Nasher

This is probably the thing that has me most stoked. His skills were on display last year so that hasn't come as a surprise, but I thought it would take a good few years to get up to AFL midfielder fitness - with the possibility that he may not ever. When he came back to pre-season out of condition I was thinking "here we bloody go".

I'm all for toughness, I love hard hits in footy (Jetta on Kreuzer). Even happy for the boys to have a chirp and a jumper punch if they want. But there is just no way you can possibly argue that the side is better off for 2 of our best 10 missing matches because they lost their temper. That is, frankly, an absurd position to take. And it doesn't matter whether you or I think there was much in it. You might think it's fine, but it doesn't matter, because having seen the incidents again, I'm pretty sure the MRP won't see it that way.

Pedersen in if Hogan suspended. Vince in, for Lewis if suspended. If not, I think he takes the place of ANB or Hannan, reluctantly. No other changes for me. It was an imperfect performance no doubt, but I want to persevere with this side. Our young half forwards struggled - ANB, Hannan, Brayshaw - but they were all outstanding the week prior. I don't want these players to start a revolving door tour of the side where they lose their place after one quiet game. I don't think that's helpful from a long term development point of view and I think it unsettles the team. I understand the urge to get Kent in but I'm prepared to wait one more week. His time will come and I'd like him firing when it does.

Key players not getting rubbed out Like

I hope the coach was as livid about that as I was. Where the hell were Watts and Gawn?

In line with something I posted in the Oliver thread, it is ridiculously over the top to describe Oliver's game as a cancer. Reckon we'd have been better off without his 35 disposals and 9 tackles do you?

6 Salem 5 Tyson 4 Oliver 3 Garlett 2 Jetta 1 McDonald T A few put in some fantastic last quarter efferots to drag us over the line, but these were the best across the game IMO.

It feels a little bit like nitpicking to criticise a 19 year old with his second consecutive 35 possession game, who also marks and tackles, for a bit of ball overuse in a game where our forward line was cramped and dysfunctional. I understand the criticism is intended to be constructive, but boy are we setting the bar high. I expect these sorts of issues will be resolved with experience. He's a baby still and already our best player.

Thought the Hogan one was barely a soft free kick. If he goes for it I'd be pretty disappointed. Hard to tell through a biased lens though. What did Lewis do?

You obviously missed the Brisbane win last year.

Also, Maxy hexed Clarrie with his 360 interview. Promised another 35 possession game - finished the game with 34.

The third quarter was the only time I genuinely thought there was a chance we'd lose. The rest of the time we dominated the ball, just used it poorly, especially with that last kick in to 50. Not the confidence boosting drubbing I was hoping for, but just a relief to win in the end. Probably a bit of a reality check of where we are at, without having to pay the ultimate price of a loss. On TV at the beginning of the last quarter, they said Goodwin had abandoned the 2 extras back and lined up in traditional formation. Another win for the coach?

"Tackles" Garlett. Definitely amongst our best today.

5:39 as of Casboult goal

Just lifted a bit in the last 5.

Watts demonstrating a bit of New Watts after a lot of Old Watts this game.

You're aware we're *winning*, right?

The old "it's the supporters fault" again.

The game plan is clearly to handball out of traffic then kick forward. The problem is when we're in space, we kick to a contest that allows them to contest, or we just plain old snuff the kick. Disposal quality needs to improve. I'm not expecting the mode of ball use to change, I'm just hoping the quality does. Still pretty comfortable with where we're sitting. They're more in it than they should be but I haven't felt they've been a genuine threat at any stage.

Genuine question: is your outlook on life this grim in general? You post this sort of thing literally every game. Clint Biz gets a bum rap for being a major pessimist but I don't think I've seen such a defeatist poster.

Well on top IMO, but too many missed targets. Expecting them to settle in the second quarter. Oliver needs to lift, only 14 possessions in that quarter.

Wicked start, goal without them touching it.

Anyone else see the humour in Derwayne being behind a paywall? Not even worth the expense of 2 seconds of life spent bypassing it, let alone actually subscribing.

Only 2 and a half long, painful hours to go. I've considered getting a life, but nah.

At this rate you will need to change your alias to just "Optimistic"