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Brent Harvey is a champion and an ornament to the game. 400 games is really an astonishing feat. and he is a credit to himself and his family. I am hoping he manages to have his nose spread across his ugly face today. Something I would very much like to see.

Good to see Demonland is staying true to form. (rolls eyes) Today id rather be a Melbourne supporter than a North supporter. They have topped up for a premiership that they can never win with a bunch of forward running flash in the pan types. Meanwhile you throw Salem, Frost and Petracca alongside Hogan, Brayshaw, Viney and Tyson and we have a very exciting future. Thought Dawes was very good today too.

I'm sick of hearing this [censored] every day on here. MFCSS in the extreme. None of you know the kid, he could be the most loyal bloke going around, but wahhhh he's gunna leave us! Get over it, worrying about [censored] that hasn't happened and may never happen is is a waste of time. Just enjoy having a decent player for [censored] sake.

GIVE HOGAN ONE MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR, SERIOUSLY.

Whilst I wont be happy with losses anymore there was a lot to take out of that. Our football in quarter 2 and 3 is some of the best we have played in years. The comeback was off the backs of kids and not mature leaders. You will go a long time before Jones and Vince are that quiet in the same week. Good to see Tyson hit some form and Viney and Hogan just keep on keeping on.

I actually enjoyed today's game. I dont mind being beaten by a better side which is what they are. Had a real crack and it was an entertaining game. We really lack that killer instinct when we are running over teams. It was the same last week against collingwood. We should have buried them earlier. North are in that perfect age/experience bracket and i thought we really had them on the ropes. They've peaked, and we are only going to get better. Bring that every game and we will win more this year. Hogan. You are a superstar.

Seriously this guy is an absolute beast. He'll be one of the stars of the comp in a few years - and he's ours! He bloody ragdolled that sook Thompson today, one of the premier defenders in the comp. Will be dominating games Carey style in a year or two. And with Gus and Petracca feeding him the footy it's gonna be bloody formidable for other teams. None of this guarantees anything of course - look how the Saints went with Plugger - but it gives us a bloody good start.

It's not really the 4 best mids that are the problem, it's that we don't have much beyond that. If Jones is having a sook and Bernie gets a big head and that happens in the same game you get smashed 46 to 12 by qtr time. I can deal with Jones, Vince, Viney, and Tyson staying as good as they are now but we will need Vanders, Brayshaw, Petracca, and whoever else and whoever else to come or continue to come on. NM ran deeper than us and it really does help your better players when the pressure is alleviated somewhat.

After the first quarter, I thought it was an entertaining game. Loved the Dawes show in the second quarter and the Hogan show throughout. Viney our best mid for mine, with Tyson getting some mojo back. Lots of uncharacteristically crud performances from the likes of Jonesy and Bernie. H is currently behind Grimes for mine and should have his spot under threat when Salem is ready. Won't happen though. I walked away just regulation disappointed, much like the QB match. No red mist here today.

Oh yeah, and I hope Harvey, Thomas and Waite go out for dinner tonight, eat bad food and enjoy a bout of severe food poisoning. Shits for shits.

I love watching this kid play footy in a Melbourne jumper.

And when was the last time you saw a KPF as good as Hogan?

Just had it confirmed that many were sick.

Line up 150-200 women willing to have his children, I want a whole side full of Hogans off spring in 20 years time.

Cheap pot shot.

"Reiwoldt and Buddy could have only dreamed to have a first season like this" - Dunstall, August 2015

I think we are seeing more Goodwin influence. The game plan is much more attacking through the corridor - that will help Hogan and Dawes

Offer him the "buddy" deal tomorrow

Watching the game, I assume the ones with the flu were: Garland, Dunn, Watts, Jones, Vince and Prince for starters. I suspect Lumumba has had the flu for about 15 weeks

Grimes deserves to hold his spot more than Lumumba right now. Simple as that. Collingwood are the clear winners on that 3 way trade to date.

Defenders were shocking today. Dunn was disgraceful, Garland had some costly turnovers, McDonald provided some run but defended poorly, Jetta easily beaten. Jones & Vince 26 tluches between them, can't win games with that. Thought Viney & Tyson battled well. Matt Jones showed a bit. Lumumba will soon find himself out of the best 22, only a matter of time. Cross showed again why he should go on. Hogan... Don't need words. Dawes best game for the year. Players didn't show up from the first bounce and that is what cost us, can't decide when you want to put in effort, from week to week and in games! The signs today were good in quarters 2 & 3. Feel better today leaving then the Brisbane win, we look like we are moving the ball better and are starting to grasp the concept of moving the ball quicker and hand balling to moving players rather than stationary. I hate North as we all do, but today we showed enough promise.

We won the clearances...

Best game ever for Dawes in red and blue.

Garland struggling, Watts worst game for a while, garletts momentum killing dropped chest mark and rebound north goal, not enough support for n Jones. Hogan worth the price of admission

Hogan is already close to elite and will be the best player in the competition in a few years.

Not sure who I hate most out of Thomas and Harvey.

This represents a point of difference from the past. Before we would be looking at a 100+ defeat. Showing some guts to fight back. We must offer Hogan the keys to Fort Knox to make him a forever Dee.

Why the hell is daniel cross on boomber? Christ lets put trenners on lewis jetta next year as well.

