Dockett 32

Barlett should have Pert ,Goodwin, Jones in for a coffee first thing tomorrow. Losing a home game to a non finalist followed up by this says there is something wrong somewhere.

Leadership?

The whole club disgracefully unprepared for the start of the season.

Maybe not totally out of the question if he plays well, but need to see how the season unfolds. (Boyd got a mill a season or something didn’t he? Probably 30%+ less than what Lynch gets) Need to lock in the key drivers ( particularly key forwards) and he could turn out to be one. Must admit l hate it when he goes into the ruck. Bit of a dopey ‘stir the pot’ leak at this point though IMO ,as it’s all up to the Weid. Nothing much to see ATM ,he would need to lift performance to get many suitors ( if indeed its him they are talking about) on output to date. On the other hand imagine $700k would get you a very good replacement for him.

6 Salem 5 Harmes 4 Hunt 3 Oliver 2 Brayshaw 1 Sparrow

Would the Hawks have kept Jones and cleared Kent? Watch out for the apologists for not being ready though. We did the same thing against Geelong last year and should have learnt.

Doubt it . Viney, Jones, ANB, Spargo, Frost, Hore, McDonald ( both) are ahead of him in the queue. No goals Jones, ANB,Spargo- joke.

Will change the dynamic a bit but Lever about 10 weeks away so not by that much. May, Petty, Baker if he goes ok and Stretch for me. Out Oscar/Frost probably the latter, take your pick, Hore, Spargo, Viney.’

Thought on nearly all one on ones today Petracca beat his opponent. Sparrow above expectations. Rest of forward line shitzen

Traded away some very useful draft picks to get them. How did they go today?

Was at the game and have to completely disagree re Spargo. Im sure he tried and from time to time did a few things .But.. Their half backs killed us. Young kid was very good for them. Far too big , far too strong and very good runners. ( l thought this line for us was massively undersize and immature at times with Spargo, ANB, Sparrow operating together) In fairness to them however it occurs to me that with the 6x6x6 you simply cannot long bomb at any time into the forward line , made even worse with a ‘midget’ set up. (Opposition either simply outmark or outbody these smallish players and ball is furiously rebounded to catch us out of position and score). So not your what our coaching ‘braintrust’ has been directing but long bombs under any cicumstance simply wont work IMO. As in most ball sports you must maintain control of the ball. Also seems to me that outside run and pace is an even more required feature under the new rules and we ( our coaching staff) have done SFA to show any respect to this. Our midfield is horrendously slow ex Brayshaw and Oliver who aren’t very quick either. So in essesence we were small, slow and with shocking execution.

Has the club become comfortable? Has making the finals last year caused us to take the foot off the pedal?( Jobs sort of done know?) Where we 100% prepared for today? Are the Leadership group comfortable with their installations. Is the coach comfortably placed now. The whole thing today seemed just so casual. Viney and McDonald played career poor games and Max was so so. Off day that’s for sure

Geez led like to know the individual tackle count. Not enough Grunt. Back to the bruise free stuff. Bit better that quarter I suppose but we’ll down. Their kick ins isolate seem precise and to plan and we have a number of midgets unable to match them in the air.

Last year we went for Maynard in the first round? See this, if true ,as a bit strange, so hope we fare better than last year. We have passed over a fair bit of experience. Good luck to Sparrow but it all counts after round 22.

I doubt it. Shouldn’t lose home games, particularly against interstate clubs. Last year was a disappointment. Round 1. just as important as Round 22. in the final points wash up. We will be switched on and hard

Practice match so hard to draw to much from it ,but Keilty, Petty and Jordan were a pleasant surprise. Thought Hore was ok too. Brayshaw and Oliver going to cause a lot of problems for others. Gawn ,Viney , Lever May to change the dynamic. Some second stringers still to grasp the opportunity or show they can step up, but l suppose this is the time to find out. Overall an ok performance against quality IMO

Agreed. Sitting there nicely in the wings as a future leader, but whilst there will be some expectation on the Weid our leadership is in the midfield. Wouldn’t be surprised if more expectation of consistency and improvement in that area will be required. ( Refer the StKilda game .That game still eats at me. Yes I realise Viney was ok in the second half)

Track teases us a bit. Hidden in there is a game controlling monster. When isolated he is rarely beaten in contested ball. We just wait for the day he totally gets his tail up, plays for 100 mins and adds being a defensive beast forward, if that makes sense.

Joint captaincy fine if they could be relied upon to play at their best. Trouble is there is some doubt about injury or form. Should Tom Mc Donald be added to the mix?

I think its easy to think that way and I can understand that like many, we would just like this done. However I think we would be an even bigger chance for improvement by negotiating properly ,as well as maintaining a little negotiating respect . After all we seem to have come a long way from our opening negotiating position and it shouldn't be necessary for us to totally prostitute ourselves, particularly considering how Freo have conducted themselves throughout the process.

Have thought from day 1 that Freo are desperate to get Hogan. Smoke screens galore to drive down a proper price.

The AFL Brand taking a bit of a hit at the hand of the Dockers. Do they step in, review the guidelines or ‘advise Freo’ that it might work best for them if they get their ship together.

Might shake a few things up. Its normally about this time that the left field trades turn over Apple carts and make politics look sensible.

Don’t know if either of them could help kick a few goals for us.

Anything happens to one or both Max or Preuss ( should we get him) would need to cover them and kick goals. Have to say not overly excited by the prospect.