Robbie57

Watts needs some confidence and with all the crap he cops in the media and on social media he is unlikely to get the clear air he needs to build it up. I suspect Roos knows that and is sending him back in the hope he starts to enjoy playing out of the spotlight.

6 McDonald

5 Salem

4 cross

3 Garlett

2 hogan

1 Dawes

Watts needs to get some touch and should go.

JKH also was not up to it today.

Mc Kenzie was poor.

But they were not alone today.

6: McDonald
5: Brayshaw
4: Garlett
3: Dunn
2: Cross
1: Pedersen

I love what the club is doing with the players ..... They must have loved it. Will the hulk be at the game.

What we forget is the mood at the club has changed, noone can expect to get selected and we certainly are growing in confidence. In that enviroment Grimes, Jordy and Cam are likely to be different. Frankly i think they could do well. Our biggest out it Jetta but salem will go to Ballantyne and do a good job.

We are a smokey here.

Can the mods take the last part of this and make a seperate congratulations thread.

It was on the Marngrook footy show, I watch that instead of the other drivel, he was interviewed in Alice Springs, playing with the NT Thunder in NEAFL and working at a college.

Also it was stated that MFC is still supporting him, and providing advice on diet and training regimen (this was interviewer who said that not Dom)

I put this at the time, because Dom wasn't initiated, he was regarded as a child still, he needed to go home and reconnect with his people, that done, and bravo for the club for sticking by him, he wants another crack, when he left, the club stated he would be welcomed back

Double bravo to the club. We thought he was good enough for a spot previously so why not give it a try we can find out if he is good enough. Vanders wasn't good enough until 22.

Congratulations to Jack on 100.

I reckon I saw that bloke in the bullring after the game and he opened up his shirt there and was showing off a small Melbourne symbol tattooed on his chest.

Is he a D'lander?

The captain and the coach. Not the supporters, by any stretch.

If the captain is behind him why aren't we? About time we got behind him.

What we are is competitive which makes every game winnable if we maintain our effort and with a bit of luck. We can now go to most games with some genuine hope in our hearts. The run of games coming up is going to be pretty brutal but we might just jag one of them.

Yeah, I gave Watts some recognition in the 'current' Watts thread - as you said BM, his skills were down (and his confidence) but he did put his head over the ball a number of times. An improved effort - he still managed at times to release his teammates to advantage despite being down on his normal skill levels.

Roos isn't going to coach much differently to how he coached at Sydney. Most coaches just make minor adjustments as they get older in my opinion - what you see is what you get but with Roos it's quite complex.

We've got ourselves a very good coach - Hardwick was out of his depth tonight.

Two very good points

Watts was better and is trying. Just his confidence was down.

Roos was superb tonight.

6 Hogan must get rising star. Made Rance look average.

5 vandenberg

4 Vince

3 jones

2 McDonald

1 Salem

Special mention Roos who won it with a plan to stop the tigers especially after half time

Just bloody fantastic...despite the umps (wtf was it with them tonight?) and some of our old skill errors.

Weekend at Bernie's I just love that guy.

A very nice story, he has been one of our success stories.

Silly article. Servicable player who takes a hanger not worth 750k.

I suspect manager fluff here to get better deal.

6. McDonald

5. Vince

4. Lumumba

3. Jetta

2. Jones

1. Garland

We couldn't expect ot go the season without an injury but its a bugger.

Jones was not himself last week as well.

Time for someone to step up, Grimes may come back in.

Akum is right we went into the game (like last year) too top heavy for GWS. That was my concern before the game.

The real problem is that we are not consistent yet in our effort. It happened preseason and will happen again. Yesterday we had too many who just played below their usual effort.

What is disappointing is that our best is as good as most teams.

The good news is that whilst we will have bad patches like that we are going to get it together more often than we have previously. As our talent and consistency builds so will the returns.

We are not the side we once were and I remain positive about the season ahead we are going to see some very good wins along the way.

6. Tom McDonald

5.J.Viney
4.C.Salem
3.J.Hogan
2.Cross
1.Newton

I hope we haven't gone in too top heavy in any event Vince offers more than JKH on paper. Bradshaw will be the sub based on the comments this week.

I'd be very tempted to have three talls and watts, I think gws lack some height down back and if we can get it in there we could easily get a hold of them, Davis probably takes hogan but if he can drag him up the ground Dawes, frost and watts should have a field day

I think we need to be very careful not too go tall against GWS as that was our problem in their home game last year.

Coaches votes:

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-04-07/coaches-votes-round-one

Because of the votes given in this game you can work out exactly how the coaches actually voted:

Coach 1 Coach 2

5 McDonald McDonald

4 Garlett (or Howe) Howe (or Garlett)

3 Watts Watts

2 Viney (or jones) Jones (or Viney)

1 Prestia (or Rischatelli) Rischatelli (or Prestia)

What is interesting is our voting is similar whilst many so called experts ignored McDonald.

So who did Roos vote for?

My best guess:

5. McDonald

4 Howe

3 Watts

2 Viney

1 Prestia

Any other thoughts?

Kent was Kent at training, made no comment on the week for Shaw, said he was fine, nice two stitches under his eye

Shaw should have been given at least 2 weeks, one for the hit and the other for his terrible "Gold Coast" surfer haircut and did I see a goatee?