stranga

I suppose Chip is too good to bring back through the reserves but i have some concerns about his lack of match conditioning coming straight up against Buddy.

Agree, they look pink. Even in real life they look more pinky maroon than blood red to me.

This 3 and a sub thing sucks.

Biz didnt join us until 2002. Who was our CHB? Ingerson?

I reckon scully's injury is a carry over form the cracked knee cap he had surgery on last year. Doesnt sound great.

If both Trengove and Scully dont play, on top of Mckenzie, Frawley and even Morton, i think we will lose just. The midfield is the key as we need to get it inside 50 to exploit their weakened backline but with those players out i think it evens things up significantly. It means guys ike Jetta and Bail have to move into the middle. On top of that we have a dismal round 1 record so im anxious to see how we approach this one.

Prefer the original design but would also buy the new one. Good work.

Watts & NiccNat are just further examples of clubs wrongly rating pure athletic ability ahead of football ability/instinct. Draft history is littered with it.

This would be be a massive wake up call for Watts if its true. We all bang on about him needing time and thats true, but maybe this shows that the Footy department are expecting a little more output even at this stage. Now that we are aiming for finals you cant be giving one player preference over others if form doesnt warrant selection, which it probably doesnt. However if he doesnt play then surely Bate doesnt play either. Thats the only condition i will accept this.

Im a big fan of that "Air Jurrah" symbol that i think Clint Bizcut has as their Avatar on here. Not sure if there is some copyright infringement on Jordan brand but id definitely buy one of those!

I agree with this. Players cant fix life long faults in their game between now and round 1 (Jones, Bate, Moloney Warnock, Struass etc) The other thing that has become glaringly obvious is that our depth is nowhere near as strong as some people on here have been thinking/saying. We are a few injuries away from having another disastrous year. This is because the second tier are either too young are just simply not up to it. Im just hoping the players have another level of intensity that they are conscious of and will enact in round 1.

I'll take Howe over Bate and anyone over jones and warnok in rd 1

Geez there ate some real concerns with basic structures and endevour even for a practice game. Our skills are at 2008 levels at this stage.

He lack of defensive pressure all across the ground is excruciating to watch.

I'd say tappy has had about 8 or 9 possies, couple of clearances. The marks stat is significant, we always kick to contests and are rarely in space

No jurrah garland trengove grimes Davey from what I can see. Petterd lifted and took some fine marks that qtr. The ease at which teams carry the ball out of our fwd line is very frustrating. Luckily lions turn it over as much as us. Midfield just lacks something at the moment. Just got to hope that the likes of jones and Silvia are still holding back. I like the size and movement of Howe, should play some footy this yr.

We aren't looking great at the moment. A lot of kicking to contests, No efficient run and carry. Tackles don't stick. The defense is completely depleted that's one thing to note. Watts looks lost out there again although there isn't any direct ball movement. Good to see gys and tappy and petterd running around. Ricky starting to take some grabs.

There i susually no parking withing the park grounds. Given we are playing an interstate side you should be able to find a park in the surrounding streets. Be prepared for a slight walk depending on what time you arrive and look out for parking limit/permit signage.

Thats what i meant by appease, but i should have said incite. It allows them to continue to beat up this story as his answers will leave us with as many doubts as before. While i doubt it, all we can hope is that the club really are completely detached from what goes on in the media and public forum and that his desire to hold off talks is simply to try and get a better deal from us at the end of the year.

He will repeat what the statement said: "im happy at melbourne" "i like playign with these boys" " im waiting until the end of the year" "i havent signed with anyone yet" etc etc Its going to prove nothing to us, it will just appease the media slightly in that they can write more articles taking him out of context and spreading the fear further.

Haha I was wondering how credible that website was, had never heard of it. Worse than herald sun

Yeah just like we were going to pummel essendons reserves. I'll take a win and some better form

Not sure but didnt Mckenzie and McDonald lead our tackles last year? we are going to start the season without both of them. That is really going to hurt our ball winning ability around stoppages even further.

Our game plan seems like it will be extrememly difficult to pull off successfully on a consistent basis. Requires skills to be too precise and seems to involve too much risk taking. I really dont like the constant switching to the centre corridor even to contests. We dont spread enough when we have possession and the congestion leads to easy turnovers. Clearances are a concern. Junior has left a massive hole there. Warnock is not an adequate replacement for Frawley. Slow, poor skills, not creative. Im willing to give Strauss some more time. Hes only played 2 AFL games remember and his kicking is very good. He does seem a little lost out there at the moment. Maloney's one dimensional style of play is really starting to annoy me. Get it and bang it long.

Boy am I sick of this comment whenever someone is negative. We were terrible tonight and there was plenty of evidence, nab cup or not, that we aren't as good as many believe. I don't have a problem with people expressing that.