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Nervous anticipation upon seeing the thread title. Relief upon reading the news. Guilt upon feeling relief. Finally arrive at sympathy for the player involved.

Probably Bernie but if it includes straight up in the air and overall hang time Col G has it covered.

Mick Malthouse is obviously still bat [censored] crazy.

Jon Ralph is the type of guy to bet $100 on Black Caviar for the place. he never gets it right and he belongs on SEN for that. mid season there will be a few who try to get on the Demons bandwagon but I hope not too many. the Pharisees and oracles never saw the Bulldogs coming, never saw Leicester,Cronulla,Brexit or Trump. glad to be under rated at this stage of the year. we will finish fourth or higher in my opinion.

I remember reading an article by Herald Sun sports writer Michael Horan a few years ago which gave a personal reminiscence on the Weed from the late 50's when Michael was around 11 years old. The young Michael was a mad Collingwood fan and became aware that his hero lived not far from where he lived in West Heidelberg. So one night after school he gathered up the courage to knock on the front door. Mrs Weed, a former Miss Victoria, answered and told the young fellow that the Weed was not home; she then asked him if he would like to go to the game with him on Saturday, and after receiving the obvious answer told him to come around at 11am. He was of course on time on Saturday, and helped the Great Man with his Gladstone bag of fresh footy gear. They drove down to Johnston Street and parked near the Yarra Hotel close to the ground. But here's the kicker to the 21st century sensibility - the Weed sat down and had a plate of steak and chips AND a couple of pots! (If memory serves me correctly - it was at least one pot anyway.) Anyway, it was a cute story. The softer side of the "Monster" that Demon supporters loved to hate. And the grog before the game!!

Had a scan on his jaw too I believe, thought it may have been fractured after he was laughing for hours on end after Marc Murphy tried to fight him.

In an earlier post you listed a number of really good, household name, 'premiership' players, all of whom were top 10 draft picks. I can't recall how many players you listed, but I think it was about 10. I seem to recall that Chris Judd was the elder statesman of the group, in that he was selected by the Weagles at pick 3 in the 2001 draft. Judd's draft included, there have been 16 drafts in that timeframe. That's 160 'top ten' players being brought into the system. Confirmation bias aside, there's no way Jack Watts has been a dud when compared to all 160 draft picks. Sure, there have been some players who've been sensational, but the majority have not. They're probably fixing light bulbs in your pool room these days. I reckon Watts will play 200 games for this club. He might very well also walk away one day with a premiership medallion and a Norm Smith medal around his neck. That may not happen, obviously - but there's no way he's been a dud selection. Your hopes for him, whatever they are, are just that - 'hopes'. Plainly he hasn't delivered on them for you, but he's a quality player and a 'value add' to the team nonetheless.

If Tom McDonald's elite they've obviously decided kicking's a minor skill.

He has certainly had a looooooong career and they have persisted with him however his signals when kicking out from the goal square are somewhat confusing. Crowd seems to enjoy them though.

Now with the injuries starting to piling up, hopefully we can now end the madness of even contemplating Watts not being selected for round 1.

Watts for VDB Tyson for JKH both are upgrades.

Because they just got rid of Lewis, Mitchell and Hodge will most likely retire. Think before you post.

Speaking of Slobbo, how remiss not to mention his 'sidekick', Gerard Whately. His commentary is vivid, intelligent and actually impartial. And with that loveable demeanour, I wish he was my uncle (even more than Bitter B.O)

Lloyd is indeed pretty good as long as you aren't watching his face while he talks. The constant surprised facial expression reminds me of a kid telling an ever-expanding and steadily more ludicrous story about how the vase breaking was nothing to do with him. There needs to be some kind of tracker, for accumulating the wisdom and humiliation of the journos. It's the only way to improve quality.

Fake News sells . Collingwood and Essendrug fans lap it up! At least there has never been one factually incorrect statement made here.Not one.

