Pates

I think we have to take a breath with Viney at the moment. He isn't playing well but he's hardly disgracing himself, he still goes in as hard as any body in the team and he's doing good things in the clinches. He just isn't damaging at the moment, there's not a lot of hurt on the opposition. I don't know whether there's truth to this rumour/belief that he's carrying an injury but seems to be getting caught easier so maybe there's something to it. I wasn't a fan of his promotion to co-captain, but he's got a long a bright future with the club. So I'm taking a breath with him.

I actually thought JKH didn't disgrace himself, for me he earned another go on the merry go round.

Has to be Pedo time. Frost and Watts battled in the ruck but we need a designated ruckman and at least with Pedo we get some flexibility. We can share the load between the three of them, with maybe Pedo acting as the primary. The inury list is starting to stack up, but the good news is MOST aren't first picked best 22 players. They're the depth to cover the top line, unfortunately now the injuries are starting to mount against players who are picked. Spencer is obviously the one that hurts the most now, poor bugger can't take a trick. Finally gets his chance and he gets injured. Anyone know how serious it is? We could be the walking wounded by the end of the year.

I don't see tonight's loss as McDonnald related, I think for the most part he competed well when required and didn't do any face-palm stupid acts. Our losses have all come from not making the most of our chances when in control of a game. Up to 3/4 time we killed them in inside 50s but made little use of them, we gifted up stupid mistakes to give them shots on goal when we should've had the ball. In the end I could see from the start of the final term our injuries were coming back to hurt us. The players had completely run out of puff and were running on fumes. As Goodwin said though, good teams find a way to win those. We need to start finding a way to win these or we will fall behind. This was the only game I'll be able to see this year, it was a great contest, and a successful night for the future of this contest. But FMD, it hurts.

Completely agree with the OP, this is both our biggest test and most important match against Richmond for a long time. The Tigers have long been a confidence team, backed by the grog squad and other ferals certain players seem to lift when things are up for them. They are very lucky to be 4-0, much like the Cats and we are unlucky/have shot ourselves in the foot to be 2-2 so it's an evenly matched game. Dusty always seems to have a day out against us and he's dragging others into the game. Make no mistake this isn't the Richmond teams of the last two years. Our players need to rise to the occasion. Aside from the 2nd and 3rd quarters against the Saints I don't think our players have got out of 2nd gear which is promising because when we hit our straps we'll be very good. Hogan's suspension has cost us, anyone who thinks otherwise is deluded. He owes his teammates for his stupidity. When you lose one game due to inaccuracy and another by less than a goal it's not hard to work out our full forward would've helped. I've gone off on a tangent but really this is a must win for us. We lose and we're out of the 8 and playing catch up, we win and we can consolidate our position and go into our game against the bombers who are a bogey team with confidence.

OMac will be back you can guarantee that, but for now Frost gets his chance so good luck to him. I'm gutted that we'll be without Big Maxy for so long but Spencer had a very solid pre-season so I'm backing him to fill the shoes adequately. Bugg's a surprise, but good luck to him.

Aside from Gawn the injury list has mainly hit our depth players which isn't a huge issue in the short term what what it does affect is 1) what happens if our best 22 players go down/get suspended and 2) affects competition for spots as there are less players competing for a place in the senior team. Still we've got mostly our best team out on the track, hopefully Hibberd, Brayshaw etc will put in good games for Casey to keep our current 22 on their toes.

I'm backing our midfielders to be able to rove to Spencer and read the taps at the appropriate times, what I think we'll miss most from Gawn will be his presence. He gives confidence that it's a zone that will be won almost every week. With all due respect to Spencer I think 50/50 breaking even is what we can expect. I'll be happier when Hogan's back, although he hasn't set the world on fire so far this year he still makes us a better team. I don't foresee too many changes, maybe Harmes, Smith, or Weids comes out but Roos was pretty loath to make unforced changes and I think Goody's inherited that thinking. I would love nothing more than for us to kick straight this week and have us comfortably in front both at 3 quarter time and full time.

If we'd got the chocolates against the cats I reckon we would've almost cleared 40k this week. We'll get there but I don't think it'll be a smashing over 40.

He's yet to have a game that he takes by the scruff and destroys a team. It'll happen, hopefully against Fremantle. But he does enough for me to suggest he will be an absolute gun for us. Brayshaw I feel could have a bit of Salem's luck about him. We were patient with him and it's starting to pay off, Brayshaw has it in him and I see him being a valuable mid for us in the future.

