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I too am sick of a minority of fools ruining my day at the footy. The same 22 blokes seem to be the culprits every single week and yet it's been going on for years without respite.

The Melbourne thing to do would be win the next 9 on the trot then lose R23 to North to fall short on %age.

Have a look at the ones who are telling you they're picking on the 'harmless loud fool' though, it's generally the 'harmless loud fool' themselves. 'Bald headed [censored]' guy was hanging over the race screaming it (and by fans reports, various other things) directly at Nicholls as he was walking out. It wasn't a 'harmless loud' comment during the game after a decision he disagreed with when the umpire was hundreds of metres away on the ground, it was directly at him from close proximity and not during game time. The Carlton bloke who has played the victim has a bunch of social media posts from before his 15 minutes of fame where he is absolutely abusing people with foul language in a way that would threaten most families at a game. You honestly believe he was just innocently barracking when kicked out? Find it strange that for such a (generally) sceptical site, so many are getting sucked in by the media outrage agenda so easily.

Mathematically yes. Realistically no.

Really? Really?... 41 disposals, 10 tackles, 10 score involvements. ie. gets the ball, creates pressure and gives the ball off for scores I'd say he offers more than about half of our list. Josh Dunkley is a good footballer. We'd be lucky to get him.

Unless you know what he does around the club, I don’t think your views relating to his leadership are fully informed. He provides leadership onfield in that back 6 by virtue of his experience. Are you wanting JWags to lead the group? Hore? I am not sucked in by others, I made my own judgements of his performance on the day. I feel your view of his performance is overly harsh, and I wonder who you think will replace him in the best 22 next year? Kielty? Petty? OMac? He and Lever are going to be important pillars of our defence for the next few years. When they get co-ordinated and in synch, I can see them being lauded as perhaps the best defensive KP structure in the AFL.

Personally I’d sack the GWS recruiter for taking Boyd and Kelly at 1 and 2 when Patrick Cripps was available.

The horse is dead. You may stop flogging now.

You can’t look at the outcome in isolation - you don’t learn anything that way. It’s easy to say Curnow is better than Weideman, therefore we made an error, but it’s a thoroughly hollow analysis. The outcome is a result of a process - it’s the process that should be scrutinised if we want to improve. I can’t wait to hear Matsuo’s thoughts on this - having a crack at analysing a completely opaque process seems right up his alley. The other thing is we have to be realistic about what an acceptable result is from recruiting. Curnow is a star and that’s lovely - Weideman is progressing nicely as an AFL quality forward; that still makes him a successful pick in my views, just an 8/10 though where Curnow might be a 10. There are still so many duds picked in the top 20, even by the good clubs (see Wells analysis above), that any time you get a decent AFL level player, that has to be at least a pass mark. No doubt I’ll hear trite demands of demanding better and not accepting mediocrity and all that other toss, but you have to acknowledge the facts which are supported by the data.

No he won't.

I've done really well following free tips on Victorian provincial meetings on justhorseracing.com.au. Not so good on metropolitan meetings.

The images of these Behaviour Awareness Officers patrolling the crowd is very disturbing- all the hallmarks of a police state. Gill is a liar and needs to be held to account.

Straight from the writers of Borat's 'Cultural Learning of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan'

AFL fans in May: 'The violence is out of control, why isn't the AFL doing anything?!' AFL fans in June: 'The security is out of control, why is the AFL doing so much?!'

Nice one Bingers. Feel free to post any tips you get here no matter where you get them from. We are currently having a spell in the paddock from our weekly Best Bets. We should be back early in the Spring. But any tips are always welcome. Thanks for your contribution.

I'm looking forward to next year but having an off season this year may be a blessing in disguise. Since the week break was between the regular season and finals was introduced, at least one of the final fours teams has missed finals the following year (including 2 of the three grand finalists) and one of the grand finalists have missed finals the year before. The difference that four or five weeks makes now, means that missing finals can be a real positive for teams that are looking to build towards the next season. It means clubs can start their pre-seasons earlier and get their players in for surgery a lot earlier that they otherwise would. A full pre-season for us, getting any surgeries in early, an easier draw and a high drafts picks (that may be traded) will be a huge positive for us as we have a serious crack at the flag next year. This year has been a real disappointment, but I'm very optimistic about next year!

Weekend Monkey: MLB Monday 4.10am Houston vs Toronto Houston Win -1.5 $1.87 MLB Monday at 04:10am Minnesota Twins v KC Royals Minnesota -1.5 $2.00 Copa America Mon 8.00am Uruguay V Equador Uruguay (W) -3.5 goals match $2.15 8/1 this week Monkeys. Get those Bananas!

Fremantle are playing the sort of football that will kill us. Next week will be the final hit on the nail to fully seal the coffin. We’re done, finito, gotov, acabado, hotovoy, klaar, 完成的, færdig med, skończony

Monday Best MLB Monday at 04:10 Minnesota Twins v KC Royals Minnesota -1.5 $2.00

But this club has no right to pull the pin, at any stage. That is my point, and it is what must change. We have pulled the pin for years at times and we see the results. Over the years Whorethorn have always played to win even if they missed the odd September, a winning culture is the premium objective. We need that attitude locked in. What i will say is this, i wouldn’t rush anyone back into the side until they are ready to go

So do you fire the Carlton recruiter for missing Oliver or praise him for getting Curnow..? Fire the Brisbane recruiter for getting Schache or praise them for getting hipwood? Fire the GWS recruiter for getting Pickett or praise him for getting Himmelberg?

