pretty certain that sylvia is out suspended, isn't he? B: Bartram - Frawley - Rivers HB: Grimes - Sellar - Garland C: Green - Moloney - Trengove HF: Howe - Watts - Petterd F: Martin - Clark - Davey Foll: Jamar - Magner - Jones I/C: Bate - Blease - Bail Sub: Dunn there's still a lot of questions to be asked about the line-up, and it could very much change after the outing against the hawks. i loved what i saw of couch in his half of football against the pies, and he'd very much be a chance for the sub role. but dunn did his role well too in that time, and adds height and versatility rather than a pure midfield change-up. please, no more injuries til round 1!

every time i watch him play i see something that's genuinely exciting about him. he's going to be an absolute gun.

so it would seem that both bate and magner will be in the starting centre square line-up in round 1. again, super-impressed by the backline - sellar has added solidity, and both davis and mcnamara showed potential too. garland is kamikaze - i never know what's going to happen.

i got very sick of foxtel saying that they were missing so many key players. yet their midfield for parts of the night was made of pendlebury, swan, thomas, ball, and wellingham. melbourne's midfield - missing moloney and trengove as the only two players in our group who are even approaching 'star' status, plus mckenzie - out-worked them for the most part. great to see.

i'll add bail to that 'bad' list. he not only burns the ball but he does things that are disadvantageous to the side. super-impressed by magner and sellar. couch looked good too.

sounding like sellar and magner are going to be great additions to the side for 2012.

7 i50s to 1 at the moment. that ain't great.

no, compare and contrast the sides. gc17 were playing their best - ours were mostly inexperienced. a 3 point 'loss' with 5 more i50s is disappointing, but all that matters is that we've had the first hit-out for 2012. bring on brislions!

1) no injuries 2) structures 3) quickness of ball movement 4) competitiveness 5) set plays out of defence given the weather, skills was never going to be an option,

all the contrition will come up in the lead-up to the clash with the demons. shame he committed to gws back in november, 2011. i think he's going to be a fabulous player, but i hope he never tastes a premiership, and meanwhile viney, and the two kids we pick up with our compo picks, play in an historic era for the melbourne football club and drink in all the champagne of success that scully never does. anyway, i expect him to, after six years, say 'i was really proud of being part of this fine club and helping establish it...and now i'm going back to richmond'.

i really hope he can become our pendlebury. whilst his disposal isn't as clean, he's got that similar ability to just keep finding the ball. his fitness has been issue - but whose hasn't? with an extra pre-season into his frame, he should be starting to fill out nicely too. the young centre square combination of trengove, gysberts and viney could be tantalising to watch in the coming years.

his year last year was extraordinary. stepped up big-time when it was required, and then went forward already and showed that he could kick goals. i think he can become a really handy player - a true utilty who can fill any hole, even running up and down a wing as well as playing back. where previously if jamar went down i thought we were (more) doomed, stef showed he can more than adequately star as a ruckman too - some of his tap work was inspired - so i think he might be best as a ruckman, i'm really confident he can play a role anywhere on the ground. i expect some club to come a-courtin' with big dollars at the end of his next contract.

i still hope he'll be the star i think he can be, but for 2012 i'll just take more steady progression. the player he's always reminded me of most, at least in terms of his movement, is hird. i'll settle for him being as good as hird, thanks kindly.

gysberts from the dees and butcher from the power. i agree with whomsover above compared the gys to pendlebury. if he's as talented as he appears, it's possible.

this game is still right on. both sides are scoring quickly when they get a run-on - gotta make sure you get a goal when the opportunity presents itself, not another wretched point.

the game is still even as it's such a wide open game.

first 15 minutes was shocking - second 15 minutes was unrecognisable from the first! i think they had 3 i50s after that initial first bit where they looked really good. free kicks evened up as we were first at the contest, and the run and gun went up enormously. exciting first term.

last 10 mins been excellent. much harder at the ball and running much harder too.

they're all over us early. we're lucky to be still in touch at the moment. they've had double the amount of i50s, and 4 times as many free kicks (three deserved tho).

a fantastic year right up til the last saturday in september.