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I had actually forgotten that Nev had some bad issues with concussions not too long ago. I hope he's been there for support with Gus telling him to keep working for it and have patience. Nev's had some heavy hits out there since that period so he's proof that it can be managed.

I'm actually seeing a lot of parallels to Brayshaw with Salem. Salem had some very promising games early in his career including the clutch goal vs Essendon but then got injuries and external medical issues that were proving difficult for him and the club to manage. But we got there and now he's proving to be a very valuable player off half back and all the difficulties he endured are paying dividends. There were even calls on here to use him as trade bait. Brayshaw is going through a difficult period in his life, we've supported him this far and as someone else said to put him up as trade bait will only put further pressure on the bloke. We were patient with Salem, let's be patient with Gus.

No one (apart from Bob Murphy) deserves a premiership medal around his neck more than Jonesy. I really think we can do it within his career, I hope he's still captain if that happens. Champion of the club, underrated by the entire competition.

With Watts and Jonesy out these were probably the best changes I could hope for. It probably also eased the headaches the selectors would've had. For team balance this works, Gawn moves into the no 1 ruck role (duh), Pederson moves into a full forward/ruck role with TMac chopping out at times. Pederson is give an opportunity to show his worth in a different way to what we have seen in recent weeks. I hope he's given a bit of license to role the ground as a CHF/FF and can be a strong target to kick to up he ground. Stretch coming in for Jones is a reward for consistency at Casey, he's 100% earned this call up. While a sentimental part of me wishes Trenners got a chance, I think Stretch offers more at this point. I'd like to see Petracca given some time in the middle, his explosiveness could give us something at the midfield. I've tipped WC, but I really think we can win this. WC have some key players out as well and we've had an excellent spread of goal kickers. I expect he'll be a bit scratchy but it'll be so good to see big Maximus out there. I think the boys will feed off his eagerness to be out there. How good would it be if first tap, straight down the through of Viney who runs and kicks a goal!? (Probably a "tell him he's dreaming" moment!)

This is true, Nibbler has been good in this respect. But he doesn't seem to be doing enough when he gets his hands on the ball. He's actually seeing enough of it, but they seem like nothing possessions. I wouldn't be shocked if he's omitted (unluckily). JHK went to the VFL after his games earlier this year were just nothing performances, since then he's been showing some consistent form. He will be given another crack at some point but I'd be cautious about bringing him in for this one.

This trades always been hotly debated but Roos always spoke of it very simply, it was a win/win for both clubs. Salem is having a very good year (in fact he's flown under the radar with other youngsters playing well) and is finally getting a clean run at it. As for us getting Kelly, I can't even begin to image how that would be!

We played in it against the saints and it worked a treat there. Now they get to sing about the red and blue and for to actually be true! Easily the best alternative we've ever had.

Oliver seemed to fly under the radar this week despite getting high numbers. I think there were quite a few stand out performances that probably lessened his light slightly. Hibberd, Watts, OMac, Pedders, and TMac for me were the stars of the day. Even Lewis with an excellent 31 possie game didn't shine all that brightly.

If he's not going to get a fine for that then the rule doesn't exist anymore. The Selwood one is clear bias, just as bad as Salems (and Rance from last year) but given a fine? Give me a spell.

If jones has pulled up sore than I'd definitely look at giving him a week. Don't want to push it with him as he's so important to our team. Maybe Pedo moves into the truer FF position, play Petracca as a midfielder, and Gawn comes in for Jones.

We were favourites vs the Pies but I get your point. It's been a fair turnaround from when we faced GC and were cautious favourites and got the job done in the second half. 3 in a row now has us sitting on cloud nine and a real shot against the eagles. This game last year was probably the most frustrating one to watch, I think it was AvB who missed some absolute sitters while they couldn't miss at the other end. As the OP said, we did everything but win the game. We can definitely win this.

