Maldonboy38

How long have we needed a mid-sized bloke who can kick and mark? Tappy is beginning to show both these skills and with his hard edge he could be a huge plus looking across the next 2 - 5 years. He is not only strong in his physique, but strong over the ball, string i na contest, and strong going for a mark. Seing him, Watts, Blease, Nicho, T McDonald all playing together at last gave us a glimpse. I can't wait to see Davis, Cook, Gawn, Strauss, Viney and Gysberts added to this mix and for them to all play muliple games together.

100% agree. If we can ever, get Strauss injury-free we get another backman who can kick really well and this permanently releases Grimes into the middle. Nicholson's game down back also should mean that Grimes should stay in the middle. Grimes' leadership, spreading from the contest and nouse arond the stoppage were great to see and led the way for Moloney, Trengove etc.. to also find form.

I agree, but the Dees turned an important corner last night. In the 1st quarter we turned it over horribly by foot when there was no pressure. But in the 2nd half when we were supposed to "unfit and disorganised" we were hitting targets and taking our chances. We weren't excellent but we were better, much better. Dry weather football may test us but I am not as worried as I was.

I had a great half hour reading the Bomber Blitz forum posts. They lose one game to a lower side and they eat their own. I am just waiting for the traditional "how pathetic is Stanton" ranting to begin that will put icing on the cake.

I have been a critic of his kicking but his kicking was outstanding tonight. What was really great to see was he took on opponents one-on-one, believing he could win and he usually did. If you watch the replay histeam focused gut running was of high quality. A really good game.

The Good 22 players for 4 quarters Neeld as game day coach Grimes' leadership Garland as a forward Winning the disposal count Our forward spread in last quarter James Hird's face when the Bombers lose (priceless) The Bad Unpressured turnovers by foot during 1st quarter The Ugly Channel 7 coverage, especially the camera angles at certain times in the game.

Frawley has to come back in regardless of who played well. Bartram is also the kind of player Neeld likes so he might be considered. Lynden Dunn could not be dropped on last night's performance. He stood up in tackles and did a lot of really hard work. He might be on the edge of the team and always hovering between Casey, the bench or the sub. Could be the one to miss out because Sellar required for Dawes. Blease should recover in time. Sellar also could not be dropped on last night's performance. IN: Frawley, Bartram (possibly) OUT: J MacDonad, ??? It will be tough at the selection table this week.

Not much between them, really. What Watts has in poise and awareness, Hurley has in physical presence. The difference at the moment is that Watts is helping a side win and Hurley is being beaten. Also, I reckon the commentators were wrong tonight. Watts was not the spare man in defence. He tackled, spoilt, punched the ball, peeled of his man, and a couple of times went third man up. His game was much better than a cheap loose man in defence game.

Winning feels good - very good. The pressure valve has been released and I can relax a bit when i watch the footy. Sex in the morning, gardening before lunch, a kick of the footy with my boys at about 2pm, KFC for tea and then the Dees win. I will sleep tonight.

Sellar was very good, and tonight he showed he can kick and run. I have to admit being very surprised but he definitely earned his place tonight.

Were you watching the same game as the rest of us? At times Essendon were free flowing, but it was grunt football. The Dees won through body contact and attack on the footy.

What an amazing coaching move - Watts back and Garland forward. Garland can mark, get good body position - just needs to work on the set shots.

6. Rivers 5. Grimes (mid-filed leadership at last) 4. Watts 3. Garland 2. Jones 1. Nicholson apologies to Jeremy Howe.

AS much as I hate the Pies and Carlton, ever since the 2000 Grand Final I HATE Essendon. That felt really good tonight. Skillful? - not particularly. Great forward spread? - ummm no. But great gut-wrenching, hard at it, never-give up, mongrel footy and the free flowing Essendon crumbled.

Judd, Ablett, Lenny Hayes are all guns, but Bartel by a mile for mine. He is so deceiving: he looks slow, small, has a friendly face, and most of his kicks barely reavel 40m. But whenever the game needs to be won there he is outmarking bigger blokes, crunching packs, tacling, kicking goals from outside 50 etc... Absolute match winner and rarely plays poorly.

