RalphiusMaximus

I'd say you got that pretty well right first try.

Liam has always been this way. He is more interested in the highlight reel than playing the team game (any Robbo bashers out there reading this?). He has never been overly inclined to work off the ball or chase and tackle unless there is a good chance of the ball winding up in his hands. Some of this will be cured as his fitness improves. He is still not as fit or as big as he needs to be. However, there is an attitude issue that he has had from day one that needs addressing. He needs to get down to the basics and start doing the little things right rather than always trying for the huge speckie or the freak goal. Workrate and application are both lacking at this stage.

I think the experiment of Davey in the midfield is over. We are getting to the point where we have a surplus of skilled outside mids who can use their kicking to set up play. He needs to get back to what made him a star. Play as a small forward and tackle everything in sight. 2 tackles from him today is just embarrassing. He's gone from a terrier to a toy poodle. I do not question his place in the leadership group. He is a huge contributor off the field and a mentor to many of our young players, but if anything, this makes his onfield antics even more damning. He has taken on the responsibility to show these young men how to go about things, and this is the example he sets. Imagine if Wheelan were still at the club! What would he be thinking rightn ow? Davey needs to be dropped and left out in the cold to find his mojo again. He needs to understand that his job begins with pressuring his opponent, not standing in the open spaces waiting for someone to give him a perfect pass so he can show off his sublime kicking skills. Time for him to get his knees dirty again.

6. Martin 5. Watts 4. Sylvia 3. Jones 2. Moloney 1. Gysberts Special mention to Frawley who really flew the flag against Reivoldt, and Rivers who did some really good thing as a general in defence. Also a great first game from Evans.

I like the sound of this if it's true. One of the hardest things to really learn to the point where you don't even flinch is that it doesn't really hurt that much. Your instincts scream out at you to protect yourself, and to retrain that part of your brain to accept that you are going to cop a hit and that you will still be able to function perfectly well takes work. This sounds like a very good step in that direction.

And I'm not saying he was a game-breaker like Chris Judd, but he was serviceable and certainly far from our worst. Why the attack on him in particular? Who would you have had in the side in his place?

Perhaps GWS would poach Davey off us? Honestly, he's worth a hell of a lot to us and is just in some really poor form at the moment, but Nobody has enough credits in the bank to survive in the senior side after a game like that. Obviously we can't and won't trade him, but he has to be dropped.

Positives for me: Martin - the lad is improving every game and thriving on the responsibility. He's no Jamar, but he's fighting hard. Evans - Really good debut. Butchered the odd ball, but he never stopped running and presenting. Experience will cure the little errors. Maric - I seriously thought he'd never take the step up to AFL level, but we may well have our own version of the tip rat here. Watts - His assurance with the ball through the midfield was great. He's much more comfortable running through the middle than in the goalsquare. Clearance work - We have a the beginnings of a midfield engine on the field now. Moloney, McKenzie and Gysberts are all animals in close. Add Scully and we'll be looking pretty good at stoppages. Edit - some typos in there

Jetta: 23 disposals, 8 marks, 6 tackles. Yeah, that's a shocking game. Also, for the Jones baggers, he had 31 disposals and 8 marks. He was caught with the ball a couple of times, but apart from that was bloody good all day.

Actually, it was Davey who gave them the 50m penalty. He was penalised for not giving the ball back to the player directly.

Davey needs a good kick up the ass. Simple as that. He's turning softer as his career goes on. The squib today was shocking. Drop him for that alone. I'm thinking the most obvious swap for Tapscott would be Strauss, but he's nowhere near as hard at it and against the Carlton mosquito fleet that would kill us. Blease has the pace for it but there are still questions about his form. Probably needs more time. Given that I'd be tempted to bring Nicholson up and give him the job. Martin was absolutely stuffed today. He needs some real backup in the ruck. Gawn or possibly Campbell have to be brought in to help him out. Especially when you look at what Carlton will be throwing at us. Newton did two good things that I saw. The rest of his game was shite. I've often said to give him some games, but I think it may be time to cut our losses and look for the next generation. Howe would be my first choice to take his spot. Cook a half chance, but I think he's still a way off. Bate needs to be more productive as a forward. He was good with his pressure acts today, but if that's all he offers, he needs to step aside and give someone more damaging a go. I'd giving him one more week to show something. If he is dropped, then I'm looking for one of Morton, Strauss or Blease to come in. It's not like for like, but we can swing a few of our midfielders through the forward line as crumbers to make up the lack, and Morton at least is quite capable of playing as a tall forward. Out: Tapscott, Newton, Davey. In: Gawn, Howe, Nicholson.

