Some random thoughts.

[Doctor Fish]

Sammy Lonergan doesn't seem fit to me. Don't know if he's carrying an injury or not but he was one of our shining lights last year. An in and under hard nut. This year he's struggling IMHO. Am I alone in thinking this?

He could make way for Woosha although I'd prefer he come back via the magoos...

[j-mac31]

“Kyle Reimers has not played for four weeks now so he would more likely to go to Bendigo on Sunday to play in the VFL to get a full four quarters under his belt."
http://www.essendonfc.com.au/news/news.asp?nid=7488
I'll bring this up every day this week if I have to, but how does this work?
FWIW I think we're playing too well to bring Welsh back in anyway.

On Lonergan, I don't see why Knights loves him so much. And he really does. He is a great contested mark for a little guy, but he just does not do enough each week.

[swoodley]

1) Knights mentioned after the game Welsh comes straight in next week after not having played anywhere for 4 weeks after getting rubbed out for a pretty low act. Der! For who? No-one in this 22 deserves to be dropped. It will come down to the most talented 22 will get picked when all available and match fit. Match fitness and form should be the keys to selection whoever you are

2) Tayte rusty last week, better this week. Will be much better next week. Which means you can't rush in blokes who haven't played for 3-5 weeks...like above. see my reply to point 1

3) Pivotal game next week at the SCG where we do OK generally. Vital win is necessary. Agree - a loss puts us back to square one with the Cats the week after

4) Zaka...I marvel at the way he keeps presenting and presenting and presenting despite being ignored a lot. Can't be taught. Will be a 200 game player for the club - has great hands

5) Hurls game playing both ends was very valuable. And still plenty of room for improvement as he gets bigger and stronger

6) Demps and Pris both playing much more physically since Port. A rocket up their arse too? Both using the ball a lot better as well

7) If you agree that Hooksey, Reimers, Welsh, Slattery, Melksham and Dyson are therabouts in our best 22....who goes? I think Lonergan 's skill level is below these guys. Poor old Howlett hasn't done a lot wrong but...anyway all I know the team is well balanced ATM, and if you put Welsh, Slattery and Dyson in there it will become unbalanced Best 22's are a week to week thing depending on form and injury...the only one of those six mentioned that I would look at being a walk up starter is Hooker...the others are all a similar size and can be covered by players currently in the team....like Myers, Jetta and Davey, they need to earn their spot by playing well at Bendigo and then grabbing their opportunity with both hands when it presents itself

McVeigh is clearly our best option down back on the best small....and is his best position. And so we really don't need Slattery coming back

9) Knights still has to get us into the 8 at R22 to be safe. The last month has been a vast improvement but it has to be sustained. This tough, hard running, hard tackling, longer kicking Footy we are playing is guaranteed to have a lot of sore bodies come years end. Player management will become as important as winning games. Footscray, again had much bigger bodies than us last night. The game is a marathon not a sprint. The depth shown by your point 7 plus Houli, Neagle, Daniher, T Slattery etc will help with the longer season. If we can continue to avoid major injuries, then we appear to have some good depth at last that can cover players losing form over the season.

[robrulz5]

Hope Welsh doesn't get straight back in, even if it means he gets injured...