DeeSpencer

Who did we [censored] about last year? There was Frost, but clearly he had issues rehabbing and the 4-6 kept prolonging itself. Maybe they should've listed him as indefinite or 4-8 and explained the process in his recovery where by it was a waiting game and slowly testing out weight bearing and a frustrating cycle. I think the news on Salem and Kent re doing hammies took a while to filter through. Otherwise almost everyone came back when predicted as far as I recall. Someone will get to training next week or the week after and Brayshaw will either be out running laps or he won't be. Then we will know. I expect he will be.

I'd rather Hoges has nothing sore this time of year, given his history of back problems and the stupid decision to add bulk to his frame. Very glad he's not playing on Sunday. Keen to see the skipper on Sunday with full strength in his arms and confidence in his neck. Not sure if he'll play back, in the guts or maybe float a bit around half forward and on the wing, but if Viney, Tyson and Oliver are getting first use from Gawn he might just get to bounce around a bit and get some more outside footy. Under pressure he still bombs it long but he's probably our best low and fast kick to a lead when bursting through the midfield so I want to see a bit more of that. Same with Bernie.

And a timely reminder

I do agree, but I find it irrelevant to this decision due to AFL circumstances and also time frame considerations. It's completely different. For example, most local footy teams haven't even started practice matches yet, so it's not the same as a week off mid season. I'm keen to see how Frost, Pedersen, Watts and Vanders function as a group and in particular to see if either of the first two can impress.

Oscar McDonald the only one who I thought might be dropped, but they might keep him in to not overload Garland, Dunn and Tom Mc. Depends a bit if they think Wagner can play tall. ANB, Michie and Terlich might be unlucky again but if so that means the pressure to perform will remain for those on the fringes. Still have to cut down from 26 to 22 anyway.

Another team that moves the ball super quickly and will make us work hard to keep pace. Jones and Vince back means we shouldn't be short on midfield numbers and I hope to see the same strength at the contest and hard spreading play as last week. Plus the defensive pressure forward and defenders backing themselves. Important game.

Smart decision to rest Hogan I think. He was only going at about 80% on the weekend and getting frustrated. Give him a week off and bring him back for a tune up in week 3, then let him get in to the real stuff.

You can argue there only needs to be 2 games or even 1 game. And you can argue they shouldn't be televised or even governed by AFL policies and should be agreements between the 2 clubs on conditions of play. But there's no way teams will or should ever want to go in to the season without practice matches. Any NAB challenge injuries would be multiplied in round 1 without decent practice matches and clubs will have no way to effectively trial new game plans and new players.

Not news to a lot of people that he had struggles. But good news that he's doing so well. All the best to him.

Sounds like almost best case scenario. Casey practice game in 3 weeks time in to round 1 in 4 weeks time still possible. If not, then he misses a round or two.

I think more crude that deliberate. Brayshaw was running away from Hartlett. He couldn't dive straight in his back and I don't think he had the leverage or strength to halt his momentum and drag him down on his side. I think the lift was an attempt to get Brayshaw off balance to then tackle him but Brayshaw slipped out forward and Harlett ended up slamming the pair of them down on Brayshaw's knee.

For the amount that I rubbish McDonald I will admit his endurance is certainly a weapon that allows him to play high minutes and get up and down the ground. Dunn can mainly camp back which is fine and Jetta and Garland have both been working on fitness I believe. Which is important because they need to play a high percentage of game time whilst also contributing more rebound than last year.

90 rotations means you'll need heaps of on ground rotations. Every player has to be able to contribute to the midfield minutes and either spend time forward or back. Or in other words play 2 positions. I'd start the team like this (and the names aren't all that important): FB: Jetta Dunn Garland HB: ### McDonald #### C: ### #### #### HF: ### Hogan #### FF: #### #### #### Int: ##### #### #### #### Every player not named has to have 2 positions. So you probably want 3 more defenders who can also push up in to the midfield (ie. Salem, Bugg, Lumumba). 5 or 6 more forwards who can go in to the midfield - Garlett, Kent, Vanders, Watts etc. And the rest of the team midfielders who can go either one way, or even better both forward and back.

