Lord Travis

His defensive run and pressure has been disappointing. Often if the ball is turned over and opposition player closest to him gets it he just can't chase them down and doesn't appear to try to. Offensively he has been ok, not great. He's definitely not what he was a few years ago where his kicking was elite, but he is far from our worst. His leadership has been great. He just gets to the right spots to fill holes and directs the tea where to move. He's a level above all our other players out there and is essentially player coach. You can see Goody talks to him at the end of quarter breaks and gives him a pat on the back, Then he is straight out there directing and relaying Goodys commands. I think he's going to continue to slow up and struggle to play out the 3 years as best 22, but it was still a good trade and he's proving valuable. No coincidence that since he has returned to the side and we've been far better organized and are pushing for top 4.

Agree. That seemed the be all the commentators or media talked about!

Loved it. He talks the talk, but he backs it up too! He also drew a lot of attention from the Doggies players for it. From before the bounce they were getting stuck into him. Their captain Wood also couldn't handle his harassment and handed us a free goal! IMO he gets under the oppositions skin and sucks up their aggression and attention. This means they all target him and our other players fly under the radar. Gone are the days where they will come running out and target Jack Watts. Instead they'll target Buggy and Watts will run around free from the niggle. Buggy is tough enough to handle it too. I really think he is the perfect 22nd man for us. Sure he's missed a lot of shots at goal the past month, but I'm pretty happy with any player who is getting 4-5 shots at goal a week. He plays his role perfectly, whether it's a marking target, crumber or tagger type. Hope he stays in the team as we play better with him there.

I'll give him credit where it's due. He played a great second half last week and played well again today. The change is purely in his intensity. In the past, while he has always read the ball well and made it to contests, he would fly and not put the required aggression into it and often give a limp attempt at spoil. This past 1.5 games when he flies he has been spoiling with authority, or more surprisingly, marking with authority! He has obviously grown in confidence and hopefully he continues on with it. His kicking has always been better than his brothers and was never an issue IMO. It's his confidence and intensity in aerial contests that has changed remarkably. Keep it up Oscar!

We're well stocked for ball winning mids and both half forward and back flankers. A genuinely skilled and quick midfielder would be near the top of the list. Someone who can break lines, or nail kicks in the forward half, in the Kelly or Schuey mould. Stretch has neat skills, but doesn't have that explosive pace or penetrating kick. We need someone with those attributes. There are times when the opposition puts pressure on in the middle, where we win the stoppage but then don't have the pace or skill to move up the ground without turning it over. If we had someone like say Shuey they could break through the congestion and hit that kick into our forward 50 instead of say a Tyson or Vince hacking it forward and turning it over. A quality tall defender is still top of the list. Garland is likely to retire at years end now that he has a coaching gig. That leaves us with the 2 McDonalds and Frost. If any get an injury then we are buggered structurally. Lever would be ideal and could play the third tall role perfectly while the others can lock down as needed. Another tall forward who can ruck is needed. Weiderman will be good long term but is still a ways off. Getting another tall to fill that role and ease pressure on him developing would be handy. Trengove from Port as a free agent might be a good target to get a few years out of as a forward/ruck type. Speaking of ruck, we also need better ruck depth, this year has shown that. Gawn is obviously a gun ruckman. Spencer has had his injury problems and is a battler who may move for opportunity as a free agent. That leaves us with young King and Flipper who are both a mile off. If Spencer leaves we need to replace him with a mature ruckman in case Gawn goes down again.

Outside of the first 15-20 minutes we dominated them in every possible way. The scoreboard flattered them in the end. That was a 100 point belting for their pride, an absolute demolition job. They pride themselves on contested work and sharing the ball streaming forward. We matched, if not bettered them in the contest despite not playing a proper ruckman. We also out worked them both ways with hard running and appetite for the contest. Today was an absolute pantsing. Definitely did not expect it, but ecstatic to see it. This talented young group is starting to click and we are going places! Go Dees!

Agree with this. It's. It about top 4, but top 8. Win, and we stay in the 8 and one step ahead of the 6-6 group. Lose and we fall back into the pack and could drop well out of the 8 in a fortnight. We need to win today to keep our top 8 chances achievable and knock off our direct competitors for the spot. 8 point game today. Worry about top 4 when we have built consistency and have a few more wins under our belt. Go Dees!

Reportedly signing on again with Good Coast. Did an interview saying it was done, his manager was at the club a day or two ago to do the paperwork, the club is just waiting for a good time soon to announce it. All efforts now move to Lever I guess.

Needs to tidy up his decison making/kicking. Too often he just bombs it and turns it over after a long run, but [censored] he's exciting to watch! With more maturity he'll learn to steady himself a bit more before letting off that kick inside 50. Love the way he attacks the game though with such confidence and flair. One of my favorites!

