With the emergence of Austin, Thornton is the perfect medium-tall to play across HF. Has defensive skills to negate, is a good o/h mark and his kicking is OK. Bret THornton is the new Brad Fisher. Remember the way Richard Dennis used to play across hf?. Throw in Garlett, Betts, Robinson, Hoops etc to swoop and Carlos as the X, Y and Z factor and we have one seriously potent forward line.
PS. 5-7 minutes each qtr, rotate, Kruze, Hammer and carlos from ruck to chf and with midfield supply, we could be anything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Exactly.

I was impressed with his pressure and 2nd, 3rd efforts not just by him but by everyone. I didn't think we could do that for 4 quarters (OK we took 15 minutes to get going)).

There's good signs from this team.

I can't help but think that If only we had Waite like they had Reiwoldt and I have no doubt we would have got over the line.

Houla could have won the game with that shot last shot at goal and should have, but then again Fev missed 2 easy ones and Betts another. Got to take our chances.

Very impressed with Browne tonight...he's won me over, and Austin was great. Aussie's pace should not be underestimated, and I like the backline without Thornton and I'm a Thornton fan.

Well done to Banno on his return and the best game I have seen Setanta play; he's coming on. Setanta just has to be confident to attack the game and make decisions quickly...get back off the mark for instance. Maybe his decision making will not develop any further and that's what I think may play against him with a full list.

If we played like that against the Swans we would have killed them and against the Crows we would have made a contest and against Freo, Hawks and Bombers we would have cleaned up. As long as we keep improving and getting stronger individually and as a team, we are going to be a bona fide contender for a flag soon.

We should have won.

Bloody proud of the kids and "they know we're coming".

seriously, can we please stop automatically assuming that b/c someone is young they are good?
anderson to replace houlihan??? how would he be better, exactly? houlihan stopped their current B&F winner and one of their most productive players and has sublime skills. he may not be as hard as we'd like but not everyone is. 8/10 times, he would have nailed that last shot. ok, he did a few things poorly last night and maybe he should be dropped at some point, but not for anderson!

and ellard for stevens????? stevens would be in the starting 18 of every team in the comp. ellard would be in the reserves of every team in the comp.

it is one thing to criticise a player relative to his own ability. another thing again to compare him unfavourably to someone who is nowhere near it.

Bower.....Grigg.....Joseph.....Jamieson.....Austin.....Scotland.....looking like a defensive unit to be reckoned with.