Nasher

I reckon the 'ladies' would be a much bigger distraction for young footballers than just about anything else combined, but I doubt we're about to go putting a moratorium on those are we? The only difference between this particular distraction and basically every single other one is that this one is visible to the public eye and you can't ban it just for that.

It was Matthew Ferguson that played for the Saints, not Ryan. And CB, I thought Fergus Watts was drafted by St Kilda but moved to Adelaide.

I feel a little nauseous any time anyone suggests we need to model ourselves on Richmond.

I thought so as it opened up two additional spots on the senior list for us to use.

I don't disagree with anything you've said there. But as I said (can't remember whether it was in this thread or not) I don't allow myself to spend energy being upset about what Bate and Newton do because they're just filler and have no bearing on our flag push in a few years time. They just won't be there. Their poor efforts today no doubt was a large contributor to the loss, but in the big picture these guys struggling really means SFA.

And after you've answered this question, the next question is: Which of the following am I most likely to pick up when I go out on Saturday night? 1) Megan Fox 2) Miranda Kerr 3) Jennifer Hawkins? Remember, you're not allowed to answer "none of them".

You've got to be kidding if you think Evans wasn't a positive today. He made some clangers, especially by foot, but surely one has to cut a kid in game #1 some level of slack.

Exactly the three I picked too.

Including Tapscott in that group is just mean.

6. Gysberts 5. Watts 4. Jetta 3. Martin 2. Evans 1. Moloney Jones and Sylvia also considered.

Yeah. In my recollection it was the reverse from what RGRS has described.

Exactly. The West Coast loss will take some matching, this isn't even remotely close. Did he tell you that? That's contrary to just about every thing I've heard about how Bailey went about it, starting from his job interview.

Agreed.

Tons of positives to come out of this: - With the exception of a select few, didn't feel that the team as a whole rolled over. - Evans. Disposal will hopefully get cleaner with time, and he made one bad mistake in the last quarter and cost us a goal, but other than that a fantastic debut. Knows how to get the ball, has pace, and tackles. - Gysberts. Best player for us today IMO. - Watts is improving with each week. Was excellent. - Martin needed to step up in a big way with Jamar out, and has. Today he timed his (crazily high) leaps to perfection and kept our mids in it. Must hold his place even when Jamar returns now. I didn't feel anywhere near as bad about this as many on here seemed to. It was a pretty vanilla loss to me; we lost because our side was weaker than theirs and we had too much filler in the side. We were one extra class player away from winning that IMO.

Bate and Newton are just filler. I don't waste my energy seething at their output because they have zero impact on our flag push; they're just there because of the unfortunate way in which the dice have fallen. I like Petterd but clearly he needs to be better than he was today. No cause for concern whatsoever on Jurrah for mine; form is temporary and he still kicked three goals today even when he was poor.

Melodrama.

At least two, possibly three of those players would not be in our best 22 if we had a full list to choose from.

If I were to guess it's because our backline currently contains Rivers, Macdonald (who utterly stunk today btw), Warnock, Bartram and a woefully out of form Davey. Lots of grunt in there but not much polish.

I'd say the reason why some sides have a "winning mindset" is because they win games; not the other way around. At the very least it's a chicken and egg scenario.

The feedback from the club at the time of his drafting was that they saw him as a very talented player who had been virtually invisible for his "drafting" years because of the injuries. So there was no recent form to go on making him a less attractive proposition in the "big" draft, but a very attractive rookie proposition. I liked what I saw in the preseason matches and am very pleased he's got the opportunity to consolidate. Good luck.

His theory must be true then. I'm still recovering from all that success we had in 2008 and 2009.

That's probably an extreme conclusion, but the way Pendlebury has signed doesn't send a great message does it? I guess Collingwood's culture must stink too.

I'll put my hand up (though I wouldn't say I've "canned" him so much as posted my disappointment in his form at times). Sometimes expressing disappointment is appropriate, other times congratulating a player on a reaching significant milestone that most of us would give up our lefties for, regardless of whether or not the bloke is our favourite player is appropriate. And regardless of whether one likes him as a player or not, I doubt anyone would disagree that he's shouldered a huge workload since arriving at the club, and basically as a 'baby' has had to carry a pretty damn rubbish midfield at times. I think he deserves a moment in the sun.

Easy for you to say; I lose my lunch every time I hear mention of the "Tassie Hawks". That said, I agree that the concept of State of Origin is sadly a dead duck.

I'm feeling unreasonably optimistic about this game. Don't know why as I realise as on paper we're toast; I just have a good feeling. I can hear those Egyptians shouting...