Bang Bang Bang

My bad. Thought I was being the hero for a moment there.

Live stream available. Check VFL website. You're welcome.

I actually thought he was good yesterday, gave away one of the worst frees I've ever seen paid on Goldstein, but was busy and got better as the game wore on. Granted, for two first rounders and 800k a year, his first three games as a collective have been totally underwhelming. But it's way too early for the vultures to come out. Just watch, Lever will be BOG in a final one day and Kane Cornes types will write how "it was great for Lever to show up those who doubted him." That's the media for you.

Just clocking in for the first time in a while to say that this will 100% be the most satisfying win of the H&A season. We beat North. The last of our dark day hoodoos is dead. Thank the heavens.

Ahead of him are Oliver, Gawn, Jones, Jetta, Lever, Viney, TMac, Hibberd for sure. Petracca would probably be next. Then you have Tyson, just ahead of Lewis and Garlett, in my opinion. Three top 10 B&F finishes in four seasons ain't bad.

One of the first things Roos said on the telecast yesterday was that Tyson has been 'outstanding' since joining from GWS. Sometimes you forget how good he has been. We got him as a sort of unknown, but when fit he's a regular at the pointy end of the B&F. Any talk of him not being best 22 is nonsense.

Brayshaw's game, after a pretty ordinary showing against North, was the highlight for mine. Oliver is just so slick, surely AA if he matches last year's output and stays injury free. Hogan is no longer the Messiah, just a very capable roaming tall. I didn't notice him a great deal but his stats on paper are very impressive. Lever is easily worth two midrange first round picks if his early form, coupled with his young age, is anything to go by. Stretch was busy but not overly effective, Wagner wasn't terrible but makes amateurish mistakes,and Maynard is a depth player at best. Also think Pedersen is on his last legs.

Not really because that kind of stuff is instinctive and happens in a fraction of a second.

One super impressive thing about Fritsch's game was that he had the EASIEST of chances to put his head down and kick a 4th goal, and more-or-less make it impossible to leave him out of Round 1. But he still chose to dish it off. Goodwin would have loved that.

Anyone know how Pat McKenna is tracking? Missed a whole year with a hammy last year after two injury riddled years in Sydney so not holding up the highest of hopes for him, but hope he's at least training with the main group.

Those quotes do bode well for his imminent signature. I know Scully said nearly exactly the same things in 2011, except for one difference. He had already put contract talks on hold til the end of the year (how did we not see it coming???). Petracca has indicated a contract will get done. Normally when players are on the way out, or considering leaving, they normally trot things out like 'I want to focus on my footy' and 'There's no hurry/timeframe.' No guarantees but I think Petracca will sign sooner rather than later.

He's talking about Bugg. I understand his point, Bugg was a 'good luck charm' of sorts in 2017, but don't think it will be enough this season. Will get games when injuries hit.

On a more serious note, it's hard to take much from a Mickey Mouse game of 'footy', but a few things stood out. a) Petracca made me nervous every time he changed direction or went air born, but his ability to keep his feet is outrageous. b) Melksham and TMac have a vortex like ability to split the middle of the big sticks. c) Bugg has a distinct lack of ability by foot and will struggle for games as such. d) Seeing a blonde #4 with tattoos and some mongrel was a refreshing change.

I credit the cancelled training camp for our success.

I don't think it's worth analysing anyone's performance, except for maybe TMac's contested marking.

LOL, I knew there'd be one.

I don't get the hate for this game. Most of us get zero chance to see them train over the summer so a glorified match simulation like this is better than nothing! We played a pretty boring team with no new faces. Hope we bring them out next game.

Goodwin isn't coaching, Craig Jennings is. Sack Jennings! I know it's trendy to hate on it but I thought it was alright. I'll take anything on February 15th. Even these glorified training simulations. Looking forward to seeing what Spargo, Fritsch and Baker are like. Petracca better get gastro on Saturday morning.

