poita

Our players just need to learn to tackle better. The Bulldogs were able to get their arms free far too easily last week, then we kept whacking a bloke around the head this week (yes, I know he ducked, it happens, move on). Other times this year we have had a spate of in the backs paid against us because players dive forward in the tackle. We just need to adjust accordingly.

Would be surprised if there weren't a larger number of changes than usual given the short turnaround, and some players who are struggling to put in 4 quarter efforts at present. In: Jetta, Tyson, Pedersen, Grimes, Trengove, maybe Spencer Out: Michie, Wagner, Kent, (Oscar) McDonald, any of Hunt, Harmes, Oliver possible

Our defence was woeful again yesterday, particularly given the quality of the opposition. Oscar was pretty ordinary in parts, but he certainly wasn't noticeably worse than any of his more experienced teammates in that part of the ground. It was a good game to play him, and we lost nothing for it. That said, he should only play when match-ups and opposition dictate it, and that probably shouldn't include the next fortnight. Frawley came good towards the end of his third season, and was All Australian in his fourth. Tom's trajectory was fairly similar, so we are still at least twelve months from Oscar being a decent player.

Brisbane bring in a second specialist ruck, and we lose our only backup. We are going to run Max into the ground very quickly at this rate. I have zero confidence in any of our defenders if we can't win the centre clearances.

I switched in for a few minutes between ads on another channel and I reckon Max said about three words the entire time I watched. I'm not sure why he was in a suit and tie either. Overall one of the more painful television experiences I have endured for a while. Jake King is a dropkick who struggles to put two words together, let alone a coherent sentence, Gilbert McAdam monopolised most of the air time with juvenile 'look at me antics' and the other four panellists struggled to get a word in. I am no fan of Dipper, but he was clearly the best of a poor bunch last night.

I'm really not as worried by what stats Michie, Wagner and Hunt have, as by the number of goals and uncontested possessions their direct opponents have. Yes, we are playing a zone defence (rather poorly at times), but it was staggering how often Bulldogs players were 30 metres clear inside 50 last week. Michie is the same unaccountable player he has always been (don't get me wrong Hunt, Wagner, Salem and Lumumba are every bit as bad) and he doesn't do enough offensively to justify a spot on this team. I would much rather see Grimes or Terlich get the opportunities that Michie keeps getting.

Anyway, back to Jack T. Really disappointed he won't be playing this week. I can't believe that Jack wouldn't contribute as least as much as our bottom 5 players, eg Bugg, Wagner, Michie. Plus it would be a good story for a match that desperately needs some interest.

We simply don't match up well against Brisbane, and Jetta is a big loss in terms of taking the type of small/medium forward that has hurt us in the past. I think we'll win, but it probably won't be pretty and I'm not putting my house on it. I'd like to see us put in a strong display without Gawn and Viney having big games, because our results seem to depend too greatly on the performance of two players. I'd love to see Jack Trengove make an appearance this week.

Plenty of potential outs this week. Michie and Wagner top of my list. Bugg lucky. Any two of Trengove, Neal-Bullen and Grimes will do me fine.

We basically lost because (a) we had too many players who did nothing for the entire game or went missing for long periods (Salem, Gawn, Oliver, Garland, Pedersen, Michie, Hunt, Kennedy, Garlett, Wagner and Harmes, to name a few; and (b) we were unable to stop the Dogs from getting a quick handpass out of a pack. Our tackles always seemed to be around the waist, instead of getting the arms as well.

Maybe we didn't have any tall defenders ready to go because we've only drafted one (Oscar McDonald) in the past five years. Perhaps we could have taken an experienced defender in the rookie draft instead of wasting our time re-drafting Michie. Although we finally went after some key forwards this year, we have taken far too many utility types under Roos (eg JKH, Harmes, White, Newton, etc) and not enough key position players.

Not that I'm bothered, but I'm surprised there hasn't been more scrutiny around the Lumumba situation. If he was concussed against RIchmond, played against St Kilda and has now missed two weeks with the same issue, that doesn't reflect well on the club. Hope to see Grimes and maybe Neal-Bullen in this week, for Kent and Michie. Salem can have a run at Casey.

You'd think so wouldn't you, yet Roos will always play Lumumba and Dawes regardless of both form and fitness. I fully expect to see Lumumba in the senior side this week, irrespective of the team's performance on Saturday and his own putrid form.

