praha

Goodwin said they will stick with Weeds, Hannan and ANB up forward. Suspect Smith will get another chance. Out: Gawn In: Spencer May not see other changes.

ANB should be in everyone's votes. 10 tackles, 28 touches, goal, 140 Fantasy points (most on ground). He is going under the radar. Only 17 games and he's probably been the most consistent this season. 6. Watts 5. ANB 4. Hunt 3. Jones 2. Stretch 1. Jetta

Jones - Led from front Viney - Schooled by champions Salem - Reliable and confident Watts - Answered the call Petracca - Damaging albeit slow Gawn - Solid before injury Tyson - Must improve disposal Oliver - Learnt from best Stretch - Commanding and driving Kent - Erratic yet useful Melksham - Solid defensive game Hannan - Battled but beaten Vince - Needed to lead T.McDonald - Great defensive form O.McDonald - Tired by end Weideman - Needs a rest Hunt - Exciting but erratic Neal-Bullen - Having great 2017 Garlett - Solid and pressuring Smith - Great first half Jetta - Mr Super Reliable Harmes - Was almost damaging

He was lacking late but so was everyone else. Give it a spell.

I just don't get the hate for Oscar. He made some shocking blues but everyone does. Their efficiency forward, the speed, our backs were under pressure so quickly, within seconds of having the ball of our forward line. He was stuffed at the end of the match. So was everyone else.

That was a young team's loss. You win some, you lose some. They'll be filthy. Not sure Lewis and Hogan would have made much difference.

Kent and Harmes have dropped 20 marks between them. After last week and today we are still a fringe mid-range team. That might change as the year progresses. But we're still on a journey alright.

Filthy.

Can't believe we're going to lose this.

This was always going to happen.

We're working really hard. Not having Gawn makes it very difficult. Their transition is probably best in the league. We need to work harder stopping their run from defense going forward. I feel our mids are being badly outrun. The way they kick goals..it's super shifty but that's why they're so good. Our backline has held up well considering...they just get smashed on the super fast transition. Guys like Hawkins feed on it bevause our defenders are playing over-cautious. We can win this but we need to dig super deep. If we play as we have all game and give our goals we will win. They can't win on the back of 3-4 bursts every 15 minutes. But if they get on top early, it might be tough. Big test coming up.

They get on top for a few minutes and kick the most utterly showboaty POS goals ever. And their fans carry on like delinquents at NASCAR. [censored] ahead of me jeering Gawn when he was going off, telling him to man up.

I want to win so hard because these Cats fans are the biggest showboating [censored].

Hooray!

Delivery has been superb this quarter.

Gifting them goals.

Why are we passing off shots from directly in front?

Argh, Bernie.

We applied fantastic pressure in the forward. Not sure what ya'all watching. Haven't been rewarded. If we start running two ways and don't allow them a direct entry to Hawkins one on one, we'll win. They won't get away with that forever. We must keep going to the well. That was a better quarter than Q1 vs Saints.

Better than the score suggests. Poor two-way running led to 3 of their goals. We look more dangerous around the ball. and in the air but their transition has killed us.

For what it's worth (and I don't think it's worth much), Nathan Brown on SEN just said Melbourne 40+ at $13 is the week's best bet. He said Melbourne will win and win comfortably. Told the guys, "I know you're going to laugh at me, and I know they don't have Hogan and Lewis, but they're going to win, and they're going to win well." That might be the first time I've heard a bookie talk like that about Melbourne in about 15 years. EDIT: And just like that it's slashed $3 off the price, down to $10.

This pleases me and concerns me. 1. We still have a large gap in the 80-150 game mark. I suspect we'll struggle against the likes of the Bulldogs and Giants for many years until we close that gap. Essendon I suspect will cause havoc for us as well because they seem to have a nice balance of experience across the board, albeit not as skill as the aforementioned. 2. We have to expect erratic performances as per last Sunday. It was good to get up but we're going to see some big wins and some disappointing loses still. I think it will turn around though and we'll see more of the former than we do the latter. In past years it was the other way around. 3. If we can make the finals as a group this young, it stands to be VERY good for the club. In 2-3 years we're going to be where the Bulldogs are now, age and games wise. They obviously over-performed last season, but I think in current development we are ahead of where they were 3 years (they were a basket case). Generally there is a correlation between age and experience, and performance. Of the top 9 teams, age wise, 6 are considered flag threats, 7 genuine finals contention. Games wise, 8 of the top 9 are all top-performing clubs. It would be naive to ignore the correlation between performance, experience, and maturity (which is different to experience). Freo is too top-heavy, as is North, which is causing them to go through what Melbourne went through in 2007. Pre-seasons, finals campaigns, you can't understate the importance. Rarely does an inexperienced team compete for a flag, let along avoid the bottom ladder positions. There are anomalies, but teams like the Bulldogs are utterly stacked with top-tier talent. Even still, they aren't the "pups" people perceive them to be, and are well within that "window" where they *should* be competing for a flag.

Suspect that if he ends up at Geelong they'll pay minimum price for him. Only way I can see him playing beyond 2017 is if he sits in the forward line. Could conceivably kick 20-30 goals a year for another 3-4 years. His years in the midfielder are gone. His shoulders have killed is upper and core strength and he's useless around the ball. Put him at that dud Hawkins' feet and he could be dangerous, though.

He won't miss but Hannan might get a spell. OUT: Hogan, Lewis, Hannan IN: Vince, Smith, Kent

That's just silly. We really aren't that far behind them, even with Hogan and Lewis out.