bing181

Unsurprising result. So many players should hardly even be out there through injury and what not. Will be interesting to get to the end of season and see how many get sent in for surgery. Great to see players like Tholstrup getting a taste of midfield, but run up against a team of A-graders in Bont, Libba, Treloar etc. results were predictable. Sure, play the kids, but don't expect to win too many matches, especially against in-form sides.

McDonald forward is the right move. Provides mobility that none of the others do, and we were getting nothing from Petty - who would be better down back in the absence of may.

Viney 5 possessions. Carrying something. Add that to May and Gawn ... walking wounded, and we were already undermanned.

Not sure it's on McQualter, they're experienced players.

Ridiculous and superficial. How many of those 14 are fit and in form? Would be lucky if it was half of them. Gawn, Viney, Oliver, Petty, Bowey all well under where they were in that premiership.

Ah, Brayshaw, Oliver, Petracca and Viney when they were together and on song. Memories.

Amongst all the other outs, missing Windsor. Provides so much drive through that wing and is a key link between the backs and forwards.

Oliver a shadow of himself. Sad to see, end of the season can't come soon enough for him.

Bulldogs look very very good. Will go deep into finals if they keep playing like this, strong all over the ground.

Also last season.

Yes, playing week in week out directly affects your fitness. It goes backwards. But heh, if you think for one minute that your argument has any validity, put up some documentation to support it. Bizarre.

You can feel and like to think all you want but sports science is just that, a science, and all of this is measurable. Maybe do some reading, plenty of documentation out there.

With a statement like that, you clearly don't.

4 goals at the end of the last quarter against a top 4 side desperate to win was herculean.

This x 1000. And ... it will only get worse as the season gets longer. And a couple of others with compromised pre-season/season where it's not as pronounced but is still having an impact. Bowey for one.

I really don't understand comments like this. It was always obvious that losing Brayshaw and Petracca was going to cost us the season, add to that an unfit Oliver who can hardly even get through games yet alone have an impact. Yet people are surprised and calling for heads to roll? It is what it is. Why can't people put on their big boy/girl pants and deal with it?

4 goals in the last 10 minutes of the last quarter would suggest otherwise.

Through circumstances beyond anyone's control we just have too many key players out or underdone, and it's going to have an impact. Gutsy performance all the same against one of the best sides in the comp.

Howes or Hore for Woewodin? Not sure about the rest, midfield needs some class and talent in there but not sure where it's going to come from.

Hard to see from here. They have class all over the field.

Didn't we have interest in Georgiades? Perhaps with Jefferson + Turner emerging, Petty staying, JVR consolidating, not so much of a priority.

I don't see how we make the 8, we just don't have the cattle. Too many key players missing or down on form. Great to see the youngsters stepping up, but there's only so much they can do. Take the losses, focus on the draft/trade to bolster stocks. Big concern for me is the backline, May is a generational player and Tom Mac has done well this year as 2nd/3rd tall, but they're both approaching the end I would have thought. Jed Adams hasn't come on as perhaps we might have liked. Perhaps if Jefferson steps up Turner and/or Petty can go back, but it all looks a bit thin to me.

Back on the field, but I'd be surprised if he's back to his best. In the past, his form coming back from injuries has been OK at best.

I don't think people quite grasp what's involved in getting the kinds of loads into players that will set them up for a whole season. For starters, he would need a period of rest/unloading because unless you're fully fresh when you go into these periods, you can't complete the loads required. Then he would need at least, I don't know, 6 weeks of very high training loads for any meaningful outcomes. so that's ... 8 - 10 weeks I would have thought. If there was any way of overcoming his lack of pre-season the club would have done it. Same goes for Petty or any of the players with interrupted pre-seasons. The only players who can have a decent season on the back of a compromised pre-season are older players who already have multiple years of pre-season as a base.

Firstly because I suspect that he's "fit enough" albeit not at optimal fitness. But he can get through games. But I also suspect that one of the reasons he was brought straight in is because being part of the on-field team plus the routine of an AFL season is much better for his mental health. His mental/well-being demons started with that long period of rehab last year and the kind of isolation from the group it brought.