Little Richard

I thought it was a vast improvement on his round 2 performance tbh, looked far more composed and played a much smarter game down back. Still a long way to go though.

One of our best today.

Yes it was well and truly overpayment for what he's produced so far. However I think today he showed some solid improvement and was able to play to his strengths. The defenders looked liked they'd been working on it, with May and Smith both wrapping up their man at times, allowing Lever to fly and mark or spoil. There's not much else we can do with him right now - we're not delisting him and we're not trading him and can only hope he finds the elite form he showed at Adelaide.

Who knows what could happen today. In the interest of manifesting positive energy, I'm expecting Tommy Mac to find his feet and stand up as our focal point up forward. 7 goals and 3 or 4 contested marks. Dees by 44.

I hope so, I'll be spewing if he doesn't make it to 300 games... I suppose the chances of him being on the list next year aren't great though.

He's shown promising glimpses, but he's neither a 'star' nor a 'good average player'. He's a 20 year old kid who has played 11 games and is still finding his feet. I do think he'll have a role to play in the firsts going forward though, whether that be forward or back.

Goody has just confirmed that Kozzie is a lock for this week. Great news!

Hawks supporters usually give them a run for their money! Thankfully they've been a bit quieter the last few years... Bombers supporters just have that totally unfounded, smug arrogance. Anyway, this week is such an unknown. Got a feeling we'll beat them convincingly, but that is based on absolutely nothing.

Agreed, they're usually a pretty arrogant bunch at the best of times. Their midfield is certainly smaller but it's much quicker than ours. Hoping the additions of Langdon and Tomlinson will help balance this out.

He’s (Tracktor) a worry, one of the best players in the league atm on form. If he gets a worry let him go head to head with STRINGAR. There's a lot going on in this sentence. Isn't Stringer playing forward?

Great job. Unfortunately looks like some slapstick comedy routine.

There was a brief period where we were reasonably strong aerially with Maxy, Pedo, Hogan and McDonald all in full flight. Didn't last long though.

Absolutely this. I'm surprised there hasn't been more hype over his performance... I thought his presenting and positioning for an 18 year old key forward was outstanding. Even though he wasn't taking the marks, there is so much to like. I wouldn't drop him this week though, maybe give him another couple. Dropping him after the one game could be counter productive, especially considering the quality of the scratch matches at present.

Fair point, he probably didn't play big enough to be classed as a CHF. But we certainly miss that link up.

Since Hogan and Watts left we have missed that truly versatile centre half forward, working up and back all day and providing a much needed link up option. With his tank, perhaps Tom could fill it while Weid plays deep with Fritsch, Hunt and Kozzie rotating through... not sure Tom's decision making or foot skills will hold up in this situation though. Whatever it is, something clearly needs to change.

Only one thing is certain... if we beat the Dons by five goals there'll be a tidal wave of comments claiming we've already got the flag in the bag.

Thankfully Petracca is a solid gold forward and Harmes uses the footy well (but I want him in the middle as much as possible). Brayshaw on the other hand isn't overly quick or skilful by foot, which leaves him exposed at half back. I think he's got so much to offer but Goodwin needs to find the right balance.

He absolutely needs to be dropped, either Weed or Petty will offer more at the moment. Even Brown. But I'm not up with what's happening at Casey... will there be seconds games for McDonald to play in and find some form?

It'll be beaten up in the media but the video footage is pretty damn cringeworthy. Just sloppy and shouldn't happen.

I'm keen to put that performance down to a hefty amount of rust, but it was worrying. Trying to focus on the positives here. Positives: For the first time in ages, there was some (if slight) improvement on delivery inside 50. Was very satisfying to see a couple of leads honoured and hit up. Gawn clearly won't let the captaincy affect his personal performance. Petracca is showing strong signs of maturity. Fritsch looks a million times better as a forward, needs to work on his set shot routine. Rivers is already looking like a sensational pick up. Jackson was impressive for me too, continued to present and those contested marks will begin to stick before too long. Hunt's transformation into a dynamic forward looks complete. Negatives Goodwins failure to respond to momentum shifts and changes in the opposition game plan is frightening. He has to learn, fast. McDonald is cooked and it's becoming embarrassing for him and the club. At this point, Brown actually offers more. The problem of multiple forwards going up in the contest continues to endure at the MFC. Smith needs to stay out of the defensive 50 and should be replaced by Lockhart. Melksham was bog average but I'm confident he can return to 2018 form. Can't say the same of the likes of McDonald or Hibberd. All in all I think there are too many unknowns to take a whole lot out of that game.

Don't worry, we'll soon beat that out of him.

I really hope Harmes is still rotated heavily through the middle. Still not happy with him playing down back.

Tough to listen after one of them calls Tom Scully a better kick than anyone in our side.

This is great news. I have good memories of watching the 2018 elimination final against Geelong next to Russel in a London bar... good bloke to have a chat with.