P-man

And Moloney leading possession getter for Brisbane. What a surprise.

We're a bit on the nose in terms of pushing the rules. Let's not push our luck any further by arguing for Hogan's egibility. There are far worse apprenticeships than the one he will go through.

Someone mentioned in the game day thread that Carey was glowing in his appraisal of Watts' game. I'd be interested to hear what he thought of Hogan. My immediate thought was a Jonno Brown comparison but why not aim for the top?

What did people make of Sellar? The times he got his hands on it I thought he looked better than last year.

Nothing all that insightful there. Yes, we defended and covered space a lot better in the North game. I haven't seen many here say anything to the contrary.

Not often I agree with your every point mate, but I do here. Except maybe Grimes, upon whom I am 50/50 as to him reaching the level we require as a midfielder. Still only 23 so has some improvement still to come, but his decisions under pressure can be a worry. At this stage he looks a lot more at ease off HB but I see enough in him to think he can form part of an A grade midfield. Jones, Viney, Toumpas, Grimes, Trengove and Blease just has a nice ring to it.

Fair point but it doesn't make it any less frustrating.It's like letting a kid unwrap his Christmas present early, letting him play with it for 20 minutes, then telling him he can't play with it for another year. The lid is off with Hogan for me. He just does too many things well for a guy his size to not get excited about.

All this talk of when are we going to have our next superstar? Our next Robbie Flower? We may have just found him.

The second game had a lot of B side players and we were playing two games back to back, but let's not pretend that second performance was decent. The ball was camped in our half and there was next to no fluidity through the midfield, just turnovers galore. The shining light was Toumpas. A fair bit more to like about the first game from a team perspective, even if bombing it long to a congested pack inside 50 still looks to be a primary option.

I have to admit I've had doubts about Jordie for a while and they have only deepened after tonight. He is a total liability with ball in hand, which you scan't afford in modern day football. It seems unlikely his game will change much now and it is damning if he is considered starting 22. It's only pre-season but I think he has to be looked at going forward. Neeld's love of defensive players who go in hard needs to be tempered somewhat if the player cannot kick the ball.

Excellent take. Please post more.

Strauss was a strange omission.

Lovely stuff Jimmy.

This sums it up for me. It's almost as though they think they're the stars of the show.

Are they what. Shockingly bad.

Ludicrous decision against Davey.

Jordie's kicking...wow.

Margin back to 2. Really good effort to get back into it. Very un-2012 like.

The gap is noticeable. North are a lot slicker and forward entries have a lot more purpose. Can't fault our effort but another long year me thinks.

Hulk! Holy [censored] that was good..

Sweating bullets over a NAB Cup game... Hurry up and bounce the bloody thing.

The AFL won't do a damn thing. You guys and gals are wasting your emotional energy. That said, credit to FC for shining a light into the issue again. It's quite an incredible injustice.

Where's a hip pocket in a singlet when you need it? Or [censored] on a bull? Actually the latter is a pretty good description of Moloney last season.

So, whose are you saying is better? Ours, surely. Give me Frawley and T Mac over Rance and Chaplin any day, and Vickery is rubbish. They have us covered in the midfield, but there are some unknowns in terms of certain high draft picks pulling their finger out, and the likes of M Jones and Kent being as good in match pressure as they have been in training. I'm enjoying the excitement before it gets crushed by half time of the first match. Or not. We shall see. Basic skill errors in a casual runaround concerns me. But I've never feared either of the teams we're up against and this year is no different. At the very least I am fully expecting our boys to have a serious dip.

Well that was a downer.. Appreciate the honesty though.