Lord Travis

Salem is very frustrating at the moment. Poor defensively and for some reason his kicking skills have abandoned him. Hopefully he gets some confidence back soon because we need him firing off half back.

We need to tighten up defensively. They're well in control with ball movement at the moment.

We need to make the most of our opportunists going forward because they are cutting us up in the fast break. Good intensity but need to tighten up and make the most of those shots!

Have to work today but will be trying to sneak some time in on my phone to get updates. GO DEES!!!

What a great little story that shows the character of Christian and some of the people now at the club. I hope Lucas and his family have a brilliant day tomorrow and get to enjoy a Melbourne win!

We need to make sure the Saints don't kill us with run again. They've gotten us the last few times with some speed through the middle. Montagna and Steven can run riot. I hope Bugg goes to Steven to curb him and we can get on top around the stoppages to limit their outside spread from the contest. Should be a close match, but we can definitely win. I'm pumped!

Oliver the emergency. Wonder if he'll be the 23rd man or play VFL to build his tank. Sad tha Petracca won't get to play with his best mate Brayshaw, but Gus has definitely not looked right so far this year. He'll need to find some fitness and form in the VFL for a few weeks before he breaks back into the team.

The pushing an injured player isn't a great look, but the showboating is gold and there isn't enough of it. Yes it can backfire but it's all part of psychological warfare to fire up your team and supporters and knock down the opposition. I love it and want to see more of it. Also want to see more niggle. Love that Buggy and Kent and some others give it to the opposition and have that arrogance about them. We've been push overs for too long. I've noticed if Nathan Jones gets into a scrap, his teammates charge in to support and get fired up. Every match Jonesy gets into a decent scrap, we win. I've kept track and now when I watch I sit there hoping Jones starts a scrap because then I know we'll win haha

Even though he's not in career best form, Dunn is a required player in our backline. He always puts in effort, and at worst he'll throw his body into someone and make them earn it the hard way. His kicking is always a feature, especially his longer kicks. He's one of the best in the team with that. His presence also gives Tom McDonald more confidence to go for his intercept marks, and Dunny helps organise teammates down back. He wasn't in the team at the start of the year as he was coming back from a niggle. Without him we struggled and were disorganised. Oscar McDonald might be good long term, but right now he battles. Opposition were going through his man at every possible chance and Oscar just looked lost. I think he will be fine long-term, but right now Dunn is far and away a better option.

Thought he was poor again last night. He's lucky he got some cheap touches to inflate his states as he is having next to no impact this year. He is struggling with his rebounding this year, which is puzzling as his kicking and vision is his strength. He hasn't been getting as much penetration on his kicking and hasn't been making bold decisions to open the game up like we have seen from him in the past. Defensively he was poor again. Cost us two goals directly from falling over in a one on one contest. I'm questioning if half-back is the right position for him at this stage, and think he needs a spell at half forward or the wing. We've got others like Hunt, Vince, Lumumba, Jetta, Wagner who can all rebound fine without needing him down there now. Perhaps we can unleash him into the midfield where he belongs?

It should be but it rarely is. I've only ever seen Dusty get pinged once for it and it was when he literally forearm smashed a face that drew blood from the nose. So frittering the guy gets away with hitting people in the wind pipe!

This. He isn't great defensively and teams have looked to go through his man this year, and done so with success. He's a talented player, but he needs to do more imo. He needs to get more involved at contests and tighten up defensively. I'd love for him to be a bit fitter and player through the midfield in the future as that will be his best suited role.

I hate that the umpires and commentators don't pull him up for it more. The majority of the time I watch Richmond games and Dusty rips out the don't argue he usually either hits or grabs the opposing tacklers throat. If he was pushing their body I'd be fine with it, but he usually hits their throat. It should be called a free kick against Dusty. I remember in a game late last year against Gold Coast the player he did it on actually had to leave the ground as he was struggling to breathe because his throat took a hard hit from Dusty. Commentators didn't call it, the boundary rider said he didn't know what happened and thought the player must have taken a knock when falling or something. It was [censored]. Dusty needs to be pulled up on it if he is hitting their throats. It's extremely dangerous. My hatred for it is only intensified because the guy seems like a disgusting human being, but they may be the fault of his parents...

