Nascent

Good to get on the winners list. Melbourne best were Laurie, Brown, Howes with Sestan having a great last quarter and Jefferson having impressive moments in a tough game for tall forwards. McAdam had some ok patches and hit the scoreboard but looked frustrated and ill disciplined for a lot of the day. Didn't notice Hunter in the second half much, injured?

Agree, inconsistent at the moment but has fantastic size and skills.

Time and time again we have free targets inside 50 but players electing to have a ping from difficult angles. Frustrating

In case anyone missed it he was on the ground for a good 5 minutes before any of the commentators realised and had about 10minutes on the ground in total. Would have been nice to get him on earlier but wasn't 4 minutes as suggested.

Have to disagree re defensive pressure. He's had 7 tackles in a half so far and had a good 1minute late in that quarter where he had 5 or 6 repeat efforts scrapping at the lose ball to cause an opposition turnover. His game against the pies he had the most pressure acts of anyone on the ground despite only playing 65% game time.

Projecting forward, and I may perhaps be in fantasy land here, but in a few years I can see him with the tools to be a very capable midfielder. He's tough, got agility and speed, tackles well and can break lines. Give him the license to see ball get ball and he's going to win a lot of contested footy.

Salem and bowey the obvious candidates to come in. Would love for Tholstrup and AMW to retain their spots. Await the vfl game but suspect only Bill and Jefferson the other possible candidates.

He'd be on the same flight as Bill and jeffo but didn't play him last week for some reason. Surely needs a full game for match fitness.

99% mental I'd say. He's got the yips and he knows it. Every set shot looks like a heavy burden for him currently.

Disappointed to lose but bloody impressed with our intensity and contested footy. Strangely feel more upbeat compared to last week which is just a mindset thing I guess. Keep playing the kids.

Why are you milking the clock rivers, [censored].

Replacs Rivers with Bill and its close though T-mac has won many over this year.

For those that made it to the training session, was Jefferson there? Would be a great experience for him and hopefully motivates him further to push for a debut in the back end of the year.

Woewodin in off a very average vfl game, tomlinson still in with Lever. Strange selections. First time seeing Jefferson as an emergency which is nice. Are we playing funny buggers and springing a late change?

Was pup there?

Just reading the afl site and mentioned Sam Berry has put off contract talks with Adelaide until the end of the year. While no world beater he's a tough mid that loves to tackle and could be good depth or a handy player to use as a tagger since they're back in vogue. Should come relatively cheap.

Hope so, if Jefferson keeps showing promise then next year I expect him to be lining up with JvR and Petty to return to the back line.

Personally, I feel we've somewhat missed the boat in terms of acquiring a young established key forward. JvR is locked best 22 and Jefferson is showing significant promise and will be demanding games from as early as next year. Perhaps an older stop gap is required until Jefferson establishes himself in the team on a consistent basis. Edit: unless we see JvR as a permanent fwd/ruck chop out and put two key forwards next to him. Not my first preference for JvR but could happen.

Can someone enlighten me on the whole Smith wanting out of the doggies situation. He's been a best 22 player since his draft year, what's he disgruntled about?

Demon debut | Moniz-Wakefield gets his moment

7 hours... Where do you live, middle earth? Just take an eagle next time.

Fairly certain Taylor's first draft was 2013 with Salem. Wasn't responsible for the selections of Toumpas, Terlich, Kent, Matty Jones etc... I actually rated Kent, shame he was just so injury prone.

Don't disagree, but we have holes all over the ground at the moment. In two years time our tall department could look like Ruck: Verrall Fwd: JvR, Jefferson, Kentfield Def: Lever, Turner (fwd?), Adams Unknowns: Gawn (34), May (34) Petty (traded?), Fullarton (best 22/retained on list?) I am assuming, but could be wrong, that we will have lost all of T-Mac, Ben Brown, Tomlinson, Schache and KFW. We could see a steep drop off in performance in both May and Gawn although if anyone can play quality footy into mid 30s it's Gawn. For arguments sake, if we remove Gawn, May and Petty from the best 22 equation in 2026 then we will have just two proven best 22 talls in Lever (30yrs) and JvR. Turner is showing promise and Jefferson is developing nicely at VFL level and should hopefully cementing himself in the side. Calls on Kentfield and Verrall are too early to make while Adams is worth developing but a way off looking AFL quality at this stage. Trading talls in would be ideal but they come at a premium and nearly every club is after these players.