Adam The God

Speaking of Collingwood, this season will be fascinating. How will they respond to the Sydney thumping? If they really struggle this year, they won't be in the hunt for anyone.

Exactly why saying no to someone like Prestia is folly. We must keep swimming forward or we risk becoming stagnant. RE: Eddie. His ego is tied to the decision to back Buckley, so his presidency may well go down with Buckley.

I suspect this has a lot to do with the new zonal system, but I didn't notice the above as such. Interesting. IMO, it certainly won't mean that. And it didn't mean that yesterday. One thing that was noticeable was that our players were marking space or zones on the ground yesterday, rather than strict one on ones. There was a moment Garland left his spot, instead of marking space and it meant that GWS got an uncontested mark inside 50. I suspect he still has a bit to learn, coming from the old Melbourne. I'd say we'll have this sorted out by the end of 2016. This year will be a rollercoaster, but a much more exciting rollercoaster than last year, but 2017 is where it really gets exciting.

So he fulfils his contract and then gets to wait and see that we progress as a team. I'm sure his manager would have advised him of this.

Exactly.

Yep. Which speaks volumes. And Oliver is already our go to extractor, along with Viney.

At least, we had everyone bar the centremen and wingers inside defensive 50. Hopefully Roos et al will go over the last 10 seconds again in review and we learn another lesson. I'd much prefer us learning now as a young team than have our hearts ripped out in a Grand Final, obviously.

It's staggering how many people seem to have the memory of a goldfish. Since last year, all we've added to the midfield is Oliver, Kennedy and Bugg. Okay, Viney seems to have taken another step over pre season, but if we think our midfield is set up now, we're going nowhere. We will not be able to compete with the aforementioned teams in years to come unless we continue to strengthen our midfield.

The OP is arrogant though. I think we need to calm down a little bit. I think I'm gonna find the arrogance of some MFC supporters harder to bare when things do take a real up turn, because the majority of them weren't there when we really needed them. The amount of bandwagoners there yesterday was staggering and none of them seem to understand the game. I hope they give their money to the club, but try and keep themselves a little grounded.

Short answer... yes. You don't say no to A grade midfielders. You just don't. Viney, Oliver, Brayshaw, Jones, Tyson, Prestia and Petracca. We have improved our depth remarkably in a very short time, but we still have nothing on GCS, GWS, Hawthorn, Sydney or even the Bulldogs. Further, Prestia can play outside or inside. His height goes against him a little bit, but he is a ball magnet. I've wanted him pretty much since his first season and that still hasn't changed. Still managed a goal and 29 touches against Essendon yesterday, first game back from a long-term injury. He was pretty rusty, but still can't help finding a stack load of the ball and a lot of it contested. Would love Kelly though too. He'll come to the MFC I reckon. $500k a year should be fine. Even $450k might get the job done.

See, I'm confused. A couple of people have mentioned this 100% DE and then another mentioned he had 5 clangers. Well, what is it?

I think he was pivotal, but Viney, Oliver and Kennedy got it up to him. It was a real team performance. Fantastic to see.

It's an interesting OP this. I'd be giving him one more week to improve his game and build a bit of confidence. I'd be replacing Bugg with Gus.

And he hits targets with those handballs. Something a lot of our guys have struggled to do in recent times. He's been a breath of fresh air.

I'll be happy to eat humble pie if he comes good... Urgh.

Well, if you read my first post you would know I was pretty balanced in my assessment of the game. I just get sick of people crapping on about Kent and then watch him have very little influence and butcher the ball half the time.

So basically if he was good a lot of things, he'd be a good player? For his output thus far, he's incredibly overrated.

They are known more for giving lip than winning, this GWS team. We had players on the wings. We needed to win a clearance sideways, but Gawn was dumb there.

Thought he was ordinary again. Where's this 'elite' kicking he's supposed to have? Every second kick is a floater. That miss from 20 metres out under no pressure was inexcusable. His ball drop is too high. He also doesn't lay enough tackles when he's not hitting the scoreboard. Agree with the rest of your post though. Even my Hawthorn-supporting girlfriend watched the Melbourne game on the TV today. Very impressed. Just have to beat her team to convert her.

We still have to fix our starts in games. I mean the first 10 to 15 minutes. We struggled in the NAB challenge with this and today too. He was ordinary down back IMO. Totally misjudged that contest and the Tomlinson should have made him pay.

Reckon Parish might give Oliver a run for his money this week. Finished the game with a couple more disposals than Clarry and looked super impressive in an ordinary team. However, Clarry was winning centre clearance after centre clearance and only played half a game. If he doesn't get it this week, he'll get it soon enough. It's certainly much more interesting. The rotations cap has changed the game too.

Did waste one today. When we were on a role in the last quarter, but I love him. He's an absolute beauty. He is a bloke you can trust. I love how he's turned his career around. Take a bow, Paul Roos. He had more influence today, because he runs hard, but I think the original post there is correct. His kicking is still very unreliable and he's not the greatest decision maker. Agree with a lot of this, but Bugg was very, very, ordinary today. I'd say Brayshaw will replace Bugg. I'm not sold on Harmes either. He had an absolute shocker. That turn over in the last nearly cost us the game. It certainly cost us the momentum for a while. He also had a horrible turn over in the first half too, which I believe cost us a goal in the end. It's a terrific crowd. Given the only people there for GWS were family friends of the players. Reckon we might just get 50,000 next week. Yep, it's another dumb, ill-considered rule by the AFL.

Oliver seemed to only play about half of the last quarter too. I reckon he played the majority of the first half and then a couple of minutes of the third and ten to fifteen minutes of the final quarter.

We did look out on our feet at the end of the third, but then in the last, GWS looked out on their feet. I'm just not convinced our work rate was good enough during quarters 2 and 3.

It must be said though, Nash, that he spent most of the third on the pine. They were obviously managing him through loads in this match. I expect they'll do the same next week.