Lord Travis

He was good today. When our other backs and kids refused to run and spread he was constantly making space across half back and switching it when needed. He is one of the few positives from today. We need to get Vince and Hibberd back in to give him a hand as he was doing it on his own for much of today. Jetta is our rock defensively and atm Melksham is our smartest rebounder. Hunt is a bit up and down at the moment and is more of a one man show. He's having to learn with getting more attention. Still love him though. So exciting to watch. Mids didn't use the ball well today. Their kicking into the 50 was abysmal at times. They also didn't push back when they turned it over. There were multiple instances of Carlton forwards outnumbering our defenders in the back 50. That's unforgivable in any AFL game and shows a lack of effort to run both ways. Clarry, Jones, Salem and Garlett were all good today. Viney and Lewis were not. Viney is well down on intensity and work rate this year thus far which is disappointing. Hopefully he gets going soon! Happy we were able to grind out a win despite not playing great. We would've lost that game the last few years so it shows we're improving steadily finally!

Kick heading inside 50 is letting us down and we're not getting back to defend the corridor well enough. Should win comfortably if we tighten up but jeez it's frustrating to watch

Kick heading inside 50 is letting us down and we're not getting back to defend the corridor well enough. Should win comfortably if we tighten up but jeez it's frustrating to watch

He's a depth player. Decidedly average. Can't believe Richmond have gotten this close. Pies should be a mile ahead at half time with how much more ball they had.

The only positive out of watching this rubbish match is its made me very confident we should belt both these teams again this year.

Pies should be 10 goals up, just wasted so many shots earlier on. Dusty is overrated and believing his own hype. Got pinged twice last quarter trying to break every tackle instead of disposing cleanly when he had the chance. Complete opposite to Pendlebury who is so clean with his handballs and runs on to become another option again instead of just bombing it.

This should be the changes for the week. Frustrating to have Bernie get rubbed out for a week after he played one of his better games in the backline, but we have adequate back up. He needs to work on the stupid reckless things he keeps getting in trouble for. I'm all for targeted aggression, but it needs to be in play. If you bump a bloke going for the ball like Melksham did on the weekend then he will second guess himself next time he goes for it. Whacking a bloke behind play gets you nothing but trouble. Happy to have Tyson and Kent come back in. Both are best 22 and add something to the line up. Kent will add to our general speed and ball movement as well as become another goal scoring option. Tyson adds in and under skill around the stoppages and can also drift forward to kick goals. We can send someone like Salem down back to cover the missing players short term, and then get Vince and Hibberd back to settle the team longer term.

Agreed, he had a decent game and teams well with Jetta and Hunt. He was often the one initiating the switch and firing the ball out wide to Hunt/Jones/Vince etc. Good footy brain and stuck to the gameplan. I love that he elected to bump twice and it worked both times. He definitely adds a hardness and likes to get into the oppositions face and let them know about it. His bump into the second was one of the key moments where you could just see the momentum swinging and the boys were full of confidence in what they were doing. Not sure what changes to make this week. Smith out injured, do we just bring Tyson in as he is clearly the best player not in the team? Or do we bring in a defender to directly replace Smith? Either way I want to destroy Carlton and make a statement we mean business in 2017!

Yeah definitely odd to not get the start time right, as odd as it might have been. They get fined and move on. Just as perplexing was the horrible marketing campaign by Dare to misspell their own name? Very strange... I watched the reply today and my god our mids were good around the ball in the 2nd and 3rd quarter. Jones had a ripper game, Oliver was outstanding and Lewis was so calm. Multiple times he got the ball in a pack and everyone around him was moving and instead of bombing it or handballing into more traffic he'd take a step back and assess the options before releasing a perfect short kick to move us forward but also maintain possession and force the opposition away with a mark. Was brilliant. We need to tear Carlton a new one next week. I won't be satisfied with just winning, I want percentage and to show we mean business!

Saints coach addressed it in post game interview. They thought they had 10 more minutes as 4:35 is a very unusual start time. He didn't sound too pleased about the mistake. They stuffed up, it stuffed their preparation and will receive a fine. Nothing sinister in it. Worked out well for us in the end.

