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Simply out-played, out-classed and maybe, out-coached. A very disappointing end given that our best can be terrific. Unfortunately, we were so far off that today and the Crows were comprehensively on top in every facet. They should go all the way. From slim pickings, the efforts of Mithen, plus Downie and Cordner under siege, were our best. And of course Emonson for kicking truly ? Despite a poor effort and result, I have every respect for our players, playing for the love of the game and often making sacrifices to do so - some we hear about and others we don't. They'll be disappointed to say the least. At some point this week before we're all consumed by the men's game, I'll try to put a thread together where we can reflect on the good, bad and the ugly from this season - there's lots to celebrate and this last game will probably overshadow those aspects so it would be good to do that while the season's still fresh.

Disgruntled supporters on Demonland?? You must be kidding! I have never ever known of such a thing. Only Perfect Fugazi Positivity around here Yessiree!!

It will be interesting D_I_O. I’d like to see all out attack early, throw everything at them and hope we open up a 2-3 goal lead. That might force the Crows to take some risks in trying to reduce the margin then we go ‘kapow’ on them again as they open up. I can’t see us outscoring them by the 4-5 goals late in the game if it’s close for the first 3 quarters. Build the lead then build Fort Knox. Demons by 27.

Apologies for lateness of this but my best is Mastering race 9 no 5 Flemington. Should be a class above and form jockey on board helps. By the by my other best bets were alizee (First time I will have backed it) and fifty stars so good alignment today. I had a ripper start to my day snagging swift sis in the first (having had a saver bet on it at its last stsrt which it won at 30s). Love it as it gets my stake back so any wind from here are gravy

There is no real basis for that statement.

collingwood should be the stand-out team this year they lost the grand final and they're starting the year with moore back from injury, in defence where he looks better suited, elliot the same but up front, beams in the midfield, and callum brown was particularly impressive during the preseason dunn and scharenberg will both come back at some stage for them too i completely agree that the love from the media for them is warranted

No Clint, but he is #1 in the club for pressure acts. So I expect he signed up 1,500 members in a half hour burst.

Jay Lockhart has filled our last list spot as a rookie. "The AFL introduced a Supplementary Selection Period for the first time this year. This allowed teams to add players to their rookie list up until todays date,” General Manager of Football Operations Josh Mahoney told Melbourne Media. “By passing on our last pick in the rookie draft we had a spot available and today we have added Jay Lockhart to our rookie list for this season.” The 23-year-old is Tasmanian-born but made the move to Victoria in 2018 in a bid to chase his AFL dream." https://m.melbournefc.com.au/news/2019-03-15/melbourne-secures-jay-lockhart-as-rookie

Of course Australia hit 4 sixes and India 5....we move on. Best Bet: Sunday 10.30pm Genoa v Juventus / Juventus Win and +2.5 $2.63

Hong Kong Derby tomorrow with former Australian galloper 'Dark Dream' installed as 2nd favourite. The winner should come from the top 4 listed runners. Here is the form for the race And here is the replay of the Coolmore Classic raced today at Rosehill.

Agree re kick out rule. But from what I have seen the 6-6-6 rule will help the best centre clearance teams a lot. Of all the teams, Richmond should be concerned the most and need a new game plan. Just look at our JLT v Richmond for a snapshot. Richmond still rely on defence intercepts to attack, but no longer have the benefit of +1 or +2 so they will get exposed at times. In the JLT we were a shambles in our forward 50 trying players who didn’t know how to structure up defensively when we lost the ball, Richmond played their best back 6, and the result was Bacher et al clocked up countless easy possessions and Richmond scored easily when the ball slingshot down the other end. Same against Brisbane. Take that away and you take away Richmond’s scoring and score more yourself. Right now J Smith and Hunt in the forward structure are a liability. They could be great long term because they add speed and should improve our forward 50 defence, but right now neither knows exactly what to do when we lose the ball. It just takes one forward to not do the defensive job and it makes all of them look average because we lose our biggest scoring source which is forward half turnovers. I don’t expect us to lose versus Port but if we do it will be because of poor forward 50 defensive structure, and won’t be because of the new 6-6-6 but will be in spite of it. Spargo and ANB have both copped a lot of flak in the JLT, but if they play they will do their job and if all of our forward 6 do the defensive job, they’ll suddenly look a million dollars again. What I expect to happen early in the season is we’ll persevere with Hunt or Smith as forward options as the upside could be huge by seasons end, we’ll still dominate inside 50s, we’ll still struggle with our front 6 unable to lock the ball in, and MFCSS will blame Lewis, Omac, and Frost for our losses.

It was a closed session at Casey. It's unlikely we'll hear anything about it unless it comes from MFC.

