Mallee Bull

North have played three games so far (had the bye in round 3). They almost beat West coast in perth, got smashed by the reigning premier and then went down again in perth to freo....it was always a tough ask for them to get any points from those three matches. I wouldn't be so cocky in facing them. They have the wood on us and nothing I've seen from our own games this years makes me believe we have the mettle to beat them at Etihad.

1. Concerned about the fact that once again we were slow to start. Why does this seem to be something that the FD and players cannot address? 2. Moloney's first half was superb. 3. Our forward line is very efficient when the ball is in there. 4. Our back line is looking ordinary. 5. That third quarter was disgraceful. 6. winning by 90 points was only due to the 18 year old suns fatiguing, allowing us to romp away with 8 goals in the final term. 7. Bail has improved out of sight! 8. Davey was good today, but gee his disposals at time are ordinary to say the least. Still very unconvinced after 4 games of football.

Throw away comments like that by Crawford are an absolute cop-out. He's thrown question over the professionalism of the entire playing list without offering any shred of evidence. If he's heard something and wants to write an article about it then have the guts to name the players in question. It's not fair on the rest who are professional in their approach to their footy. The standard of journalism in our game is getting worse every season. It's truly appalling.

I've got a multi that includes the boys winning by 60 or more, time to deeliver boys!

Thats a bit unfair. Melbourne were a much younger side with much smaller bodies playing against an Essendon side in it's prime with many seasoned big bodies. We were never going to be able match it with them for physicality - although watching the Ox fly the flag was good. However, I do agree that we seem to lack consistent aggression compared to some other clubs. Hopefully it will come with time. Tappy has agro, Martin has had it this year. Your not going to have 22 aggressive players in a side ever, as long as you have a few in each part of the ground, that will keep the other sides on edge.

Very unconvincing.

I agree with you that Jetta is a good player and played solidly against the swans. However I disagree that Bennell should be dropped. Gysberts definitely needs to come into the side to help out the midfield, so who do we push out? Bennell is versatile in that he can play down back, up forward and in the middle. Jetta doesn't have this amount of versatility.

Jetta is the only one that should get dropped. He just looked stuffed after one half of footy that day. Send him back to Casey to get his confidence back. Let's give the boys a chance to redeem themselves this week. Things got seriously out of hand against the Hawks. They know this, they will be spending all week attempting to rectify the problems. Lets see how the respond against a side that has its back against the wall and will come out hard looking for its first win. By the end of the Lions match we'll know who needs a rocket up them.

These games will definitely make or break our season (as far as finals are concerned). Brisbane and GC are surely wins. Westcoast will be an interesting one. We'll be fresh from the bye and I really think its a game that on paper we should win. Our midfield should be able to out body theirs allowing our FWD's to tear them to pieces...time will tell. Crows at home is a wait and see. I have a sneaking suspicion that the Crows are going to play finals this year. North at Etihad: HUGE HUGE HUGE game. A team we should beat. Must beat. They have beaten us consistently for years now and enough is enough. If we have our best 22 on the park that day I will be dismayed if we lose.

I remember reading that, your 100% correct that it was Cook, not Davis. It was an observation made by a fan that wasn't certain he was crying, he said it appeared he was. Can't believe we're talking about this to be honest. People at least waited until Watts played a game before they started saying we should have taken someone else....poor Cooky hasn't even debuted and he's being deemed a mistake because Darling has played 2 solid games against North Melbourne and Port (2 very average sides). Not trying to belittle Darling, just trying to add some perspective.

If your judging them on what they can do for us today, then Darling is the better choice. But longer term Cook will have it all over him. He's got the height and the frame so he should end up bigger and stronger. He has a magnificent kick on him and he hasn't got issues going on in his head. Darling will be good. Cook will be better.

Gysberts comes into the side at the expense of Jetta for mine. If Garland is out then Warnock comes in. Maric gets one more week. Ozzy is breathing down his neck! The rest stays as is. Until Scull and McKenzie are ready. Morton to come back through the VFL.

Petterd, Watts, Dunn, Bate - they're not your monster forwards, but they're hardly small. They are going to get bigger over the next 2 years. Cook in time will probably be the biggest out of the lot, and Jamar when he goes forward is great at breaking packs. Melbourne's concern right now should be with the midfield. We need to keep pulling in quality midfielders.

That is just simply not true. Very unfair criticism.

I was at the game and it was extremely painful to watch that third quarter. I was filthy walking away. But in all honesty guys, the hawks IMO are the only serious threat to filth this year. We played a solid quarter and a half of football and were beating them. Then they lifted it a level and our blokes just weren't able to stand up to them. We won't be the only side they do this to this year. We aren't a top 4 side yet, as much as people seem to think we should be. I'll be judging our players not so much in the hawthorn, collingXXXX games, but more in the games that we SHOULD win. Like Adelaide, Sydney, Richmond, Essendon, Westcoast, Brisbane, Port etc. Our Midfield was beaten today, by one of the best in the league, this should surprise nobody. It stings, but its reality. Maric, Jones, Jetta and Benell need a big next week to hold they're spots for mine. Thought Tappy, Sylvia, Martin, Davey were solid. Hopefully the season for us can start from here.