Really glad Jetta played despite the interrupted preseason. He was our rock down back today and one of our best. He's just super composed and is our rock in defence with the brain fades that the McDonalds and Bernie suffer from. Jeez Oscar was rubbish today. He was the only player to have a shocker today and it's disappointing to see he still has zero intensity out there and gets pushed around by guys 15kgs lighter than him. Really want Frost back fit to take his place. Loved Oliver, Jones and Lewis through the middle. Hannah was great for a debutant. Read it well and went hard too. Thank god the streak is broken. I hate going to that stadium. It was so damn hot in there too?!

Thought it was just me. It's boiling in here!

Works in our favor. Acres is a good runner and ripped us apart last year.

Not 100% sure of the selections going with two debutants over proven experience, but love the idea of what Goodwin and the selection committee are doing here. They've gone for a quick side that's not too top heavy because St Kilda have torched us time and time again with pace and run. They've picked a team with a slightly different dynamic than we're accustomed to and IMO it's a good thing. I do hope Kent and Tyson come straight back in after a week or two, but I love that they've gone with run and skill to suit our attacking gameplay. Based on pre=season form I'm expecting big games from Oliver, Brayshaw and Hunt. Go Dees!

Probably just letting others know in case they were signing up using their personal email address. Thanks for the heads up Wiseblood.

Article now on MFC website saying he won't play this weekend at Casey or Round 1. They are being cautious with an Achilles injury. Don't think we'll see him for a few weeks. Hopefully it doesn't become long term and we can get him back soon. He'll be a key to our back line this season. Great interceptor and booming kick. Frees up Hunt more as well.

They beat us (for 10 years straight) and finished higher than us. They've also shown improvement over preseason and added Carlisle to their list. They deserve to be rated higher than us. I expect we will overtake them as I believe we have more young talent, but it might not happen this year. I believe we are better setup to challenge for a flag in the future too.

Oliver is my favorite player and could be a star of the competition if he can build enough of a tank. He's so damaging around the stoppages with his quick decision making and sure hands, but it's good we are starting to see him create space for himself and use his brilliant kicking skills. Gun. Parish is very good also, and was the better of the two players last year. Oliver will be better long term if he gets fit enough but that's no slight on Parish. He looks a gun also and only a fool suggests otherwise. He did a few Cousins-like things last year grabbing balls out of packs and using agility and gut run to break away from opponents.

Agreed. The more I saw of him last year the less excited I was. He's not tall enough to be a stay at home contested marking machine. Doesn't have much of a leap of him either. He's not quick or agile enough to be a lead up forward. He's not skilled or smart enough to be a third forward option like Watts or Petracca. I can't see him making it at AFL level. He's depth for 2 years and then delist material in my opinion. While lots here hate him, Watts is on his way to 250+ games and already contributes to the team. Hopefully he can reproduce his form from last yearly improve further. If he does then he's in our top 5 players yet again.

Be pleased, but also accept it as standard. We need to beat teams around and below us to make finals, and those bastards have been beating up on us for far too long! Pray we start the year off well and build momentum. We have a good run and could go 5-1 IMO

Link to the article anyone?

Misread the title as Clearance Oliver. Fitting really! Can't wait to watch him progress this season. He's my favourite player and has potential to be one of the best players in the league.

No. I'm being over the top to illustrate a point. I just don't like the way the club has treated Watts. Unless he has done something far worse than expected and this is their way of covering up. On a positive note I can't wait to see Oliver unleashed. He's been really good in the 2 JLT matches and if he has improved his tank he could be set to explode quicker than expected! Love Clarry!

So Hunt is not up to par and the team is punished, but Watts is not up to par and he gets punished individually and cops it in the media from club reps and players? Good to know the coaching staff treat players equally.

Indeed it was. Absolutely sickening. Still haven't forgiven Bomber Thompson for making a joke of out of it too in his press conference after the match. Smarmy pr*ck!