Match Day. Round 1 Sydney V Port Adelaide SCG. 4.35pm.

[Meg]

Yes, I also felt a bit sorry for him. While I haven't seen any confirmation of how bad the injury is, the look on his face suggested that it was serious.

Yes, Longmire in his understated way seemed to suggest in his press conference he thought Dan's injury was serious.

[The Big Cat]

We had Papley, Rohan, Aliir, Heeney and McVeigh out of our best 22 when most clubs only have a couple.

Never ever ever forget ALEX JOHNSTON. We have never really found an adequate replacement so let's hope he makes it back.

[Mug Punter]

Never ever ever forget ALEX JOHNSTON. We have never really found an adequate replacement so let's hope he makes it back.

We'd all like him back but suggesting he'll make a difference to our team this year is highly unlikely

[Industrial Fan]

Never ever ever forget ALEX JOHNSTON. We have never really found an adequate replacement so let's hope he makes it back.

Aside from Rampe and AA I guess that's right.

[Beerman]

And for what it's worth, we didn't start season 2005 all that well either. So no wrist slitting when the Doggies beat us next week!

2014 started pretty badly too - an unexpected loss against GWS and we went into round 5 at 1 win, 4 losses. We made the GF that year, so not is all lost.

I did have some worries looking at the team sheet - a lot of players who are average at best. Eight years of low draft picks make it hard to build a list will a lot of depth, but we'll do ok. We will struggle to win the flag, but that is true of every team. Flags don't come easy!

[Hotpotato]

My take on it , they still looked a bit flat after another (winnable) GF loss .
The Doggies played with excitement and adrenalin .
They will run rings around us at Etihad unless The Swans can muster their old intensity .

[rb4x]

Did our three new vice captains suffer from swelled heads. Hannebury was @@@@e, Parker ordinary and he was absolutely flying at this time last year but I guess he had an injury interrupted pre-season and Rampe was no where near his best. Kennedy was OK though.

[goswannies]

Did our three new vice captains suffer from swelled heads. Hannebury was @@@@e, Parker ordinary and he was absolutely flying at this time last year but I guess he had an injury interrupted pre-season and Rampe was no where near his best. Kennedy was OK though.

When you're beaten by 5 goals, the defenders are rarely going to look like they've had a great game, but it's a team effort back there so Ramps wasn't alone.

[liz]

Did our three new vice captains suffer from swelled heads. Hannebury was @@@@e, Parker ordinary and he was absolutely flying at this time last year but I guess he had an injury interrupted pre-season and Rampe was no where near his best. Kennedy was OK though.

That's drawing a long bow. They had ordinary games, that's all. They've all played ordinary games before and no doubt they will do so again.

[RogueSwan]

After watching the replay I'm not as concerned as I was at first. The difference in the teams was work rate. We were beaten by weight of numbers at the contest and they were able to keep up the pressure till the end. We simply will have to get back to our usual pressure footy and we should be okay...

this was my feeling too.
Maybe the team forgot that, in every game, you have to bring your best or you will get beaten. This season could be a very even season with no easy games at all.

[Matimbo]

Positives: Buddy tearing it up and how good to see Reid kicking goals again. Those really were about the only 2 positives weren't they.

Buddy and Reid - totally agree. Not much mention in this thread of Zak Jones. I thought he had a good game, seemed to be a bit of a step up for him from last season which was another positive for me.

[barry]

We probably have a post-mitchel adjustment period.

I dont think Mitchel is a super star, but his style of play (a prolific ball getter, dishing out to outsiders) takes some replacing. While we have players who can do that job, they are not specialists like Mitchel. We are probably finding out that we are a bit "outside-mid" heavy at the moment.