Kit Walker

Lost at the selection table. Why play Sparrow if you don't trust him with 55% game time. Surely Brown plays next week? Pickett and Spargo look woefully out of form at the moment. Witches hats in forward 50

It's both - Bont's first season was nothing special whereas Taylor looked like a 25/goal a game star. Hasn't kicked on but it happens. In terms of the Jordon/Jackson comparison, JJ is a hard working third year player. Jackson could be NikNat good and is a regular 2nd ruck as a 19yo in a top side having a decent scoreboard impact. Only one is a chance of winning rising star

Petrevski-Seton is an interesting one - probably gettable for a third rounder, horribly mismanaged by Carlton, ex pick 6 and only 23. Option on the wing and half forward - he's not really a defender or inside midfielder

Teeth marks up to the shoulder....

Saints have all the mental toughness of a melted marshmallow.

This is partially true - the guidelines include potential for injury as an upgrade and that directly affects bumps where a player goes past the ball (Sparrow) and forearm/elbow strikes like Zorko. If Sparrow gets off, he's a very lucky boy though I think it's caused by inexperience - I can't see Petracca or Oliver doing that. On a tangent, there was a pretty good segment on 360 a few weeks ago when Hardwick and Longmuir were the guests. Showed Selwood getting a young Richmond player high and all agreed it was the tiger player's fault for poor technique - leading head first while Selwood was collecting the ball side on to protect himself

He's in some strife. Steps past the ball, elects to bump and gets him high with shoulder. Fine if he's lucky but wouldn't be surprised if he gets a week. So should Zorko btw too.

A lot of my family are old Fitzroy supporters. Even with the early 2000s flags, you don't forget that...

They cop a pasting, but I have some sympathy for the umpires this weekend - apparently the same set who have the Perth game on Saturday night then travel to Adelaide to umpire on Sunday twilight. Some significant air and foot miles... That's evidently the reason the Sunday game time has been pushed back.

Couldn't agree more. I live in England and due to have my second AZ jab in about a month - anyone who thinks things get anywhere near back to normal without vaccinations ASAP is kidding themselves.

If the ball hit Spargo last, it went out of play off him, not off the Adelaide player. The only question then is whether it was deliberate by Spargo which obviously would be ridiculous. The level of the deflection and the Adelaide player's intent is irrelevant.

It doesn't. If it came off Spargo (I can't tell from that vision) then the Adelaide player hasn't handballed it out of play because they didn't make the final contact

We are a team that was one poor umpiring decision from being 10 straight. Absolute maximum of three changes and those depend a lot on fitness - Jetta for Salem is the obvious first one and Viney is an automatic inclusion if fit. Can't understand how you could mount a case to drop Fritsch ahead of Weideman, though BBB may not have done enough to come back (stiff to be dropped in the first place and matches up well against dogs) and Mitch Brown would be a retrograde step. As for the idea of dropping Max, save me Jebus...

Not about to throw my toys out of the pram just yet. Had a few blokes down on recent performances and we lost because of that, not structure. That was a GF for Adelaide and they played like it.

This is the exact reason why prior opportunity was brought in in the first place. There was no benefit to being the player actually trying to get the ball because they'd get smashed immediately and cough up a free kick. The issue on the weekend was umpiring inconsistency between games. That's a matter for the umpire's coach to address and improve, but anyone suggesting taking subjectivity out of decision making is unfortunately living in Dreamland. As an aside, coaches seem to be doing more whinging than ever this year...

Good for the competition for North to have a win.

To be fair that kick deserved a free against just for being so terrible...

Petracca at 85% is clearly still in our best 5 to 10 players. If this week was a final or a crucial game, therefore he plays. Against Carlton at 85% when we're 8-0, I think you rest him as the slight/somewhat increase in chance of a related injury isn't worth taking. Generally, if players are fully fit (or close enough to), you don't rest them. The exception is if you have valuable players who you know can't play a full season (ie. Buddy, Burgoyne, eagle's Kennedy) so there's some whole season management. We don't have anyone in that bracket.

Exactly right. If it hits Buddy straight in the head, it's intentional and May misses a week. Would rather the coaches have a word with the team about bumping/fending off leading with the forearm, than risking suspensions every week and whinging about the MRO. On the Rampe one, that's a red card in rugby every day of the week and serious length suspension given their history with spinal injuries. He's incredibly lucky not to be going straight to the tribunal.

Richmond beat Geelong 18-12 in centre clearances, and lost by 63 points. We haven't been great at them all year and are 8-0. I understand why Goodwin wants to improve them but they're frankly a bit overrated in importance.

Is it just me that finds it strange that there appears to be no-one aged 21-23 in an u23 match

From memory, you had a great avatar of the Shaun Smith mark (in sepia?) back on 'ology. I used to post on both a bit in mid-late 2000s

Reminds me of the story of Leeds when they were "living the dream" of the player who wanted 10k per week, was hoping for 20k and nearly bit their hand off when he was offered 40k straight off the bat......

Seems to have been revised down to 10m - still overpriced, but a bit more realistic after last year's horror show.