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Hardtack, I am sorry to hear this. I hope you have a cancer that there is a pathway to cure from Stage 4. As you know some there are some there are not................ but whatever the case positive thinking will increase your lifespan. I was given 6 months the week the Dees held up the 21 Premiership and have been so grateful for the extra 2 years I have been able to spend with my family. It's been particularly tough on my 11yo and 13yo and wife. What I can say is that I have made the most of my time since becoming terminal 3 years ago. The Dees have delivered one flag for us in this time, I am upbeat they can deliver a second this year. Your comments above about me are fair.

For me the coach that laid this out perfectly for the AFL world to see is Adam Simpson. Cleary there’s been no incentive to win, but the moment he got word the board was going to get rid of him he started to flood players behind the ball and tried to defend. His win was the ultimate F U to his employer. He was obviously doing the right thing by the club, but when they turned on him he repaid the favour.

Well this was great fun, and as one of the inaugural riders I will take your thanks and your undying admiration and gratitude. Jackson is a singular talent that they tried to stiff us and the football gods were having none of it. ND5, 13 and 25 is about right.

Pick 5 and 24. Thank you dockers, it's been fun.

Welcome Harley

Speed is my guess. Footy game plans shift and change but in the main follow the template provided by the teams winning premierships. The tigers set the template in 2017 and every flag since, bar one (the eagles in 2018) has been won using the same basic method - contest, defence, pressure and territory. In order to break down that method, particularly the defensive elements, Mcrae introduced a tactical tweak with the ultra fast ball movement from the back half. Adelaide have adopted a similar model (though they don't take as many risks defensively) and the Hawks have taken that model and given it further tweak. What i find interesting is that the Pies model has not won a flag, and it vulnerabilities have already been exposed and exploited (the pies are ridiculously vulnerable to goals on the counter becuase their defenders all participate in that wave running they do, leaving no-one behind the ball) but it is def had an impact on how the best teams play. And that impact is the importance of leg speed. Having enough players who are both quick off the mark and can cover ground at a reasonable clip is now super important - particularly in the back half becuase the faster transition game has also resulted in smaller forward lines, so more medium forwards who are quick and less lumbering talls like BB. I suspect a key reason goody likes Smith in the team is his acceleration from a standing start and his sprint speed. And i suspect why they are having a look at turner for the key position down back is he is quick of the mark and has a good cruising speed. Tomo covers the ground well enough once he gets going, though is still no gazelle, but he is dead slow off the mark. And with the ball coming in quick from fast transition the way it will when we play the Pies that is problem - as we saw a couple of times against the hawks. Not much a defender can do when the ball pings from the other end of the ground, there isn't time to set up a zone and a forward leads into an open leading lane. Their only hope is to have the speed to ensure the forward doesn't get separation. Tomo hasn't got that speed. And that lack of acceleration from a standing start means Tomo really can only play the one on one key defender role, not the hybrid one one one/zone off/intercepting role that petty plays when down back. Disco is pretty good one on one, quick from a standing start, an excellent intercept mark and zones of super well. And has good cruising speed. Good move i reckon.

I can still remember the sad days when the tanking controversy ripped through the Melbourne Football Club. We were pilloried in the press as every move the club made was examined under a microscope. Sentences uttered, even those made clearly in jest, were considered as damning by journalists hungry for sleazy headlines ready to condemn the Demons for committing heinous crimes that were ignored when committed earlier by the likes of Collingwood, Hawthorn, Richmond and Carlton. The atmosphere was toxic. But today, tanking is becoming almost respectable, little more than a minor moral dilemma facing Al Clarkson as North Melbourne embarks on its campaign to snare as many concessions from the AFL as it can get without causing embarrassment to the competition’s power brokers. It seems that nobody cares about integrity as much as they did in the days when it was a crime to tell a joke. To tank or not to tank? POSTSCRIPT: Robbo claims in the article that “Demons coach Dean Bailey actually admitted he was asked to not win games”. I don’t believe that’s true - my recollection is that Bails never went as far as admitting that at all. We all knew the drill but nobody had to be told what was at stake. Whatever you wanted to call it - tanking, list management, whatever, the practice was encouraged at the highest official level and the idea of selective sanctions at the time against one club for allegedly bringing the game into disrepute constituted rank hypocrisy by the AFL and many in the football industry. Attitudes might have changed but the hypocrisy has not.