This game is also highlighting that we need another key forward to go with Hogan. We need to target someone like Sam Reid.

Our high zone does not work at the MCG. This cannot be disputed. We get caught out on the switch badly and our midfield just can't cover the ground enough to get back and help the defense. Really disappointing half of football. Leaders and coaches need to fire up and earn their pay now. A loss to another team below us with a top 8 spot on the line is unacceptable.

Pathetic effort from the midfield today. Viney and Lewis have been terrible and should be ashamed of themselves as leaders.

Phil Davis off with injury. Blues might get over the line here!

Seems like he will spend time up forward or even roaming the whole ground depending on how our defence is holding up. He's got the fitness to play anywhere, if the defence can stand up he might be a decent option roaming through the wing/midfield as a lead up target.

Having a great year and has been a great pick up for the club. He always chimes in with goals, but his defensive pressure has improved dramatically this year. In the past it has been inconsistent, but it's clearly been a focus for him this season and it's paying off. Defenders sh*t themselves when he is around, like they used to when Aaron Davey was playing. He's also improved his body work in marking contests. For a small guy, he contests and uses his body remarkably well now and if he doesn't get a clear run and jump at the ball he is often able to body his opponent out of the contest and follow up at ground level to finish off his own work. Hope he is able to maintain this form. Keep up the hard work Jeffy!

They might have an easy run home, but we were gifted an easy run for the first half of the season. We didn't even have to leave Melbourne for the first two months. The fact we weren't able to capitalise on our easy first half draw is disappointing as we should be well entrenched in the 8 now.

So Essendon are up 40-1 vs Port Adelaide. Did not see this coming!

Another goal to Weiderman from a quick snap. He's been good today. Casey by 6 goals and should hold on.

Only watched the 3rd quarter so far but Weiderman has been good. Crashed into a few packs, buried a bloke in a tackle, took a good contested mark on the lead, few taps out of the ruck, hit up a target inside 50 to setup a shot at goal, grabbed the ball out of a pack and just missed a snap at goal. He's building in confidence. With more strength, conditioning and confidence he will be a good player long term for us, I'm sure of that. Shocking quality game, disposal efficiency less than 50% from both teams at present due to it just being a rolling scrum for large periods. Wagner has far more class than anyone else out there. Only one who can evade and get a kick off among the scrums. JKH off in the tracksuit now, no injury but they're saving him for Queens Bday if needed. Few other of our AFL listed not doing much. Kent just jogging around, Stretch can't get near it, Keilty losing nearly every contest he gets near, Hulett puts decent physical pressure on with tackling but has horrible skills, missed every kick I've seen him try so far. Casey should be able to hold on from here and build more form and consistency.

Jeez Hawthorn are rubbish. Absolutely embarrassing losing to them this year. Currently 8 goals down at the MCG to Gold Coast in the 3rd quarter and don't look AFL standard. That loss to them this year better not cost us finals.

We needed midfield talent and depth at the time, so Bradshaw was the best choice. MFC did seriously rate Lever and wanted to get him, but they were looking at taking him and hoping he could develop into a big bodied midfielder ala Nat Fyfe, Josh Kennedy, Jobe Watson etc. Don't think that would've worked, he's definitely a defender. It's just unfortunate what has happened to Gus injury wise, as he is clearly a talented footballer and was what we needed at the time. You only have to look at his first season to see what he can produce and the impact he can have. There's still plenty of time for him to get over his issues and fulfil his talent. On output thus far though Lever is obviously ahead because he's been on the park more. We should be throwing the kitchen sink at Lever. With him down back, we would be far more settled and have better depth. I'm assuming the club will make him a big offer and if he wants to come across then we'd have to find enough compo for Adelaide. First rounder plus a player?

While it's frustrating that Bugg misses shots at goal, it's good he is getting so many shots. Shows he gets to the right places and beats his opponent, unlike some of his teammates such as Kent or JKH. If only they had his work ethic and smarts...

Reid was in ripping marking form last night. Clunked 5 contested marks in the first half! If we can get him cheap (e.g. Not 700-800k) then he'd be perfect second tall forward to pair with Hogan and give relief in ruck.

Came on here to post a similar thing. She's damn good in the media. Very well spoken, proper assessment and knowledge of footy instead of pointless banter, always backs the Dees too. She's a ripper of a footballer, great media personality and perfect role model. Also have a big crush on her haha

Dogs aren't much chop this year. Their midfield is decent, but their forward line is non existent and backline average. Won't be doing big damage in finals again this year unless they make big changes. In their current form we should account for them in two weeks time. Swans look like they're back to the form we expect of them. Should've won by 70-80 points tonight. Scoreboard flatters the Doggies.