RalphiusMaximus

I never would have believed it after his first season with us. A massive credit to Cam that he turned things around, got himself fit and is now looking like a solid chance of keeping Dawes out of the senior side long-term. It's a huge credit to his hard work and attitude (and also his clean hands).

I think that this is both a very classy move by the club and also a good sign that his foot is going well. The club could have left Jack hanging and waited until they were certain he was going to be ok, but instead they have done the right thing by him and given him the time and security to get everything right without any pressure.

Despite the recent success of Port, this is a very winnable game. We've had a pretty good idea of how to play them for a couple of years, they are in terrible form and a number of their better players are out. If we can get out to a good start it will shake their belief and we could very well take it away from them. Tat being said, the folks over at Port are no doubt saying right now that this is a very winnable game and an opportunity to get their season back on track...

Port have two 2m tall forwards as well as Schultz. We'll need his height. We may be better off playing Dunn o Schultz and having McDonald take the Hoff and Fitz on Ryder. Better physical match-ups, although their strengths may not be best suited to those opponents.

LOL. Funny, but I never even thought of him as a target.

Yarran and Gibbs are probably their most worthwhile players. I think we could possibly get a year or two out of Armfield as well as a decent outside running depth player. I also wonder if there is anything left to salvage of Kreuzer. What could he do if someone got his body sorted out?

Well, I'm glad it's a while until we play the Blues. Give them a chance to settle down again and get past the boost of a new coach.

I didn't see much of Chelsea Randal this time around. Was she carrying an injury or just had an off day? It was a great game by the ladies and would have been an absolute thrashing if they'd kicked a little straighter.

Sacking Malthouse would be yet another idiotic move by a blues board who still don't seem to understand that their list is rubbish. First they decided that Ratten was under-performing and that they needed a better coach to take the team deep into finals. Then they discover that the team was actually doing better than it had any right to, and now they want to sack Mick for not being able to magically conjure success. How long exactly did it take for the Pies to win a flag under Mick? 10 years was it? He took a declining list, made hard decisions and rebuilt the squad until they were a consistent threat and eventually won. That's his game. If they didn't want to back him in long term they should never have hired him. Right now they need to accept that their list is shot and back him to start over. Give him a long-term extension and license to trade off their under-performing high picks while they still hold some value. With some astute trading they could see some serious improvement in five or six years.

Pretty sure what's happening at the Suns is a fire sale at the end of the year.

Bear in mind that Bail has been burned before passing close to the siren. Cost us a win against the Pies that time. I have no problem with him taking the shot, but he needs to learn to kick better. Maybe join Gus and Jones in their competitions. The Coaches votes are in as well: Melbourne v Western Bulldogs 8 Nathan Jones (Melb) 8 Aaron vandenBerg (Melb) 5 Bernie Vince (Melb) 4 Jesse Hogan (Melb) 3 Luke Dahlhaus (WB) 1 Daniel Cross (Melb) 1 Cameron Pedersen (Melb) Looks about right.

No way in hell was that hit to the shoulder. Have a look at the footage. He jumps and his shoulder connects with Jones' face. One week is a disgrace.

Probably rub Garlett out for two and ignore the hit on M Jones.

Dicey. He ran through the contest going for the ball and Boyd stuck his head in the way. Contact was upper arm to the side of the head and decent force.

Do I look that silly? How often do players get suspended for hits on our Demons? Hardly ever. Just because he should go doesn't mean he will.

It was high. I have no problem with him deciding to bump, but he jumped and hit Jones in the face. He has to go. Maybe while he's resting he can learn how to do it properly.

Something interesting from the doggies: http://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/video/2013-05-24/bevos-brief-members-message-rd8?camefrom=EMCL_643652_27677850 They send one of these to their members after each game. Basically the coaches brief thoughts on how things went. I'm told it's usually more interesting than this one. I do like that they didn't see it coming.

I suspect M Jones will be out for the concussion week. Given the fact that we won that could be the only out. Bring in Tyson or Jetta for him.

It was soft as hell. He was leading to the ball and managed to fall over from light contact and wind up not contesting at all. As I said, it wasn't the way he played the rest of the game, but that bit was painful. I hate to say it, but the thing I noticed most about Newton's game was him burning Lamumba, getting tackled and costing us a goal. Wasn't even reported, but he should go for 2-3.

He extended his contract last year until the end of 2017. Not sure why he'd do it again unless they were planning on giving him more money.

There are no speed issues. What I really look forward to is seeing this guy after he's had a real pre-season. Remember that he came to us recovering from surgery and didn't do a full load for a fair bit of the pre-season this time around. He can get bigger, stronger and faster.

Made me cringe, that. Shameful effort, but fortunately it wasn't the norm for him this game.

The turnover in the goalsquare I'm pretty sure was the result of whoever it was running past calling for the ball when they were wearing a doggie player as a shawl. Look at the replay. Toump was getting set to go the other way then whips his head around at the call and then I'm pretty sure tried to stop the handpass halfway through when he saw what he was passing to. That goal belongs to the idiot calling for the ball, not the idiot who passed it to him. I only saw the second half, but Grimes looked pretty damn good today. He nailed a lot of passes, some quite difficult, he defended well and he put his body in. His stats back that up. 22 disposals, 1 clanger, 8 marks, 6 r50s. Grimes was pretty bloody good today. I'm really looking forward to downloading this game and watching the whole thing tomorrow. It looked like it was just a whole team effort. The inclusions all worked out well, a few fringe players showed that they really can play and certain opponents were made to look pretty average. Great game.

Told you so. Damn I'm happy with that win. Also thrilled with Fitzy. How good was he today?

I feel a little smug right now.