Darren Bennett

3rd. Sydney. Sigh. GWS. Sigh. Melbourne Geelong Bulldogs Hawthorn Collingwood Port Adelaide You'll note that I've set it up so that Melbourne has to play GWS in Sydney, which will be a tough ask, but then the next week we'll play Collingwood in a home semi-final, who will be royally puffed up thinking that beating a decrepit, falling-apart Hawthorn without most of it's top players means that Collingwood are their successor. This fills a number of desirable criteria - Dunny gets to win a final, Buckley stays at Collingwood for another five years, ensuring they never win a premiership again. Melbourne gets to eliminate and humiliate Collingwood on our way to a prelim, and then onward to vanquish GWS in the return match Grand Final. I've got it all worked out.

Muhammad Ali only average? I thought he proved to the world that he was the greatest?

I feel a need to be realistic here. Lets look at the top teams. Hawthorn, Swans, Dogs, West coast, Geelong, Adelaide, Giants. Something massive would have to happen to get those guys out of the top 7 positions. Huge Home ground advantage for 5 of them. Even the teams in so called decline ( Geelong, Hawthorn) have topped up with free agency....and I cant see them falling very far, if at all. But lets say one or even TWO of them has an unexpected crash somehow. I cant imagine that happening but its possible. So, if we say optimistically that that is the top 5 - 7 ( that I doubt we will be breaking into) then its a bun fight between St Kilda, Melb, Collingwood, Richmond, North, Power and (I hate to say it) Essendon for the last 1 -3 positions. Stkilda will be expecting to get there no doubt, Power would be expecting that too, Collingwood always expects and is a always a possibility. Essendon with so many guns back etc cant be discounted. North and Richmond less likely but they wouldn't be considering themselves out of it either. I can see a crazily close season with teams regularly knocking off teams above them. If plenty goes right and we win the close ones Im gonna say 7th. If not 10th.

Champion Data has not showered itself in glory this preseason. Rating Collingwood's midfield as the best in the league was the moment they jumped the shark and the above assessment is very poor and misguided. There is either something seriously wrong with their data model or they epitomise the fact that stats don't tell the whole story.

Hopefully the Saints players are like Spud Frawley and think Alex and Neal Bullen are two different people. They won't be able to stop him.

when did he sign?

Simply not good enough, Dieter! Keep up that attitude, and you will be out of the team alongside Wattsy! Kindly smarten up, stick a few dollars in your moth-infested wallet, pack a thermos, and get back out there! The team needs you!!

Ok keen to get everyone's thoughts on where we will finish and why ( could analyse the rest but let's focus on the mighty dees) at the end of home and away for me it's 5th spot , with around 15 - 16 wins if we maintain consistency and don't drop those silly games where we are absolute favourites, then looking at our draw ...which is more favourable than last year btw ....this is entirely conceivable. I'm bullish about our chances this year (for the first time in a very long time) Jordan Lewis factor will be massive in those Carlton Essendon and north Melbourne type games when we're needing a dirty win where in the past we would drop the seemingly unloseable go dees!

I picked up the Herald Sun footy magazine and, this year, they've had Champion Data rate each list from Elite through to poor and inconclusive based on that player's performance over the last two years. Here is how they have rated ours, and it makes for some interesting results. As a guide, to rank as Elite you must rank in the top 10% for that position in the AFL (90-100%), and it obviously goes down from there. Here is where we sit: Elite: Tom McDonald and Max Gawn Above Average: Christian Petracca, Jayden Hunt, Neville Jetta, Dean Kent, Jack Watts, Bernie Vince, Michael Hibberd, Jeff Garlett Average: Cam Pedersen, Jack Viney, Nathan Jones, Aaron vandenBerg, Gus Brayshaw, Jordan Lewis, James Harmes, Colin Garland, Oscar McDonald, Jesse Hogan, Dom Tyson, Clayton Oliver, Muhammad Ali Below Average: Christian Salem, Ben Kennedy, Josh Wagner, Jake Melksham, Billy Stretch Poor: Tom Bugg, Sam Frist, Alex Neal-Bullen Inconclusive: All other players not listed above. Interested in everyone's thoughts. For me, I can see so much improvement still to come in our list. We have plenty of players there who can move categories which, coincidentally, will further improve our chances for finals in the coming years. Edit - just want to add that their ratings are against the rest of the players in the AFL that play in their position. I know that seeing Pedersen in the same catergory as someone like Viney, Jones or Lewis seems absurd, it's because he plays forward and the others are midfielders where there are far more players to compete against across the league.