Who gives a [censored]. Richmond were copping it for years for their [censored] culture. Even as recently as 2016 Paul Roos arrogantly compared our situation to theirs. Then they came out and won games this year and then a flag. That's all that matters. Just bloody win games of football. The melts on here are pretty entertaining though. I guess it's a welcome change from houses being trained down.

You don't write for the Herald Sun do you, OP? Let's break down the "big four" trades shall we. 1. Tyson and Salem for pick 2. You're forgetting how bad we were at the time. 2 for the price of one was a necessity. Tyson has been serviceable and Salem has shown his talent. Further, swapping picks from 70 to 55 that landed Hunt WAS crucial as Collingwood had promised to take him in the 60s (as Hamish McLaughlin said on air in Hunt's debut). Further, there's very strong doubt we would have taken Kelly at 2. Roos has publicly stated we wouldn't. You don't have to believe him if you want (he does spin some drivel). But that year, there were a lot of names thrown up for pick 2 including Kelly. I've read but haven't seen confirmed that we would have taken Billings. So Kelly IMO is a moot point at this stage as it's highly likely we never would have had him. 2. Bernie Vince for pick 23 Are you fricking kidding me? This one is a win for the ages. That was the pick we got for Sylvia! It's irrelevant that Adelaide spent it on Matt Crouch, as we would have selected Lewis Taylor with that pick had we kept it. He was our backup invitee in case Salem was gone at 9 (been confirmed). Give me five years of Bernie over Taylor any day of the week. 3. pick 25 for Melksham Who did Essendon take at that pick? Has he outperformed Melksham to date, even with the drug ban? I have no idea who we had in mind to take at 25 but it's proven to be a very good trade for us already. 4. The farm for Lever You must live on a pretty crappy farm. I think Lever was worth pick 10 and 20. We didn't have that, so rearranged some other picks to get a near market value for him. We maybe didn't have to buckle to Adelaide's demands but the actual price we paid wasn't the farm and wasn't far off a fair price. And of course, you didn't mention the trade of all trades. Sam Frost and 40, 53 for pick 23 (Pat McKenna) who is actually on our list now! Of course, WITH HINDSIGHT, I'd be keeping pick 2 and drafting Kelly, I'd be taking Cripps at 9 and Matt Crouch at 23, and I'd probably be taking Charlie Curnow ahead of Weideman while I am at it. But if we're allowed the benefit of hindsight, then so are 17 other clubs and it's all going to [censored] itself up with the sliding doors stuff anyway.

Two things. Predicted superdrafts hardly ever end up being as good as projected. Rave about 2001 all you want, but then came 2006, 2008 and 2012, all of which have flunked. Meanwhile, 2013 and 2015 were considered weaker yet look the best of recent years. Secondly, we could have picked Scully (2x AA squad), Martin (best player in comp), Talia (AA) and Fyfe (AA) with 1,2,11 and 18 in 2009. That's just off the top of my head.

We also had a salary cap squeeze. We invested in Yze and TJ while Powell and Woey were the collateral. Doubt we would have won a flag even if we kept all 4 but TJ didn't do much more outside of 2005 and Yze faded fairly substantially after being AA in 2002.

Interesting results. Hannan and Frost above Milkshakes? Petracca above Garlett? Jones, Viney and Lewis above Hibberd? Viney 2nd? Coaches pet! Can't argue with Clarry romping it in though.

Every single year this happens. I remember the Gold Coast guy saying the exact same thing re. O'Meara. Brisbane were super strong re. Aish. Both ended up at their club of choice. You also need to factor in emotion, how would YOU be feeling if Petracca requested a trade to Collingwood three days after losing a GF we should have won? Yeah, I thought so. Burton will calm down and soon realise we're good and fair to deal with. We paid Essendon slight overs (at the time) for Melksham and they were good enough to return the favour with Hibberd for slight unders the following year. Playing hardball gets you nowhere. Lever is just about worth two first rounders outside the top 10. He's a very good player, although I question his selection in the AA squad. He's also injury prone. But draft picks are overrated, if it ends up being 10 and 20 or something for Lever then I won't be losing any sleep over it.

You forgotten his predecessor?