grazman

I remember Andy as an 18 y.o. - must have been cutting wood since he was five, because he was an absolute ball of muscle. Hopefully Kieran has inherited his ability and attitude.

It's an odd comment isn't it. But he obviously doesn't like Melbourne, you can tell by the number of Melbourne players he king hit. More than just the infamous Steve Smith incident. I did appreciate his comment about Jesse Hogan though. Said that some Key Forwards pick and choose when to fly at the ball, but Hogan always goes which means the crumbers always know that the ball will drop 5-10 metres at the front of the contest if he doesn't mark the ball.

I think it will get looked at, but I'm hoping like most tribunal decisions nowadays it ends up as a fine rather than suspension. You wouldn't want to see Garlett not go for the ball in that situation, the question is whether he had another option instead of trying to bump. Personally I don't think Goodes did anything wrong. Fair hip and shoulder with the ball carrier within five meters, just unfortunate Jones didn't see him. Unsociable perhaps, but not illegal.

McLean, Sylvia, Petterd, Morton, Bate, Bell, Bennell, Blease, Grimes, Gysberts, Tapscott, Trengove, Scully - all relatively high draft picks and not a genuine A grader amongst them (although Scully might be, but not at Melbourne, and Jack might still be if he can get back on the park). We've had one midfield recruiting success in Nathan Jones. The tale of our ruck recruiting is even worse. Hopefully we've fixed this now under the watch of Jason Taylor. Trade time will be fascinating. With yet another high draft pick will be interesting to see if we can attract what we need. Once again I doubt we can get the quality we require. I'd be happy with a genuine ruck (luenberger/West) and a pacy outside flanker (Yarran, Hoskin Elliott) and go to the draft with two picks inside the top 30 for midfield talent.

Maybe, but even Jesus Christ himself would have a hard time fashioning a competitive midfield at Melbourne. We simply don't have the cattle. Roos has gone the trade table twice to try to inject some genuine talent, but we stink.

No he's a complete tool. If he'd stayed at the Hawks we would have got Clarko. Opinions are like A- holes. Everyones got one... including Jeff.

In the words of the incomparable Jack Dyer. Just a good, ordinary footballer. Does his job.

Rubbish. He was already good when he left Melbourne. I was gutted when he left because anyone with half a brain could tell he was going to be a champion. Didn't get on well with Danners apparently that helped him make his decision (sick dad), but would have liked MFC to do a lot more to keep him.

So was GWS serious in its offer, or did they know something more about what makes Jeremy tick?

and we didn't see that coming... the money was only one reason TS left.

Howe should be dropped. Terrible effort

Are you suggesting we should have delisted more than 11 players last year?

6. Cross 5. T Mac 4. Garland 3. Garlett 2. Pederson 1. Grimes

I think Hogan and Bradshaw are different breeds, hopefully Petracca as well. It's easy to target our recruiting, but the simple truth is that we sold the farm (our heart and soul) for a handful of magic beans when we tanked (or the devil at the crossroads if that analogy works better for you). Karma's a [censored], we need to suck it up and move forward. Draft concessions are completely irrelevant until we stand up as a football club and that also includes lightweight supporters who happily clapped Jordan McMahon's shot on goal, but slag off our players a couple of seasons later when all our dreams have turned to dust. Stay true and support the team.

Agree, Hawthorn have outside pace to burn and we need to bring in some footspeed. We will win enough contested ball with Hodge and Lewis missing, but we need to counter the likes of Hill, Suckling and Birchall. We also need someone to lock down on Poppy.

A lot hinges on Dangerfield I think, if he goes it frees up a lot of extra $, having said that it might not all be about money for Sloane. If he does want to return to Melbourne the fact that he has to be traded is important (unless the Saints finish last and the PSD is an option - which I don't think it will be). I imagine if it is both us and the Saints in the mix then it will depend on what the Crows will want in compensation. (I think we'd be better placed to offer up our first round draft pick than the rebuilding Saints - but maybe not) If he does come to Melbourne he can always go surfing with Nat and Gerard.

Might have come from Petracca...LOL.

I certainly think that success is still a very large issue for players changing clubs as much as $, but I also think that a lot of players are also more realistic when it comes to assessing clubs as well. GWS are tracking well, but so were GC this time last year... sometimes progress can be a little illusory in terms of early season wins. I imagine if either Shiel or Treloar are on our radar we will have been engaged in talks with their management for a while to gauge their interest and if the proposed changes to drafting and academy picks come into play there may be the opportunity to generate a win win situation. I don't know how well the clubs get on, but I imagine that the minute to midnight offer for Jeremy Howe last year was a deliberate ploy. The issue for GWS is they have Ward, Griffen and Scully and maybe Whitfield as their untradeable midfield core. To continue to develop their list (through the gift of their academy) they will very possibly have to give up at least one of Treloar, Shiel or Congilio to get another pick needed to get one of their academy players.

Sydney will be under salary cap pressure. whispers about Hanneberry coming back to Melbourne. Personally I'd prefer Josh Kennedy.

I agree, but he played to instructions. He made errors, all players do, but overall his game was statistically on par with what Jamar has produced in the last two games as well as Pyke. So who do you drop him for?

Compared to the other 'elite' users of the ball currently in the side and not getting a sniff?

It's immaterial what other sides are doing. There can be only one premier a year and if you aren't them, then you should be doing everything you can to be. Sometimes winning masks all sorts of deficiencies. It's great for their supporters that they are getting these results but I don't give a flying rats toss personally. Maybe they will be premiers in the next few years, but its not a given that they will be, just look at the hole GC have fallen into (i'm sure they'll dig themselves out). I think we are on the right track, but we've always been starting from well back in the field. We are getting better, but there is still a large body of work still to be done.

I was actually happy that little ferret Shaw got stuck into him and Jack seemed to respond by telling himself that he wasn't going to take that kinda crap from a toe rag piece of filth. Footy is a contact sport, if you don't relish crashing and bashing, then you at least have to accept and expect it. I hope Jack starts on the field next week.

Spot on Tim. One of the problems is that we just don't take the first option. In that particular instance I think the Captain thought better of giving it back to Jake because the instruction for Jake is to handpass the ball rather than kick. (only kicked it once last night) and I think Jones looked for a better option. For players to give the first option they have to trust their teammates and I'm still not seeing a lot of trust at Melbourne. The other half of the equation is that for teammates to trust you, players have a responsibility to put themselves in good positions before calling for the ball. (Jake was actually in a good position to get the ball back- I think Jones was worried what he'd do with it) If you are surrounded by four Swans then you need to get on your bike and start moving before calling for the pill. I'm a little bemused by the criticism of big Jake. I thought he played a reasonable game and was not disgraced by any stretch of the imagination. He had 10 possessions (100% DE), 30 HO and 4 clearances against Pyke who had 11, 39 and 3. But he's not competing against Pyke for a spot in the Melbourne team he's competing against Jamar whose last two matches were statistically similar (11, 29 & 2 -Rich and 9, 21 and 4 Freo). I think where Jake shades Jamar is his willingness for repeat efforts and appetite for the contest. There will be calls for Gawn to be brought in, but probably by those who haven't seen him ruck or those clutching at straws that any changes we make will be the difference between winning and losing. As you say Tim, it's about the midfield and we need to go to market and buy more cattle before we can be competitive.

All game plans start at the same point, get the footy. We have been monstered two weeks in a row by big bodied midfields. Watch Josh Kennedy continually distribute the ball last night while being tackled. This isn't a lack of intent issue, it's a lack of cattle issue. Our midfield try hard but we need bigger bodies and better users of the ball.