Akum

What Hird said was particularly interesting - says he found Bruce very tough to play on as a forward because "he'd usually beat you in the one-on-ones and then pick the right time to run off you". I'm neither in the "Bruce-basher" nor the "Bruce-defender" camp as a rule, but James Hird I respect very highly as a sensible commentator, and he is in an ideal position to comment about Bruce's attributes. Bruce may have his deficiencies, but he has a lot of positives too. He is certainly extremely good one-on-one against just about anybody, and when he runs off an opponent he usually gets it right. He can also plug virtually any gaps - tall or small or in-between, back or forward or midfield - and an opponent rarely gets the better of him. This is a strong set of positives to put up against any deficiencies in disposal.

Nah, you're way off the mark. You make it sound far too sensible!

I wouldn't say disappointing, more surprising. It's not entirely unexpected to see, say, Petterd or Dunn shank it every once few shots. But when someone like Green hits a shocker or two every week, maybe there is something in this thing about effect of the new Sherrins that are firmer at each end, so that if you kick certain parts on the ball, it flies off the boot completely differently.

... which makes it harder to understand why even he's missed sitters just about every week this year already.

It all depends on how the ball comes in. If it's just bombed in aimlessly, or even if it's a long kick to position, they'll be in trouble. Unless, that is, they can manage to get it to the ground and hold it in. But if it comes in quickly, either to a lead or into space, or being run down the ground, they'll be very dangerous against a taller defence. If delivery into the forward 50 is under too much pressure for this, then we'll need to have Martin around as forward option "Plan B" It all depends on midfield clearances and ball use out of defence. These are the hallmarks of the best sides, and Brisbane has been one of the best in 2010 so far.

Right - it's not a metter of dropping anyone, more a matter of team balance and "horses for courses" against a very different team from the one we just played. Against Brisbane, we need insurance against being ripped apart in any number of ways. IMO Martin has to come in, for 3 reasons: (1) To give us a "big Forward" option, should we need it; (2) To give us another option on Brown, should we need it; (3) To give Jamar help in the ruck, should he need it. Now it's entirely possible that our smallish forward line will function sensationally, Brown will get smashed (or injured), and Jamar will slaughter Clark & Leuenberger, and Mrtin will end up warming the pine for most of the afternoon. But I doubt it. Who goes out? Not sure, but definitely not Bartram, we might need him as insurance against one of their midfielders killing us & pumping it again and again into their forward 50. But whoever goes out, it's not for performance, it's for team balance.

Hope you're right.

IMO if Juice could ever manage to kick 5 goals or more for the Dees, he'll stay. His problem is that he can only play FF, unlike Martin, Watts, Jurrah and any other potential KPFs who could play elsewhere if they couldn't cut it as a KPF. In the future, we'll need all our forwards to be at least capable of getting a swag of goals in a single game, otherwise we just won't have a good enough forward line to challenge for the flag. This is just about a standard requirement for a top 4 team. Juice needs to show that he's worth a place in that sort of forward line, not a wooden-spoon forward line. This weekend is the best chance he's likely to get all year to kick his bag. IMO if the team plays well but he can't get 4, including assists, he's well & truly blown his best opportunity. I think it's his crunch game. After this week, there may be other opportunities, but against teams like Brisbane and maybe North the following week. After then, Martin & Watts will be ready to come in. If he hasn't kicked some goals by then, he will have seen his chance pass by, unless he can force his way back by starring for Casey later in the season. I would love for Juice to finally hit his straps and show us that he's worth his place in a top 4 forward line. But the chances aren't good.

This is the crux of it IMO. His current form is an improvement but not enough, he needs to keep improving, but while he's improving there's really no point in dropping him. The next 3 games will be the decisive games for his career. He should see plenty of the ball against Tigers and the "pass mark" is perhaps 4 goals (including assists). Then he has a hard one against Brisbane, where he'll need to produce something, at least to have some effect on the game, against strong opposition. Then, if he hasn't blown it yet, a game against a team at a similar stage of development which will be a real indicator of how much we've improved, and he'll be expected to make a definite contribution. And that's provided that either Stef or Jack doesn't kick a bag for Casey in the meantime. If Stef had got his 5 or 6 for Casey, it could have been different.

Agree on all points.

Stef was very good at FF where he played most of the night. The wind was a bit flukey & gusty early on (though it settled down as the game went on), and when it's like that, kicks from about 40m. or more get blown around a bit more than from closer in, unless you really kick through the ball. He was very lively, moved around and presented well, good in the air and on the ground, and certainly could have had 5 or 6. Then again, Spencer was good too; he was much better around the ground than I thought him to be. IMO I don't see that it's really necessary to rush either of them in against the Tiges, but we're bound to need one or other of them against Brisbane. Another week at Casey will do them both (not to mention JW) a lot of good, and will serve as an audition.

Good point. The win today DOES feel like the start of something, especially coming on the heels of last week.

Yeh the signs were good, I felt for the first time he really seemed to be picking up the pace of the game. Presented particularly well and gave them a lot of drive, especially in the second half, decision-making and disposal very good (even in traffic & under pressure) and once or twice sublime. One piece of play he led up past the wing to receive a kick out of defence, baulked around the guy on his mark, then a perfectly-weighted kick over about 40m to a teammate with an opponent right on his hammer who hardly had to break stride, which led to a goal. And he seems to be working out how to put his draft-camp pace-off-the-mark & agility to advantage during a game, backed himself a few times. Uncharacteristically missed some gettable goals though. IMO if he had another week or two at Casey he'd be even better for it. But Martin was very good too, in the air and on the ground, very lively, again missed some he could have got, could have easily had 5 or 6 instead of 3. We saw last year a few of the 'fringe' players go back to Casey for a week or two and then perform much better when they came back to the Dees, can see the same happening to Stef over the next few weeks. He'll probably be needed against Brisbane because Jamar will need some help against their rucks.

