Adam The God

Our fowardline is our biggest weakness IMO. Our defence is put under pressure if our forwards don't put on enough pressure.

Disagree. Their midfield is their weakness IMO. If their senior players in the midfield don't fire and Riewoldt struggles, they fall apart. If we can somehow limit turn overs we should win. The reason I think we'll lose is we break down quite easily when a side really pressures us intensely.

Bookmark it, DD.

Cripps only played a half of that game too. They put him on ice at half time and that's when St Kilda really put them to the sword.

Imagine Viney not getting a tag though, because he can't break one, whereas Clarry will be able to. It improves our midfield and gives players like Viney and Tyson a few extra moments to get rid of it.

What is the weapon that will make him a passable AFL player?

Surely this game was another prime example of why ANB won't make it. How people think he has any attributes of a good inside mid at AFL level is beyond me. Yeah, he wracks up possessions in the VFL, but we know what standard that competition is. He panics in tight situations, lacks the vision and poise, and as I've said repeatedly, he lacks a weapon in his game. I'd be playing Harmes and Bugg ahead of him and that's worryingly telling.

We basically didn't move the ball quickly enough. West Coast used lightening hands and quick kicks to pierce our forward press and we moved it to half forward too slowly and ended up bombing long to contests hoping Gawn, Spencer, Weideman, Hogan or Watts would take a mark, but they didn't. If you compare the ball use and forward 50 entries of West Coast, how many times did Kennedy mark either on his own or way out on a lead? The answer is too many. We played into their hands with slow ball movement and then couldn't disrupt their rebound off half back for long enough.

I agree that we couldn't have played much worse and yet we were still in the game until the last 5 minutes. The most worrying aspect of the game was our zone defence though, with the breakdown across half forward due to a lack of defensive cover and then our defenders inability to read the play. The way our zone was carved up time and again, reminded me so much of last year. I think St Kilda will absolutely maul us, because their game style slices through our zone as easily as you like and we don’t seem to have addressed this glaring problem. Aside from Oliver who is just a phenomenal talent and continues to stamp himself as my favourite player, our better players were all well down this week. Although, Spencer was also quite good tonight. However, Gawn was ineffective around the ground and I fail to recall him taking a single contested mark. Tyson, who I love, looked miles off it tonight. As did Petracca, Hogan and Viney. I'm not sure I've seen Viney play a worse half of footy than his first. And I was in the 'pump games into Oscar McDonald' camp last year, but at the moment, he struggles massively in a zone defence. Maybe in time he'll be a damaging intercept marker, but currently he's usually caught on the wrong side of the zone. I think Frost has to play in defence against St Kilda. His pace is essential. With Lewis, Salem, Hibberd and Jones playing off half back, someone has to give. We need pace back there and Vince continues to be a liability with his momentum changing brainfades. So flashforward to a year's time and we could well see Bernie on the outter. All in all, a disappointing night and I think it could point to the continued failure of our zone defence. Goodwin and co's failure to improve this weakness is frustrating.

Jack Viney. Wow. Just wow.

Garland is a liability. He doesn't effect contests, but leaves his man.

With no Nik Nat, not sure they're quite at full strength.

It's the sense of momentum and the platform this provides to talk positively about the club. It's an excuse for a press conference and it's an excuse to get the brand out there. So yes, if we play it well, we could attract a few extra members.

I reckon we won't see where either team is at until Round 1.

The criticism is fair, but he has certainly improved his kicking in the last twelve months. I'd expect our coaches to continue to help him improve this too. Unlike his old man, we actually have some good coaches around to help him iron out any of those deficiencies.

Really looking forward to seeing how he backs up. Doesn't need to star, but needs to be a solid contributor and do all the right things that the coaches want. Probably the most fascinating subplot in a strange Thursday night 8.40 game in pre season.

Timing wise, if a deal has been struck, I'd announce it just before the season starts. Might bring in a few extra members and build further momentum. In PJ we trust.

Except, SOS will need to go too if they're to stock up on elite talent, because he was responsible for drafting all those same GWS rejects the first time.

Still one of the greatest films ever made. Yep, he reminds me more of Mitchell too.

See I agree with everything else here, mate, but I'm not convinced Bolton can coach. I watched the Carlton St Kilda replay last night and the thibg that struck me was Carlton's inability to properly spread from any contest. It reminded me so strongly of Melbourne under Neeld and then this was compounded by their basic skill errors. If they take this form into the season proper, they'll certainly be wooden spooners.

As we've seen with Bontempelli, you don't need to get it even 25 times to be best on ground or exert great influence. The thing that's always excited me about Gus is his ability to hurt the opposition with almost every touch. Almost all of his long kicks set up goals and his ability to kick on either side of his body is an absolute weapon. 20 Brayshaw disposals are the equivalent of 35 Viney disposals and that's nothing against Jack. He's just not as dangerous with the ball in hand. Not many players are. But Gus seems to have an acute game sense and importantly an ability to execute. Having said all this, I'd agree he needs to up his possession count. Given his interrupted second year, I'd be happy if he averaged around 20 disposals for 2017. That'll position him nicely for 2018 and the Melbourne explosion, when these guys have played 50+ games together.

I can't see Jetts playing in this game. They're too tall up forward to play him.

It's great to hear a bit of hype coming our way, but at about this time last year, David King was saying the Bulldogs would slide. He really is a mug.

Yep, I think Hawthorn are in trouble. It may seem like they've rebounded and slightly renewed their list, but that midfield of theirs is snail-like. Losing Hill won't help. We should have them covered this year.