damon the demon

I missed half the first quarter - are you saying Grimes' kicking was worse in the first quarter than the rest of the game? My god it must have been bloody awful - I saw him turn it over countless times in the other 3!! I reckon we keep him in but we need a plan for his disposal ie kick it to space in front of a leading Melbourne player and not try to "negotiate" through a crowded back half. I know its not easy but he's letting us down with his poor kicking / decision making.

Green - practise goal kicking Jurrah - practise goal kicking Petterd - practise goal kicking Jamar - please practise goal kicking Dunn - practise goal kicking Bennell - blah blah you know what i'm gonna say...

No - you are wrong. Watts did some good things today. Several contested marks, blocks for teammates, clever handballs. Was not dominant at all but was useful. People love to hate Jack Watts but if you watch the game properly you'll see he is a valuable player and improving each week. All those who criticise Watts endlessly whenever he gets near it suffer from overexpectation of a 19 yr old and a lack of understanding of his role in the team. He is not a traditional key forward and that frustrates you, but support him he will be a star.

B: Bartram MacDonald Garland HB: Rivers Grimes Bennell Centres: Davey Maloney Trengove HF: Watts Petterd Dunn F: Jurrah Maric Green R: Jamar Sylvia Gysberts Bench: Wonna Martin Jetta Sub: Tapscott

erg too much thinking at this stage - will try after a few beers tonight. I made that comment because (as several others have since noted) Mckenzie is (with Scully maybe) our best clearance player from stoppages. And our best tackler. Without him we won't win it out of the middle and therefore lose games. He is as important as Jamar, Frawley and Jurrah. Gutted to hear he's out for six.

whoever missed mckenzie doesn't get it

So - what to make of this: "But the Giants scouts are believed to be resigned to missing out on winning Scully’s signature to join the new team next season, which will be coached by AFL legend Kevin Sheedy." Don't lose hope people - his manager has to play down speculation for the sake of negotiations etc.

Some perspective? 1) Supergoal rule hurt us. Nugget/ Bate/ Dunn etc kept trying to slot em from outside 50 when they could have run in. 2) We had Evans playing in the midfield, Warnock KPB, Jones looking sore, no chip, scully, mckenzie, petterd 3) We were still with them at 3/4 time at Etihad in the NAB cup where the bombers desperately need to win to vindicate their appointment of Hird. I think all is not lost! Lots to work on but at the G in the h & a season we'll win that game.

i thought they still looked pink? was it just my eyes playing tricks on me??

Biggest problems tonight - lost all the clinchers in the packs (credit to my mate who kept saying this) - so our midfielders were no good: Beamer, Jones (who looked injured to be honest), Sylvia, Trengove, Evans etc - the two players we missed who can fix this are Scully and Mckenzie - really missed their ball winning ability. Defence looked dodgy trying to get it out - HATED the way we went back to old habits of kicking it sideways in front of goal - the bombers did not do this all night! Missed Chip - McDonald has to keep his head we cannot afford to have him get reported this year. Warnock had a shocker - not sure if he's worth keeping as backup anymore... Jetta, Watts, Spencer and Bennell had too little influence. Should have rested the big russian more - he doesn't need to be played for that long in the NAB cup. POsitives were Jurrah, MArric, Spencer looked OK when he came on - thought Dunn and Bate did a bit. Rivers disposal was good. That's it. whatever it's the NAB cup - we hate Etihad it's a crap ground. We can't play there so screw it.

Agree keyser and that's a post worth adding twice. sculls will probably re-sign and if he doesn't we will still have a great team - topped up by the additional draft picks we'll get for him... at the end of the day we play in the AFL and for or better or worse we have to play by their rules (ie the AFL giveth, the AFL taketh away...). If they want to expand its going to cost existing teams some talent. It's bad because scully might be the next judd... but watts looks a lot like the next carey (on the field), trengove the next hird and jurrah the next ablett/whoknowsweveneverseenanyonelikehimbefore.... soo while losing scully will hurt us all - it may not be the end of the world/cost us a flag (or so i tell myself to get to me to sleep at night oh god........). buuut he will probably re-sign. i reckon.

was saying to someone tonight he'll be the next carey - on field only hopefully

Brad Green is going to be a brilliant captain for the Dees - he is a fearless, creative playmaker. This team will be the attacking, exciting, confident team we've always hoped for. I can't wait to see how good this team can get under Green's leadership.

YEAHAH i love dunns mo he is one serious CAT (not the geelong kind of course). The Jurrahcane is the smoothest dude in AFL right now. We all knows it!

Love the kid - absolute gun - deserves number 9 - will be captain of a melbourne premiership team one day

no both mullet and mo are cool - da boyz have style

grimes will never leave the dees! also thought rivers played really well jaded sylvia /jurrah / watts / trengove / marric / jetta / martin / green / grimes/ mcdonald best for mine (i know it's nearly the whole team) saw some skills tonight that i haven't seen before from the team we looked GOOD. Both adelaide's kicking for goal was atrocious dunno why? very good to watch us win over there though - we didn't miss bruce at all

although if we are winning maybe the pink helps with the hand eye coordination. MAYBE this is a stroke of genius from the FD!! cos i never saw us win 2 games in adelaide on the same night before!!!!

is that for the public or the players? are we going to see pink in the NAB cup?

would be nice if someone from the club would post and tell us that the 'real' jumpers are on the way.. i mean seriously it cannot be that hard NEW BALANCE!

If it's just about the money then why don't we just ask Joe Gutnick to hire Tom as a fitness coach to make up the difference? It could be his "summer job"!

I remember a game a few years back when Neitz was injured and Green was captain for the day. It was a close game (can't remember against who) and at 3/4 time Green took the group over to near the fence for their last huddle before taking their positions so the players could hear the crowd's motivational chants and cheers. I thought that was a fantastic display of leadership and also of thinking outside the square. Hopefully he comes up with other ways to get best out of his young team! Go Booga!!

Thanks all this is a great thread!

i'm thinking: jurrah cook petterd green watts bennell

agree with that - happy with this selection, looks like the big marking forward we need.