Glenn Molloy

We tried something along these lines about 10 years ago didn't we, and it didn't really fly? We played them as part of rivalry round and I'm sure there was some sort of 1850s jumper that we wore against them once (not surprisingly we got flogged by them again too from memory!).

Firstly, Freo are absolutely the real deal and barring a bad run with injuries are certain to finish top two. The media has perpetrated this myth that they dropped away badly last year but they finished 3rd after the home and away, lost a cracking final away to Sydney in the wet, and had Port on toast the following week – they didn’t kick straight and paid the price. You only had to watch them when we got the ball yesterday to see how well drilled they are. Ross Lyon is just a fantastic coach. The no. 1 factor for our loss yesterday was the centre clearances. I have never seen us, even in the real dark days, get smashed at the centre bounces like we were yesterday. It was a procession, particularly in the first quarter (no wonder Roosy gave our boys a spray) and the last 20 minutes. Sandilands was obviously a key but Jamar was competitive, however even when he got his hands on it Freo took it away. Not only were they getting the first possession but quite often the takeaways were super clean. Mundy and Fyfe are guns – at one point in the second quarter, Fyfe had 4 clearances, followed by a whole host of players on 1. Give him the Brownlow now. Their midfield depth is fantastic too – Barlow, Neale, Hill, Suban, Pearce. Our decision making is better than it used to be but still hurts us. Freo’s ability to get back in numbers seemed to stifle our willingness to take a risk and move the ball on at times, particularly in the first quarter. We were stagnant. Jonesy had two or three bad turnovers early with either telegraphed kicks or poor choices and that was a bit unusual for him. Having said that, he wasn’t Robinson Crusoe. Positives – Brayshaw looks a natural footballer, loved his ability to neutralise the one on one marking contest inside 50 with Fyfe in the last couple of minutes. Just needs to work on his kicking a bit. Garlett gives us some real polish and pace up forward, really surprised at his marking ability for a small. Having said that, the open goal miss in the third was frustrating Tommy Mac was fantastic. You can see the confidence growing more every week, he’s a real leader and has reduced the decision making errors significantly. Will still make them from time to time because he takes the game on but nowhere near as many as last year Hogan was beaten by McPharlin but still contributed with nine marks. We need more players who still contribute strongly even when beaten by their opponent.

Which goes to show the quality of commercial news in this country - over 2000 people have died in an earthquake overnight and we have the Clarkson story leading our news bulletin? Terrible "journalism" on the actual story - they interviewed to a mum who had her son killed by a king hit. There's no way Clarkson's action was anything like a king hit and for Channel 7 to suggest otherwise is a disgrace.

Nor should he apologise. What a bloody tool that Port fan is. I'm not a massive fan of Clarkson (and can't stand Hawthorn) but if someone was carrying on like that to me for 40 metres I'd shove him away as well. It's not like he punched him in the nose

We're not better than Collingwood I'm afraid...they were hard at it yesterday and Figjam has them on the right track. We are better than: Bears Suns Blues Tigers Saints Doggies and maybe the Eagles

No real surprise to me, Lamprill had a dip and made more of his limited talent than PJ. Biggest surprise to me is Matthew Bate knocking off Warren Dean. The fact that Dean only played 30 odd games due to injury is a tragic, could have been a star.

Yep, rpfc is right, he was very close to leaving for the Bummers in 2011 - there was an obsession with ensuring that Scully, Trengove and Gysberts had a clear run at the midfield and Jones could see the writing on the wall after J Mac's departure. Imagine how bad things could have been if he'd gone?!!

I don't think he is. Steven is a good player, but he's not quite that elite player we crave (e.g. Kennedy, Dangerfield). We're basically trading pick 3 for him plus a slight upgrade from 2 to 1....not for me.

No, No and No. Why do so many posters on DL want to link us with every player that is delisted or requests a trade?! Liam Jones is the last thing we need.

Higgins can't get a pick 6 for the Dogs. The decision is based on age, length of contract, and $ in contract. Higgins is a couple of years older than Chip and is likely to get a 3 year deal, 4 years max.....similar to Bernie Vince, for whom we got a 2nd round pick.

This is a great comparison. I'm surprised no one has mentioned Trengove's marking ability - he has terrific hands and is similar to Bartel in this regard, along with football nous and courage. Bartel ain't quick either....although he's much quicker than Trengove. I would love to see us give Trengove another year to see if this foot injury has indeed been what has slowed him down. His other attributes are extremely valuable and he certainly has plenty of upside.

Bomber ain't going to the Crows. He's close mates with Sando...you reckon he would take over after his mate has been knifed?!

I'm not surprised we're into Dangerfield - we would have the least amount of pressure on our salary cap of any club in the comp. Have to say that I'd rather we get Shiel, simply because he's another 4-5 years younger. We should aim to keep one of our top 3 picks; very happy to trade one away but not both.

One thing we need to be damn careful about is getting too many delisted free agents past their prime. Cross has been great and I'm rapt we got him but he's only got one year left, we don't want to be getting guys like O'Keefe and Malceski who will help us rise up the ladder a few spots but retire in a couple of years, leaving a hole. Vince has been a good trade, and the right move but again, he's 29 and will be done in 3 years (has a 4 year contract). We should continue to get 1 or 2 of these types to add leadership and fill a role but we don't want to be a retirement home for players on their last legs. We really need the guys who've been there a few years to have significant breakout years - players like Toumpas, Trengove, Gawn, and dare I say it, Watts. If they can improve 25% or so, it will make a massive difference. Then you have Salem and JKH naturally improving and getting more confident (though beware the second year blues!), Tyson having an even better year this year after having his first proper pre-season, Kent ditto, and of course, Jesse Hogan having an injury free run, then you're starting to not only hasten your rise, but you're doing it with players who will be with us for the next 5-10 years. Of course, one of our high draft picks this year (e.g. Petracca) doing a Selwood or Judd and being an absolute gun from round 1 won't hurt either!!!

