SaberFang

Who in their right mind would hire Dawes to represent them in a court of law? He'd constantly drop any case files handed to him.

Not much of a "hunt" when you're pursuing an animal that's already shot.

I'd say the AFL are getting increasingly nervous about Hawthorn's domination. No other team can get close to them and free agency will only make it easier for the dominant teams to stay that way.

It's certainly no coincidence that Richmond booked his medical the morning after the Grand Final.

Probably just IBS. Without getting graphic, it could explain what happened to his MFC polo shirt.

Something's been bugging me for a few days and suddenly it makes sense. When Chris Dawes was a guest on Fox Footy the other night, he was in casual clothes (a Puma t-shirt, from memory). Every single other guest they had on (like Joel Selwood) was wearing their team's sponsored shirts. From what I understand it's a contractual requirement for players to wear their club's gear in media appearances. Didn't think much of it at the time but he also had a pretty disinterested, generic answer when asked about where the Dees are at. He was noticeably blase about the club (even though he's rarely much of a wordsmith, I'll admit).

Ben Newt--- Oh, right. Well, we all know he's freakin' useless, but it's possible other clubs desperate for a KPF would happily take him on. I reckon we could get a pick inside 30.

Our footy department have their work cut out for them to get some kind of return on pick 4 for Toumpas. As it stands right now, that pick goes down as one of the worst since 2007 for so many reasons. If we can something inside pick 20 we'll be doing ok.

He looked horribly hungover and basically said as much when asked how he was feeling. Love Bernie. He and Tex would've been up to some serious mischief on Friday night.

Funny that, Crossy's made no announcements on his movements next year. I'd be gutted if he moved to another club as a development coach. He's had such a tangible impact on training standards by our kids.

I think everyone's had that job where you reach a breaking point and officially mentally check out. Whether from bad management, exorbitant unpaid overtime, poor conditions or otherwise, once you reach that point it's very, very hard to check back in. You could almost see Frawley reach this exact moment in the horrible Eagles loss at the start of 2014. His demeanour was horrible from that point onwards. That said, sometimes a fresh start can be the best thing for both parties. I'll go out on a limb and say both clubs will look back on last year's draft favourably. Frawley nullified the best KPF in the competition to help secure another Hawks flag, while we got the best young midfielder in last year's draft (potentially only rivalled by the player we took before him). The optimist in me hopes that our last few drafts could be for us what Hodge/Lewis/Roughead/Franklin were for the Hawks.

Hawthorn having cornered the Tasmanian market ON TOP of everything else they've cornered is just the icing on the cake. Annoys me to no end. And, of course, it's yet another [censored]-up directly caused by the stubborness of the idiots at AFLHQ, who saw fit to expand into markets with zero interest in the game and abandon their loyal fans down south... all in the name of money.

I guess, ultimately, the usual response from other club supporters about the woes of the MFC's predicament is that most of it was self-inflicted. Poor drafting, poor trading, poor development, poor culture. These are all very fair criticisms and every MFC supporter knows it. However, as you correctly stated, it's not healthy for the overall competition to have clubs like this (whether in this position through their own fault or not) wallowing in misery for years on end. It hurts every single club and, frankly, the opposition to us getting draft assistance last year from other clubs was laughable (I loathed the hypocrisy by Swann on radio this week who, after the Lions PP was rejected, actually conceded the MFC deserved one last year... after campaigning against it at the time!) Point is, what benefit does it serve 17 other clubs to have a consistently weak team in the league? Low match attendances, low ratings, low revenue, low public interest. The only logical reason I can fathom for this is simply enjoying having that "guaranteed" win once or twice a season and maintaining the status quo of feeder clubs that continues to get high draft picks and players walking out the door looking for success. It only serves the successful clubs having this; the overall league suffers tremendously.

Hoges was at the September Club tonight at the 'G. Anyone in attendance is welcome to throw their hottest female mates at him, on the condition they're Melbourne-based. Warning: he may be a few beers down.

Yep, Brad's undoubtedly super attached to both kids. It sounds as if he'll still be moving to Sydney and they'll both continue to take care of the kids as single parents.

Frawley described the win as an "odd feeling". Given he was injured and didn't play half the season, and not to mention walking straight into a dual-premiership team, I can see exactly why his first premiership feels a little odd. It's a little bit like copying answers off a cheat sheet during an exam -- you might get a perfect score, but you didn't really earn it.

Bit of sad news tonight. While it appeared Brad was leaving his coaching position with us to move with Pia to Sydney for her new role at Home & Away, but the couple have today announced their separation. http://www.mamamia.com.au/news/pia-miller-separates-husband/

The point is also well founded that the first round is no longer much of an advantage draft-wise in an 18 team competition. All well and good to land pick 1 like Carlton, but they don't get another pick until 19. In a shallow draft, that's just another Lucas Cook waiting to happen. The better clubs have the advantage of being attractive propositions for free agents; it's time the lower clubs got a leg-up in the draft. The bottom 6 should share the top 12 picks, before the other 12 teams get a go. The clubs that get 2 early picks could change each year depending on wins/losses. For example, this year there's a pretty noticeable gap between 12th (Collingwood, 10 wins) and 13th (us, 7 wins), thus making the bottom 6 the obvious candidates for draft assistance.

Maybe some kind of financial benefit for lower clubs who pick up free agents, ie. 25% of their salary doesn't fall into the salary cap. Would enable lower clubs to pay more money to free agents without selling the farm in the process.

The AFL vastly underestimated the ripple effect that these 3 events occurring within the same time frame would have on the overall health of the competition: 1. Giving all the best young talent to only 2 teams for about 4 years running. 2. Removing the priority pick, meaning teams that were genuinely struggling got no draft assistance. 3. Introducing free agency, allowing the best teams to cherry pick players without giving up any draft picks. I mean, obviously any halfwit could see what would occur (the teams at the top would maintain a healthy domination because any lower-tier clubs would be unable to build a long-term competitive list via the scraps of the draft), but we're talking about the AFL here. They couldn't organise a chook raffle.

I think you'll find he isn't eligible for free agency until the end of 2018??

My least favourite thing today was seeing some blind drunk, hobo-resembling Eagles supporter verbally abusing Ross Lyon as he walked away from the G by himself. In true Ross Lyon style he just kept walking while muttering under his breath.

Let's not forget their acquisition of Rioli at pick 12 was hardly the "drafting genius" it's portrayed to be. It's become increasingly obvious he was shielded from other clubs and likely told to tank his draft interviews by acting disinterested and uncommitted.

This is a satirical thread, right?

Picked one hell of a match to put out THAT performance, Eagles. Hawthorn simply will not fall away until Hodge, Mitchell and Lewis are gone. They are like 3 coaches basically directing the players on the ground.