Lord Travis

I noticed this bit of play too. He’s clearly overthinking the game at the moment, hopefully that changes with time. I actually think he hasn’t been poorly coached by Goodwin and co. In his first year under Roos he excelled as a runner and outside option. When Goodwin took over, his coaching panel may have taken the “contested team” thing a bit too far. They specifically played Billy in the VFL to work on his inside game. He was played as an inside midfielder. He’s not an inside midfielder, and he never should be. It’s a waste of one of the few decent outside runners we have. I understand needing to develop multiple aspects to your game, but it has done nothing positive for Stretch. He’s not strong enough or quick enough mentally to play inside, and his lack of confidence in an assigned role he can perform has now caused his outside game to deteriorate. Hopefully the coaches recognize the mistake they made and let Billy get back to doing what he does best without having to overthink everything. We need quality outside run and Billy is one of the few on the list who can provide it. Nibbler just keeps on improving though. He’s developing nicely and is very versatile. Definite best 22 moving forward and a real barometer for our team IMO.

Softest decision I've ever seen. An open palm shove to the chest with low force after being pushed in the back? If that warrants a fine, then surely tackling your opponent now warrants a 3-4 weeks suspension?

This actually happened mid last year. I posted in a thread here about it and was able to get a work around, but unfortunately since the app was updated before finals the work around is blocked. You can't even plug your phone directly into a tv and watch, it detects it's outputting video to an external source and gives an error. Absolute robbery. I was investigating a class action law suit, as the initial terms and conditions mentioned the screen size, but nothing about video to external sources etc. If a user had chosen to do this, they would have the resolution of the smaller screen size, but it was their device, their subscription, and there was no limitation. Mid-season however this limitation was thrown in, after people had paid for a subscription based on initial terms and conditions. Robbery. Lies. Corruption. I paid for the subscription so I could watch footy on my tv, as I can't get Foxtel in my old apartment building (nor would I want to at the ridiculous cost). All I can do now is visit mates or the pub to watch interstate games. The AFL are making the game unwatchable for the common fan, as more and more games shift to paid tv. Especially lower drawing clubs like us, we barely get any free to air time.

Fritsch looking the goods for round 1. Brayshaw has struggling to get involved today. Liked Harmes' work rate and impact.

Great to see us score well in the third term and convert our dominance onto the scoreboard. Hoping for more of that this year!

Petracca has been average IMO He looks good up forward but struggles in the midfield. He just doesn't seem to read the play when running through the midfield. Unless he's lead to a stoppage he is always floating in no mans land watching it go back and forward over his head. I hope he plays more forward than midfield still going forward, as he's such a hard match up when forward and could be very dominant there.

I'd say weather has played a part in that. It rained for 20 hours straight before the match and there were gale force winds overnight. Lucky it died off this morning as match otherwise match may have been called off. But yes, the atmosphere down in Tassie is usually lacking.

Hogan looking dangerous, just wish he was a bit more selfish and would have a shot more often. Hope he can stay fit and healthy this year, he's a big presence out there for us.

Jeez.... getting shredded by Billy Harting. Embarrassing! Still same problem as last year, dominate play but don't capitalise on the scoreboard. Bloody frustrating.

We're looking dominant. Similar to last year though, we're dominating ball, dominating play, ball isn't leaving our forward half... but we're not capitalising on the scoreboard. Should be 6 goals up by now. Lever looking great. Also Lewis and Nibbler looking good.

Thanks to all who have provided reports and photos. Your efforts are greatly appreciated by us hardcore supporters!

Whatever Champion Data do to interpret the stats they take... it doesn’t work. Reigning premiership midfield with two Brownlow medalists sits 12th. That right there is proof enough they’re unarguably wrong. It’s all done to draw media attention and hype. I’ll happily take our 11th placed midfield in 2018!

Love the new leadership group. No bloating. Jones and Viney both fitting leaders. Gawn has developed as a leader and the younger guys love him. Lewis is the most successful leader at the club so is a no brained also. Perfect choices this year.

Huge signing. Unlike the past 10 years, our young talent is all extended and sticking fat for the journey. Great to see! Keep working hard Trac and you’ll enjoy success in red and blue with your mates!

