KingDingAling

If May is involved. The only way I see this trade happening is. GC - Out: May and 1st round pick In: Neale and possibly Freo 2nd rounder MFC Out: Hogan In: May and GC 1st round pick Freo Out: Neale and 2nd round pick. In: Hogan

I think that is a pretty reasonable post. If Hogan did want to leave its not a bad thing. I suspect he doesn't and then we look towards acquiring some outside speed by other means. The good part of that is that somewhere - either on an AFL list or state list - there is that player we need. It is just a matter of identifying them (and hopefully getting them on the cheap).

Brayshaw had an insane last half of the year. I had him in my supercoach all year and he deserved his votes.

Mitchell seems pretty humble.

Harmes.

Take Gawn out of the ruck and throw him forward.

This is why I was banging on and on about making the 4. Once we missed the 4 it was up to luck. Unfortunately for us we drew West Coast over there. I lived in WA for a decade and I knew this game was always going to be mission impossible. Next year we need to make the 4 and play these finals at the G. That is the only way. I think the only side I have seen in my time that could win today is the Brisbane side of Voss, Black, Aker and Lappin. Perhaps Essendon's 2000 side as well.

It would be tempting to move Hogan on for Freo's 2018 and 2019 first round pick. Then use that 2019 pick (along with our 2019 pick) to make a play at Kelly at the end of next year, unless, he is a free agent. Kelly is exactly what we need. He is the missing piece.

This playing group has done such a great job. It would be fantastic if we could win today but West Coast at home is a tough gig. I am actually glad we go in as underdogs, and if we win today we will most likely go into next week as underdogs. That is perfect for us.

There is a winner and there is a loser but you have to be there to take part. If we do manage to make the grand final there is a possibility we could lose. I still want us there regardless. Plus, I think we could really trouble Collingwood. They had a lot of players tonight who played out of their skin - guys like Aish, Maine, Cox, Goldsack, etc. I have never seen these guys play like that and it is unlikely they all repeat that performance. If Collingwood were a race horse I'd say they may have just run their Grand Final and now would be a good time to send them out for a spell. Unfortunately for Collingwood there will be no spell, especially if we get there because we have been building, this would be our Grand Final and peak performance.

Goodwin is better prepared. He looks fit and he is obviously meticulous and diligent. Dew's size is perhaps a reflection of his lack of preparation. He looks sloppy. As a player I personally wouldn't respect a guy of that size. He is coaching a professional and elite football team. A bare minimum requirement at his age are that he should be at least in shape. Others may disagree with that.

It will be very tough to beat West Coast over there in a final. Collingwood couldn't do it. If we do manage to do it we will trouble Collingwood - especially if they go in as favs and us underdogs. It would be the perfect storm for us. Just to sneak into the Grand Final and pinch it. The harder game is tomorrow. I have lived in WA and they are one eyed and it will take a massive effort to win tomorrow.

Nah, we want Smith to be fit. He is tracking along nicely, but he isn't anywhere near ready for a WA final. Fritsch is obviously injured. There is no way in hell you drop Fritsch for Smith barring injury, there just isn't. So I hope Bayley is ok and comes up ok for the Grand Final.

His shoulder wouldn't have prevented him from running and keeping ready. I would include Vince ahead of Tyson just incase we do want to switch up the tag or incase a player goes down. Vince is more versatile than Tyson, and can tag and play down back. It gives us more versatility and better options should a player go down in any position.

I think it was smart by our boys to cancel our camp. They obviously had their concerns and voiced up. Goodwin came from a club (Essendon) were the coaching staff put the players at risk - for a bigger cause (success). Keeping that in mind, I have no problem with the players cancelling the camp, and that fact (that Goodwin had previously been a part of a club that compromised the health of players) seems to of escaped those in the media, who just wanted to run down MFC. To Goodwin's credit, he handled the cancellation of the camp like a pro, and has gone on to surpass all expectations of himself as a coach. Goodwin had to earn the players trust and it looks as though he has more than achieved that throughout this year.

I would bring Vince in and get him to tag Shuey. Let Harmes run this week. If we can lock down Shuey and cut off his momentum at stoppages, that leaves Yeo, and as an inexperienced midfielder, Yeo isn't really an inside mid. By using Vince to tag Shuey we could have Harmes, Oliver, Viney, Jones and Brayshaw all rotating at full speed - giving everything they have to push the momentum our way, knowing we have locked down Shuey, and Yeo isn't an inside mid, and Sheed is a touch slow. Sheed is like Tyson. That is the beauty of Gaff been out. We should be able to really do a number on Dom Sheed this week.

He would be a good fit for Carlton - especially if they snare Shiel. The addition of Tyson and Shiel would improve Carlton greatly, it would allow Dow to develop at his own pace and also take the pressure off of Cripps.

David King is right, even if it comes from a place of hurt. King is hurting right now - big time. He is a North Melbourne supporter, and he has had to watch Melbourne collect a raft of quality draft picks (something North didn't do) and march into the finals. But its more than that, he knows we have a dynasty list. This is hurting King really badly at moment. I can see it in his write ups with the little "if Hawthorn had Birchall and co we will be telling a different story". Well David, what about Hogan and Lever? What are they chopped liver? That been said, King is right. I thought we were pretty ordinary in the first half, and we still have a lot of work to do. Thankfully Hawthorn were as bad as we usually are at converting opportunities to results.

6. Viney 5. Hibberd 4. TMAC 3. Gawn 2. Jetta 1. Oliver

The way we played at times last week, and the way Hawthorn were outworked by Richmond. I would expect us to win this week. it doesn't always pan out that way, but going by the form - we are the side to beat tonight. On top of that, I think there is more improvement in us than there is in Hawthorn. Perfect night for football.

We will need to free up a mid to get a clean run at Gawn's taps. I suspect Oliver will be heavily tagged. If we also use Harmes to tag Mitchell it probably leaves Viney as the go to mid this week. I expect he will have a big game. If O'Meara is his man then there is no point tagging O'Meara as he will be forced to go to Viney anyway. We hold all the cards because we have the best tap ruck in the league. Eventually people will come to realise good ruckman are actually very important (looking at you Leigh Matthews).

Yep. Best suggestion yet. Whitfield fills our biggest need. I don't think Shiel will leave them either, so they will remain in cap trouble. We don't have the picks though. The only plausible scenario is if Hogan is on the table. That would seem unlikely. Hogan seems settled in at MFC according to the media.

Probably a no. I wouldn't rule it out solely because of how he left. I would lean towards not taking in Scully because he isn't a great kick, and the last thing we need is another wasteful midfielder. We need midfielders who can hit targets, lower their eyes, and make good decisions. We have a problem disposing the ball effectively into our forward 50. Scully isn't going to help that one iota.

We will smash Hawthorn this week. We are trending upwards in a big way. It seems things are starting to come together. We should be peaking come grand final day.

His physicality is a real weapon for us. Having Vandenberg and Viney around contests is huge for us. It would be scary playing against those guys. That alone puts doubt in the mind of the opposition.