Like I've said before, I agree with you on just everything. Like you I don't want to glorify the Gladiator days where playing with a punctured lung or broken ribs was a symptom of that weird phenomenon called manlihood. In the days of the gladiators an elbow to the head of an oncoming opponent was deemed ok. I recall Hardemann doing just that to an oncoming Sam Kekovich in the early 70's. I recall feeling uneasy. I played Under 16 Football for Sunshine, then a VFA side. I played in the ruck against Laurie Sandilands in a final and kicked 2 goals that day. I recall the sheer brutality, the eye for an eye mentality. I recall Jack Storey haranguing me at half time during that final for not taking out their captain, Lindsay James, in a sandwich tackle which probably would have killed him - probably me included because he was air borne, our captain tailgating his [censored] - what they called a shirt front in those days. I grew up watching Soccer - my father was a very talented player - and the notion that maiming your opponent was a totally alien concept. The above is my answer to the good old days when knuckle men ruled and players with the skill of Blight, Wells, Greig, Flower, Wilson and Alves were almost despised. Good riddance to them dark days. I still maintain May was/is innocent. He simply stood his ground. In a high contact game like Aussie Rules, those situations are unavoidable. Gone are the days of Mathews, Brereton, Scott and Dipierdomenico. I rest my case.

Best Bet Strike Rate 103: 41 - 14 - 14 Australian Group & Listed Races

Old man rivers you probably didn't have to wear a seatbelt on your way to the ground and you could drink all you want and drive home. Ah the good old days before we went all namby pamby nanny state.

Slight correction to Gator's tips ... he missed on race 3. I think I was counting one of JJ's earlier tips in the mix. But if Gator or JJ have a good day I win as well. I only back their value runners though ... gotta be paying at least 3.50 or better. JJ also tipped me into Lucky Flipper ($6.50) in race 6 but I missed on Light the Waves ($4.00) in race 7 as the horse opened at $3.00 but drifted. Good get with Fifty Stars too Wadda ... I threw it into a couple of late multi's but dipped out. Not to worry though as I had a decent day at the races. And we might have the heir apparent to Winx with Mystic Journey ... well, the next dominant horse at least. A commanding performance in the All Star Mile. Beat some gun horses yet was 3-wide without cover for much of the race. Cost $11k as a yearling.

I don’t get this suspension at all. When I played footy that was simply called a bump & appluded by your team mates & coach. These 2019 rules are just insane.

Remember 2017 when Max missed a huge chunk of the year and we were fine? Preuss and Keilty are important depth but our mids should be good enough to adapt to playing without a dominant ruck. Max's most important role last year was providing the backline with aerial support. I'd imagine that will be vital against Port as well. When May gets back and then up to speed the backline should be able to hold it's own far better.

This one's obvious. It's an allegory portraying the MFC at the time as donkeys.

Same question, different photo.

Yes i see, so his first selections all got up for the r 2345....that is good going then!

The first horse listed is the horse he marks on top Wadda As such in race 5 ... 3, 7, 2, 5 Here are the rest of his tips

Gator has picked the winner in races 2, 3, 4 & 5 ... all value picks too Needless to say, I'm now playing with house money!

Heavy 10 at Rosehill? Didnt see that coming. Gee another day of a few races with small fields at Morphetville. Although there are a few 8 or 9 horse races which are good i think...

Just getting warmed up OD... The Footy's nearly here

With the elevation of Lockhart to the MFC rookie list, it does leave open a further spot on Casey’s list. There’s a chance for a ruckman to be sourced for them with a view to the mid season draft should it become necessary.

Very happy to risk all of the above DD.

(This on topic rant brought to you by Iron Man haemorrhoid cream as used by Max Gawn at the Marvel Football Club.) I went to an ice hockey game is the US some years ago. If you've never been, you cannot imagine the amount of hoopla --- noise, rock music, flying blimps, flashing lights, mexican waves, etc. It's so full on the game is almost incidental to the "experience". We got into the theme of things and were cheering, yelling, whooping at all the designated moments. Cheering at kiss cam,throwing frisbees, etc. It was fun. After ages of this -- by the way, a hockey game was also going on -- we got tired of it and had had our fill. But there was another two thirds of the game to go! Jesus it got tedious. I remember thinking, ice hockey purists must f***ing hate this. It's literally at the point where the hockey takes place to fill in the gaps between the "entertainment", rather than the other way around. Heaven forbid there be even a single second without noise, coloured lights or some other distraction. (There would probably be a riot except the audience doesn't have the attention span and would abandon it after 20 seconds.) What must someone from Norway or Sweden, an ice hockey enthusiast think? You can't simply enjoy the game of ice hockey. There is no time for reflection ... can't discuss the on-going game ... you literally can't hear yourself think. Because we adopt everything American, no matter how good, bad, crass or stupid, we can look forward to more of this stuff infecting our game. We already have turkeys dressed in big fluffy costumes. "Ground announcers" to tell us the score that we can see for ourselves. Loud music to deafen us and blot out any personal reflections we may have about the game going on before us. Our collective attention span gets less and less. Is the game not inherently entertaining? Huge crowds says it's entertaining by itself. And I understand that we can't stand still, otherwise one day we'll be reminiscing about the game of Aussie Rules we used to have, now mysteriously gone to its grave. Who wants to go back to a time without giant TV scoreboards, for instance? But letting the marketers dictate is wrong and corrosive. They are attracted to us because of our drawing power, hence, exposure. We are of course attracted to their money. It's a marriage. Why are we now dancing to their tune? It's 180 backwards to be shilling their product for them. Of course marketers think it's fantastic. Concreting over public parks is good idea, says man who sells concrete. Our biggest problem is that Gil is in spirit more of a marketer than a sports administrator.

