RalphiusMaximus

In: Grimes Maric Robbo Spencer Out: Bate Bartram Johnson ? If we had the personnel, I would have both Newton and Miller in the outs as well, but they will be needed to draw fire away from Robbo so he can have the freedom to kick a bag. No side can afford to carry a key forward who can't kick straight, much less two, but in this case I think we can make an exception. Bate out for Robbo is obvious. Similar size, but a world of difference in ability. Spencer for Johnson is likewise obvious. Fitting Grimes and Maric in will require a bit of shuffling of other personnel, but can be done easily enough.

Sounds like Adelaide is taking it seriously now.

Goal to Junior. 15 point margin.

Goal to Brock.

Dunn kicks his second!

Sad to say, I think the same can be said of Miller. Big on effort, sadly lacking in execution.

And Newton hits the post again. Bloody hell.

Dunn kicks our first goal.

I have to say, I've just about had it with Miller. For someone to have played that long in the forward line to be that bad a set shot is inexcusable.

My problem with Bartram is that he's a totally negative selection. He is a very good stopper. With him in the side you can pretty well count on one of the opposition mids having almost no impact, and that is a good thing. However he does not add anything. Compare him to Cameron Ling, who can play the same role and still have 20+ possessions. I simply question whether shutting down one opponent is enough of a contribution, especially when he is just as likely to turn the ball over as not when he gets it in his hands.

Agree on Meesen. Would love to see Maric come into the side replacing Bartram. If Green is out long term, will they look at promoting a rookie in his place? We might see Valenti in the side next week.

As so many have already said, pointless bashing of a player who in reality had a pretty good game. I only saw the second half, but he took some good marks, made a contest when outnumbered and aside from kicking a couple himself did well to create goals for other players. He may not be gold, but he's becoming a reasonable performer and giving us a presence in our forward line. I also note with interest that his accuracy is being used as an excuse for much bagging. How is it then that Miller is listed as among our best when his kicking was every bit as bad? Personally, I was thrilled with his performance today and hope that he gets the chance to improve on it in the next few weeks.

So how many of our players just had their first win?

I'm loving what I keep hearing about Jurrah. Any thoughts on whether he looks ready for seniors yet?

And indeed to the others asking the same, I think a large part of his problem is that he has nothing to kick to. In his first few years at the club he delivered the ball beautifully into the forward line, but you have to remember that he had a dominant power forward up there who was demanding the ball in a certain place. If you look at his passes to Neitz from a couple of years ago, you'll see that he was told exactly where to put the ball by his captain. Since we've lost our two main focal points in the forward fifty, none of our midfield have had any idea where to put the ball. The problem will begin to right itself when Robbo comes back, and if we were to put Green in a permanent role as a forward we would probably see a drastic improvement, not only because of the quality of those players as leading targets, but because they will absolutely demand that the ball be delivered to the area they want. Our young mids would be much more settled with that sort of leadership in front of them. Well, we can hope.

There seems ot be a bit of a clash with the team going to Adelaide there. Meesen, Dunn and Newton have all been named by Melbourne.

The question you need to ask yourself is "Do we want another Ox?" I mean no disrespect to David Schwartz, who was a brilliant footballer, but had he not suffered those knee injuries he would have been a superstar. Watts is still only 17 years old and unable to take part in full training due to his studies. He may be an amazing football talent, but that will do him little good if his body is not able to keep pace and his career is destroyed by injuries. Personally, I am thankful that the coaching staff have decided that there is no rush to play him. At this stage he would make little difference to our results, so the gain would be minimal, and the potential loss is catastrophic.

There's not all that much point to this thread, but I was driving home today and I found myself pondering the future of our forward line. If we assume that we will fall in a heap again this season and win less than 5 games, many of you suggest that Butcher is a great choice for pick 1. So just think what we could be looking at in five years or so with Watts, Butcher and Jurrah playing in the same forward fifty. Add in Maric and Jetta and you have to start feeling a little excited.

I wasn't paying much attention to the content. The grammar and spelling were too distracting.

From the two times i've seen them play, I think that Bennell is perhaps a classier player, but Jetta is the most likely to be playing. Basically because there is more room in the team for a small forward than for a half back flank.

I'm just loving the fact that there are people who will be left out of the side. When was the last time we had enough fit players for that to happen?

Robbo. Even giving the rest a 5-6 round start.

