whatwhat say what

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,

Anyone got a link for watching the match' date=' pls PM me.[/quote']

And me too please!

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.

In all fairness when we played North we lost Garland and Bail to injury.

We didn't have Jamar, Scully, Trengove, McKenzie in the side.

...plus Newton played (he was ok that game), big difference this week having those players back.

we're definitely a better side now - on field, on paper, all over - but that doesn't excuse falling into a massive hole for no apparent reason. we should never have lost from the position that we were in at quarter time.

confidence is a wonderful thing, and richmond have it.

i'm still not sure we do.

west coast and collingwood were very tough opponents, but fremantle were awful and essendon are clearly dropping off. north melbourne were nowhere when we took them on, and they dismantled us; worst of all, we gave up.

our form is so variable that i have no confidence in beating richmond.

which is damning, but that's another thing.

jamar is so important in this match, primarily as he brings a real physicality to our forward half.

looking forward to the game.

hope there's 60k+ there.

i think one area we clearly lack in is a genuine small forward.

if we were to trade a player to gws - say, for instance, morton, or preferably, bate - we could have a crack at 17 year old ben kennedy, from glenelg.

absolute midget but electric around goal.

but this scenario would involve losing both scully and morton so who the hell knows who's going to provide the run and creation of space around the ground.

ROBBED.

twice in the year against the filth. impressive effort by the maggots.

watts lack of awareness is a huge, huge concern.