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It's about time we had an injury prone player on our list.

Very good player but his body is shot.

pets don't live as long as humans KoD ?

If true, this would be epic. The world needs a good news story at the moment - we are literally being hit by one tres ordinaire event or story every hour of each day. And Harley Bennell could be it. This is potentially the stuff of dreams - a broken but talented potential superstar is given lifeline by a classy (albeit an underdog, ridiculed) club whose glories are in the distant past - and greatness then results. Make it happen world. At a minimum, it’ll be the next big thing on Netflix.

Like he did last week

Smith has missed so much footy, and is yet to establish himself in the senior team. Its best for him to start back, in defence, to find some form and confidence.

Four Cordners. (Sounds like a TV show with a head cold.)

I hope Petty go forwards.

The best games from back then are superior to the best games now. They are also more common. Try and find more than 10 great games from the last 5-10 years. Great games from start to finish not just close finishes.

Exactly. I'd be very confident if he stays Melbourne he stays at Essendon. He stated his desire to move to Sydney was to get away from the pressure of the Melbourne footy fish bowl. Personally I wouldn't go near him. We're not a team that can afford another trading disaster. He's incredibly injury prone and at his best one of the worst kicks for goal I've seen. When he gets everything right he looks great but that's only happened a couple of times in his career. Too risky for MFC and almost certainly wouldn't come to us anyway.

Petty could be the man to crash some packs - Hogan was not

According to Salem on SEN we had some match play last Saturday and Bennell completed the majority of it and pulled up fine. We did see some vision of him in match sim last week but from memory that was a midweek session. We have another match play scenario this Saturday and if all goes well we might at least see Harley putting his hand up for Carlton.

The thought occured to me that ALL players are going to be a significantly higher risk of soft tissue and joint injury upon return from the stand down. The European football zones tbat have restarted were reporting in the range of double or triple the usual injury rate. In a sense, every player should be preparing with as much caution as Bennell. In fact, others should probably be turning to him to ask about his preparation. I'm also as happy as ever to have Burgess on board in a season which could be defined by injury. Come to think of it, given we can expect triple the injury rate for the first few rounds back, I'd argue that the restart is not the time to be 'trying out kids', given that the chances are likely to come quickly anyway. I'll also be pretty glad for our good solid bodies in the midfield and the depth provided by the Hb/hf types who would already be expected to rotate there anyway. Especially with the reserve options we have to slide into small/medium forward roles if we do need to rob that line to feed the meat grinder in the middle. Meanwhile, Jackson's versatility could pay off fast. But back to Bennell - I think he'll very quickly fit our needs in this weird season even more than he would have anyway.

Am I alone in thinking there's a bit of Buddy about Jackson? Give him some time to fill out and what defender is going to be able to outlaw, outrun and outbody him?

Rather injured I thought. Cornes likes to talk about anything

Been wondering for a while if they should trial Weideman down back to get his hands on the ball and build some form. He appears to have the basics to be a good footballer, perhaps a bit more aggression would help but it’s not easy to be a consistent KPF.

Unfortunately this "argument" comes up every time someone "discovers" it. Roy Morgan do surveys...So when they survey anyone in NSW about what club they support in the AFL, the answer is the first NSW based club they can think of. The fact that they have zero interest in AFL is irrelevant to the question. So the Sydney Swans is the most supported club in the land? Complete rubbish. It is a measure of the number of responses RM got in NSW in their sample. How many supporters do they think Sydney have in W.A. or S.A for example? According to RM 1 in 25 people in the whole country support the Swans, simply because they extrapolate the NSW survey numbers to the whole country. It looks good for the AFL when negotiating broadcast deals but the only true measure is the number of memberships taken out.

To be fair though every team is probably a Jono Brown type short. The guy was one of the best key forwards over the past 50 years. He already made significant contributions in 3 flag winning teams by the time he was Weids age.

Forwards: TMAC, Weid, Jackson, Preuss, Petty, Brown, Max (rotation): Hannan, Jones, ANB, Hunt, Bennell, Kosi, Bedford, Chandler, Dunkley, CWags, Fritsch, Petracca (rotation) We are probably a crash and bash forward (like a Jonno Brown or dare I say it Hogan) short at this stage. Otherwise, most of the goals have to come from this mob somewhere.

Part of what makes our game great is the endurance it takes. 90 minute quarters? Might as well make it non-contact and call it Soccer.

Petty has been training up forward all summer.

I wanna see Tom and Petty in the forward line Learning to Fly

Hard to argue those four

Let's not have a little contradiction get between a journalist and his click bait.

I reckon 98 an average team that played out of its skin (apart from those two thrashings in the middle of the year). By 2000 you had Bruce, Green, Powell, Robertson, and older Woewodin and Farmer. '98 is still my favourite season thanks to repeat viewings of Hotter Than Hell but for mine 2000 a better side.

it's easy to watch highlight games and go 'wow, footy was so much better back then!' show me a dour slog between fitzroy and melbourne in the early 80s and tell me football was better yes, football has evolved, and become increasingly defensively-focused, but that is typical of the evolution of nearly every sport worldwide cricket is one of the few games that now favours attacking (batting side) over defense (fielding side) with the evolution of bats >>>>>> non-evolution of bowling and the ball

Which would've made $0.00 since mid March and possibly $0.00 until September. Meanwhile, the money from their sale can be used NOW to help save the club

You forgot '98 that was the best era.