I believe Lyon was at the same reunion in Kyabram that Reid's parents attended. I don't believe there's anything other than a happenstance meeting. Lyon confirmed he attended a Kyabram reunion on radio during the week and Reid's parents were also there.

Today's results are certainly great news for MFC. Opens up our options. WC need multiple first rounds picks as we did in 2013........ splitting our number 1 pick went along way to rebuilding our list....... a super important step to building our premiership list. No doubt WC are very aware of this. Reid becomes a real and live option again. Whether it can be done and whether this is the direction the MFC wants to go, only time will tell. But what we do know is that we have been interested enough to pursue Reid as a possible payday for our 2023 draft bonanza. It is a fact that we have put in enormous time and effort to make this a possibility of happening. The MFC has options on how to spend its bonanza everywhere. This is the honey train draft/trade period for us. Whatever direction we end up taking.......... if we nail it, we set our football club up for a decade. We give ourselves the opportunity to create a genuine dynasty. I am just so excited.

tomlinson needs an oppo forwarded line to select at least one, preferably two lumbering forwards in order for him to have a match-up turner is a much better option for first the bloods tomorrow and then the filth next week - they play mobile, athletic mid-talls and smalls, not slow coaches

I am in the camp that Grundy should be playing, I like two rucks because the risk of Gawn going down is too high and Grundy was the reason we got back into the game against Carlton. However, the AFL has a long way to go in terms of how teams use trade assets. Grundy is a trade asset, we have him under contract so can maximise the return if we do decide to trade him. People calling the trade a failure are clueless, imagine if we didn’t have him after Gawn did his knee? Furthermore if we do trade him we will get a lot more than what we gave up to get him.

I hope Essendon back Dodoro and keep him in for decades to come.

Hardtack sorry to hear about your health situation and wish you all the best and as with GNF and presumably others not travelling well atm, I hope the Dees can win it for all of us and especially, give you some pleasure.

I’m genuinely shocked that twice tonight people have used that word on this forum. I expect better.

Hate the cut of their jib. But hate most things about that club, hate the petulant coach, hate the entitled players, hate that they have been kissed on the proverbial with father sons, hate that they have been given hundreds of millions for their oval that's not an oval, hate the super soft draw that they are given each year Generally don't like that club

11th. Whately discussed it and said it would be a scandal waiting to happen, if Dees had concussed players. He also said the game should be on Friday anyway.

Fox have just announced the expected Coll vs Melb final will likely be on Thursday night. As was the case mid year, this means once again Melbourne will be the only team with a less than 12 day break, meaning any concussed player will miss the next final. Why are we continually disadvantaged this way when it's not necessary?

GNF that is very sad news you have passed on about your health. I wish you and I am sure the whole of DL also joins me in wishing you all the best. I hope you receive more joy from the Dees and that you are with us for much longer than you or your Doctors think. I have enjoyed your posts and rumours of course don’t always come true. I have always looked forward to reading footy rumours and taken them with a grain of salt. All the best mate, thinking of you.

From Lukewarm Beveridge to Boiling Hot Beveridge

Same. Would fit perfectly into our preferred set up and succession plan for Gawn. But 5, 24 and Jefferson is not a bad result considering he was never staying.

Brisvegas are always susceptible under REAL PRESSURE and they are also a Club i put in the Top Shelf of Hate. They are nothing to do with Fitzroy. If we Play them at The Gabba, so be it We owe them a counterpunch BANG!!

Still could end up with 4 & 5.