I've met him too and endorse all of this, an absolutely top bloke. Top family too. Does a lot for the African community in Melbourne too, usually behind the scenes, never to blow his own trumpet. It's a great story about him going back to DRC (Congo) to find out about his father's family. Makes me sick to think a guy like him is copping racist carp from anyone, but if there's even the slightest chance that he's getting it from supporters of the team he plays for ... words fail me.

Great report Chook, esp @ half past midnight! Just a couple of things. Thomas, asked to explain what he meant by saying that Bailey would make a great assistant coach but doubting his abilities as senior coach, said that DB is widely known as a top-grade development coach but perhaps a bit too nice a bloke and too much of a thinker to really give someone a bake when required. DB replied that if that's the way he comes across outside the club, then inside it he's known for really giving it to players who don't get ti right (which is what I've heard too). He then went on to explain that he's had to be pretty ruthless in rebuilding the team, but that in doing this he works closely with Schwab (I presume this means that instead of going off half-cocked, he doesn't give people a bake unless he thinks it's the best way to deal with the situation). This is good to know. He also mentioned a few times about a "second tier" of leadership, players just outside the current leadership group, and that these are the players he thinks really stepped up on Saturday and he's looking for continued improvement from these guys from now on. Haven't really heard about this before. He didn't mention names, but we can think about ho he might be referring to. And about Jack Watts, he mentioned Jack's eagerness to get on to the park, and frustration that he's not been able to, "all he wants to do is play". Says he talks with Jack quite often, and that Jack has the maturity to deal with it, and he's not influenced by what those outside the club say about him.

He's just as impressive in person. Does a lot of stuff for the African community in Melbourne, including the first African festival of music in Footscray about a month ago, where I met him; the festival went much better than expected & may become an annual event. Anyway, I think it woulld be more likely that a member of the coaching staff worked it out and Harry was the only one with the presence of mind to put it into practice. But I reckon he's the sort of guy that would have to be absolutely convinced that it's legit before he'd do it. Would make a fantastic Demon - I'll work on it! Far too good a bloke for the Pies! And he said some great things about our performance on 774 straight after the match.

Fantastic! The senior players stood up, and the youngsters backed them up brilliantly. The only difference was that they didn't know how to win it, though they were desperately unlucky in the end. Just listening to Harry O'Brien's interview - praising the Dees muchly, saying he thought Petterd might have had the mark in the square in the last second.

I like the fact that they're asking the seniors to play the accountable roles - Bruce on Swan, and Junior (and Moloney perhaps?) at HF to try to stop them rebounding off half-back from O'Brien & Shaw.

Have a nasty feeling we might regret not choosing Martin. As well as quality smalls in their forward line, we need to cover their talls: Fraser 202cm; Cloke 196cm; Anthony 192cm. Frawley 193cm; Warnock 192cm; Dunn 192cm (Joel Mac 188cm). Without Martin (198cm) they're going to struggle to cover Fraser.

Only if you give them oxygen! Perhaps part of the Dees' problem in the 1st qtr on Saturday was that while they were trying to implement an unfamiliar game plan, they were also trying to sort out their match-ups and work out the opposition's set-up. This would be way too much for an inexperienced team at the start of a game, let alone Round 1, let alone against a team trying to re-activate their "unsociable football". Maybe leave it man-on-man for the first qtr (or a large part of it), and then swing the game-plan into play once they get the feel of the game?

If there's tagging that needs to be done (Swan, perhaps Didak, but no more than 2), then it's the senior guys who should do it. Grimes on Hodge while playing Bruce loose in defence was wrong wrong wrong. The seniors aren't going to win us any games, the best we can hope is that they can contribute enough by doing specific jobs & plugging gaps etc to keep us in touch. The guys who need to be played in the right positions to win it for us are Grimes, Sylvia, Davey, Scully, Trengove. Along the same lines, Miller should probably stick to either O'Brien or Maxwell because Pies get great drive from these.

Col & Col & Watts!

Me too. IMHO when we click together as a team we'll be competitive against most teams this year, but no point in getting ahead of ourselves on the basis of one praccy match. Just like there was no point in calling the undertakers after the NAB vs Freo. And still a bit of a concern that we had plenty of chances to win it in the last but couldn't put it away. But it's great to see the improvement.

Petterd adds strength & hardness to the forward line. He's agreat mark for his size and very difficult to matchup. He's also great under pressure and seems to make the most of his chances - it's a worry that we missed 4 in the last qtr (especially the one by Green). But it was Petterd who showed his quality under pressure and kicked truly to put us back in front.

I'll stick my neck out & say that from Rd 1 we should start with Trengove, Scully & Grimes in the centre square with Jamar. Partly because these three - Scully in particular - seem to go much better on the ball than as wingers or flankers. Partly because this is already our most creative midfield combo as far as setting up teammates is concerned. And partly because this is going to be our star midfield for years to come so they may as well get used to playing together.