bing181

Good to see Mitch White back amongst the disposals. Still young, could be useful going forward.

Bugg 4 goals already, in everything. Perhaps he's one of those players who stars at this level, but doesn't quite make the AFL grade.

Wasn't that the cause of one of the concussions last year as well?

Is that confirmed somewhere? Wait and see, but no, doesn't sound good.

Also perhaps it's more structural, wanting to move Salem up the ground or into the mids, and there's no like-for-like half-back replacement (Wagner injured, White coming back from injury). Lewis comes back next week as well, so that's the spot Melksham is keeping warm. Still think Melksham will turn out fine, but a year off/away from footy isn't nothing.

Was something that I think it was Plapp commented on, that he needed to work on the defensive side of his game, so perhaps not as surprising as what it might seem.

Unfortunately true. The problem isn't the calling, it's the seeing.

It just means he's on the extended AFL bench, along with Kent and probably Bugg. The only certainties are that a) Hogan isn't playing VFL so presumably comes straight back in and b) Meksham not named in the VFL means that either he keeps his place or he's injured (or being penalised?) and doesn't play anywhere.

I thought they did in the past, not sure if this is a new system in place.

Seems that teams won't be announced till Saturday.

Players like Magner and Nicholson (and a few others) used to rack up those kinds of numbers week after week in the VFL, but were mediocre at best at AFL level.

Hibberd in if ready, but AFL is a big step up from VFL fitness-wise.

Oh look, I've worked out how to paste an image into an online forum.

Perdersen has a skill set?

Helps puts his performance on Saturday in context, especially as it happened early in the match.

Disposals - Trengove 28, Pedersen 23, Scott 20, Hibberd 20. Goals - Scott 3, Trengove, Pedersen Fritsch.

If you look outside of that image, Jetta had run up the wing following his man (or someone) to block off receiving from the Fyfe possession, and Hunt was in between that back group and the ball-carrier (Langdon?) to stop him just running it in, so they seem to have done what they needed to. But that still doesn't account for the extra man forward. Think it just shows inexperience, together with not being completely switched-on at the end of a gruelling game. The structures needed to be reset given the situation, but they weren't. On the basis of that image, you'd actually think the situations were reversed, that we'd thrown people forward desperately looking for an extra score, exposing ourselves at the back. I'd like to say "bet it doesn't happen again", but not so sure. On the other hand, "bet if Lewis and Hibberd were out there it wouldn't have happened", seems closer to the mark.

This is the ball coming in which lead to the McCarthy goal:

A legitimate question, but for mine, it's too early in the season. I would have said wait till at least round 6, but with the disruptions to the side over the last few weeks, even that's maybe too early for a settled response. Individual players have improved, definitely, but across the 4 matches we've never had the same back 6 (for example). None of this helps, especially on top of our comparative youthfulness and lack of experience/maturity. Going to be a stop-start season I fear, perhaps even moreso than last year.

In regards to Melksham, interesting to read Worslfold's comments re the suspended Don players. A year away from footy is a long time. Running out of steam already?

The colour of the water bottles deserves its own thread.

Memo to club: Could players be instructed to display appropriate levels of looking guttedness after losing. Thanks, A Fan

Using the luck element would just be acknowledging that much that happens in a footy match comes down to luck, or something close to it. The world is a much more unpredictable place than we're prepared to admit, but we still spend our lives convincing ourselves it makes sense and looking for reasons to justify such an assumption.

... was kicked directly to its intended recipient, Neal-Bullen. Who, incidentally, ended up with it, and got it along the boundary to Viney.

... it's probably unfair to highlight one or two players, but I'm going to do it anyway.