Bang Bang Bang

It does alter the fact quite significantly I would have thought. You're still talking like it was a straight swap. It wasn't.

Wrong. The most important part of the Howe trade from our perspective was pick 29 which we directly used in Howe's place to give to the Gold Coast when he decided he didn't want to join the Suns. By trading pick 29 (the Howe pick) we were able to move up to the draft to secure Oliver. At our original pick #6, both our targets in Oliver and Parish would have been gone. The Suns took Callum Ah Chee. There was also Kennedy, Toumpas and later picks exchanged in the mega-trade, but it most certainly wasn't a straight swap of Kennedy for Howe. Here's a direct quote from Josh Mahoney at the time, referring to the swap of draft picks with the Suns.

Pretty good assessment this week joeboy. Tyson's stats look good but I thought he was absolutely terrible after a good month. That speculative shot he missed in the third quarter with three players free close to goal was unforgivable. Vince is terrible in defence. If Luke Beveridge was coach he'd probably be dropped next week. 2017, he needs to go back to the guts where he won a B&F.

Looked ominous all day but as soon as Watts missed that shot he normally would could kick with his eyes shut, I knew right then we wouldn't win. A little tip for 2017 and beyond. If we a) are wearing white jumpers and b) playing a [censored] side at the MCG then don't expect to win.

I swear Jay Clark is a hidden employee of the club, he breaks every piece of MFC-related news first. Never heard of Corey Maynard, but his brother goes alright and I have great faith in Jason Taylor.

Oliver will be the best of them I think. The numbers he's getting with 60% game time in his first year have been crazy at times, and then you add in his height, excellent decision making, calmness, skill (hand and foot) and aggression and you get the complete package for a modern midfielder. I'm surprised he doesn't get any love in the media, he will soon.

Just had a flashback to Hunt's tackle on Robert Gray in the last quarter. Absolutely pummelled him! I bet Gray wasn't expecting that.

I reckon our easy leaking of goals 'out the back' seemed to stop the moment Frost started playing back for us (against Hawthorn in the wet). I'm not saying he deserves all the credit, but his form back there has made a huge difference.

I feel like making a gif of every Oliver possession, he's a magician. When will Neville Jetta get his due recognition? He's pretty much a mini-Rance for us, with better disposal. Max brilliant again. Not his best game but how many players can kick goals from that pocket? Watts made it look easy. Hogan has probably shot himself in the foot with the stalled contract negotiations. His value was higher last year. Bad luck buddy.

Hunt could seriously become one of the premier half backs in the competition in a couple of years. So, so good.

Good article on Viney on the ESPN website, http://www.espn.com.au/afl/story/_/id/17269727/melbourne-football-club-jack-viney-ultimate-afl-athlete I remember just before we drafted him (in the bruise-free era), he was referred to as a 'culture changer'. He is certainly living up to that reputation.

He extended his rookie contract last year, something Scully never did. About as much chance of Weideman being another Lucas Cook.

Anyone see vandenBerg push Hodge out of the way with contempt and win a crucial footy early in the last quarter? He doesn't get the footy enough most weeks but what he does do is often impressive.

"One of the best second halves I've seen by a ruckman for a long, long time." Clarkson on Gawn.

Surely Oliver never plays VFL again.

Will be proud either way from here but Hawthorn will find a way like they always [censored] do. Harmes' disposal is diabolical.

Hunt got him over the shoulder. Paul Roos absolutely lost his [censored] at the one after that though - the one where he blatantly ducked into Jones' tackle and got rewarded.

12 touches and [censored] knows how many clearances for Oliver in that quarter.

'The next Lucas Cook' looks an absolute star already.

He called Josh Wagner 30 minutes before the draft and Weideman to debut on a Monday! He must be Paul Roos.

I'm worried for him. He only signed a one-year extension last year, and spots on the senior list in 2017 will be tight. The coaches obviously don't see him as best 22. Personally, I thought he was serviceable against the Hawks, important against Collingwood and the Sydney game? Unfair to judge him on that, you see games played in those conditions once every couple of years at best. I hope he gets another year.

He said he had received a lot of complimentary texts from Dees fans after yesterday's games and that he thought Melbourne fans would be rapt about the win. Somebody needs to text him the link to Demonland. He also said Goodwin noted the players looked a bit flat at training during the week and thus the subpar performance wasn't totally unexpected. I found that interesting.

Paul Roos (twice), Rodney Eade and Adam Simpson have all given Tyson votes in the past two games. He had the most of any player vs West Coast and equal most again against the Suns. That means all of them agreed he was in the best 3 players on the ground, both weeks. You know you're spinning in the mud when multiple, experienced coaches disagree with you. I'm sure they've all played at a higher level than you, making their opinion 'more valid', as you put it, than yours.

Bontempelli was considered a reach at pick 4 and was never going at pick 2. It's very possible we wouldn't have taken Kelly either, with names like Aish, Scharenberg and Billings being in the mix. Heaven forbid if we had held onto the pick and taken one of those battlers. The same people complaining now would be having a hissy fit. Tyson is a steady midfielder good for 25ppg and Salem is all class when fit (which to be fair isn't often enough).