Return to Glory

Eagles by 27 Barrass for Norm Smith because of the novel idea (not employed by Richmond) of blocking/checking the run at the ball of a 7ft forward.

Not keen at all. May have shown some early promise but, from the games I saw, lacks footy nous.

Pates, I'm not so sure of that. Talent wise Hogan is right up there. But it's not always that simple.

We were belted down back on Saturday but, poor performances aside, I'm not sure David Dench and SOS combined could have stemmed the tide. I can't help but wonder that chasing May is simply a kneejerk reaction. Oscar McDonald is coming along and Petty will also come along quickly. We really lost the prelim because of lack of outside speed and West Coast players sweating on the ball moving from inside to outside. Petracca flicking the ball to space and an awaiting WC player was just one of a number of examples To my mind, a Jaidyn Stephenson type is what we require. If Oskar Baker continues to track the way he was prior to injury, he also represents an injection of real pace and outside run. And if we were to receive two picks I'd also be looking at someone with the capacity to deliver the ball inside 50 with precision. Perhaps I'm viewing things differently to the majority of posters in respect to this.

If he is going we need to take the Adrian Dodoro (Ess) approach. Some of his demands on behalf of his club have bordered on the absurd but there's no way in hell he'd leave the table without gaining an advantage. They want a potential champion, then you've got to give up something pretty bloody good.

Great season and plenty of time to work on deficiencies. Speaking of which, if Petracca's ball drop gets any higher, he'll be dropping it from above his head. And for a guy with great physical talent, he plays way too much like Brent Moloney (his last season) for my liking.

Nah

Well, I thought that went well.

GWS will pinch this

No thanks. Hasn't been offered a contract at Sydney so pick him up possibly later.

I'd let the polo player in if the trade off is that we send Hamish to Argentina.

Razor will officiate the living crap out of the game. For Geelong's Dive team that's a real plus.

Buddy as captain is bizarre. On what basis did they arrive at that decision?

Gawn - Should win Brownlow (if they're genuine re who the best in the comp is)

I see what you're doing

Do it for Tim Winton

Hard one to beat bb.

Do it for Ric Charlesworth

Hasn't the Weed timed his run to perfection. Well done young man.

Precisely Biffen. And tired.

If I can quickly give my 'hindsight is 20 - 20 vision' take on today's game. As I was leaving the ground last week I turned to the bloke next to me and said that it was a flattering scoreline and some of the things we did would fall straight into the Swans hands. I said it after Petracca took a mark 30 - 40 out and, rather than take a set shot, put up a dinky kick to nowhere. So we went from playing against the most amateurish team in the comp to playing seasoned pros. In retrospect, Gold Coast was the worst team we could have played.

It's innate with Oliver. If I'm completely honest, Trac doesn't have it and I suspect he may never do. Hope I'm wrong. I may have similar thoughts about Hogan but keep it to yourself.

If you had told me two and a bit years ago that Oliver would be our smartest footballer I would have laughed. Unfortunately he's the dux in a class of dumb arses.

Hard to know sometimes.

No, just allergic to the footy