Good news for Jesse.

I think free fallin would be more apt D_s

All the talk I was told about by MFC people (non-current players mostly) was Jackson would come in, play forward, and was already rated higher than Weid in that regard. That was well before any word of him being drafted by us. Maybe that's the go? Certainly would give us some spark and unpredictability compared to TMac, Weid and Brown.

Absolutely. And this was the point I was making earlier in this thread. We too often sit back and wait. People here say “but everyone is doing it tough, no one has money”. Go look at the shopping malls this weekend. Loads of people out buying pointless crap. Look at Bunnings. Packed with shoppers. Many people are receiving more money through government payments than they did when working full time. Yes, some are receiving less, but it’s time to set up some fundraising strategies. No one is suggesting we can make up the $6 million in lost revenue through donations alone, but I’d be looking at ways to minimise the damage. Let’s be frank, there are plenty..plenty ... of Dees fans with money. Those MCC majority aren’t unable to find 50 bucks to put towards a ‘charitable cause’. Asking people for a donation now may be easier than in 6-12 months when the game is running as normal. People will look at it and say, “ahh well, it’s all good, we got the loan from the AFL, crowds are coming back, business as usual again. They don’t need my help”. Again, people will say there are others in greater need of the money. We are ‘supporters’ of this club. It needs our support right now. People are free to pick and choose what organisations they support at this time. No issue with that. But as a fan and member of a struggling club, I’ll choose to support something that I care about to ensure its survival. End rant.

Probably this, looking at the shape of it... https://www.ausleisure.com.au/news/casey-fields-to-receive-8-million-venue-upgrade-in-support-of-elite-womens-football/

Longer season means each game has less meaning and importance. The cost of hosting games at big grounds like the MCG is huge, so no point struggling to get 20,000 people to lots of games. We are far better off having a shorter season where every game means more and trying to get more people to those games.

But they still got a 2nd one in

He's not wrong. The game these days is like watching Italy play soccer.

I have commented after the replays have been shown on how much better the game was then as a spectacle. No rugby style mauls, no tiggy-touch-wood frees for perceived jumper pulls, quick whistles and ball ups for the game to flow, no silly little requests to nominate a ruckman, no commentary by the umpires, no 30 second delays for goals, no mouthguards in smelly socks or groins, no kick down the line to encourage circular flow, no time wasting, no easy stats, down the guts footy and multiple one-on-one contests, no stupid over the top 50m penalties for having a toe nail over a imaginary line, proper kicks ins to encourage a contest (the current system favours those teams who are favoured by the luck of the scoring kick), ruckman who jumpto tap the ball to advantage rather than manhandle each other for no benefit to either team. That enough for now but our great game is overumpired and overcoached like all those other inferior sports that are too offensive to be named. Long live footy.

Even at a Demond/Lions game there would be some specky attempts, bit of dash with Robbie and Mick Conlan, one on one contests and the odd laugh

Aesthetically, football was much better 20 years ago. As a spectacle, I find today's football utter rubbish.

Not since where they first threw a forward pass in NFL has a sport been changed so much by tactics. We can all look back on the now infamous Bulldogs v Essendon game in 2000 where the flood was first played and say football changed forever. Add in the fitness, the interchange and increased tactical use of zoning and the game is nothing like what it was for over a hundred years. The other momentous game was the 1970 grand final which saw the famous handball at all cost tactic. It was a positive change at least. I have now become convinced we should move to 16 players on the ground and 2-3 on the bench.

Late 80’s to early 2000’s definitely saw the best spectacle. Whilst the kicking looked messier it Is easy to say that when such a low % of kicks these days are actual attacking moves to a target rather than sideways to a static position or to a pack. The reduced coaches that are proposed post COVid I actually worry will lead to a period trying to maintain the current controlled strategic bent but the game becoming more pack based as teams are less able to embed it. Whilst I am sick of the rule tampering the only way I can see getting back to anything like this style is a move to 16 a side and significantly reduced rotations. All it would take then is a coach to lead the pack with an aggressive scoring game style to see if others would follow.

Interchange makes a mockery of the argument that the players are fitter today than ever. If so why do they need to rest so often. I am exaggerating to make a point but if all AFL players had to be replaced today and 700 odd new players came in, how many would we miss for their run, their leading, their marking ability, or do the spectacular?

Hoping his dedication to getting serious about his football rubs off on a lot of the playing group.

The responsibility that comes with having a first child is life changing and in my opinion is the primary driver behind HB getting his [censored] together. Not a bad journey back from blowing coke, public drunkenness and blueing.

The idea appears to be that he won’t be quite ready for the restart but without a VFL competition, that means another week or two of training. I wonder however, if he continues to impress at training and the AFL allows two extra interchange players, whether he might be given a limited run against Carlton.

Never a better time to be thankful we got rid of the pokies. Patting ourselves on the back whilst we profit from addicts during a recession is hardly what a football should be. We’ll find the money elsewhere.

I'll take the defence of '94, the forward line of 2000, and the midfield of 2018. Yes, that means two David Neitzes. But does anyone see that as a flaw?