To borrow the classic mum and dad line, "I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed." Getting himself suspended for a really stupid act is the first part of this, the second is the club has allowed him to return home for a stint to be with friends and family, this was a good move from the club as it's a good opportunity for him to combat any homesickness he might have. But I feel his actions, while not by any means hangable, are a poor reflection on his attitude to being suspended. Its a punishment for himself and it has proven to be a punishment for the team as there is no doubt he was sourly missed on Saturday. I don't expect him to sit around the house knitting with his mum, or go to church and pray for forgiveness, but this simply isn't a good look for a guy that we just can't seem to keeep out of media speculation. Externally there doesn't need to be any punishment played out in the media, but internally he should be given a stiff kick up the bum.

Well this is a kick in the balls. Strangely think about how lucky st Kilda and Reiwoldt were, he comes off the ground with what everyone thinks could be career ending and plays a couple of weeks later. Max comes off, appears to be your standard hammy and ends up being out for an extended period. I guess that's just life. Spencer looked hungry in the pre-season, it must be mixed emotions for him. Part of him would be really happy about the opportunity but another would be gutted for Maxy you'd think. We got a great run on injuries last year, time to test our depth.

I'm taking the positives, I got the tip correct....

Very difficult now, given we've been so inaccurate. Only ourselves to blame. We've kicked ourselves out of it.

Hopefully Geelong swap out their kicking boots at 3 quarter time. C'mon Dees we can do this!!

If we aren't in front at the end of the game we only have ourselves to blame.

9-16 to 11-2, I'm not even watching and it's killing me. Through the big effing sticks Dees!!!!

I've just caught up to the coverage on D-land, really not good news for Gawn but I guess this is something that needs to be dealt with, having a back up to Gawn. Spencer gets his shot, he has had a good pre-season. As for today it sounds like we've been our own worst enemy in front of goal starting with ANB's poor first set shot. Have to start taking our chances.

Interesting, the Swans could be 0-5. They've got WC in Perth and then the Giants. As been said even when they were clawing themselves back I never felt they looked likely to pinch it. It was more from Pies giving them opportunities, or the Pies simple not taking theirs. Two chances Swans had at the end they were not even a shadow of their former selves. One driving long to a 1 on 3 (why weren't there more bodies in there?), and then a Swans player (not sure who) fumbled a short kick which should have been a shot on goal. Don't rate the Pies, but where does that leave the Swans?

Certainly interesting both players are fine to play this week as i feel the Carlton medical reports played a big part in the length of the bans of our players. Like others I'm not condoning the actions by our players, but I definitely feel they've done a bit of dodgy on us.

I'm happy enough with the changes. Kent is important to us when he's on, he has good pace and forward pressure, and I think Goodwin's game style will suit him a lot. Vince coming in is no surprise, but I'm happy for Smith to debut. He's done it the hard way and some times those players are the ones that have the immediate impact because the want it more. Would be fantastic if we've found a player here. The changes also suit the Etihad dimensions, although I was one that was up for the idea of bringing Spencer in, I don't think this was the game to do it. I said it earlier in the thread, I don't know if I have confidence in winning but I have confidence that we've built a group of competitors that will give any team a run on their day. We can definitely win this weekend. Give them hell Dees!

I don't know if I would say I'm confident after losing two of our most important players but I do feel least confident that this group of players can give anyone a run, whoever we decide to bring in. I feel like the squad is developing those tangible's that come from becoming a determined group of players. Vince (who should come in for Lewis) is a senior player and could strangely be better for the week of with a bit of a point to prove. Whichever way we decide to go with replacing Hogan, whether it's going like for like with Pederson, giving Spencer a crack as a fwd/2nd ruck, or going short with perhaps bringing Kent in, they will be determined to play their role and be in the team the following week. I'm also hoping the players have a point to prove after embarrassing themselves and giving Roos a disgraceful send off at the end of the season last year.

It's sad that his debut game ended with his shoulder getting badly injured but it's good the club has extended his contract. He's a player for the future and this takes the pressure off to rush his recovery. Incidentally I always wondered how his father managed to take so many crazy high flying marks and not come out of with serious injuries, maybe he got the luck between them! Hope not!

I actually wouldn't be against that. In fact I think Kent is more suited to that area of the ground than Gus, I think that's partly the issue with him that he's not in a role that suits his natural abilities. I'm not sure how Kent has performed in the last couple of weeks but if he's consistently been in the best then reward for form should come his way.

I don't think we're there yet. He had a good JLT (which is why it's a little surprising he's started the main year slow). If he puts in another poor game then I think a run in the VFL would be fair, if nothing else there needs to be sufficient competition for spots and we can't be gifting games to favourites.