Sydee

Fair point - I'm trying to be fair re Brown. He does offer a tall target and when he gets his chance he normally executes well (accuracy). However, when the ball is on the ground, he is extremely limited, he can't stick a tackle and isn't great at chasing. For a big fella he is very easily pushed off the ball by opposition defenders. He is well behind all of Petty, JVR and Tmac in those areas of the game.

IMO and based on recent exposed form our best options for tall forwards are Petty and JVR. Tmac apparently played well at Casey so maybe he comes back to join JVR in attack and allow Petty to go back if the opposition warrants that move. While we have May and Lever together the need for Petty in the back six is questionable. Petty is a great addition to our F50 work because he competes in the air and on the ground and provides a strong physical presence. I remain doubtful about BBB as a permanent fixture in the team. His inability to take contested marks is a real problem and when the ball is on the ground he is without doubt our weakest link in terms of applying pressure.

JVR is a very competitive young man - he gives himself every chance of being a 200+ gamer.

The Giants were always going to take a very long time to build a supporter base (if ever). The reality is that the Swans leverage off a significant number of interstaters that have relocated to Sydney. These people have adopted them as their team - they probably still retain an interest in their original teams that are Melbourne/Perth/Adelaide based but they now follow the Swans. Not that hard for most as they are usually very competitive. The majority of these people live in the inner Suburban ring of Sydney, East, Inner West, North shore. I'd say a small % would be outer west. This is the swans great advantage over GWS. Junior football comps for AFL are not uncommon in these suburbs but rugby league is the main focus outside soccer when you move further west.

Needs to revisit that third quarter of the GF if you ask me - more about Trac, Clarry and Viney than Luke. Not saying he isn't a real talent as I believe he is - BUT it was our midfielders that did the damage in the GF.

Oh please - two pre-season training runs you can't take much out of those. The real stuff is Rounds 1 & 2. Yes, we beat up on the WB's but something is NQR there atm and the less said about last week the better. I don't know what the excuses are that you have eluded for the Brisbane game but hope there is some reason for pretty poor effort. We were lucky the lights went out and we got to pick off some easy goals in the last 12 minutes to avoid percentage damage. The Lions had no real motivation to play out the game it was well and truly over by then.

They totally deserved to make the GF. Not only did they beat us they beat Collingwood who fell just short of the eventual premiers (yuck Geelong) They should be respected - they are a very strong team, very well coached and we will need to play very well to beat them. Our form line so far this season is pretty average - WB look hopeless atm and we were comprehensively outplayed by the Lions until the game was well and truly over. This week will tell us quite a bit I think about where we stand amongst teams with finals aspirations.

To beat Sydney, you have to play a fast high-pressure brand of footy for 120 minutes. Unfortunately, last week our team turned up for 12 minutes after the lights went off. That will not be nearly good enough to win this game. Time for a big response IMO.

Hugely disappointed that Verrall will miss an extended period was hoping to get plenty of games into him as I think he really does have potential.

Some of the confidence here is likely a reflection of the last game we played - an easy win over opposition that most think will be a finalist Just like their fans are possibly too pessimistic after a disappointing effort/result last week. The reality I'm sure lies somewhere in between - this competition is very even and like Goodwin says over and over (and I agree) you must respect your opposition. Fall away a few % and you will likely lose the game. Brisbane are better than what they dished up last round and at home in front of their fans they will be no easy beats we can be sure of that.

When our team was selected before this game I was a bit surprised by the inclusion of both Tomlinson and Laurie Both really didn't show much form to warrant selection in the praccy games IMHO However, Tommo surprised everyone I think with his performance and Laurie certainly had some nice cameos What occurred to me is that we really do have some excellent depth on the list and maybe we can emulate Geelong from last season by rotating some less experienced players through the team during the season to 1. give them a taste of the big time (invaluable) 2. give some of our more senior guys a bit of a chop out and rest to recover from any niggles It's the reason I would be surprised if all 4 premiership players missing from round 1 were selected this week Be interested in your thoughts on this going forward

That must really stink

Yep I know

Maybe but the sad fact is that apart from Zorko who has very limited football ability IMO the other two are completely devoid of skill - how Matheson remains on their list is a complete mystery to me

It would be a dream come true to have those guys in their team Absolute hapless water buffalos

Has Joel Smith been delisted? joking - glad you are fit and well Joel!

Come on BoBo he has played 177 games and kicked 5 or more 7 times Yep he is very dangerous and a quality small forward but this might be a slight overreach (less than 4% of games)

U-H seemed to go ok against us last year - just saying !

Huge fan of Harry but tbh his form in the two preseason games was a bit average by his usual standards. I'm sure he will work himself into top form again soon - I was hoping he might be used a bit more in F50 but that seems less likely know the FD appear keen to try Max and Grundy up there.

He is so similar to Weid it's a bit scary really. Ironical that he was in effect his replacement on our list. Has all the skills to be a very good AFL footballer but for whatever reason can't seem to impose himself within games consistently and compete physically when needed. Whether either of them will ever truly make the grade is anyone's guess but we all hope Josh can now he has landed at the Dees. Personally, I am not a fan of forwards that cannot pressure opposition backs when they don't have the ball - this area is not a strength of Josh but it needs to be if he is to get senior games IMO

Anything that makes Carlscum weaker is a positive in my eyes.

I thought that comment was more related to Trent Rivers not Pickett?

Not so sure about that I was confident LJ would stay - I was so wrong and so disappointed particularly because on the surface at least we were not fairly compensated. I'm not sure what the position is with Pickett but like all MFC fans I'd love him to be playing for us for a very long time he is without question a rare talent and so much loved by all fans especially those younger Dee supporters who the club needs to attract and retain. Having said that forcing players to stay in an environment they are not happy in is not ideal. Take Jackson last year he was clearly not wanting to be there from mid-season and frankly contributed SFA apart from a few short cameos. Understand what you are saying but if somebody desperately wants out (for reasons other than just $$$$) it may be counterproductive for all to not facilitate a change. Club loyalty and love for the jumper don't appear to be particularly important to many players these days but hopefully our #36 has a fair bit of that running through his veins. Just like with LJ the club saw his potential early and took a risk on drafting him earlier than some thought. We invest a lot in our young players, and it would be great to share the benefits of that investment together rather than them heading elsewhere.

Having watched the match sim I was quite impressed with Will Verrall he is very mobile for an 18yo tall and already seems comfortable playing at senior level. He competed strongly and seems to have all the potential in the world. Feel like we might have unearthed another good kid with Will hope he continues to improve over the season - may just surprise a few in the next year or two McVee was very good - he has always shown some dash at Casey but rarely seemed to impact the game - His ability to sidestep, compete aerially, accelerate out of trouble and kick efficiently was really impressive. If he keeps that form up, he must be in the frame for seniors this year. I also thought young JVR competed really well, got a couple of goals (one an excellent set shot on a tight angle) and took some nice one grab marks. Given the blustery conditions and the sometimes-mediocre delivery into F50 I thought his efforts were pretty good. He was certainly as effective as Schache who for mine was a bit disappointing - his great weakness is a lack of intensity and unfortunately that still seems to be the case.