Nasher

Looking forward to @stevethemanjordan's McDonald and Frost report.

Told you it was coming.

Holy sheetballs. I'm terrified now.

Hope you're not around when I pop the genie cork! I'll take Gawn thanks.

Really like the way Bugg has gone so far. The 1 in 5 good games he play remind you why he's managed 80 odd games when you're left wondering for the other 4.

Second quarter is where Adelaide run away with games apparently. They were about to run away with it too but we wrestled it back - this is exactly what I wanted today. We are in it. Again.

I must have spoken too soon when I said sooky Melbourne supporters wouldn't be able to take St Kilda winning personally.

St Kilda blew a match winning lead - surely you now hope they lose as they'll clearly be the more miserable team of the two. At least in this game there's no way for sooky Melbourne supporters to manage to interpret the result as an insult against us since we've beaten both of them.

Any club that loses its first KPF (Hogan) and then the reserve spare (Pedersen) is going to be down to development players or makeshift players from other positions. Show me any list that has two or more AFL-ready key position forwards kicking around in their reserves and I'll pay your argument.

Hogan (injured) Watts Pedersen (needed in the ruck) Weideman Smith (injured) How many clubs have 6 key forwards on their list? It's why Pedersen was kept on the list, but as it happens all our rucks fell over too. You can't mitigate against every possible risk on the list.

Fitzpatrick's sole contribution has been to be a complete and utter potato. Martin's just been quiet.

This game is rank.

Hannan and Petracca absolutely must present scoring options or we're stuffed I think. Watts has to spend most of the game forward and TMac to take Watts' share of the ruck. I'm okay with getting annihilated in the hitouts, what I'm not okay with is watching their ruckman take marks all over the ground. I think I'll live if we have another one of those games where we are on top with the ball but have difficulty scoring - I think without a key forward that has to be expected a bit. I'm going to be sad if we start the game asleep and lose because of it again though. Like I said in the preview thread, I think there's a good chance we'll be outclassed, especially now that we're without our key forward again, but I really want to see improvements on delivering a four quarter effort. It's coming; hopefully it starts now.

I think so long as he finds himself on the inside, he's always going to default to handballing. It's how the game is played - you don't kick from congestion because it's too risky - and it's his strength. If we want to see him getting more kicks, he needs to get the ball in space more. This really is splitting hairs, though, when talking about a 19 year old midfielder. He'll find the balance soon enough - it's not like the team is suffering until he finds it.

What was it meant to say?!

Despite all the allusion to "working on things", one of the objectives he's got to meet must surely be "be the best available option". The only player currently in our side that he could displace is Bugg, or possibly Tyson as 55 said, but Bugg took the VFL game he played in by the throat. It's all well and good be doing all the things the coach asks of you - and I doubt Trengove has ever done any less - but there still needs to be an opening in the side. He's not competing with JKH. Kent is a far more dynamic option for that part of the ground and by the last Plapp report, he's just about in.

Agreed. All you can do once you're back there though is show the right signs. It sounds as if he's done it a couple of weeks in a row, so here's hoping.

That's great news to read that, he clearly doesn't belong in the VFL when in form. Ringing endorsements from Plapp like that are usually followed by being picked unless you are Jack Grimes.

Really? You didn't think we'd get 4 seasons out of him?

Looking forward to this. Accept there's a good chance we will be outclassed, but I'm hoping to see a big response. Goodwin's press conference after last week was the first time I've seen him palpably disappointed and frustrated. The difference between his response and that after the Richmond game was stark. The effort to address our poor starts will have intensified for sure. I think we're on the verge of really hitting our straps. Hopefully this is where it starts.

I'm just embarrassed and an a bit sad for the poor guy.

The conditions in the Crows game were absolutely nothing like our match there last year. I was at ground level at our game, and have never seen a footy float like it did for the teams kicking in to the wind that day.

Wait, this will be his 71st MFC game? Jesus wept, that's gone bloody fast. Would absolutely love to see Bernie make it to 100 MFC games, and I reckon he will. Inspired recruiting at a good price. An absolute gift from Sando - he's added plenty since he's been here and still has plenty to offer hopefully. Onya Bernie!

Or have our players run in to the space occupied by the runner and "accidentally" collide.

I'm all for a good Neeld bagging, but gee it's stiff to blame him for Cook.