mo64

It's also inherently more difficult for the ball carrier if he looks up and sees all his primary forwards manned up.

The same player who was assigned to Nick Reiwoldt.

If we're going to persist with a zone defence, we need some understanding amongst the backline. Stop the revolving door approach to selection. Dunn, Garland and O. Mac have all been in and out. And it's not like the changes were made due to match-ups with the upcoming opponent. Make a decision as to who plays alongside T. Mac, and stick with them. Include a 3rd tall if match-ups require.

End of last year. Unless we can use him as trade bait, we are stuck with him for another 2 2/3 years.

We can't. We signed him up to a 3 year contract. Amazing!!!!

Dunn was a perfect match-up for Redpath. Garland isn't a match-up for anyone. People can talk about team defence all they like, but AFL standard backmen should be capable of winning the odd contest. Garland is not AFL standard.

We're crying out for a 2nd and 3rd key defender. O.Mac, Garland and Dunn have all been tried this year, and none have cemented a place. Roos stated that Frost was brought into the club as a replacement for Frawley, and he's yet to be tried as a backman. Whilst I understand the need for a second ruck / forward, Frost was never the answer.

Game will be won or lost in the coaches box. If we give Stringer the same latitude as we gave Reiwoldt, game over.

It makes a mockery of those on here who have total faith in the coaching panel, and never question their team selections. For obvious reasons (lack of ability) Frost was never going to work as a forward. Thank christ that experiment is over, and Frost can work on trying to earn a spot in the seniors as a key back.

There's no sense of invincibility with the top teams this year. GWS look like the form team at the moment.

Based on Scorps twitter feed, Dawes seems to be heavily involved. Can anyone there confirm?

So Michael Talia wasn't the only spy down at the Dogs.

Really looking forward to this game more than any this season. Aside from the North game, where I expected us to be blown off the park, I had anxious expectations of winning the other games. My anxiety was founded against the Saints and Bombers. Make no mistake, the Dogs are a very good team, that is extremely well coached. Listen to the Craig Jennings interview on the MFC website, and how highly he rates them. This game will really show us where we are at.

I disagree. Pedersen's overall skills in marking, kicking and handballing is probably the best at the club amongst the key position players. His issue has been his workrate and commitment to playing a team game. But I agree that the "soft" tag over one incident has been exaggerated.

They also chased Hooker. But they weren't on their own.

Wayne Milera looked anything but a high draft pick. Looked timid, and out of his depth.

Not sure about that. Melbourne definitely wanted to start negotiations, but Hogan's management deferred.

He hasn't.

Roos was on SEN this morning and was naturally asked about Hogan. He trotted out the club line that both parties thought it was best to put discussions on hold until the end of the season. Francis Leach picked him up on the "both parties thought it was best", and Roos came out with the standard, "he's contracted till the end of 2017, he loves it at Melbourne and the players love him". If it was about money and length of contract, that could easily be made public and answered with "the club and Jessie's management need to sought these things out at seasons' end". It's clearly not just about money, and the CBA argument is garbage. What I don't understand is why WCE have never been mentioned if it's a go-home factor? Every club would bend over backwards to make room for a potentially elite player. It could become another Buddy/GWS scenario.

That would require a massive form slump by Gawn. Why would you wish for something like that?

We've only offered him a 1 year deal. Doesn't sound like the inquiries from other clubs would have set him up for life. If Mitch King didn't do his knee, Spencer may have been let go.

Unfortunately that's no longer the case. We can't just trade Hogan to the highest bidder. If he decides to leave, he'll nominate a club, and we'll have to get what we can.

Was he immaculately dressed?

But not in the same week as we've had an interstate game. Family reasons are logical, but not necessarily a good sign. Didn't we give Scully some time off for family reasons? And didn't Scott Thompson want to go home for family reasons? I'm worried.

That was the 2017 free agency list not 2016.