Adam The God

IMO Oliver's biggest issue last year was his tank. He couldn't run out games. If he can run out four quarters, even three and a half quarters regularly, he will rack up the stats. 25-30 possessions per week easily. And as you say PD, if he continues to develop his outside game, he'll have no problem hitting 30 touches weekly. The West Coast game should be his blue print for the rest of 2017. He used his feet superbly to open up play, but still got a tone of it inside as well. Hogan will be a star and what he's managed to do for a CHF is nothing short of phenomenal, but Oliver has walked straight in (similar to Ollie Wines really) and had a major impact on the inside. That's why I have Clarry's ceiling as higher than Jesse's, but I want both of them in my team. They're both match winners. It's important to note that the biggest difference between the ceiling of someone like Wines and even my favourite Cripps, is Clarry's ability by hand and in particular by foot. Both of those other guys are limited by foot. For mine Clarry is a Sam Mitchell clone.

I'm a little surprised, I must say. How hard can it be to sign a BOJ sponsor with our upside? If we've managed in previous years and teams like Carlton can manage it, surely we can. Yeah, okay, we might be looking for a bigger deal, but it seems a little unprofessional to enter the season without.

Oliver will be right up with Cripps this year. In fact, I predict he'll surpass Cripps this season.

Hopefully one day Tyson and Viney will demand a tag, but I don't see any of those boys, with the exception of Clarry, demanding a tag at this stage. But if Tyson and Viney are free to go without a tag, we will have a very dangerous midfield. Especially, if we learn to block and work for each other. No side is going to tag two mids, but there were certainly times last year where Viney was either tagged or received heavy attention at stoppages. Oliver's rise makes us all the more unpredictable, which is terrific. This all said, I'd be chasing hard for one more A grade mid at the end of this year. Reckon we're still one short. Brayshaw, Petracca, Salem and for the next few years Lewis, Jones and Vince can all push through there, but I think we need one more to be a flag contender in a year or two.

I've told the family that I'm not interested in going to pre season matches there anymore. It really is a hole, but if the men's side played there in the season proper, I would follow them. But I don't think Gosch's Paddock is the right option and the Junction Oval certainly isn't. So it's Casey for the moment.

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.