RalphiusMaximus

I have no problem with Frost playing in our backline, I just don't want him as a forward. He's the worst set shot in our team and while he does well with defensive pressure he just doesn't get the ball enough. Oddly enough, I atually don't mind his field kicking most of the time. He's prone to poor aim when he's under pressure, but his actual passes tend to be low and hard and in space I've seen him nail some beautiful passes. I'd much prefer him playing back and using that power and speed to shut down a gorilla and run off them than crashing into people and missing set shots in our forward line.

Moloney was. They admitted that he hadn't made contact and still gave him two weeks because he clearly intended to make contact.

It's funny to see people saying they were gutted at the siren. I was at work watching this on a tablet, happily screaming for someone to take the damn shot during that last passage of play, my only co-worker joining in even though he's not really an AFL follower and while I was carrying on about us missing the chance on the siren it was more in fun after a really entertaining game than despair. While I would have liked to see us win, I honestly really enjoyed the last three quarters and just had a good time watching a really good match when I was expecting a thrashing.

Can't argue with this. He's a great player, very intelligent in the way he goes about it and I think criminally underrated by the "experts" who put out their top 50's and AA teams.

OK, I've only seen the game on a 7" tablet, so I'll need to have another look, but first thoughts: As has been mentioned, the umpires gave some utterly bizarre free kicks to North which resulted in goals. I hope that the club is raising hell behind closed doors over that, because they had a significant impact on the game. That being said, Watts cost us the game. So did vandenBerg, Kent, Stretch and whoever it was who kicked to Stretch rather than taking the shot themselves. On the above, Watts gets his own sentence because it should have been the moment he stood up and lifted the team, showing the way to victory. That mark was as good as anyone in the AFL, he hit the ball at full pace with two opponents coming at him, didn't flinch and came up with the ball. That's the sort of thing guys like Jonno Brown and Nick Reiwoldt did for years to lift their teammates and lead the way. The difference is that those two wouldn't have even considered passing it off. Watts NEEDED to kick that goal, not just because it was the percentage play, but because it would have finished off the great mark and given him the chance to do a lap of the 50 and pump the team up just like he did in round 1 when he kick-started the big last quarter. GAWN! Overall, despite the issues with silly play, bad umpiring and missed kicks, this was a great game. I honestly expected North to thrash us in their home away from home and it looked very much like it was going that way in the first. I joked with a mate at work that it was going to be worse than 186 when they hit the 50 point mark in the first quarter. The commentators were rightly over the moon at having a game go 20 goals to 21 and were also most impressed that this was MELBOURNE kicking 20 goals in a losing game. I think it's amazing that we did this to North who, contrary to the blind belief of some posters, have made the preliminary finals the past two seasons and are looking like giving it a shake again this year. I would have been thrilled to get the win, but even with the loss it's football like this that will get us Friday Night Home Games next year.

I only saw it on a small screen, but from that footage it would be hard to justify a suspension. Low impact, didn't really get him high. I think he should be ok.

The Tiggers crumble is you pressure them. They only look good if teams zone off and let them play. We do so well against them because Roos (And Neeld before him) wanted the team to play tight competitive football and shut down the game. If we show up to play against them, hit them hard in the tackles and as you say put pressure on the ball and corridor they will fall apart again.

I had heard that he came back from the break carrying a bit of weight? Any truth in that? Did he look at all out of shape?

It's horrible news about Mitch King. I really hope this is the last time for him. He seems to be a really good kid. For the team as a whole however, I'm thrilled. Even against a Port Melbourne feeder side, that's a bloody good win.

And Sandi will probably be out for a while judging by the injury reports. Collapsed lung, probably busted ribs. That makes them a significantly worse side.

I have to say, the Pies look to be a rabble right now. They have as many quality imports as any team in the league and yet that play like that against the Saints? Are they that reliant on Swan to lift the side? I think Bucks needs to be looked at very closely.

I swear whenever I see GC play. They have two players I really wanted in Hall and Lynch. Hall we could have had and Lynch went the pick before us and we wound up taking Cook instead. That's two of the worst drafting outcomes in our history.

Just raising this again. Bloody Hell this guy has become a good player. He just tore Carlton apart with a three-disposal run through the middle ending with a pass to Day on 50 who then hit up Lynch for the easy goal. When I think that we went for Tynan, Taggert and Sellar that draft and he was snatched up in the PSD. What the hell were we thinking?

Two ways to read this. I think he showed steady improvement over the NAB cup and looked like he was starting to get the hang of it towards the end of the game vs. the Saints. So: 1. He's continued to improve to the point where he is a legitimate option for HBF and will fit in nicely and contribute. 2. We're going to get smashed anyway, so he can't really make things worse and maybe it will help speed his development. Regardless, congratulations to Mr Wagner and all the best on his debut. I hope it's option no. 1.

You sure about that? I'm pretty sure their personnel are a fair way better than ours across the board.

We were shown up for pace against the Bombers, so against North who are a slower hard-nosed outfit we need to drop some hard nuts and bring in pace to do the same thing to them! To that end I propose that we bring in Stretch, Hunt and Petracca and shift Garlett to the wing. We'll rely on Viney, Oliver and Jones to win the ball and get it wide to the quick outside players who will run rings around their slower opponents. Gawn can ruck solo against Goldstein to show that he really has taken that step up as he said he would. That means we don't need the extra tall to go as backup ruck so we can include more small pacey players. Maybe it's time to upgrade Wagner? Hogan to CHF where he belongs, which will free him up to gather some posessions and use his very nice field kicking to hit up the deep forwards. He and Watts will both be able to push up and influence the contest at HB and wing. Frost can sit in the goalsquare and use his atheticism to crash packs and force the ball to ground, maybe even mark a few. I tell you, this plan is brilliant! It can't fail!

In all honesty I would prefer we wait a few more for him, but if you're looking for an undersized FF, I think he's the man.

Not Garlett. PETRACCA! Petracca plays as the undersized FF with instructions to roam the 50 but not too far up the ground so he doesn't wear himself out.

I'm kind of coming to the opinion that Nate Jones is our Richie Vandenberg. He's the leader who shows how everyone needs to work and act around the club and leads through the bad times, but will he be good enough to hold his spot once things turn around and we start looking like a real finals contender? For years I've maintained that he is drastically underrated and would walk into any midfield in the league, but lately I've been forced to wonder if that's really true.

But even when we were credited with the clearance it was under pressure and generally didn't result in possession for us. More "hack it clear and hope a teammate gets it" than a clean win.

The massive disposal differential is because we conceded the midfield to them and flooded our defence. Basically the moment we turned it over (which was frequently because of our terrible kicking) the entire team bar a couple of token small forwards dropped back and tried to hold them out of our defensive 50. The Bombers were free to chip and share through the midfield until they saw an opening. Not only was it terrible coaching, but it was terrible play because despite this tactic they still managed to take marks inside the 50.

Hell No! That's the biggest problem Hogan has right now. Stop putting him in the goalsquare and let him play his bets position. He needs to be able to roam and hit the contests on his own terms.

One aspect of this game that I found interesting was the ease with which they dominated us in the centre. They were reading Gawn's taps, smothering our clearance players and easily taking the ball away. You'd almost think they had a guy who was heavily involved in building and coaching our centre square work the last few years over there. While I was surprised Jamar didn't play, he clearly had a big influence on the tactics they used to beat us there.

How big is he?

Swap Pedersen and Hogan over.