I thought I might rank Champion Data... Rating: Poor to very poor Ratings based on previous years really don't tell the story of a young list so they've about as useful as...

I will miss those torps that landed in the centre......some of them were awesome.

Agreed. I would have also included Paul Keating's top eight. About as meaningful as a number of expert opinions offered here.

Does anyone know what is wrong with Sam Frost. I was impressed with his development last year and am surprised he wasn't playing in the preseason games.

7th. We'll be much better than last season, and more consistently better. Some other teams should slide a little too.

Data corrupted.

The players just rated Jones as the 33rd best player in the league heading into the season. Likewise Lewis and Viney were rated inside the top 50. Not bad for "average" players. I'd dig deeper to figure out how Petracca was ranked above average in his position over the past two years but I don't care enough to do so. As always this is a waste of time. We'll have a top 6 midfield in 2017. That much I do know.

Absolutely, but their rating is based on their standing against the rest of the competition. Midfielders would find it harder to break into the above categories with so much competition, while many of our elite and above average players are from the ruck, forward and back line positions.

Like others have said, there are injuries and there are injuries. Not great for the players concerned, not great for depth, but barely a ripple on the best 22. Hopefully Kent can play in at least one of the remaining two games (JLT or Casey) and mount a claim for round one.

Guy in newspaper states an opinion. Demonland shoots messenger even though many agree! Relax, Many pundits will say many things. Some may be true. Some speculation. Some wrong. Take it with a grain of salt and you'll enjoy the ride much better.

Well unless they decide to have it in New Zealand, I don't think it's gonna be much of a problem

Yeah, he has played a lot on the flank under Roos though...

On his hand/finger he broke last year. All good is the word.

Really sad for JKH, he'd had an excellent pre-season and this is just rotten luck for him.

A real Angus Brayshaw type.

I don't get it. Yes it's disappointing for JKH and AVB but they were not going to be best 22 players anyway. They've already said Kent, Tyson and Jetta will be right against WCE. We'll have to wait and see on Garlett

Injuries will happen and, with all due respect to the players involved, I'm just relieved that it's not one of our key players. We won't avoid injuries during the year so if we can minimise their impact as best we can then we should be okay. It will be interesting to see who plays as the smaller type forwards next week against West Coast. Kent may be right by then, but it may give someone like a Johnstone, Trengove or ANB a look in for Round 1. Hopefully someone bobs up and takes their chance.

Last time I posted a WGAF meme I got a warning point.

I'm not really worried about what the opposition are up to: as long as the Demons play to their potential what other teams do is immaterial. We have the player resources to finally have success again.

I'll give him one thing at least he tries to lift the conversation around footy and uses advanced stats to explain what is happening out on the field. We need more of that type of footy analysis instead of ex-players waffling on about the good old days, wannabe comedians trying to work their bits in and social try hard telling us which player is dating his teammates girlfriend

If we have are the toughest midfield we haven't seen it yet. Same shyte we were hearing in 2010 from the media. I want to see results. The recent demolition job Cripps and Gibbs did to us reminds us of how pathetic we can be.

I don't see much of Pendelbury in Brayshaw at all to be honest. I think he is going to be a great player but I can't see the similarities at all

I have just arrived at the home of the big banana, Coffs Harbour, a cultural wasteland if I'm any judge. Melbourne supporters would be thin on the ground in these here parts. The average IQ has jumped since my arrival. I must say in it's favour that it's a thrill to know that the bananas in the supermarket have only travelled 3 kilometres to get there. Also the banana trees appear very lush and healthy indeed.