Lord Travis

Adelaide have been hopeless tonight. Definitely won’t be making another grand final this year with this lack of intensity or gameplan.

I’m a fan, but he’s been disappointing so far this season. After a great 2nd half of 2017, and a great JLT and preseason, I expected more from him. He’s out of form at the moment. Hopefully he clicks soon as he can be very damaging and has a higher ceiling that most of the other small/mid forward options (Petracca aside).

Reckon we’ll bomb long too often and Sicily will pick them off all day. He’s the key player we have to make accountable to get the 4 points IMO. Predicting Hawks by 9. Hope I’m wrong!

No excuses today. Let's bury these losers. GET IT DONE DEES!

How are people proposing we get Wines? We’ve got no first round pick to trade this year, and have to use next years first rounder in the draft, as we haven’t used one since 2015 draft. Unless we’re trading a gun of our own like Petracca or Oliver, then we have no way of getting him across.

Goal kicking is the big one. It's the only thing separating Clarry from the truly elite midfielders. If he can start kicking goals consistently then he will immediately become a top 5 player. At present he isn't as damaging as most of the above listed due to this one aspect. He's got them beat for clearances, contested ball and tackles, but at the end of the day the game is about kicking goals. He needs to contribute more in goals and score assists to elevate himself to the elite level. He's more than capable, it will just take time to find that balance. Still only 20 years old and less than 40 games into his career! His output thus far is phenomenal, and I honestly think he's already close to being the best Melbourne midfielder I can remember in my time. Finally a superstar in red and blue!

Judd won the Brownlow, best and fairest, and was All Australian in his 3rd year as a 20-21 year old. He finished 2nd in his second year as a 19 year old... but was second to Ben Cousins, who was one of the best midfielders of the decade. Clarry is far ahead on pure numbers, but Judd definitely impacted games more. No one else has ever had as big an impact that early in their career as Judd did.

He's my favourite player, and is well on his way to being the best Demon midfielder in my lifetime. Very different player to Judd though. While he's putting up far better numbers than Judd did, he doesn't have the explosive bust out of packs and he doesn't hit the scoreboard either. Judd would often go for a run, dance around some opposition and bang through 3-4 goals. His impact on games was huge, and faded in the second half of his career as his groin was shot so he lost his explosive pace. I love Clarry, but his impact isn't the same at this stage. If he starts hitting the scoreboard, then he'll genuinely be a top 5 player in the comp.

If we lose to either North or Saints this year I don’t think I can go on. Watching them play today, they are both absolutely diabolical and an embarrassment to the league.

Currently playing in the Casey practice match and dominating. Very strange he isn't in the team again this week. Hopefully he is straight in next week. He gets nothing out of playing at Casey, he's been a level above VFL from before he was drafted. It's a waste of his time, and a waste of the clubs time. He needs a consistent run at AFL level to develop and become the player we think he can. He's an obvious talent (pick 3), and is also quite flexible. Can play inside or outside mid, wing, half forward, half back. His skills are decent, he reads the play well, and he lays a good hard tackle. If we don't give him games this year, he'll walk and become a star at another club.

Oliver Petracca Hot jam donuts

Jeez there’s some very bitter fools here. Jack had a good game today. He had plenty of good games for us, and will have plenty of good games for the Power. He’s a good footballer, no superstar, but a good footballer. Everyone need to build and bridge and get over it. We shipped him off when he was trying to be loyal, and he’s not part of our club anymore. Why bother whining about him. Move on.

I agree. If Hogan struggles or gets double teamed, Petracca is the other strong body who can clunk a mark up forward. We have enough midfield depth to cover his temporary loss there.

That’s a decent article, but probably a few months late. The only new interesting piece of information I took from it was the fact that T Mac was the players rep who had to raise the issue with the club and call Nathan Jones etc. T Mac was then dumped from the leadership group... Possibly just coincidence but that jumped out at me.

We should have made finals in 2017. We have to make finals in 2018. Finals is the minimum pass mark. If we don't make finals I expect the club to refund all members.There are no excuses. The off-field is finally in good shape. The playing list is top 5 in quality league-wide now. It now comes down to how well Goodwin and co can motivate the players consistently. It's as simple as that.

