Adam The God

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.

I just saw some interesting footage from the MFC coaches box, just after the final siren sounded. Anyone see that? Roos fist pumping and Goodwin fist pumping. Awesome.

I think the problem with Tyson is that he's lazy. So often he'll be under no pressure and completely miss a handball target that a six year old could make. Reckon he needs a bit more confidence himself. He seemed to relish it in his first year with us. Maybe it's a lack of confidence in his body or maybe he keeps trying to do too much with it? He certainly needs to learn to take that first option still.

He's looking like becoming a very good third tall and an important part of our forward line. He's not the full forward beast we'd hoped to draft, but if he can string more consistent footy level, there's a benchmark he's set himself that he knows is now the standard.

Just gets his hands free every time. He has time that others dream of. I think the comparisons to Voss are quite apt, but there's quite a bit of similarity between he and Cripps. Our bloke is just doing it a lot earlier and has that quick burst of speed that Cripps doesn't have.

Despite the misleading DE statistic, we were far too messy with our disposal in the first three quarters and stopped running and moving the ball quickly in the second and third quarters, but when we move it quickly, we look so good. That passage of play in the last where Oliver somehow managed to win the clearance, Jones got it, kicked it down Kennedy's throat, who then kicked it beautifully to Watts' advantage was sublime and is a sign of things to come. Kennedy was arguably the most influential player on the ground in the final quarter. Had 5 scoring involvements in the first 7 minutes. Viney has well and truly arrived. He is a star and kept us in the game through the middle period (and GWS' poor goal kicking). Watts was terrific in the first and last quarters and Oliver's debut (with restricted game time - would he have even played 60% game time?) was one of the most impressive debuts from a midfielder you will see. I remember counting four centre clearances in a row in the last quarter. He became more influential than Viney. Honourable mention to Maxy Gawn. A very good game, despite playing against an underdone opponent.

Sexism right there. Expect better from y Mr C&B.

He was capable and effective at times last year, but would you say he was consistently so? I wouldn't. The only season he's played consistently well every week is 2014. He played a couple of good games in 2013 as well, but you'd be lying if you said he had a consistent 2013. I think being able to call someone 'reliable' is a measure of consistency. I'd say he's only been reliable for one season.

Yep. Have you been watching the last decade? Blokes that wouldn't have got games anywhere else played seasons on our list.

Got woken by the girlfriend after very little sleep. She wants to go and look at houses to buy. Adam's got a short fuse now and he's writing in third person, so we'd better hope the MFC put up a good showing, otherwise it's going to get messy in the MCC.

Absolute load of rubbish. Revisionism at its worst. This is a bloke who couldn't nail down a position for the best part of a decade. He's played one good season. It's a fallacy to say anything else.

I reckon they're comparable list wise, but the mental scars our players had aren't.

They might also see this as a good opportunity to get some more games into him. I know it could potentially be playing with fire, but there's something to be said for the FD making bold moves. The danger man back there for me is Devon Smith. Oscar may just get him too at some stage. Stevie J did very little against us last year and he's pretty much finished, but I expect him to lift for his first game at a new club. They're the guys, along with the midfield, that can kick them a winning score. Oscar needs to play within his limitations (unlike his brother does) and focus on reading the play better, because I think, along with circumstantial decision-making, this is his biggest liability. He was caught out of position a few times in the NAB games and was certainly caught out in his debut season.

Yeah. Their backline looks pretty weak to me too. I actually thought he could be joking for a moment and then realised it was O.

He also doesn't read the ball well. I think one of these GWS forwards is going to kick a few snags on him. I don't quite agree with this. I've been pretty anti-Matt Jones myself, but with increased running support around him and better players, average players willing to run hard will always look a lot better in a good team. I'm not saying he won't still be delisted at year's end, but he certainly offers run and carry. The best game he has played for the club was in that Geelong win last year. That's the standard he has to play to, as a negating, hard-running defensive forward or back flanker. He does that and I'd keep giving him a game at this stage. Geez, I never thought I'd be saying that. Just goes to show you can't write off anyone.

I wonder if it's a message thing? A late change for Oscar?

I gotta say there are quite a few areas that concern me. Oscar would be the major one though. He's not ready IMO. It's a real pity they're giving Gus another week. He only needs to touch it twenty times to have a big influence. I'm a little bit worried about their backs running off Pedersen too. We've been exposed by GWS before when going in too tall.

He's a [censored] head, but he's such an average player that he's become irrelevant. If we'd lost a star, that would have been much harder to watch every week.

I hope Bernie can still be just as damaging on the scoreboard from half back as he was in the midfield. He kicked some real game changers last year. One of my favourites for sure.

I disagree. They're no hope of winning a flag and have a bunch of aging/old players. We have a lot of hope. We won't finish as high as the Roos this year (probably), but we will next year.