Hope the club gets involved in the launch.

Bring in pace pace and more pace and see if they can keep up. It's the best shot we have to knock the over.

I wouldn't mind Howe getting an extended run. If you look at his season at Hobart, he started slow but by the end was kicking bags every week. Give him time to get used to the AFL and he might win matches for us by the end of the year.

I was massively in the Brad Green camp in this debate. I felt that he had shown his credentials both on and off the field and would make a great captain. However, he seems to be really struggling with the added pressure. Obviously you need to give the guy time to adjust, so I won't be jumping on the "Sack Green" bandwagon, but he needs to settle down and get his game back into shape. If he were to resign the role, I would be saying Moloney. He has taken his clearance work up a notch this year, and is already a great leader around the club, plus his passion on gameday is a huge bonus.

I dare you to call him a liar to his face. Walk up to him at the next open training session and say "Hey Tom, I think you're a liar and have already signed with GWS!" Just see what sort of reaction you get.

And I say it again. We have no right to ask him to sign a new contract before he is ready to do so. It's not his responsibility to ease the fears of paranoid fans. He is contracted until the end of this season and the club and fans have no reasonable grounds for expecting him to sign a new contract until this one is due to expire. Should he at some point decide to do so, we should take it for the incredibly generous gesture it is and thank him. However I am personally hoping he does wait until the end of the season simply because he has so far refused to buy in to the debate and has told us all that this is when he will deal with it.

Honestly, haven't we all had enough of this topic? Like it or not, Tom has every right to wait on his contract talks. I have no problem with the logic of holding off until 1, the new salary cap deals are done and 2, he is playing again and can put forward a case o the field for a better deal. It's a sensible thing to do. He does not owe the club an early signing to keep the fans happy. If he does that he is selling himself short. From all reports Tom is happy with his situation, enjoys playing at the club and has bonded well with the other young players in the group. We have also been told over and over again that he is a young man of sterling character. You do him a disservice by assuming he is lying to the club. He has said repeatedly that there has been no approach by GWS, and I will take that as gospel. I say he's doing a great job of putting up with the expectations of the fans and the media beat-up about GWS. He's done everything short of signing a new contract to dispel the rumours, and as I point out above, he is under no obligation to do so if it could cost him a better contract after he has put some games together this season. I think the best thing we can do is take him at his word and leave him alone.

Every one of those injuries is a result of a freak accident. None of them can be considered to be conditioning related. Although given the AFL's policy at the moment they probably should all have resulted in someone being suspended.

Australia does not have a right to free speech enshrined anywhere in our laws. That's the USA. And they disregard it at will.

That is an awesome suggestion. His speed coming out in the last quarter could break a game wide open. Especially against the Saints given their problems with pace.

I find myself somewhat puzzled. I got home in time to watch the second half and made an interesting observation. Whenever we moved the ball forward we found ourselves kicking to nothing but North Melbourne players in our forward 50. Then, when they took the ball and bombed it long into their own forward 50, again there was nothing but North players there. WHERE WERE ALL OF OUR PLAYERS? How could it be that we were outnumbered so badly at both ends of the park at the same time?

They lost me when they said that Strauss and Blease were taken in the same draft as Morton. If they can't be bothered getting the basic facts right they aren't worth reading.

It's the Saints next week right? So we need to load up on pace. I'd love to see Nicholson get a game, And if Blease were to have a good run tomorrow I'd consider his a chance. Sadly, there will be plenty of room in the team for these players to find spots. I'm backing both Garland and Bail to be gone for their injuries, plus Dunn suspended. At the very least then we need to bring in another back and a pacy runner. Bate will probably get Dunn's spot in a straight swap. Rivers for Garland seems likely, although Joel Mac could get in depending on matchups. It's the replacement for Bail that is interesting, as well as any other mids they decide to drop. Will Morton force his way back in or will they give the run to one of our untested runners? Will they rush Jordie back into the side to play a stopping role? I didn't see the whole game so I don't think I can comment on who goes out aside from the obvious three. I'm backing Rivers, Bate and probably Jordie to be the ins for those three.

Bring along score cards like they use at Diving events. Every tackle you hold up a score. 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks... Get the entire cheer squad in on it and it'd be noticed all right.