Which forwards do you rate? Robbo. He has been our best forward for a number of years (along with Neitz) and regularly kicked around the 50 goal mark. We saw last year just how bad our forward line looked without him in it. Sadly, he's getting towards the end of a great career, assuming he recovers from the achilles and plays again at his former standard. Wonamirri. It's pretty well been covered by others. He should be a great player for us for years. Jetta. I've seen him play twice, and I love what he shows. I don't think he's quite caught up to the pace of the game yet, but he will. Which forward do u think will or have potential to play a key role in future? Wona and Jetta, as stated above. Watts and Jurrah. I'm hoping that these two come on together for the next couple of years and bring some real teamwork and chemistry to the forward line. Yet to see either of them play, so it's all speculative, but given what I've read about them I have high hopes. Dunn. I know a lot of you don't rate him at all, and freely acknowledge that most of you have more knowledge of the game that I, but I still remember his first few games when he was playing around half forward and being talked about as the new Neitz. He took some great grabs, and showed a very nice knack of working his opponent under the flight without giving away a free. Kicked a few good goals from the 45-50m range. I never liked the notion of him playing as a tagger and think the time would have been better spent working on his skills as a key forward. And who's just there till some one decent grabs there spot? Miller. He's a great worker, tries all day long and can take a good contested mark on the lead, but he's never been the dominant forward we need, and probably never will be. Add in his occasional temper tantrum (as on Saturday) and he becomes a liability. I think that his future in the game is to be traded to GC for one of the obscene number of high draft picks they've been gifted. He would be an ideal mentor/protector for the young forward line they will be building, much like Roger Merrett was at Brisbane. It would be an opportunity for him to put his work ethic and leadership to use where they will be very much needed. Perhaps even captain an AFL side. Who knows? Undecided Sylvia. I really just don't know what to make of him. Certainly he is not a player who should have been taken at 3 in the draft. He is never going to be the star we hoped for. The question is, what will he be? At this stage he's not really a forward or a mid. To my mind, his greatest redeeming feature is that he stands up when everyone around him is falling down. Last year it was when we were being hammered that he finally seemed to spark and try to win the game off his own boot. If he could give us that sort of effort every week he might finally be the player we all hoped for. Bate. Seems to be a good option as a third tall. He has good hands and can kick a goal. As so many have said, the big problem is when the ball is on the ground. Needs to put a lot of work in to be a more rounded player. A right boot wouldn't hurt either. I have not mentioned Maric in this listing because I know absolutely nothing about him. The reviews seem to be postive, so lets hope he's something special. Also, I know absolutely nothing about Butcher. Many of you rate him as a great future forward. Can you put up links to footage or profile information?

Ladder position won't come into it for me this year. While the first pick would be nice, it isn't going to ruin my year if we don't get it. I'd love to see some of our more fragile players have long and injury-free seasons. I'd be thrilled if we'd cut out the "kick long and hope." I'd like to see Simon Buckley realise that sometimes it's better to pass early rather than taking them on every time. I think it would be great if Watts and Jurrah were blooded towards the end of the season, even if it's only a few minutes off the bench. I want Davey to get his defensive pressure back. I think it might be a little greedy to hope that all of htis comes to pass, but if three of the five occur, i'll be reasonably satisfied.

Very interesting to see other people's views on the game. I'm amazed that so few rate Petterd as in the best. Even with the injury I thought he was our best player. He's really bulked up and it shows in his game. The backline is going to be first class. They were great in the air. Less impressive when the ball came in at ground level, but that is an area where the Bulldogs excel, so it may have looked worse than it was. Who knows? Our forward line is worrying. I think they looked better with Green in the mix, but I can't see him being played there on a regular basis. Jetta is a very impressive marking player for someone of his size. Very good at using his body to protect the ball. He should see game time this year. In all honesty, I am not a good enough game-watcher to really pick out much of what happened in the midfield. It was pretty clear that the Dogs came out harder at the start of each half and it took our lot a few minutes to catch up to the pace. What I did notice was that when the rain came in the last, it wasn't only the wind shift that ruined our chances. None of our players seemed to be able to pick up the ball cleanly. Gentle balls floating in for uncontested marks just slipped through players' hands and it took multiple attempts to pick it up off the ground. The Dogs were able to take their own chances first grab more often than not, allowing them to destroy us in the clearances. So, there's a few thoughts on the game. All in all I'm quite happy with the way the team is looking. Give us 2-3 years and we'll be in the top 4 again where we belong. Oh, and how did Miller not get reported?