Need an injection of thymosin beta 4

I usually find the best way is to slaughter an animal,spread it's entrails out on the kitchen table and then decipher the signs from there. I'm not into the I Ching ,Tarot Cards or anything esoteric. I don't drink tea,so tea leaves are out of the question. Luckily for me ,there is a Lebanese man with too many cats,who use my courtyard as a thoroughfare/toilet.So I have a ready supply of Omens.

These guys may have not become best 22 players but for the most part, they were net gain in that they have strengthened the list and provided better depth for when needed. Not a bust in my eyes, though it would have been nice if at least one of them came on enough to cement a spot. May still happen.

OUT- lumumba IN- Salem

The reports we've had from training and such seem to indicate that Roos has focused almost solely on a defensive setup where they play the boundary and look for safe uncontested possession while Goodwin has advocated more attack and use of the corridor. Roos is a very big fan of defensive play, has repeatedly pointed to Fremantle and Ross Lyon as the model he's looking at, and his Sydney sides were very stoppage-based. A lot of watchers have observed that the faster attacking game seems to be Goodwin's plan rather than Roos'. I don't know if any of us will ever be in a position to know this for certain, but it seems to be in line with their stated coaching philosophies.

We all have. It's no excuse though to be negative about our chances of keeping Hogan around.

Okay, just got back and not all doom and gloom. However: in the first quarter they continually had someone running at speed through the stoppages too many cheapies out the back Norf seemed to have someone run past to receive the ball from a stationary position without a block some bad errors lead to four goals in the first half generally outsmarted early on We will beat them next season and I'm convinced Norf is just a team. If Garlett had held that pud we would have had a stack of momentum and that's where we lost it.

This is a great post I was frustrated today as we carried a few players I reckon. But that post makes me realise the best is yet to come And it was a great fight back by the boys, pitty we threw it away in the 1st qtr

Jones, Vince, Viney and Tyson are our 4 best mids. I have no problem with any of them - and the latter two particularly are still definitely in the development phase. Brayshaw could be anything, he may well be one of our best in a couple of years. Kent, Salem, ANB have all shown plenty. Stretch has shown a bit. We still need more but I don't agree that we need 4 new players to come in and take up he mantle of 'best mids'.

Infuriating game. We dominated for two quarters but didn't capitalise on the scoreboard (4.4 to 2.0 in the second quarter a good example). Catch up football is tough though, and the awful first quarter is essentially why we lost this game - we'd have been 3-5 goals up at 3/4 time if we'd even played 25% better in the first term. I can't believe how bad Watts was today, after his last two months. Almost every kick was a turnover. There were three or four critical second-half errors from leaders which killed us - Garlett's dropped chest mark, Dawes missing from 20m out directly in front (which would have given us the lead), Garland's turnover in the fourth which led to a North goal, and N Jones' turnover in the fourth which led to a North goal. Tidy those stupid things up and we most likely would have won. On the positive side, we played some great football today but at no point did N Jones or Vince play well, and we also had some other poor performers in Lumumba, Watts and Garlett. So credit to the others (Viney was immense, Tyson was much better, Dunn and McDonald played great games down back, and of course Hogan and Dawes up forward) to not just keep us in it, but lead us to playing impressive, dominant football. Higgins is at least a good footballer. Nahas and Thomas won't go near a contested ball and generally have no impact on games of football, but they keep getting on the end of other players' good work and being rewarded with undeserving goals. I hate them both so much.

You're behind the time Forest. Some have for weeks only to be told how good he is.

I had to resort to telling this North supporter that he was balding. Yep, I hate North and their arrogant supporters.

He didn't hesitate extending his contract at the back end of last year, and we were playing much worse footy then. Relax. He is already pretty close to elite. There is seriously nothing he can't do. Even his set shot routine has improved and I'd back him to convert most of his chances.

My dream of having us hammer North again whilst that little [censored] Harvey is still playing is fading fast.

Just reading the Casey thread, states that Fitzy is out sick and up to 17 players affected with the bug this week, including Jones and Watts. Something to take into consideration, maybe not for the first quarter, but definitely the last

That was really hard to watch. The stupid mistakes in the last quarter were so obvious and cost us over and over. It's like we had two entirely different teams on the ground. The crap side played 1st and 4th and the A side played the 2nd and 3rd. We need the team to get it through their heads that when we don't have the ball we need to man up. It drives me up the wall to see those chains of uncontested marks where our midfielders just don't run with their men and let them get free on the wing. We had them on the ropes at 3/4 time and took the foot off.

outscored by 1 point since quarter time. first quarter cost us big time. there were bits and pieces to like about that, but some of it was truly terrible.

Post of the year.

Watts' decision-making has been awful today. He's really hurt us by trying to be too clever.

The no Jack Fitzpatrick selection is going to come back and bite us today.

Newton, riley and michie are far better depth players than strauss, tapscott and blease

Thanks mate. Todd spoke about a range of midfielders in response to Theo's question on which midfielders impressed at the Championships. A few names and attributes were rattled off, and Parish was amongst those, along with Curnow and from recollection Balic. I missed part of this as some of the folks on my table started talking about how good a job Jason Taylor had done since starting at the club. That Curnow was mentioned here shows that we are one of the clubs that (if we drafted him) would be drafting him as a midfielder, not a key position player I'd imagine Mathieson was also talked about, but I wouldn't say any indication was given on any particular mid we were honing in on, just that there were a range who had impressed. I did have a quick word with Todd before he and Jack left and asked for his thoughts on the depth (of the draft pool). He said there'd been a fair bit of talk about it being a shallow draft, but didn't think it was as bad as reported, and was confident that good players could be found with later picks.