Apologies for potentially throwing a bit of a grenade into the thread, but given we're also currently 'critiquing' the game plan, structures, assistant coaches, lack of a cohesive base, fitness boss, CEO and head coach, doesn't that put a bit of a disclaimer on making definitive calls on our recent recruiting in the context of everything else that is inarguably wrong or, at best, questionable?

Evaluating Weideman vs anyone else in his draft year needs to be in context of team balance at the time he was drafted in November 2015. Taylor said it would take a few years for him to hit his straps. And, we had Watts and Hogan to give Weidemen the space to develop. There is no way Taylor could have anticipated our other 194+cm forwards (Watts and Hogan) to be traded out in the next few years. If Taylor had thought losing them was likely he almost certainly would have taken a more 'ready to play' forward eg Curnow instead of Sam. As it stands, I'm very happy we have Sam. Context is important.

Rather than the odd over-reaction (in either direction) what is most disturbing to me is the AFL coming up with the Orwellian title of "Behavioural Awareness Officers". Add: I apologise, the AFL heavies have read 1984. Unfortunately they didn't read it as a warning but as a style guide.

What absolute rubbish Round 1 we were not ready to go...

Can I have some of the stuff you are on jumbo!!?

It is a fair bit different to outright tanking or putting the cue in the rack. Those developing/fringe types that we would be putting extra games into would be going pretty hard at it with the opertunity they are given I recon. I'm in agreement that it's the approach that we should take, but only from around Rd 18 - 19 onwards. We need to get games into as much of that best 22 as we can get on the feild between now and then to build back confidence, build that game style and winning culture for 2020. I think once we do build back a bit of confidence and system, it should actually be easier to slot a few of the lesser likes back into the lineup and give them a go at the end of the season.

Ha ha haha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

I understand that Nev. i want us to win more games than we lose in this last 10. Learn to hurt and hurt to win Fine line getting the balance right

Be better not to now in my opinion. Similar to the Swans in 2017, I think we'd use up all our tickets getting there and it would end up a pointless endeavor. We'd then be starting behind again, just like last preseason, with worn down players needing surgery/rehab and we'd be staring down the barrel of an underprepared 2020. I personally think we should treat the rest of 2019 as a preseason for 2020. Get the surgeries done now, be extra conservative with rehab and fitness, workshop our game plan and structures, and make some hard decisions about senior players who may need to be dropped to work on weak areas of their games. All about 2020 now. Get a head start so we can have clear air going into preseason.

Just get rid of the grog of course too much money in that !!!!!

If we win the next 4 (Freo, Brisbane, Doggies, Carlton) we are a chance.

Weekend Special MLB Monday 4.10am Houston vs Toronto Houston Win -1.5 $1.87

Reactionary post. Four weeks ago everyone was saying ‘how did we not take McKay instead of Weid!?’ McKay was starring and Curnow couldn’t buy a goal. Now Harry plays badly and Curnow stars and there’s a flip. Thats why operating in hindsight is so easy.

Source: https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/tr-melbourne-demons?year=2019&rt=TT&st=MA

The umpires could (at the AFL's direction) stamp out all such behaviour very quickly. Just pay a free for the slightest punch etc. Coaches would soon crack down on any players who gave away stupid frees. Instead they ignore the initial punch in plain sight and pay a free against the retaliator which produces a positive reinforcement for doing those cat-acts in the first place. (Yes, I like dogs and don't like cats.)

We love Gawny. But he is not there yet. Superstars make clutch goals and sustain their dominance for the best part of a decade.

I'm sorry but picking Sam Weideman ahead of Charlie Curnow was unforgivable by Jason Taylor. He overlooked a generational player there in Curnow. People can say 6 other clubs did as well but it's not good enough. At pick 9 (Weideman) and pick 12 (Curnow) a clear decision had to be made between the two and Taylor went the wrong way. Add that to his resume please, bolded, highlighted, and underlined.

Looks like its just Victorian. Which makes sense as that state is an SJW shithole.

Josh Dunkley won’t be on the trade table. Let’s move on.

Unnecessary by Channel 7, they're on to cover the game not crowd politics. Also ironic because they're the people who have been cutting to nuffies in the crowd doing their block after controversial decisions for years.

Weekend Monkey: Copa America Mon 8.00am Uruguay V Equador Uruguay (W) -3.5 goals match $2.15

Freo were merciless today. Reminded me of how we played the finals. Can't see us winning next week. But I hope we bring some of the ferocity of our finals series. If we don't Freo will smash us and not just on the scoreboard. ?

That piece of news popping up for some reason made me go back and check his playing career stats, and awards. Also spent some time just reminiscing about his playing style and roles. Setting everything else aside for a moment, is it just me or would Adam Goodes be the precisely perfect player to add to our 22 right now? Plenty of goals, a huge load of goal-assists, really effective at getting the ball to dangerous places and doing it quickly and decisively, good at offering leads backed by top workrate. And as a bonus he contributed most of that right from the start of his career (hence the 372 games). Oh, and uh... just for the people still splurting on as if his 'playing for frees' was an actual thing and not just a shameful beat-up... his career average for 'Frees For' was one a game, which doesn't even put him in the top-100 for 2019. His highest season average for frees was 1.3, which just barely sneaks him into the current top-70 for 2019... and that average is when he was playing primarily as an undersized ruckman/mid. If he was flopping and diving for frees an unusual amount, then clearly it was also the one and only aspect of Australian football that he wasn't elite at. Oh, to have a pick 43 the likes of Adam Goodes.