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Good news - that bald number 15 umpire is there tonight so he won't be in Canberra tomorrow.

Jetta will most likely end up having to play on him.

I assume its because the FD think Pederson is more likely to perform at the required level. Weiderman will have his time over the coming years, but now we need to win a few games and make finals and I agree with the FD that Pedo is more likely to deliver.

Rested means you're a good player. Omitted means you're not.

Joel Slwood is just blatant cheating. Commentate that Bruce, you old Queen...

I just lobbed a grenade in your direction.

Generally the more players an opposition side has out, the less likely we are to win. It's awesome.

Cameron Ling suffers from Oprah Winfrey syndrome. Say something obvious, but over emphasise certain words to make them seem important. At least Oprah gave away cars. Lingy gives nothing.

I never quite understood why TMac was often thrown around on here as possible trade bait - sure, he makes the odd brain fade in defence but he was still our most crucial defender. I have even less understanding now given that he's proven to be a more than capable forward and even a pinch hitter in the ruck. He's untouchable...no way we trade TMac.

Hola? Might want to brush-up on your Balinese..

It's an easy decision pedo backs up gawn in the ruck, McDonald is much more likely to have a day out than pedo up forward so he needs to stay close to goal, the weed just is not ready and I would just leave him at Casey now for the rest of the year

Ffs trade Hogan to get Lever? I'm lost for words.

selwood bros put on a ducking masterclass - umps clueless

If I were playing the Cats in a final, I would bring in two nobodies and tell them to KO Danger and Paddy. We'd win by 10 goals.

We have been very patchy since our big win against the bullies in round 13. And in that period we have struggled in two key areas: our midfield (in particular with our intensity) and our ability to kick a winning score. Consequently I have two key, interconnected, concerns about this game. One, we are in big trouble if our midfield does not bring the required pressure and intensity. It was instructive to hear Goody say in his presser yesterday: "We're looking forward to our midfield coming back together, we've probably lacked a bit of continuity in that area of the ground for a number of weeks now." Except for Gus this is the best midfield we can field. No excuses. I'm really looking forward to seeing what Maynard brings and i'm confident that Viney and Jones can lead the way in the pressure and intensity stakes. Bernie owes us also. Since that round 13 game against the bullies, where we really clicked, we have really struggled to put a winning score on the board. In that time only one team has scored more than 100 points against us - the top of table, high scoring Crows unit. yet we have lost games because we haven't been able to cross the critical 100 point barrier once. Good thing we have Tmac up there or we would not have won the two games we won in that period. Watts really needs to stand up. I was really disappointed with his game last week and in Jessie' absence and our final campaign at stake he simply has to take control and be a leader. We can't be relying on Jeffy to be our leading goal scorer so players like harmes, Petracca and Pederson also have to contribute goals. Of course our scoring ability is related to our pressure but also our woeful forward entries. We simply cannot afford to waste so many chances going inside 50. The time is now for the dees. I'll be furious if they don't bring the pressure and can't sort out their scoring this week.

"A lot of MFCSS on this page, I sense" Someone needs to brush up on their Yodaisms

I predict Harry 'no-name' Himmelberg to kick 11 in Patton's absence.

No worries, they'll let Jetta cover him.

Get Ben Brown...... a decent haircut.

Thanks for the tip off Jnr. Great article. Not a heap of new info, but all told in Bernie's words. Huge fan of Bern, he has that great mix of knock about country attitude and not taking himself too seriously, combined with high motivation and intelligence under the surface that have made him such a great acquisition for the club. Such a great clubman as well. Saw him on on AFL 360 a few weeks back and they were hinting at his drop of in form and where his career might be heading, to which Bernie basically responded that he just loves playing footy, even if sometime in the future that was just at Casey helping the development of the young guys. The 360 guys didn't probe further, but I get the impression that Bernie would be happy just to play in a playing mentoring capacity as a Casey/VFL listed player rathere than an AFL one at some point. He definitely hasn't had the same impact this year as he had previously, but I'm looking forward to seeing what he can produce out on the park for us this week against GWS. Still an important player for us.

^ It hasn't been posted yet, because it's got nothing to do with the subject of this thread..

Please stop.

Agree...wipe the smug barztards

Is there anything sweeter than seeing Geelong unravel in front of their 'Deliverance' inspired supporters? (rhetorical)

Rohan can play but strangely leaves me craving French fries.

Ducking dog, Selwood. Incredible the umps pay that.

The nick-name 'Tomald' is revelation enough. It can even be used as a verb. Like when you Tomal the ball directly to the single opposition player standing in the middle of four of your own teammates.

Would love to see the Cats get exposed for the frauds they are with Danger out, but a Sydney loss would help us in the finals race. So putting my Geelong hate aside, would prefer they win.