It's just poor timing. We are struggling with attack at the moment. Garlett is the one constant who always gets a few goals. We really need Kent, Vandenburg and others to hit the scoreboard and spread the load. With Hogan down on form and getting double teamed due to slow ball movement it becomes really important those others chime in.

Hoping I make enough for a bottle of whiskey!

With Garlett out we have very few avenues to goal. Just threw $50 on a big win for North. We are going to get done this weekend. Disappointing start to the season after so much promise!

Not sure about this selection this week. I'm not saying he won't make it as an AFL player, but I don't think he's ready yet. I can only go off his NAB cup, but he was woeful. All I saw was a guy who was lost with where to run, didn't offer any rebound and had surprisingly poor agility. I remember in the St Kilda game someone ran a literal circle around him while they worked out who to kick to. He just had no idea. I thought he'd need need a lot more time in the VFL to get up to speed and develop more. If he is getting a game ahead of Dunn, ANB, Brayshaw, Garland, Grimes, Stretch, Hunt etc then he has to have done something right...but I haven't seen anything yet and hope it's not another dud selection call.

Bumped into Dave Misson last week and asked him about Petracca. He said Petracca will start the year playing VFL to get match fitness and touch. Don't expect to see him for a few matches yet. He was very excited at him as a talent though and said his power is unlike many players he's ever worked with before.

Hawthorn and North. We haven't beat either of them in a ridiculously long time. Hawthorn I can understand as they've been a top team for a long time. North on the other hand have been middle of the road and yet we still haven't pinch one off them for over 10 matches now.

FB: Garland Dunn Jetta HB: Salem McDonald ????? C: Tyson Viney Brayshaw HF: Vanders Pedo Watts FF: Garlett Hogan Kent Foll: Gawn Vince Jones Int: Kennedy Bugg ??? ??? Harmes, Oliver, Stretch, Grimes and a few others fighting for the other spots. Was hoping to see someone else own a HBF but it didn't happen unfortunately. Hunts defensive work was poor and we barely saw any speed or rebound from him. Wagner got better as the game went on but was still nothing to write home about. Would be great to have Melksham or Lumumba available to take that other HBF. If Brayshaw is fit he plays. Don't risk him if he's not 100% though obviously. Hoping both Oliver and Petracca can debut not far into the season also to add midfield and forward depth. I've got Pedo at CHF. He's not great, but at least he clunks a mark and kicks a goal every now and then. He can give Gawn a rest from rucking also. Frost is woeful as a forward and should only ever play in the red and blue as a defender.

Excited to see Oliver this weekend. I think his performance will be similar to the intra-club match. Have an impact and win a lot of contested ball in first half but tire in the second half.

Just going by the clubs twitter, Oliver seems to be having a crack. Good to hear he is living up to his reputation with contested ball winning! Good to hear Kennedy is lively as well. He could be a good pick up for us.

Tyson looks to have added a bit more muscle to his frame. I'm expecting him to have a quality season!

Tyson, Salem and Kent. Tyson to get back to his 2014 form and build on it. Salem and Kent to play 22 games, perform consistently, and not just give us flashes of talent between injuries. Assuming no injuries to key players (Jones, Hogan, Gawn, McDonald), if those 3 listed above fulfil their potential then we will make finals.

The only thing I've read about him is someone posted on here he smashed ANB in a one on one ball gathering exercise 9 times out of 10. Has he been training exclusively with the midfielders? Is his fitness going to allow him to play midfield straight away like Bradshaw did? Or is he going to play in the forward line for a while before getting his fitness up like Petracca seems destined to?