Chris

Sweaty hands and bodies may well make it greasy instead of the weather. I too have been puzzled by the assumption it will be, nothing in the weather say it will be so sweat is the only other option I can think of.

Massive mistake, ripped the cultural heart out of the club and he still had a couple of years left to give. After he left we were left with a massive void of experience to help guide the young players and the youngsters suffered as a result. We have a similar issue now but we have more experienced leaders around the club now, even they aren't paying in the firsts.

A few stats of the teams. MFC Freo Diff Average Age 23.3 25.3 -2.0 Average Games 64.7 107.6 -42.9 Back Line Ave Age 23.3 25.7 -2.3 Ave Games 48.5 90.8 -42.3 Fol (includes wing) Ave Age 24.5 26.8 -2.3 Ave Games 97.8 144.7 -46.8 Fwd Ave Age 22.8 26.2 -3.3 Ave Games 64.7 131.5 -66.8 Int Ave Age 22.3 21.3 1.0 Ave Games 39.3 41.3 -2.0 Melbourne Games Backline Fol Fwd Int total 0-50 3 1 4 3 11 51-100 3 3 0 1 7 101-150 0 0 2 0 2 151-200 0 1 0 0 1 200+ 0 1 0 0 1 22 Freo Games Backline Fol Fwd Int total 0-50 2 0 2 3 7 51-100 2 3 1 0 6 101-150 0 0 1 1 2 151-200 2 1 1 0 4 200+ 0 2 1 0 3 22 MFC Back Freo Fwd Diff Age 23.3 26.2 -2.8 Games 48.5 131.5 -83.0 MFC Fwd Freo Back Age 22.8 25.7 -2.8 Games 64.7 90.8 -26.2 Once again we go in younger and less experienced across pretty much every line. The only place we are ahead is in age on the bench, we are behind in all other categories. The difference in age and experience between our backs and their forwards is also huge but that may be thrown out a bit by Pav. I expect at least a 6 goal win but won't be surprised if it is close of if we lose either. All depends if the right Melbourne turn up to play.

You missed Brisbane as well. 4 GF's and 3 flags. All in all over a 25 year period 14 of 16 clubs have made a GF and 12 of 16 have won at least 1. That isn't bad going at all.

The first bolded bit contradicts the last and the second bolded bit shows the evidence of it. The league has been skewed int eh last 6-7 years because the tool to do a rebuild were removed from the bottom clubs, this meant the clubs who were at the top then had an easier time of continuing their dominance. That is what you have said as well. It is starting to go back to normal now with the dogs rising, and us and the Saints slowly rising too. This bias wasn't anywhere near as obvious with the new clubs in the 90's as they didn't get anywhere near the same start up benefits.

Oh yes they do. You can make numbers say what ever you like by selecting the ones that support your argument. That is what has happened here, probably not consciously though. If you want to look at the right sample look at the whole period the equalisation has been in place, not the period where it is compromised by other factors.

The period you have looked at for the AFL is heavily skewed by the effect of the two new teams. If you do the same thing going back 25 years (around when the draft and cap came in) then you get a very different picture, which is closer to what the AFL will be like once it settles again. That is if free agency doesn't stuff everything, which it may do.

It seems in the past the team have been happy for him to be the big man bursting packs and if he snagged a couple and took a few marks then that was a bonus. He does this better than Pedo and I think is a big reason why he gets the nod to play first. I also have the feeling that if Pedo were fit he would be int he team as we need the marks and goals he provides now more than we need the pack bursting as we are not as reliant on that as we were in the past.

Fairly sure it can be done in contract but it all comes down to who approaches who. If a player approaches a club then they can do as they please. If a club approaches a player then it is a big no no.

Thinking about it it may not be the weather that makes it overly slippery, it may actually be the sweaty players. 44 blokes all sweating and grabbing at the ball is sure to make the ball a little wet.

Forecast for Darwin on Saturday is 33 degrees and 44% humidity. Don't think it will be too slippery. Agree with what else you say though.

Both a quick with a sidestep and for the first few steps. Neither are quick over a longer distance.

Daisy put to bed any thoughts they may or may not have been having. She will play for us, there is no way around it now. I think she caught Gill off guard a bit though, was great to watch.

