binman

And have a gun midfield, and in Darcy a genuine elite ruck.

The blus will not be able to score enough tobeat freo. I rate freo very highly. Longmuire has based their game plan on ours. But crucially has been implementing it since he took the reins. It is a model that takes a long time to get it to the level we did last season. Freo are a couple of years behind us, but very much on the right track. They probably need to add some quality forwards though.

Such a great table Watson, many thanks for updating it regularly. Blimey - the bombers concede a score every second time their opposition get the ball inside their fifty. I thought their defence was pretty good last year in terms of implementing a solid zone - was the main reason why i thought they would do ok. Probably more a function of lazy mids. And the tiger's have fallen off a cliff defensively. I'm sure they would have been top 4 in this table in 2017 to 2020. The other interesting one is the blues. To my eye they don't look fit enough, and as result struggle to maintain strong all team defense the whole game, as evidenced by the huge margins Port and the hawks almost ran down. Omac and Mc Govern out have probably hurt them too.

No, i just can't count. Duly edited I see the emergency selections as message sender as much as genuine replacement options. But with the latter, Smith can cover wider range of players than Thomo, as you suggest Mlek can cover all small medium forwards and Dunstan can cover any mid.

I like guessing games (note: the first four will play). I'm going with: Harmsey Jacko Rivers Captain Jack Sparrow Toby B - likely to be medi sub again, so has to be on extended bench Weed - chin up big fella, you 're close to being in the best 22 Melksham - 21 possessions and a bit of intensity is what what we want to see Jakey boy Smith - keep working, oh so close

Luckily for weed the same is true for him.

No of course not, not in isolation It is the icing on the 'tmac is a better player and option right now than weed' cake. Which by the by is why he is a premiership player and weed isnt and why round one he was selected ahead of weed.

In my opinion tbere is zero doubt Brown will get selected. I'm also of the opinion tmac should and will will keep his spot, but harder to argue there is zero doubt he will. Apart from the fact tmac is the incumbent, plays his role and, in my opinion, is the better option the likely continued selection of Bedford as the menu sub is a factor in his favour. In the event of Toby being activated he is likely to play as a forward - meaning a forward has to be moved to another position. If we lose a defender, big or small tmac can go back as occurred when Salem was injured against the doggies. If a ruck goes out tmac can take that role. Hell, if a winger goes out tmac can even play that role. That flexibility is important and I don't think weed offers it, or at least nor to tbe same degree.

I was ropable that people were booing him. He elected to leave, which history would suggest was a bad move for him, but he had so much to deal with when he was dee that only the cold hearted could hold the decision to leave against him. And as luck would have it, we got May as direct result of his decision to leave. Surely Jesse must have had a few sliding door thoughts on Saturday night. I felt for him. Agree on his body language - in fact made that point to my mate right near the start of the game when he threw up his hands in frustration. Poor form

You are the expert! The Casey expert

Serious question KC. What, if anything could they do at Casey Fields to minimize the impact of the wind (other than build stands)? Both ends are open and the one time i was there (the roos practice match) i was thinking that perhaps some sort of wind breakers at the city end might help. The wind ruins so many games down there.

It's funny, my reading of those comments were, Sam that's what you need to keep doing - that's tbe standard of contest. And when you go back to Casey keep focusing on those things - don't get down, you're on the right track.

What I would do: One change. Brown in. Weed out. What will happen One change. Brown in. Weed out.

The first sentence is not true. i mean of course sometimes they did. Just as we did tonight - we won by 10 plus goals tonight after all (and in the back end of last season). But plenty of scrappy wins too The last dominant team was the 2017 to 2020 tigers. Dominant in the sense that there was a big gap back to the chasing pack. They had tones of low margin victories in that period. Rarely thrashed teams. Ironically their most consistent big wins came in 2018, when they were as far ahead of the next best as we are now. 19-3 I think. And they got knocked out in the prelim by big cox. The hawks were the previous dominant team. They probably had more big victories in their dominant period, but still plenty of 'professional' 4-5 goal wins pulling up. The previous dominant team was the lions - and they did hammer plenty of teams. But that is a generation ago in footy terms. A different game now. And I disagree we are happy to cruise. We look to dominate.

Ta. Bummer

Does anyone know if the top of the Ponsford is open?

I hope no one tells them they'll get smashed if they attack.

That's coz each week he is versing another team.

Preuss out is a big issue for them and as result i can't see them hurting us at stoppages and clearances.

Or jordon to the middle. Gus back to the wing and Smith at hb. I wasn't super impressed with Dunstan in the willy game, and he is more a viney type. But if tracc does come out it is a good chance to give him a shot I suppose.

But aren't in this case.

Petty must have trained the house down. Great to have him back - a key player for us.

I wasn't suggesting you said anyone should be dropped/rested. I agreed with your post and then went on to other points that were somewhat related to the topic you discussed (tracc's potential injury and managing minutes an loads in game etc) Apologies if that was not clear.

Agree about all the potential benefits of trac and Oliver playing slightly different roles. Last season I was def in the camp of wanting the club to use the bye period to rest key players who were banged up and/or carrying niggles. And was surprised they did not do so as it pretty standard practice. They really only ever rested Salem (and maybe Jackson a game?), who had a calf issue iirc for a number of weeks. But again iirc, he was only rested for the crows game and came back in for the next game, which was against the doggies. Maxy was the best example of a player who was clearly playing sore who I thought could do with a chop out and a week's rest. In the wash up of the season it became clear a key philosophy of Burgess and Goodwin was not to rest or manage players, even those with carrying minor injuries. Resilience seemed to be the mantra No reason to think we will change that approach this year. Indeed the evidence seems to suggest they are not - rivers for example clearly looks hampered as does tracc. So I doubt trac, or anyone else for that matter will be dropped if they are sore or have minor to medium grade niggles.

Selywn obviously a believer in the burgo resilience philosophy