Best Bets: Rosehill Race 7 Number 14 Savatiano $5 (Plc) Rosehill Race 8 No 3 Fifty Stars $3.70 (Win) Flemington Race 8 No.11 Alizee $4.00 (Win) This weeks best will have a return of 74/1 Approx. Have a Super Saturday punters!

The hype for Collingwood is deserved. They made the Grand Final despite one of the worst run of injuries in recent times.

The reasoning for his selection is sound. Mahoney has said that they wanted to add someone who knew the coaches, knew the structure, knew the expectations and so forth, and that makes sense to me. Yeah, I can see the point of possibly selecting another ruckman, but clearly the club know what it is doing.

Am I the only one who doesn't really like this? I mean, it's objectively a great photo…but we don't deserve to see Gawny hold it until he wins it. I mean, it's like taking a photo of yourself sitting inside someone else's sweet car. Sure it's cool…but it's not yours. Yet.

Listened to Tommy Mac while in the car this afternoon. Always impressed by how well spoken he is. Actually thinks through his answers and no ums and ahs at all. Serious individual. Well done!

Did he fumble the phone?

Beavis and Butthead

Oliver then Harmes.

Lockhart showed enough to be close to AFL ready last year. With a preseason now he could be very handy as a backup for Jetta or a lockdown mid. Definitely shows we nearly drafted him last year.

Is it a themed round ? club coloured protective guard

Should we win a flag anytime soon, i'd expect our membership to significantly drop the following year. What % of the membership are 50+ years old? Most will suffer massive heart attacks after the siren. The rest of us will either drink ourselves to death or die from lack of sleep as a result of wayyyyy too much adrenaline.

I heart Gilbert McAdam.

If we win the Premiership then this needs to be put up 50ft tall on the side of a building in the CBD.

I'm guessing the skyscraper on the right is Maxy and the one on the left is Pruess

Yesssss boys awesome stuff. I said during the draft period I was really surprised Jay didn’t get picked up as a rookie. Some of the games he played for Casey last season were unreal. Handy pick up for sure and I’m super glad he gets a run at the big time.

Best Bet Rosehill Race 7 Number 14 Savatiano Place $5

Big breaking news re the All Star Mile Three All-Star Mile contenders in doubt, 'Le Romain' and possibly 'Trap for Fools' poised to get a start Meanwhile, here's JJ's best bet at Morphettville Race 8 No.2 Master Chum $5.50 I'll try and post up his tips late Saturday morning but failing that, go to Racing.com after 10.00am Saturday for his tips. And here are Gator's tips for Flemington this coming Saturday

How good was Tom McD's explanation of the difference between forwards and defenders

Simon Goodwin was on Time On with Sam McClure.

Thank Christ he's not playing then, how many weeks for eating an opposition player???? I suppose it comes down to whether or not he chews with his mouth open or shut, considering 'the look' and all that jazz.

Like others I had my reservations about Max in the early days. Over the last few years, I sometimes have wished that he would stop playing the joker and be a little more media shy. However, you realize that humour is part of his make-up and no doubt helps him cope with the pressures of AFL footy and helps relieve some of the tension and pressure amongst his team mates. What you can't do his doubt his commitment and talents. Like all top line players he has made a huge mental and physical commitment to succeed. No-one has worked harder on the track and no one works harder on the field. You can't make it without single-minded obsession to being the best. Max has done that. As a result, he will reap the benefits for the rest of his life both in footy terms (reputation and respect) and in financial terms. No-one will say there goes a guy who "coodabeen" a champ. His performance on and off the field tells you that he has become a role model and leader of men.

everyone knows the brownlow isnt a true representation of player ranking so not sure why you're using it to fit an argument. As good as brayshaw is he didnt even finish top 3 in our Bnf.