Wouldn't surprise me if a certain president has been having words with Gill about getting Daisy as well, and Gil being the puppet he is may well fall for it.

Hasn't been announced yet, and never say never when the AFL is concerned. Some amazing new rule or loophole may pop up and take her from our grasp if the AFL deemed it to be so. Good thing Daisy has stood up to them and told them where they can shove that idea, and don't think the idea wouldn't have crossed the brains trust at the AFL.

Dil will be looking to get the highest profile player into the highest profile team. He would do what ever he could to have her where he wants her, which may not be where she wants to be.

You forgot Round 3 2016 Nth Melbourne. Got miles down, came back to lead at half time. Second half was close and lost by 4 points. 6 or 7 goals from frees to North sealed the game (be it crap umpiring or bad play from us, either way it cost us)

Really only a few things stood out to me in the umpiring. The Petracca mark that everyone knew was a mark, the Stretch? holding the ball decision, and how Hogan didn't get a free for holding with 4 or 5 minutes to go is beyond me. The player behind almost marked the ball his arms were that far around and he was holding that much!

Agree in when it falls down a few times in a game, even Roos has said that that is to be expected and if you watch the top teams it happens to them too, just far less as they make less mistakes. Where I am talking about it failing due to lack of effort are the games where we just don't turn up, like Essendon and StKilda. If we don't turn up to play and the effort isn't there at all then the whole thing falls over in dramatic fashion.

I wouldn't say that at all. It does break down at times but for the most it works fairly well. Mastering the zone and how to play is also a hurdle we have to get over at some point as it is the best way to defend when you play it well and it is easier to attack from as well. It has completely fallen over in a couple of games but it fell over due to lack of effort, not lack of the right game plan. No game plan works without effort.

That is one of them yes. If you don't like him not manning up then look at the coaches not him. Whether playing a zone like this is right or not is another discusion but it is one about if the coaches are doing the right thing not the players. This bull about you are either winning or loosing is crap as well, have you never heard of a tie or a draw, that is when neither opponent wins on aggregate over the whole day. For mine TMac and Walker had a draw yesterday, both had some wins and both had some losses through the day. You seem incapable of ever seeing either of the Macs ever have a win and neither of them ever do anything right. It is incredibly tiring having you go on about both of them every week. How you can say Walker towelled him up yesterday is beyond me. Take off the hating blinkers and watch again. Also have an appreciation for how the zone works and where it falls over and that sometimes TMac will be out of position on his direct opponent through no fault of his own, happens to every team that play a zone from time to time.

How about you re watch the game with out the anti McD blinkers on Picket. Walker had a OK game, so did TMac, both did some great and some bad. Broke even sounds about right as Walker certainly didn't win the game for them, or even dominate.

You Asked someone else to look at this and see if you are wrong, I thought I would give it a go. 1 - It is called a zone defence. The coaches ask him to play it, if you don't like him playing it blame the coaches, not the player. 2 - He stopped plenty of goals through intercept marks and spoils, not really sure what you mean with this one. 3 - So he does take contested marks, doesn't that stop goals, and who are the contested marks against if he doesn't man up? All players also mis read a situation at times, sometimes he will punch when he should mark, to expect him never to make that mistake is laughable. 4 - Again blame the coaches on his role across half back. I agree that he does relax a bit much with the ball at times, but he also gets over anxious sometimes, both lead to mistakes. You wan't to trade for a better option? Plenty of people who actually really know there stuff rate him in the top few defenders int eh league, who exactly is this better option? You hatred of O Mac is also laughable, the kid has played a hand full of games, he makes some errors but he also does some great things. You simply expect too much.

I was really happy we got back into it as well and think the turning point came due to Chunck. I am not usually one to sing his praises too loudly on here, although I do think he is good and growing as a captain, but I saw him go in on the edge of the centre square, at a point where they had kicked all the quick goals, and you could see in his body language that he had had enough and wasn't going to let it continue. He went in against a couple of them, should have lost it a couple of times but just wouldn't give in and ended up coming out with the ball. It was probably the first time I have really seen him say enough is enough in such a strong way and pick the team up with his actions. Unfortunately the damage was done and we never fully recovered.

Did Mrs McD run over your cat or something Picket?