Goody was clearly wrong about Maginness wanting the ball, he has racked up the possies, getting his first and only one, 30 seconds before halftime.

Surely we can go to the AFL and complain. Absolutely disgusting. Friday night should be the go.

I'm back @DeeZone Updated for Woewodin and Schache for @old55

Tommo is travelling with the team up to the Sydney.

would be great this year. We could end up with pick 1!

Tomlinson VFL stats are bloated by the fact he takes the kick outs and they switch back through him. I would not put much direct comparison into their stats. Both have had quality VFL seasons. Experience aside, Turner offers us more defensive flexibility on who he can defend at AFL level. The only time I would defer to Tomlinson is if he is to be match on a heavier less mobile tall ie: McKay.

I feels like today is our Trade Death Ride grand final. Premiers we get pick 4, runners up it’s pick 5. Either way a good result. Best ride I have been on since being a child

He’s the man without 4 exclamation marks in a row…

Sydney are now quite confident they’ll land Parish and are also going hard for Bailey Smith. They’ll have to lose a player or two that they’d prefer not to, however, I suspect that it will be difficult to pry Amartey or McLean out of there.

Why do we need to play any game on Thursday? Friday, Sat day, Sat twilight, Sat night. At least two finals will likely be interstate so it’s an easy solution.

West Coast putting up a fight to honor the final game of... their entire list except Oscar Allen and Jayden Hunt.

Footscray are still shell shocked from the ‘21 GF I Love it

So as it stands right now with, say, 12 minutes to go: Brisvagas wins Port hot faves to beat Ninethmond We play Filth at HQ first week finals whether win or loose tomorrow.

I’d still rather have kept Jackson, if possible.

Bailey Laurie pictured in Sydney on melbournefc Instagram - sub?

West Coast and North winning in consecutive weeks doesn't bode well for the vital signs of tanking ... We tanked too obviously and I admit I was in favour of it but I was wrong, it was bad cultural practice and teams have learned from that.

Wow what are North doing?! Reid back on the cards here?!? The twists and turns of all the death rides and scenarios confuse the [censored] out of me!

Maybe the bottom four teams should go in a draw for the first four picks.

no i was going with the dream scenario of us getting pick 4 and WC finishing last so we can trade for pick 1

I wouldn’t get too carried away about the prospect of Hawthorn beating Fremantle at the G today. I can clearly recall the night when those teams met earlier this year and the Dockers gave the Hawks a 69 point flogging at Optus Stadium. It was the night of King Charles III’s coronation and I was trying desperately to avoid the boredom of that spectacle only to fall into a worse hell in my capacity as a Freo Death Rider. The Hawks couldn’t take a trick that night and the Dockers played like certain finalists. And please don’t remind me that today’s game’s is being played at the MCG. We know what happened in Round 11 at that venue. And that’s my dose of DRFSS for today.

This is a strong Casey team and it should be very capable of handling a North Melbourne side whose senior counterpart is switched off and which has hardly given a whimper lately. Melbourne has an injury list of five players - Brown, Hibberd, Howes, Petty and Sestan. The only other list player missing is rookie Farris-White who doesn’t make the team at this point anyway because Grundy, Verrall (and even Casey listed Jack Bell) are all ahead of him. All of Melbourne’s emergencies are named in this side but two will be on the flight - one to take his place as the sub and another as travelling emergency. This will leave 14 AFL listed players in the Casey team plus some hardened, experienced VFL players in the lineup. Casey should be too strong.

He failed both times? What are you talking about? His debut, he lasted all of ten minutes before getting injured. That wasn't a failure. That was an injury.

The Cats should be able to easily rebuild with picks 8 and 82 lol

I love the Fritta, Turner selections and I love the mixture of the team. It feels quick, unpredictable and difficult to match up on. I hope we go all out to win it, irrespective of other results. We want to take winning form into the QF, and just remember who we beat and where in Round 23 of last year, and the finals record of that particular opponent.

Your words have been marked. You got an "F".

That’s a poor excuse for not manning up.