After Daw's knee to poor Nev's face last week; i didn't think Nev would be playing this week? Poor guy was in a lot of pain. Hard as nails our Nev.

I can't understand these sorts of statements. If he were a Melbourne player would you think otherwise? What were you thinking Viney or Hogan would become after their first years? What about Selwood after his first year? There's generally a reason football media people, team-mates, past players etc predict these things early on. Lever is the full package. Personality traits, football ability, physical attributes. He possesses all the building blocks to become the player he is predicted to become. Just like those others I've mentioned. And the reason you pay overs sometimes is to land someone of that quality. Keep in mind he was pick 14 in his draft year. A year in which he didn't play a single game because of a knee reco. He was a talked as a potential number 1 pick before he did his knee. In an injury interrupted second year of football, he will potentially make the 40 man AA squad as a key defender. I'd say that's a fairly good indication that with a full pre-season and injury free season he will be an AA defender soon enough.

I equally like this story of his background and family connection! A committed Demon! http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2017-08-04/maynards-remarkable-sporting-journey

More of a Powerade connoisseur?

Tingay, sliding doors though, this is if he didn't have that terrible accident, guy was a pure jet. Gerard Healy went ok too even if he did leave us. Oliver doesn't have a roof yet, that is pretty exciting.

He's better than Woewodin ever was. And arguably had a more consistent season than any of the B&F winners. Doing the grunt work in a winning team. Not winning the B&F in a Steven Bradbury contest, no disrespect to those winners. It's not that crazy a statement. And for the record I reckon he's one of the better kicks in the team. 50 metre bullets to advantage most times.

We play a zone defence; we're not likely to recruit a gorilla tamer - I don't think it would suit the game plan as it stands If are are able to get Lever plus hold onto Frost and the Macs, our defence will be built around closing down space and interception I think if we are fortunate enough to get Lever we are ensuring that T Mac will play forward on a more permanent basis, but he can be thrown back if required So the backline will be formed out of three 'bigs' in Lever, Frost, and O Mac, then the interception and rebound of Jetta, Hibberd and Hunt (plus Lever who also adds excellent rebound kicking to his defensive responsibilities) plus the rotation of Vince, Lewis, Jones, ANB and I think probably Brayshaw and I am seriously excited about our defence It's more about what we have to give up from the midfield / forward structure that will see how our game plan is effected with the addition of Lever It's why I am totally unopposed to giving up 17 and 18 first round picks - ideally getting something 'back' from Adelaide (say, 2018 second round pick) I am REALLY excited about the idea of getting Lever, But not sure why this thread isn't just part of the general Lever discussion...

Yass! Cam Pedersen in. I expect to see the old Pedo Win/Loss ratio updated again come Saturday evening. It's my favourite stat in footy.

A Freudian slip there, BPP?

Wouldn't mind their ladder position...

In the afl era, Melbourne has never had a midfield star but we have had some damm good players, Cam Bruce, Yze, Viney and Tingay, Jones would be at the top of my list. Oliver could go past them but hasn't done so by a long way yet, as a pure mid I haven't see a better start to a career so much so it is easy overlook how exceptional he has been for a 19 yo 30 something game player, his average games are better than his peers best games so far.

Brown's no gorilla - he has no jump on him and he rarely wins a contested mark in a stationary, one on one situation. He is just an absolute gun at reading the ball and his leading patters are brilliant.

My wife & in law's are all Richmond, I could think of nothing better than to knock them off in a final & head over to the in law's for lunch the next day in my red & blue gear.

Re 2 wins: If The Dogs & Hawks can't get into the 8 and we get 8th below Essendon, then it might work out better to play Port (5th) at Adelaide Oval THAN win 3 games and still end up below Sydney and playing at the SCG. Annoyingly. Edit: Let's just win all 4 and stitch up a home final!

Happy with all the changes this week. Trengove and JKH were always going to struggle to keep their spots, Hogan is the forced change and Hannan certainly needed the rest. I like the choice of Pedersen this week as well, and you get the feeling had this been 2015 they may have just given Weideman some games. But with finals on the line we need a bigger body and more experience out there, so Pedersen is the right choice. Plus he gives us a little more flexibility.

Let's be honest, if our ruckmen didn't go down against them on ANZAC day, we would have won. We were smashing them in clearances until losing Spencer and Smith helped make Toby Nankervis seem like Polly Farmer. Let's just make it first before we worry about who we play!

Will go beautifully on the mantelpiece.

Jeez, Hibberd's last kick goes through for a goal and you'd be salivating over the win.

100% agree. If Bontempelli was pulling Oliver's numbers this year the media would be wetting themselves with articles about him every fortnight.