SaberFang

I want to see Sydney lose purely because I don't want the teams above us continually winning, but... I also want Richmond to lose. All the time. It's just amazing.

Fox had a great graphic last week which showed how Richmond tend to stay in games until about half way through Q3 then completely fall apart. Their scoreworms from multiple games this year all painted the same picture. I'd bet anything Richmond lose this, and by no narrow margin.

Not sure what would be more enjoyable tonight? Another Tigers thrashing or Brisbane beating Collingwood?

We would be doing well to come within 30 points of the Hawks. They are still incredibly potent and shouldn't be taken lightly.

And we still don't know what happened between Guy and the playing group. Clearly McKenna was sweeping severe cultural issues under the rug (Bailey), but turfing him out for a psychopath like Eade (Neeld) to unite the playing group has backfired horribly. Sound familiar?

If they lose O'Meara, Prestia (2016) and Swallow (2017), they may as well fold. Ablett's practically finished with this persistent run of injuries; I can't see him getting his body right at his age and complete an entire pre-season. They are treading water and you sense the sharks are circling. That Swallow sought out his brother's team's doctors for a better diagnosis on his knee says a lot about what Suns' players think of their club, IMHO. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/afl/kangaroos-happy-to-help-suns-swallow-overcome-injury/news-story/5dbe1fb4fee1e28cf940e2869525cd2b I'd love to get Touk Miller to the MFC, he's OOC next year.

Gold Coast are a complete rabble. They will have an exodus this year that rivals Brisbane 3 years ago.

That does fit the usual Melbourne formula doesn't it, judging by our Carlton and Essendon losses last year.

Can we please get Brayshaw resting for a month? We inappropriately ran him into the ground last year and he clearly needs a spell. With the depth we have currently, there is absolutely no reason we should be treating Brayshaw with anything but absolute conservatism.

Everyone pray that Fremantle get up. Helps our ladder position.

I get the feeling it was probably all part of the long-term plan right from the start. Roos and Jackson are no muggs. It seems more and more clear to me that this was a stealth rebuild all along; they just couldn't admit it publicly without getting supporters off-side.

The overwhelming optimism here gives me serious cause for concern about the outcome of tomorrow's match. Feels suspiciously like the St Kilda match, after we won 2-in-a-row and spent the week beaming in the media. MFCSS.

If we finish much higher on the ladder last year, we don't get Oliver and Weideman. If we finished higher the year before, we don't get Petracca and Brayshaw. Pretty happy he ensured our defensive foundations were in place, even if it took 2 years. We can't balance the attack and defence just yet, but once it all clicks together we'll see the benefit of Roos' first two years. These 4 top draft picks being a key side benefit, too.

The free kick count is hilarious, considering the scoreline.

If Geelong had kicked accurately, we'd be in the 8 tonight. Bloody annoying!

I am so, so, SO very tired of hearing about Patrick [censored] Dangerfield. If hearing his name was a drinking game, I'd be in a coma already.

Everybody panic! We're going to lose by 100 points!!!!!! 1!!!1

Brayshaw available after two concussions...?

Let's just hope they sign McCarthy for $800k and have to sell the farm to get him. End of story.

I can't believe the hysteria over a simple quote. What is Demonland becoming? Twitter?! Everyone is outraged about everything! Skuit's grammatical correction explains the context of the quote perfectly. Kent was basically saying that, yeah, he's out of contract, but the wonderful coaching group aren't heaping pressure on him or threatening him to perform (as we know they've done to other underperforming players who are OOC). This is likely due to his interrupted pre-season coming off hamstring surgery last year. Essentially, he's saying the club aren't putting the pressure on him in a contract year, probably because they're pretty happy with his progress. However, it's always in the back of his mind that he's OOC and he needs to perform if he wants a good value contract. It's not that difficult.

Makes me feel ill just imagining Oliver in Essendon colours. So, so glad we got him instead of Essendrug.

I can't for the life of me understand why Hogan would leave what looks like the most promising batch of youth coming through, bar GWS and the Dogs, for a team that's just fallen off the cliff. He's spent 3 years enduring a rebuild about to flower, why on earth go back to endure another rebuild that has no guarantee whatsoever will deliver? Ross Lyon ain't known for youth and development, and Fremantle is a black hole as far as trading in big-name players from other clubs. It makes absolutely no sense.

And there's your answer. At what point has the AFL made anything difficult for Essendon in the last 4 years? They've been complicit in sweeping everything under the rug to protect their own image, and that disgusting press conference where Gill conceded they want Essendon strong and successful proved their shameless motivations.

Frankly there's nothing the AFL could even do if Essendon followed that path, it seems bloody obvious to me that they could just pay Heppell $2m as "compensation" for hurting his reputation, then just pay him $400k in the salary cap. They can also use this as leverage to keep players signed at Essendon, by being intentionally difficult with compo claims for anyone not prepared to sign (Hurley, for example). Anyone who even attempts to leave that club as a DFA will have the proverbial [censored] thrown at them from all angles, especially from the high-ranking Essendon sycophants at News Limited.

We're talking about the AFL here. They'd probably be the ones forking out the cash begging the players to stay with Essendon.