KingDingAling

Matheison had 20 plus kicks on the weekend, that is a decent effort. He can certainly find the football.

Fair comment, cleaner inside of a contest than either. That is a reasonable start. All 3 are elite users of the football. Toumpas tends to panic a bit atm, I would argue that Balic has better composure. In saying that, I'm not locked in on Balic, I just prefer him to Parish, I don't think it's a strong field of mids this year. It would be ideal to take a tall first up, then draft a mid with our second pick - hopefully Gresham or Lovell.

He doesn't look aggressive. He looks clean, not dissimilar to Toumpas, good on the outside. Great skills. Well balanced kid. They mentioned in the nationals Parish was a contested player - but I haven't seen it. I prefer Balic, but I might just be bias towards kids who play basketball.

Similar thing happening in the US at the moment. Trump is leading the polls, not because he is a good guy, but more so as a reaction to the left. I think people are getting sick of being told what to think, how to feel, sick of being shouted down when they don't agree.

I swear at Selwood. His ducking frustrates the hell out of me. I boo Brent Harvey, Scott Brothers, Adam Goodes, all for the same reason, they can give it, but when it gets dished back at them, they all turn around and say "Why me?".. In fact, North Melbourne as a whole tend to run with that mindset.

Kick it to a teammate. I would even settle with 'aiming' to kick it to a teammate, even if the ball doesn't reach it's intended target. At present, we are just bombing the ball in, no direction, under 10's footy mentality. Take a little extra time, I don't care if you get caught holding the ball a few times - trying to pick out a player. Stick at it.

By Gil coming out and lecturing people, I think those who are disenchanted with Gil - and the state of the game atm (which is deplorable), all those angry at lop sided equalisation, basically anyone already pessimistic about the AFL, unfortunately I think many more will start booing Goodes - just in spite of Gil. So I don't see this ending well for either Gil or Goodes.

Not many people have worked out for MFC, Brett Ratten is an exception to that trend. Sadly, I don't think Ratten would have us anymore.

Good. Although he doesn't sound as though he is the type that would dominate a combine. I hope we are keeping Lovett on the down low, I'd rather take a punt on Lovett - than stick with M.Jones, Bail or McKenzie.

I think we should just concentrate on fast tracking some kids now, and giving Michie a decent run at it. Use the rest of the year to sort through the chaff, see who it is worth putting time into. Give White and Hunt a run in the ones. St Kilda played more first year players than we did on the weekend. We need to unearth some new young talent, step them up and get them in there. I'd like to see ANB start in the midfield, give Michie a decent run in there. If need be, rest Jones or drop Tyson. It is most important we fast track some young talent.

It's not just culture. We overlooked too many footballers - and drafted too many athletes. West Coast taken a lot of the kids we SHOULD have, they are sitting near the top, we are sitting near the bottom. Their culture was arguably worse than ours. They just drafted competitive footballers, as they always have. Culture is just something this club sells it's supporters to get them off of their backs. It is an easy justification for mediocrity. They are hardly going to come and say that we drafted sub par football players with quality picks, and that is why we are an ordinary football club.

Balic. We need his skills.

He wouldn't be getting a game at GWS.

We do have a lot of spuds on our list. Just sub par footballers.

With decent supply Stringer would have 8-9 by now. Bulldogs should've put this away.

Something simple and basic would be good. With all the talk about the 3rd man up during ruck contests as well, looks like the AFL are ready to step in for another rule change. I like the idea of four on the interchange and unlimited rotations. If the game speeds up and injuries occur - that will be enough of a deterrent to slow rotations. The less the AFL can meddle the better. I will be very interested to see the statistics for knee injuries in a few years time, the AFL have brought in no diving, but I think the end result will be more knee injuries. Players now get complacent not expecting others to dive in, their legs are relaxed, they aren't expecting impact, that is when damage occurs.

Yeah I don't know, I heard it a couple times today in the Port Melbourne game. I didn't get it either.

If Charlie Dixon is still on the market he would be a perfect fit.

It is a joke that the umps favor Selwood. He ducks, gets tackled, gets a free kicks. It is a blight on the game, does nothing for the umps, it is pathetic. Turning into netball.

I always said the AFL dug their own hole overlooking us for a PP. Now there isn't much justification giving out priority picks. Carlton shouldn't get one and neither should any other side.

What a sh*t game of football.

The AFL are do-gooders, their 'better to be safe than sorry' rules do more damage than they do good. The head is sacrosanct rule where the head cannot be touched has just resulted in players leading in head first. So what happens when players lead in head first, well, instead of changing the rules back to discourage it - the AFL just makes more rules and harsher penalties. However well intentioned some of these rules may be, they are causing more damage than was originally the case before they were brought in. This can go for nearly all their rule changes. Also, they micromanage aspects of the game to make it fan friendly, the end result is similar to the last example - it looks worse. Strip the game back to it's basics and let it evolve naturally, we'd see a far greater product and spectacle.

It is refreshing when I read an article by Thomas and I consider it as Grant playing the straight bat. A couple of years ago this would've been a risky article. Thankfully there have been some critical articles of the AFL of late. The AFL run as a business, but they seem to forget that the game is the product, and when the product is rubbish, no one wants it. Instead the AFL market the product and [censored] it out to big business, and meanwhile the product is of sub standard quality. The AFL have hijacked the game, disrespected it, sold it out, and now it's sh*t.

Easily. Could play till he is 35. I watched an SANFL game a few years ago, Adelaide had dropped him over an incident. He had close to 40 touches in 3 quarters, I just thought - this bloke is far too good for SANFL. He just had a knack of finding the pill. Nothing has changed. In the current climate of youngsters neglecting skills and smarts, Vince could comfortably play till he is 34-35. Ablett jr will be able to play till he is 37-38 IMO, and retire on his own terms, providing the body holds up.

I think it is a relevant article. Sports that obtain longevity and a consistent appreciation - are those that remain pure. Sports like AFL that continue to change the rules by the week, do not remain pure, they essentially change into something that does not remotely represent it's historical starting point. Not only have the rules been hijacked, but the game itself has been hijacked. The people making the big decisions and directing the outcome - run football like a business, it has became an entertainment spectacle. It is something that fans just switch off now, like when I see the Kardashians on TV, that is where I see football heading.