Out: Sellar, Green (inj), Moloney IN: Bartram, Martin, ... I can't do this tonight, too annoyed.

I am definitely not saying trade Watts, or that there is no hope for him. After three years of watching him I am left with an important question - how can we add intensity and aggression into his game? With them he could be a superstar: without them another also-ran.

Before I give my votes, I have to mention that I would love to give Bail and Nicho votes but they absolutely butchered the ball on too many occasions. 6 - T. McDonald 5 - McKenzie 4 - Clark 3 - Jones 2 - Rivers 1 - Blease

I don't accept it is fitness. I went to 9 - 10 pre-season training sessions and saw them struggling early on, but after the Christmas break they seemed to be coping OK with it all. And if a player gets really tired, go back and kick long near the boundary. ll playerw are tired in the last quarter - the sub system sees to that. It seems that we execute poorly under no pressure.

I am such a Watts fan and really want him to make it, but some of his efforts today were... limp is the best word I can think of. He is playing limp footy. But it is getting frustrating. In the last quarter he went back into the play, took a mark and got 50 metres from Betts. This showed good courage and good reading of the play. In the same quarter he chose not to go for a mark about 30 metres out for goal when he had a perfect run at it and would have jumped over the other people pushing and shoving. And that lazy, limp kick out that led to a goal summed up the attitude he displays too often. He has got every skill, unique peripheral vision, can rack up possessions because of his reading of the play and can run as quick as any other bigger forward but lacks urgency and intensity. This was on full display today. Do we make him learn at AFL level or make him discover these traits in the VFL?

I cannot accurately communicate how furious I am after being 16 points down at 3/4 time and equalling the Blues for most of the first three quarters, only to be beathen by 10 goals. I refuse to accept it is fitness and I refuse to accept it is game plan. How many chest marks did we drop without any pressure? The players run and spread into the right position, and people like Bail, McKenzie and Watts do pathetic, dinky little short passes that miss the mark by 5 metrres and we get burned on the turnover. This is not fitness, game plan, coaching or any other of these kind of of factors. It is concentration and maintaining skills. In the last quarter, we dropped chest marks, got outmarked by smaller opponents, and rediscovered the wonderful gtift of handballing behind players who were running andfree. I am #$%&@# furious over this loss. We were in it with a good chance of winning it!!! And don't get me started on Watts decision not to fly for the mark in the last quarter. He CHOSE not to go and they ran it out two versus one.

Agree that it is not the most inspiring list of players - no one in there that Carlton have to plan for or fear. Sellar - sorry, but he is not worth a spot. Very lucky Martin is still recovering. Davis - great to see him included. He has looked really good at Casey and will be good on the small frowards (I hope) J MacDonald - has got some get up and go, but he inspires little confidence. Bail - I really like this bloke but he has lost the fire in the belly that produced gut-running bursts in 2011. I hope he can ignite Dunn - Sorry, I have had enough of this bloke Tapscott - leave him in the side for the remainder of 2012. Stop the in-out, in-out. Allow him to play into form. Nicholson - has got some serious hunger but is the worst kick in our squad, with the exception of Jake Spencer. His unforced errors for Casey are getting mentions from ABC commentators. Feel a bit sorry for Morton. I agree with another poster who reckons he has probably broken one of the non-negotiable values, because he has been good over the previous 4 weeks (Sydney aside) I have no idea what to expect this week - at least I can't get my hopes dashed!!

Barty and Rivers have both improved by foot this year, or at least it seems that way. Can anyone provide efficiency stats from 2011 and compare 2012 to verify whether we are clutching at straws or seeing genuine improvement?

I have just finished watching the press conference with Jack Grimes. Very impressed. He stood there and took all questions - easy, tough and stupid (and yes, some of the questions by the journos were sooo dumb). He might be young but his character strength is the steadiest, most upfront leadership I have seen since Junior was pushed aside. Maybe we got the right man for the job?!?

Clinton Young - definite yes. Outside pace and great footskills Brad Sewell - even though I really rate him, I would rather invest in Viney and poor ever-injured Gysberts.