Good to see we've enhanced our already sublime kicking skills with the new inclusions......

Lyon was spot on as per usual. Understands exactly where we've improved and what our issues are....so glad that he mentioned skill level. I'm so tired of people rattling on about game plans and effort, neither of them matter if you can't handball 5 metres to a target and kick to position when you get it. We need classy and quick mids, and lots of them.

This sounds hideous. Imagine the interest (or lack thereof!) in the games involving the bottom 6 over the last 5 weeks? Crowds will be minimal and there would be absolutely no incentive to win. At least with the current fixture a lowly team can upset a finals contender and gain confidence for next year, as well as impacting the season of other clubs. Carlton are a good example, until last week they were a team that the big teams were struggling to beat and they were gaining some belief for next year in beating North and running Geelong and Freo right to the death. As much as I hate the Americanisation of the game, there are two things that they should look to do: 1) Mid-season draft 2) Have a conference structure to the fixture. That way you can have Adelaide, Perth teams etc playing each other twice, and you can also balance it to have strong and weaker clubs in either conference.

How on earth would we be able to trade Strauss when he hasn't even got a game for us this year?! Blease is a slight possibility due to his pace but I can't see anyone taking Strauss or Tapscott for a pick, they'd take them as delisted free agents at best

Jetta outstanding. Tyson very good again, love his consistency. Gawn was also good, can certainly take a grab. Barry fought back well after being towelled by Hill in the 2nd quarter. So many of our guys just cannot hit targets. Everyone raves about Hawthorn's hardness but it's actually their skill level which is the main reason that they are so good. They run to the right spots to give their players the easiest option, and they just have so much confidence that the right option will be taken. Our guys have to go backwards or sideways just to keep possession. They are definitely still susceptible to the long ball forward without Brian Lake there....there were four or five times where Jamar or Gawn got really good purchase on the ball but couldn't quite hold on. Anyway, at least it was better than last week.

Some are very straightforward decisions: Evans Strauss Nicholson Tapscott Clark Byrnes On the edge: Spencer McKenzie (inclined to keep as tagging "depth" - say what you like about his skills but he can at least usually do a good tagging job) Terlich Blease (only reason he's not automatic delist is his pace, but we've been blinded by that part of his game since he was drafted) Fitzpatrick Clisby I don't think any of the above will have any trade value whatsoever....if they can't get regular games at a bottom two side then they are struggling. Assuming we delist half of the "on the edge" players, that leaves 9 free spots (not including inevitable N.Jetta upgrade). I think we have to keep Bail and M.Jones. Despite their limitations, they've played pretty good roles for us this year.

Anyone who thinks Motlop only looks good because he plays in a good side are kidding themselves. He's silk, would be a fantastic player for us. Geelong know how good he is and they'll sign him up again soon without a doubt.

Great interview but where was the highlight of the torp on the run at Waverley against the Hawks?! So many electrifying memories. Just glad that they didn't show the after the siren kick that he scored to win the game for Freo against us in his first game against the Dees, or the 7 he kicked against us at the G....god that was heartbreaking. And I agree with Colin, 98 was our best shot at a flag, along with 90. Final 8 system killed us in 98. I'll never forget Malcolm Blight at the Crows Premiership dinner on Grand Final night being interviewed and saying "Yeah, we were pretty glad we didn't have to play Melbourne again".

This. I'm not worried about the match ups per se. Let's remember who made Collingwood look ordinary this year and how they did it - Freo with their press in Round 1, and Adelaide with their overall ferocity at the man and the ball at the Adelaide Oval. I'm less confident than others on here because I think the Pies are a very consistent side who are tough to beat but if we can be thereabouts at 3/4 time, you never know.

I wrote to that moron Edmund on Twitter two weeks ago, you can see his reply below. He also mentioned my tweet in a podcast and said "Don't shoot the messenger"...you can listen further to his dumb explanation at about 30 mins in this weeks Herald Sun podcast. Typical journo taking no responsibility for a ridiculous story. The key to it is that, as Roos said, GWS will do ok out of it too but these journos don't seem to understand that. Plenty of trades that are win/win. ‏ .@SammyHeraldSun clearly the nameless recruiters you used for your article on the @DomTyson29 trade know their stuff #wenttooearly #noidea Reply Delete Favorite More 11:17 PM - 17 May 2014 Tweet text Reply to @SammyHeraldSun @DomTyson29 Sam Edmund ‏@SammyHeraldSun May 18 @LukeyBuzz I wonder if you say they went too early, what makes you think you're not? Details Reply Retweet Favorite More May 18 @SammyHeraldSun where did I say that the Dees won the trade? Speak to your sources now and see if they still think 'it's going to be nasty' Details Reply Delete Favorite More

Come on guys, he's gone for QB, whether he gets 3 or 2 doesn't matter. Maxwell out too. Let's hope for a clean bill of health for us today, and more importantly, a super competitive effort all day