I don't see why GC would go for it? They are being given the duty of operating Carrara stadium, which means that any revenue made from attendance will go right into their coffers (obviously after expenses are covered for match day). Even with crowds of only 10,000 this will bring them considerable funds. So financially there is no need to merge with North. Also, after working so hard for three years promoting the club, branding themselves the suns...why would they then want to turn around and become the GC Kangaroos??? Won't happen. A more likely scenario is North staying as North: North Queensland Kangaroos (based out of Cairns where there is a sizeable interest in footy). But all of this surely couldn't happen within the next decade.

Jurrah: Injured his shoulder last pre-season, required a reconstruction, returned towards the end of the season and played will. Shoulder is fine. Tapscott: Injured his hip in a freak accident on a sprinkler. Had surgery, was pushing for selection towards the end of 2010, but injured his shoulder. Now playing in 2011. Well. Blease: Badly broke his leg. Has been gradually eased back into playing footy and word is to look for him debuting later this season. Gysberts: Played 2 cracking games last year, then injured his back in the third. Has been placed in cotton wool, playing some pre-season matches, will likely force his was back into the side at some stage this year. Jones: Badly injured his back at the end of last season, played injury free in round one. enough said. Davey: fractured leg late last season. Played round one. Frawley: Tore his pectoral muscle being an animal in the gym. Freak injury, potentially career ending if not handled well (permanent loss of strength and power in muscle). Match fit within 10 weeks, as advised at time of injury. There are many more examples, I'm sure. If that is the score card of a second rate medical team, then surely a first rate team has supernatural healing powers. AFL is a hard sport, players get injured. Players break down. If the medico's weren't up to it, they wouldn't be hired in the first place. Don't dish out blame unfairly when your not involved in the process yourself.

I agree, it's out of him, Heppell and possibly Darling. Tappy for mine, but i'm clearly Biased!!!

Morton is still injured so that won't happen. If Frawley is fit, I'd like to go with Rivers Frawley Bartram Grimes Garland Bennel Davey Trengove Green Watts Sylvia Dunn Jurrah Petterd Maric Jamar Moloney Jones Bench: Tappy, Martin, Jetta. Sub: Bail. Frawley to play on Buddy, Garland for Roughy, Rivers as third man up and the option of Martin for Hale if they play all three at once. Bartram would have his work cut out for him on cyril, possibly bennel to swap with him. Jamar really needs to take advantage of the fact he is far superior to any of their rucks. We'll need first touches to get an edge on the Hawks midfield. Seriously hoping they play Hodge and he is underdone. We cannot afford to start slowly against them. If they get 4 goals up early, it'll be over.

6. Moloney 5. Jamar 4. Grimes (yes he made mistakes, but he still did a hell of a lot down back) 3. Trengove 2. Garland 1. Sylvia

I thought our set shots were disappointing today. Sydney missed quite a few as well, but I think some of ours (dunn, Jurrah, Jamar) were very ordinary misses late in the day. That being said I think we were lucky to come away with 2 points. Sydney were all over us early. The backline took half a game to settle down. Cannot get Frawley back in there fast enough! Some good positives today though. Tapscott had a great debut, Bennell and Jetta for mine look like they have taken the next step. Moloney (who I love, but trash alot) played brilliantly. Jamar and Mumford probably broke even for mine. And the one thing I didn't think that I'd ever hear myself say: Stef Martin had a great game. I think the Jamar/Martin combo is a definite winner. So all up, Slow start. Good fight back. Poor set shots, Good fitness, some good steps made by the second/third year players. Bring on the Hawks! Oh and how good was Ricky 'the super sub' Petterd in the first 10 of the 4th quarter!?! loved it.

It's an interesting one. Sydney's back-line is definitely looking shaky, but then again so is ours without Chip. As always, this game is going to come down to the midfield. If we can get the ball into our fifty often enough, with half decent delivery, surely Jurrah, Watts, Petterd, Green and Maric will have a field day against their undermanned backline. Jamar and Mumford should be an interesting battle. I'm looking at Sylvia to have a big game. Dee's by 12.

Having grown up as a country boy from a family with limited means, that was fortunate enough to spend his final 3 years of schooling at Scotch, I've found your posts amusing. Campbell Brown was the school captain whilst I was there and I can assure you he was very much a part of the pomp and privilege that can go on at private schools. He was also a very handy football player. Just like anywhere in life, Jika, you will find good blokes, bad blokes. Hard at it blokes, and blokes that shy away. If you are trying to say that private schools nurture their students into living into a fluffed up world where they are not challenged, then you are wrong. The main differences I noticed between my public school education and my private schooling as a boarder was the opportunities available to me, if I was willing to make them happen. The atmosphere of a school like scotch is incredibly competitive, in grades and in sports. Strauss is a very talented footballer who is yet to make his mark at at AFL level. His schooling has had nothing to do with this. If anything, the experiences of such a competitive environment like scotch will have only been of benefit to him in his past 2 seasons on Melbourne's list. Sometimes draftees just don't make it. Even high pick draftees(thorp). Blaming it on what school his suburb was in is ridiculous.

Watched him closely V's Brisbane, hands looked good. It all depends on the manner of the delivery, but he still seemed able to win the one on one marking contests consistently. We'll find out in 9 days!

I agree that we need a fit Blease in the side to continue improving, but how can he possibly get a nod over players who have proven they can perform at the high level? Blease is yet to play...therefore it is a complete unknown how he will actually go in the big league.