I wish Jack all the best at Port. He was always a good player for us, and a loyal clubman too. The club treated him appalling at times and mismanaged him his whole career. From the get go he was thrown to the wolves, and never in AFL history has a player had so much unwarranted external pressure placed on them throughout their career. He was loyal to the end and we cast him out. Anyone who holds a grudge against him or wishes him ill is a f*cking fool. I don't think it was a bad trade to move him out, as it definitely shows where the club is heading and has now symbolically moved on all players born from that dark period in the clubs history. However, there should be no ill will against a guy who was loyal and was instead pushed out the door. Best of luck with the rest of your career Jack. Do us a favour though and fluff a few of your usually perfect kicks when you play against us though please!

Location would play a part in this. But also it might be related to our poor performances and standing as a club for the past decade. We've no doubt lost a chunk of potential supporters from that generation.

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?

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!

Fluff piece. The club is handling him well though. Didn't give up much to get him and he's been given a one year contract to show he can get himself right and start developing. He'll need to prove himself to earn another contract. He's quite a talented player when fit and if he can stay fit physically and mentally he can break into our best 22 IMO. Would be a good half forward flank/midfield rotation. Hope he makes it as he's a good size and has some decent skills.

The Good: We finish 6th, making finals for the first time since 2006. We finally beat North. Our midfield becomes one of the best in the league, and teams struggle to combat our pressure around the ball. The rebound from our backline becomes a real weapon, with Hunt, Hibberd, Brayshaw, Salem and Jetta causing head-aches. Bugg surprises many as a pesky small forward and becomes best 22. Christian Petracca continues his rise to stardom and makes the AA squad. Kicks 30+ goals for the season and is the match-winner in a few games. Dom Tyson has yet another top 5 finish in our BnF to remind everyone why he is an important part of our future midfield. Clayton Oliver becomes recognised as a bonafide star of the competition, finishing 5th in the Brownlow and making the AA midfield. Gawn stays fit and plays the full season, reclaiming his thrown as AA ruckman. The Bad: Jones, Vince and Lewis all struggle with the pace of the game and lingering injury issues. 2 of the 3 retire at years end. Tom McDonald forward doesn't work out and he returns to the backline. This exposes our lack of quality tall forwards and increased pressure on Hogan. We continue to struggle against big forwards. Frost's form deteriorates, Oscar struggles to develop further, TMac heads down back but his form fluctuates and Lever is left to try and steady the ship in more of a shut down role. We endure another year of media speculation about Hogan returning to WA, after he has a mediocre year form-wise. We lose to Richmond after controlling the majority of the match again. The soft-underbelly lingers. While we finish 6th, we could have finished 1st-2nd if not for losing winnable matches against lesser opponents.

When rumours circulated we were into Baker I was worried we'd use our first pick on him and thought it was the wrong move. Turns out we landed him with our last pick at 47. He's definitely got great pace and agility, question will be how it holds up under AFL level pressure. Though his highlights look excited, there is bugger all defensive pressure in the NEAFL and it almost looked like they were playing touch footy at times He doesn't mind laying a tackle though and looks competitive so he'll give it a red hot crack. Of all our draftees this year I'm hoping Baker makes it. He's got exactly what our midfield needs: pace. Welcome Oskar!

Happy with this pickup. I was hoping either him or Bailey would slip to our first pick and we landed Spargo. He's a talent. Decent pace, great agility, great competitor, can rack up ball and chime in with goals. He'd be perfect to play up forward for the first few years of his careers to partner up with Jeffy. He could be added to the midfield rotation over time or own a small forward role. Though he's small, he's a competitor and take down his share of bigger players over his time. Welcome Charlie!

Haven't seen this kid play other than the usual highlights clips, but surely a 19 year old who couldn't even crack it onto the list of the worst team in the AFL isn't worth blowing our first pick on?! If someone like Bailey or Spargo is still available, I'd hope the club drafts them.

As for Liam Ryan, I'll quote myself from earlier in this thread. He'll go as a late/rookie pick to a WA club. I'd hope the club don't bother with a 21 year old who has serious attitude and application issues. He would not suit the modern AFL game where defensive pressure and hard running both ways are now a requirement. He'll never make it at AFL level IMO.