Huddo at times gets very focused on building a game up when a team is down, and I don't think it's necessarily a bad trait of his. But when a game is over like it was yesterday with 10min to go, unless it's a big club with big stars, his commentary goes very flat to the point where he sounds like he just wants to pack it in. I don't think he was biased for the dogs, I think he was disappointed he wasn't getting a good contest! Brad Johnson on the other hand could not contain his bias and it got completely out of hand at one point, so bad that Huddo needed to tell him to settle down on air. Roos I think is mostly fairly levelled but every now and then you can see him wanting to gush with pride about certain Melbourne players. I reckon Oliver is one he particularly likes!

A sub-box that the MRP go through "is the players name Selwood? Yes = fine/no action taken, No = suspension". If the MRP suspends Salem then they should've suspended Selwood. Absolute joke. Fine with Mitchell being let off, funny how when it first came out people were say "different team, same Sam Mitchell" well it was Selwood doing the cheap dog act, and he's got away with it.

It would be desperately unlucky but for team balance I wonder if Harmes might be the one to go if Gawn comes in. On a wide expanse of Subiaco we need players who can run hard so I don't know that we can sacrifice a midfielder for him. Pederson moves into more of a forward/ruck role giving us a target and when Gawn's resting he's either on the bench or in the forward line. Harmes hadn't been bad, but then no one was bad yesterday. Anyone omitted should count themselves very unlucky.

So we keep ticking them off, as someone said earlier in this thread we hadn't won at Traeger Park before and that's gone. But next week comes a very big one that I'd really love to see us break. Winning in Perth! Round 1 2004 was our last victory in Perth, let's knock this one out!

I'm glad they didn't! That would've been a 4 day turnaround! It probably won't happen but we really should be getting more exposure in better time slots next year. We're winning games, playing an entertaining brand of footy, and have some genuine future stars. It's that sort of thing that will help us bring in better sponsors.

Yeah.....sure.

Virgin, no choice.

I didn't hear that, that's fantastic news! I think the selection committee is going to need a lot of Panadol to sort out the headaches at selection!

Don't know about smashed but they didn't really look like scoring because we gave them no time on the ball. Only having 2pts to quarter time doesn't just happen, we rode the pressure and took our chances when they came.

While I don't think ANB did a whole lot wrong, it wouldn't surprise me if he made way. Doesn't seem to be all that damaging to me. Not saying I desperately want to see him dropped but he'd be a name I'd throw up as a possibility. Vince I agree with a few others, he's not doing a lot for me. His kicking is letting him down (is his toe still giving him problems?) and appears to be a bit fumbly at the moment. Again I wouldn't say I'm desperate for him to be dropped and he's still one of our best taggers so perhaps give him a role on a WC mid next week. Otherwise I'd be thinking about bringing Trenners in for him. Can anyone tell me how Spencer went this week? Did he put his hand up for selection? I feel in the wide expanses of Subiaco a ruckman is quite important, there are question marks over bringing Gawn straight in for a trip to Perth and a 6 day break. If someone gets dropped this week they are very unlucky and should be given a pat on the back.

In fairness I would say around the ground and in some key statistics they were probably at least even but didn't get reward for effort. Much of the first half was played in their half of the ground but it was when we were able to break free that we were most damaging. On the turnaround when they got free they made errors in judgement and didn't spot up teammates. It made it easy pickings for Hibberd who was fantastic again. I wouldn't go as far as saying they were on top of us but they weren't being destroyed as the shoreline suggested, in fact in reminded me a bit of the Gold Coast game. The difference is that we stepped up our pressure in the second half and they wilted.

When he was at his best he was really something, but he began to believe his own hype and stopped doing team things thinking he was the next star of the comp. Loved seeing Hunt chase him down.

Hasn't put a foot wrong all year, one of the best recruits I've seen since following the Dees.

Luck had nothing to do with it, he was a worthy contributor in our dominance over the dogs. Talk the talk if you can walk the walk.