Radar Detector

I've seen this movie before...

Daniher only kicked 2.4. We would have lost by more if he kicked straight, true, but Essendon killed us outside as ProDee said. 134 more uncontested possessions is what killed us.

A friend of mine had a sponsors "inner sanctum" day with a top four club recently and had incredible access to the club. He trained with the team and spent the entire day tagging along with the coaching staff. One of the things that coach said to him that really resonated was that good clubs approach trading by looking at players who have desirable elite attributes and their flaws are almost irrelevant to the decision. Good clubs back themselves to exploit the positive traits and iron out any faults the player may have. This, to me, is the right approach with Tom. His "good attributes" are extremely desirable. By the time we are really challenging, the club should back itself to improve his weaknesses. Many players, our captain included, have managed to overcome issues with disposal and decision making over time.

You don't get better quickly as a team by replacing players of TMac's ability. You get better by replacing the worst players on the list with good players. We need players around Tom to compliment him, we don't need to offload him. He is young and has elite KPD traits that we would be crazy to get rid of.

17 other clubs would queue up for him. He is a massive frustration at times but there is an All Australian KPD in there...

Great news re Bernie. I hope Dawes is looking at a reduced term as well. In fact, I'd probably only offer him 1 year if he gets a contract at all.

Maybe injuries are not quite as correlated to fitness staff performance as people think. I always think we put way too much emphasis on Misson when it comes to the injury situation, good or bad. Sometimes I'm sure it comes down to good luck. There are a lot of unique movements, collisions etc in a game of footy!

A mate said something to me on Friday that I thought was very indicative of where we are at as a team: "You guys are in a great but frustrating position. You would go into every game thinking you are a realistic chance of winning now, which is true. But realistically, you'll probably lose about half of those games" That is exactly where I see us. Right now I see us as just behind GWS and probably about even with Gold Coast fighting for 8th. Collingwood will improve and are only a game behind and I still wouldn't be banking wins against the likes of Port Adelaide or Freo with any confidence just yet. That said, if we can get a third of the way into the season at 5-2, maybe we can build some momentum on the back of increased confidence. We have the talent. But I reckon we might be 12 months away from seeing a really good side emerge. I reckon we'll just miss but it will be a good ride anyway.

It's amazing that we can't even fit Trengove and ANB into the frame at all despite consistently strong VFL performances. Isn't this mythical form phenomenon grand? Note: would love to see Trenners back on the G though.

6 Viney 5 Gawn 4 Tyson 3 Garlett 2 Vince 1 Watts

Trengove is no stranger to a tackle either. Just ask Dangerfield.

Jnr, whilst the odds and predictions paint a compelling picture, the fact is that the Bulldogs never once finished below us in any of their years down the bottom and won 7 games in 2014. They were expected to be hopeless because of the exits of Griffen, Cooney and Higgins but of that group, only Griffen was a key contributor for them and they already had a deep young midfield capable of stepping up to cover. We have only now probably got a similarly talented young midfield. I would be confident we could cover the loss of a Jones or Vince much better now - last week was an example of that. The Bulldogs were never anywhere near as bad as us, it was an expectation based on a flawed assumption - similar to the idea that Geelong would be rubbish without Ablett or the Hawks without Buddy.

2 out of 4 weeks for both Gawn and Watts. If they can build on that form and Viney can continue his rise to the elite, we will be a good side sooner rather than later.

Vince and Garlett are definite ins. I would limit the changes to that unless there are some surprise injuries during the week. It is good that guys at Casey have to literally force their way through a closed door and will only make those on the fringes more hungry. In terms of who makes way for the two ins, I'd say it will be out of Hunt, Brayshaw and Oliver. Harmes or Matt Jones if injured. Brayshaw still looks slightly off the pace to me. Matt Jones has given good run and I'd be reluctant to drop him unless injured.

6. Viney 5. Watts 4. Gawn 3. Tyson 2. Jones (N) 1. Bugg honourable mentions to Wagner, Jetta, Pederson and Hogan

Even if it were to happen, I doubt we'd be high on his list of destination clubs

Yep, my three word summary for Watts would be TAKE THE SHOT. I suspect he will be told that. But the mark was a ripper, he actually looked pretty good streaming out of the goal square and kicked 3. Is on track for a 40 odd goal season.

Great summary.

Are jmac and givemethecure the same person? Seem to be trolling multiple threads in tandem.

Spot on.

I feel like a battered wife. I keep getting hurt but for some reason I can't leave. This relationship has been toxic to my health for a decade.

We're starting to go around in circles now. I think that very few on here, if any, would say that Watts has lived up to initial expectations. He has been tantalising on occasion and frustrating a great many times. However in the dross that has been our team over the last eight years, he has almost always deserved his spot. No revisionist commentary about Stef Martin (who incidentall played his best footy for us as a sole ruckman when Jamar was injured, certainly not a forward), or others who have in the most part now departed the club, changes that fact. What almost everyone here agrees with (I think) is that Jack remains extremely talented and if he can marry that consistently with effort like the past four weeks will be a very valuable cog in our team. He offers a number of attributes in a combination that nobody else on our team possess. There remains a lot of football to be played this season but he appears on an upward trajectory and it would be the best outcome for the footy club if his performances demand another contract at season's end in a vastly improving side. As an aside, one of the reasons we love Jack Viney is because he bleeds red and blue. Jack Watts has a comparable passion for the club but many supporters give him no credit for it. Probably the same supporters that spit chips when "disloyal" players head off to Collingwood or Hawthorn via FA. Can't have it both ways.

What a load of rubbish. Firstly, being gifted games of footy implies that there were those more deserving of a game than he. Go back and look at some of the teams we have fielded over the last five years and suggest which consistently better footballers he was robbing of a game. We have been a rabble and, in OUR side, Jack has more often than not been worthy of a spot. Also, IMO we as a club are culpable in the trajectory of his career to date. We threw him to the wolves on QB all those years ago while he was still playing school footy FFS. We have set him up for the most immense media scrutiny of any player of his calibre I can remember in my lifetime. And we even had a coach who publicly torched him before he'd even coached a game for the club. So it's hard to ignore the fact that despite the fact we have largely thrown him under a bus, he loves the club and wants to be here. It's no coincidence that now that we have a half decent development program, Jack has grown in confidence and put in his best ever patch of footy for the club. Jack has been inconsistent, frustrating and has underperformed, no doubt. But some of the negative airtime he gets is unhelpful and plain wrong.

If the Bombers finish bottom 2, I suspect they will get better compo if some of these guys leave as FA than they would under a trade. Could hold the first 3 picks in the draft if both Hooker and Hurley leave.

Probably the only way Hogan can be justified a spot at this stage too...