Started the only fight of my life. 2002 Semi-final against Adelaide at the G was an emotional rollercoaster. I was in my late teenage years at the time and loved (hated?) my footy as much back then as I do now. We were 8 goals down at quarter time. I was gutted. Then my favourite player Travis Johnstone put on a masterclass BOG effort. Most touches, 4 goals from a wing, it was a vintage Travis finals performance. He was always a big game player. Yze and Bruce chimed in, Neitz and Vardy piling on goals up forward. We hit the lead and had control of the match by three quarter time. It was a great fight back, and I thought that year may have been one we could pinch. Then the mental softness that permeates the club to this day kicked in. The pressure came, the momentum shifted, and we folded. Season over. I was insanely worked up. I stormed out of the ground furious at what had happened and some Adelaide supporter in his 20s-30s started having a go. For the first and only time in my life I started a fight. I must've landed one right in a sweet spot as he went down. I don't know what I was yelling, but I know there were lots of 4 letter words and complaints that the universe was robbing us. Others started yelling and jumping in. I got shoved into a pack but wound up on the outside of a group that were starting to punch on. I had lost my [censored], and I grabbed a bin and flung it into a group of people fighting. Next thing I remember I was being shoved into the back of a divvy van by the cops. Stupidest and craziest thing I've ever done. Really out of character, but that night footy just drove me mad.

Is there anywhere I can watch a replay of this? I saw our first two matches but missed the final one against the Hawks as was out by then. Wouldn't mind seeing it as I imagine it was decent intensity. Plus seeing us win any match is always a deelight!

Doesn’t count. We’ve beat them in NAB cup in the past few years. Having said that, I still want to crush them tonight!

Spargo for mine. He’s the most competitive player from the entire draft last year. Add in his good skills and speed and he was a top 10 pick if not for injury. If his body holds up he’ll be a 10 year player for us IMO. Also excited to see Baker purely due to his pace, as pace through the middle is something we are lacking.

Daisy has a more rounded game IMO, but hard to deny Paxman has the most impact out there. She just keeps finding the ball and working it forward.

We've got a more balanced and better team IMO and I'm confident we'll win. That said... jeez that trio is possibly the best midfield trio ever assembled. Would've killed to have had even just one of those three play their career in red and blue!

Opened this thread expecting a discussion on who would be more important to our 2018 season - Gawn or Hogan? That video was quite uneventful... Hogan needs to practice more.

Despite the pathetic efforts to end last season, I'm confident the players will stand up and we'll be playing finals in 2018. Realistically we should be aiming for top 4, but finals is a benchmark considering we haven't partaken since 2006. - Our list IS top 4-6 in terms of quality. - We are now stable off-field from a financial perspective. - We now have good training facilities and more money than ever being poured into coaching and fitness staff. - We have more supporters and members than ever rocking up to games and shelling out the cash to support. If we fail to make finals in 2018 I'd consider it our biggest failure of a season since 2007. We're now 5 years into the Roos rebuild (of the rebuild, of the rebuild...) and barring major injuries to every single one of our key players, there is literally no excuse not to play finals this season. Top 4 is a successful season. Finals is a pass mark. Anything lower is an utter catastrophe.

It's an interesting comment. Though Hogan has looked decent with flashes in the midfield, I'd hope it is nothing more than that. With the loss of Watts, Hogan needs to form a partnership up forward with TMac and maybe Weid in future. We really need him to just establish himself and kick us bags. Our biggest issue at present is scoring. We dominate play the majority of the time but never seem to convert our dominance in general play into actual score. A fit and healthy Hogan playing 22 games should net 50+ goals for the season and we desperately need that. Sure, give him a few spurts up the ground to get him involved, but others can fill that roll where as not many can fill the dominant key forward spot like he can.

Haven’t read this thread but will drop my two cents. I couldn’t care less this was cancelled, as the boot camp last year was an abject failure. It’s purpose was to make the players mentally tougher and give them something to draw on when they were in challenging situations in tight matches. It failed to do this. The players proved that they were still mentally weak, with form jumping up and down like a yo-yo, and when the chips were down at the end of the season they went into their shells and failed. All that camp did was cause injuries and not give us benefit in the process. While Goodwin seems like a good tactical coach, he’s definitely failed thus far to galvanize the players and inspire them when needed. It’s a worrying sign for the future. Also, can’t blame this one on Jack Watts

He’s a talent for sure. If he can get his body fit and healthy then he’ll add a lot to our team and will be best 22 very quickly. We got a bargain in Spargo due to his shoulder injury.