Good old Telstra giving something back for customers. Enjoy. What's that sound? Is it thousands calling up to cancel their foxtel subscriptions? https://www.telstra.com.au/tv-movies-music/sport/sports-offer-eoi

The AFL covers the costs of the matches, probably with help from the local governments, the local club involved and sponsors. That money comes from members buying their memberships, which are the lifeblood of clubs, which in turn are the reason the AFL exists. Plus the other stake holders then make the money back in food and merchandise sales. Ticketek can certainly be a business but I bet you they are pocketing that $5 on behalf of organising the tickets and then pocketing another $3.50 for the processing fee. I've asked the MCC before about reserve seating for games which is usually $15 and they assure me the ticketing company takes almost all of it. They are archaic businesses set up back when computers were the size of a room and printers cost a months wages. Big sporting leagues stick with them because they do free advertising and promotion and take away a hassle, but they are an absolute rort on fans. When you go to the movies you can book the ticket online and it's often covered in the price of the movie and you can print it out yourself. A small cost to reserve a ticket in this case is reasonable, but not $8.50, that's how much a preseason match should cost in total, not one that's meant to be free.

Sounds like more than just a straight medial strain, but still not huge damage. Best case scenario is round 1 after conservative management. Worst case (given nothing else goes wrong) he might need a clean out and have to miss a few early rounds. In which case the long term prognosis might not be great if he has to have too much cartilage shaved off. Then again, get him in the stem cell trial and it will heal up fine.

No but he's the only one the AFL clubs trust. Kind of silly. But they've picked their man so they stay with him.

Agree. The Hawks don't care much about contested marks inside 50, they value forward pressure and quick ball movement far more and Roughead and Gunston (who also go in to the midfield) get much more ball on the lead and roving than they do via contested marks. Part of that comes from the teams brilliant skills, but their skills are mainly from half back, Smith, Hill, Rioli, Puopolo are all known to just bomb the chaos ball inside 50 and it still works because all their forwards are quick (except maybe the resting ruck but Hale and McEvoy know to get out of the way) and smart as well. The question will be whether we are better off with Pedersen taking on average 1-2 marks inside 50 and probably kicking 1 extra goal a week as a marking target or Frost's speed. I think we need to see what Watts, Vanders and in time Petracca bring and work out what goes best with that mix.

They both deserve it. They are in the best 30 or so midfielders in the comp. Hogan is in the best 10 forwards. Not sure we've got any of the best 10 defenders. A few rucks get squeezed in somewhere as well and I'd probably have Goldy, Sandi and probably Nic Nat, maybe Jacobs. Mumford if fit. Gawn's challenge is to break free of the pack and in to that conversation. Half a season doesn't have him there yet but hopefully he can step up.

This first game seems to have "extras - true" http://live.cricket.com.au/#/1552/38906 This second one seems to have "extras - false" http://live.cricket.com.au/#/1513/38394 The same scorecard on cricinfo doesn't have true or false. http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/engine/match/895955.html I think it's likely a cricket.com.au thing. Send them a tweet or email to find out.

I'm watching the replay of the 3rd quarter. The standout feature so far has been smart footy outside of the packs. Not always clean and perfect, but when we've got the ball players are running to space and moving the ball on, when we don't have the ball players are finding opponents and reading the play ahead of time to cover off each other. It's no longer mad chooks running around after the player with the ball. Play A will move up to pressure, player B will notice this and go cover the next player in the chain and so on and so on. Sounds simple, but it's a huge change from what we've been lacking and it comes about from having a group buy in to chase and pressure not just individuals. More overall speed certainly doesn't hurt either!

Dawes is a little smarter than Pedersen but he's far from a great reader of the play, he's not a good kick for goal at all and who knows what role he can play. Given he's not suited to being 2nd ruck and he won't be the focal point it's hard to say what role suits him. Anyway, we've been over this many times. I will say that Pedersen looks fitter than he ever has been at this time of year. He seemed to compete ok in the ruck contests he was involved in. Took a couple of nice grabs and slotted the goals. And didn't stuff up much else (one bad inside 50 kick that turned a near certain goal in to a lot of work for Vanders). He's got the lead on Frost as the 2nd forward/ruck at this stage.

He's exciting as a midfielder but I think Vanders is better as a half forward at this stage and the team is much better having him there. I think he and Watts make a nice combination for the 3rd and 4th taller options. Watts brings the skills and poise and doesn't play to his height, Vanders brings the hammer and can hopefully play above his height.

3 fines = a week off I believe