I didn't have any trouble getting in to ground, but it is an appalling place to watch football. I was stuck behind the goals at the Southern end, couldn't see the tops of the goalposts in front of me, or the boundary line, or most of what was happening at the other end of the ground. I had one eye on the TVs to see what was going on, but the picture was on a 3 second delay. The speakers barely work, so you couldn't hear the team songs. I'll go again to support my team, but it is pretty much world's worst design, unless you are one of the chosen few sitting on level 2.

I don't really care whether the problem is with the selectors, coaches, or playing group, Roos has 4 more months to fix these once-a-month debacles where the team performs so far below expectations. Otherwise his tenure has to be viewed as a failure. It is also concerning that we have a brand new opposition analyst (Jennings) who is clearly having no impact on selections, match ups or tactics. What is his role exactly?

Candidates for demotion this week in order of priority: Lumumba, Frost, Harmes, Wagner, Hunt, Dunn. Kennedy and Salem on thin ice. Petracca stays because he will be better for the run. Assume Oliver is a certainty, I would also bring in McDonald, Grimes, Garland, Stretch and Trengove.

Riewoldt is a champion who destroys us every year. Our young forwards should be made to watch tapes of his work rate and attack on the football on a daily basis. The fact that the coaching staff didn't think he was worthy of a direct opponent beggars belief, and calls into question their suitability to be running the team.

Yaaaaawwwwwnnn. Heard all the excuses before. Let's face it, the selectors picked the wrong team, the coaches were comprehensively out-coached, and (most of) the players were either disinterested or out of their depth. Most people are reasonable and do not expect giant leaps of progress to be made overnight. However, after 6 weeks its pretty clear that we are no further advanced than we were last year. We've won three games against teams who we beat last year, we've lost three games against teams we didn't beat last year. We are scoring more goals, at the expense of a much, much worse defensive performance. Our worst football, which is as bad as any in the competition, has not improved and our players are almost guaranteed not to show up at least once a month. If we can't beat Gold Coast this week there is a fair argument that we have actually regressed so far this year.

He doesn't fit in. The game has gone well past him, this team has gone past him, and he should be quietly put out to pasture at the end of this season. The last thing we need is Dawes running into Hogan or drawing the football away from Watts in his current form. The best place for Dawes, if ever gets his body right, is educating and taking pressure off Weideman and Hulett at Casey.

Salem's not a defender, but if he doesn't have the fitness to play on ball at present, we don't have many other options. Good teams will exploit him with the right match up and drag him back towards goal. Then it becomes important for the likes of Dunn and Lumumba to swap opponents and get him out of there.

Number of games is a false indicator. Are players like Pedersen and M.Jones inexperienced, or just not good enough to have played more games? I can see that age is a bit more relevant, as a 25 year old will generally make better decisions than an 18 year old.

That's about the dumbest thing I've ever read. Stephen Powell kicked 32 goals in 2000, Bugg hasn't even scored this year. He just doesn't hurt teams with his possessions, no matter how many of them he has.

Oliver looks cooked to me and could definitely do with a rest. I thought Bugg's disposal was rotten again today, and could happily drop him back as well. I don't want to drop Brayshaw again, but if he doesn't have the fitness to play on ball, he shouldn't be in the team. If Brayshaw stays, then perhaps Wagner goes. Matt Jones was beaten by Sidebottom and couldn't be a certain selection with our current depth. I thought that was close to Lumumba's best game for the club yesterday, mainly because he lowered his eyes and looked for a target, rather than blazing away. I'm not convinced about Frost due to his lack of football smarts, but he may well trouble Richmond's defence. Vince and Garlett are definite ins, but Vandenberg needs to get some touches at Casey. I would play Petracca ahead of him.

Wins are less important than 3 strong efforts. If we put in each week we are every chance of winning, if we don't we'll get a repeat of the Essendon game.

Our HBF stocks are very low - Lumumba is (occasionally) okay with ball in hand, but is rubbish defensively; Salem is poor defensively and doesn't win enough of his own footy; Grimes is clearly out of favour; White and Wagner are a long way from being the finished product, although I like the look of White. As such, we should definitely look at any one who can defend well and hurt the opposition going the other way. If Hibberd is that person, great, as he won't cost us anything.