Lord Travis

Danger game as Pies are in better form now. If we lose this one it will be a big let down and won't have many winnable games left.

He was better today, but both him and his brother were average. I know Oscar is still very slight, but he needs to lift his intensity. He often just jogs instead of chasing properly and doesn't put his body into marking contests. We don't know yet if he'll be a decent player long-term, but hopefully playing him now pays off because it's costing us. Hopefully his brother Tom sharpens up too. He's become so loose when defending this year and often over-runs the ball by trying to take it at full pelt and dodge opponents like he's Gary Ablett. He needs to get back to basics and become a solid defender before he tries the fancy stuff.

Our small forward need to lift their intensity. Kent, Harmes and Garlett were all average and gave no defensive pressure. When we've played well they've been involved and held the ball in our forward 50. It was a stark contrast watching them jog around and have no impact and up the other end Bruest, Rioli, Puopolo, Shiels etc all locked it in when they got it. When it went into our 50 if we didn't get a clean break and score it shot straight up the other end without pressure from those half forwards. We're not skilled enough or good enough yet to carry players who have 1-2 effective disposals a game like Harmes did today. 10 Disposals with only 2 effective is just pure rubbish. If he's not kicking goals, not setting up goals, not laying heaps of tackles and locking the ball in... then what value does he add at present? The midfield worked hard today and did their job. We need to bring that intensity every game if we want to win. Simple. We still need more A grade midfielders too so hopefully we land Prestia or another talent to add in there to go with the young kids we've amassed.

Effort was there today but we ran out of puff and got beaten by a more experienced outfit. Depressing to see us sink to 11th on the ladder and 4 points behind Carlton. As good as we have been at times this year we're still a ways off until the kids become consistent.

He got better as the game went on. His last quarter was great, picked up 9 disposals early in that last qtr when the game was still in the balance. His effort in the marking contest against a much bigger body in Mcevoy, then to follow up and beat a second Hawk at ground level was superb. Winning a two on one through pure determination was great to see and shows the character and grit of Jack. Glad to have him back in the side and think he will be valuable for us.

Shame to lose this one. We were a real chance until the last quarter until the experience Hawhtorn team did what it needed to and started kicking accurately. We should beat them next year.

Great effort from Trengove there. Took on two and won through pure determination. If we bring intensity all quarter here we can steal this. Come on Dees!

Wrong way round. They're well up in tackles and going to break the record. We need to keep the intensity up!

Hold strong Dees. Keep the intensity up!

Bernie Vince flying the flag and really making the Hawks mids earn their touches. Keep it up Bernie! Loved the hit on Mitchell!

Get aggressive Dees! Keep smashing into them and forcing it forward!

RIP Muhammad Ali. Sad day for sport today.

Wagner needs to head back to the VFL. Think Kent needs to join him. Both are making bad mistakes and showing pot awareness.

Midfield needs to be smarter with the conditions and move it quicker, knock it on, less handball. Our current back line is horsesh*t and it's a f*cking disgrace Dunn isn't out there with what's currently unfolding. Selection panel have been pathetic this season.

Oliver our MVP today. With the conditions his clean hands in the pack could set us up all day. We need Tyson and Vince to have good games. Jones needs to start a fight and get the boys fired up. Bugg should run with Mitchell. VdB and Trac to rotate through midfield and hit the scoreboard. Kent and Harmes need to play well or they can take a stint in the VFL. OMac needs to prove he can hold his own in a one on one as my grandmother could outwrestle him at the moment. Hoping to see a fight but expecting a 40 point loss.

Great to see him back. He was always one of my favorite players. He just seems like a quality determined guy who also happens to be a talented footballer. Wonder where he will play long term? He's really versatile and could fill a midfield role or either flank. He's a good mark overhead too so maybe forward flank? Good luck Trenners!

It's the worst thing I can remember seeing on the field. It goes against everything our great game is meant to be. This knee dropping arm raising rubbish needs to be stamped down on asap. Serial offenders should be suspended and shamed. Weak sacks of sh*t.

I'm disappointed we dropped some games against lower teams simply because we didn't show up. We've lost to 3 teams below us, and only beaten 1 above us. The only team we beat above us was GWS before they found form, and we were lucky to win that match at all. The second half of the draw has us playing some top 8 teams and playing some lower teams again who have already beaten us. We will struggle to beat the Pies on form and without Viney playing too. The worry is we may not win many more games from here if our forms tapers off like the past two years. And those wins will come against sides like Carlton, who are out-performing us at present, and Port who just beat us! It would be disappointing to only win one or two more matches than last year. For all the progress we appear to have made, we might wind up not much better in terms of wins and Roos is gone. Talk of finals was premature, but it still doesn't excuse losing to teams like Essendon and St Kilda purely through poor work-rate. Realistically it is going to get harder from here, and we should be 7-3 now. That's what disappoints me.

If he is fit enough then I hope he plays. He's a versatile player and it will be great to see him back in red and blue. He could play midfield, half forward or half back. With Viney out for a few weeks and a few youngsters struggling, hopefully he gets a gig.

This will be a loss this weekend, especially without Viney in the centre. Hopefully it's not a blow out. We need Clarry back to give us grunt and defensive pressure at the stoppages. He is already very important to us!

Hopefully he only gets a week, but the fact here were 3 punches doesn't make it look good. He might get 2-3 weeks if we're unlucky. We're no hope against the Hawks, especially without him there and firing. Hopefully he is back for the the game vs the Pies.

We have to give up a first rounder or a quality player. Being that we don't want to get rid of our talented youth, a first rounder it is. Prestia is obviously worth that. He's a top 10 pick who has more than proven himself being a league leading clearance player and would've won a bnf if he wasn't playing behind Gary Ablett, who was in hall of fame brownlow winning form at the time. He'd be a great get. You can never have too many quality midfielders as yesterday's game showed. Midfielders win premierships. We also need a key defender such as Hurley though...

I think he reads it ok, he's just not strong enough yet so he gets out bodied at the start of a contest and then can't get back into it. With time and strength he can fix that part of his game. The concerning thing that is hard to teach is his lack of intensity. He's like Cale Morton out there and just seems scared a lot of the time.

As we all said last week, he simply isn't ready for AFL level yet. He might be a good player for us long term, but short term he isn't ready. If we played Dunn today it would've been more of a contest. First and foremost though, the midfield needs to show up!

Will be missed around the ball this week. He's already very important to us around stoppages so hopefully he is back in next week.