Farmer

Watch the bloody game again and then apologise! He was infinitely better than Frost and Lewis, even in the first half

And I thought that, overall, Bruce highlighted Lever's weakness.

I'm certain the absence of a pre season is a very big deal for a midfielder. More so than, eg, for Hibberd as a defender. but in any event, how could one think of dropping him after yesterday. Watched the replay closely. He buggered up a couple of times but he got the ball a lot and in the second half was a real powerhouse.. He has has a good kicking action--he will regain his accuracy.

Well, it it? There seems to be little reference to the structure of our team. We know Big Max can not ruck all day, all over the ground. We had some very good years with Jeff White rucking around the ground and David Schwarz doing the ruck work in the forward line. Schwarz was not very tall but was extremely effective. It concerns me that we don't seem to have an answer. Do we have to include a second fall in Spencef? No-one seems to suggest that Hogan will pinch hit in the ruck, and Weideman must be years away from doing so. For this reason I am interested in the suggestion that Weideman could play CHB, because there is one bloke on our list who could do the ruck work on the forward line, and that is Tom McDonald. I was impressed by his efforts at CHF last year. Until Tommy Mac can be freed up to play forward, there is a need for Dawes, who SHOULD be able to do the ruck work around the forward line, tho I concede he is not great at it!

Could you please reproduce this article. I don't subscribe to the Herald Sun

No-one has mentioned his elbows. His grandfather's were very prominent, and he used them to devastating effect!

I must be missing something but I simply can't understand how the club would prefer Parish to Francis. There are 2 highlights reels on Francis and in one of them he plays as a strong, tall mid, and goes forward. He kicks 4 goals, a couple involving 50m plus kicks. The next segment shows him defending, taking mark after mark. Again, disposal impeccable.I notice in the AFL highlights reel, in which he talks very movingly about the death of his brother, he says that Brendon Goddard is a role model. I was quite unaware of this, but Goddard is the very bloke I thought of when watching the first reel. Francis is a mature kid, who I reckon would play many games in his first season and 200 overall. To me, he represents much more of what the club needs, than Parish. Has anyone else a view about this?

Not too many who can pitch hit down back unless O McDonald can make it. Bloody Dawes us the problem. I think he assists Hogan greatly but his lack of skill as a forward line ruckman is a big issue. If we could get a key back Id love to play Tom McD at CHF

Having watched the highlight reel of Francis I would be desperate to get him. As one poster said, he can play anywhere. In the one reel we see him playing as a mid, as a forward kicking 4 goals and as a rugged high marking defender. Surely, now we've got Kennedy and with Petracca to play, a different type of long term mid would be great--one who can take seriously big marks, kick it a mile, tackle hard and, in my view at least, be a first game player. If we take Parish instead he must be a bloody champion

Not so certain about this. His statistics for his first 3 seasons were excellent. Perhaps he has become disillusioned.