Dante

We will beat Richmond and it will give the boys a sample of what it's like to win a game, in front of a big audience, on the biggest stage around.

Pedo made one mistake, but since that time he's put his body on the line many times and taken some very courageous marks. I'm not sure why he's not picked but obviously the coach doesn't rate him, same with Trenners, guess they don't fit in to the plan, maybe they are both a bit slow.

Bernie said he'd go home to SA when his football days were over, he's a South Australian lad and that's fair enough. Personally I'd like to see him play again, at least next year, we still don't have a lot of experienced players and he's still one of our better players, we seem to want to write off players on here if they have a bad game or two. Put Bernie back in the action and he'll be ok, his kicking was one of his strengths when he crossed over to us and he doesn't have a problem finding the ball. Bern gets the ball to his foot faster than any player I've seen before and this may not suit the new game plan, perhaps that's why he's not playing midfield now, maybe the fast kick out of the centre doesn't suit. He played a sensational game against Dangerfield a few years ago and since that time he's crossed the line a bit more than he should, he just needs to get his discipline back.

I said in another thread that Kent escapes a lot of scrutiny on here, but obviously not in the eyes of the football department

I agree there, I think Chip was gently guided to the door with a "do you really want to leave, oh well then" and I doubt that they were really upset when Howe left either.

How could the Essendon football department be adamant no prohibited substances were given to players, when there are no records and they can't say what they were given. "Thompson never understood why Essendon self-reported on that fateful February day in 2013 because the key figures in the football department were adamant no prohibited substances were given to their players."

It's a shame that we as MFC supporters have to worry about membership numbers, sponsors and gate receipts, wouldn't it be nice to only have to worry about wins and where we will finish on the ladder at the end of the season.

And Joel Smith, IMO.

He played 20 games last year, that's a pretty fair block of games.

One who gets overlooked in all of this is Kent, I think he needs to do more and his lack of tackles and goals is a worry, he has pace but does he have the skills and does he do anywhere enough, he's played 54 games and averages 1 goal and 2 tackles a game. He's got speed and a certain toughness but I think he needs to do a lot more to keep his automatic place in the side. It was mentioned earlier that if he had a right foot he would have been able to get the ball to Jack for a goal, but his effort was abysmal, that was a gimmee and it was stuffed up. I'd just like to know what it is he adds that allows him to escape the criticism that ANB and a few others cop on here.

Correct, he had a shot, he was in range and he missed, simple as that. There were plenty of other reasons we lost that game, Jack had a shot on the fly from 30 mtrs out and for some reason he decided to kick round the corner instead of a straight forward drop punt, he missed and I think if he'd just kicked it with his normal action he would have nailed it. They played a fast game and we couldn't keep up with them, they got fed by Sandilands and we missed Gawn. They got numbers to the ball and strangled our game. We must look at our game plan for the last 2 to 3 minutes of each quarter, we get scored against far too often, we can't waste 25 minutes of good play with a few minutes of slacking off. Mainly we need to stop the backline from giving away too many soft goals, we are leaking like a sieve down back.

Roos was at the game today sitting just in front and to the left of where I sit, he had a hoodie on appeared to just wanted to be a spectator. Didnt see him at the end, so I'm not sure when he left, but it was good to see he still has an interest.

If I remember correctly, he had zero contested and 18 uncontested possessions last week, bit of a pattern there.

Hannah was good early but dropped out later in the game, he does some really good stuff but not enough of it at the moment. Milkshake simply isn't good enough under pressure. Weid needs to put on some weight and needs time in the two's. Tyson has got to spend some time with the kicking coach, his disposal is getting worse. Most importantly, the leadership group need to stand up and stop the capitulation we seem to face in at least one quarter a week.

Our current forward line is unsustainable if we are going to play Watts in the ruck, he is needed in the forward line for his creativity and ability to both kick goals and bring others in to the game. I like Weid a lot but I have to confess, after today, he's got to go back to Casey and develop his game. I understand that Pedo is out of fashion but he is needed to give Spence the chop out and allow Watts to do what he does best and that's not losing ruck contests in the middle against inferior players. Do we want to win games or risk losing them for the sake of an experiment? We can't keep the ball in the forward line at the moment and our backline can't stop the opposition from scoring easy goals. Something has to change and soon.

We have given up several goals in the last minutes of quarters this year and yet when they kicked a goal before half time, I think it was, we had 3 of our best players on the bench.

We were out played today and they were to fast/slick for us. First use of the ball and a team that has a lot of pace and some good mids to back up on the ruck dominance. We were very ordinary today and Weid was terrible, injured early on with w corkie but terrible none the less. Our forwards and backs were ineffectual, like last week we struggled to get a goal and they got theirs without much effort, it really surprised me that we got so close, we were that bad. They seemed to win every 50/50 contest and just willed themselves to win, I was very disappointed in out team today.

Brayshaw wasn't a number one draft pick, he doesn't have Diabetes and he appears over the concussion issue, but apart from that, do difference.

McCartin dropped this week due to poor form, I'd be a little concerned if I was a Saints supporter. Poor form, medical condition and concussion issues, doesn't paint a positive picture. Bit like a reverse Wines/Toumpas.

Old, Weid had a bad day last week and that's beyond dispute, but his two previous games were, IMO, acceptable. In his two previous games he has 22 possessions at an average of 11 per game and I believe that's acceptable for an up and coming forward, he had a stinker last week but do you drop him on one bad performance or do you take in to account there were circumstances that led to it? If he has a bad day tomorrow, then maybe he goes, but in the meantime let's get behind him and hope he puts in a top shelf performance, I think he will be a great player for us, given time.

In fact Roos mentioned it wouldn't surprise him if Hunt turned out the best player in that year's crop, or words to that effect.

We had a choice of continuing to attack or running the clock down and did neither. When he kicked that ball I was amazed, it was the worst possible option, I would have preferred he tried to take on the opposition and run the ball out of defence. He will learn and I doubt it will escape review. Love the way he plays, love the way he takes the opposition and the game on and hope they play him in the middle at some stage, imagine him running in to the forward line ala Judd when he was at West Coast.

Maybe Jack will finally realise just how good he is and how good he can be, perhaps we can finally prosecute our argument that he was the number one draft pick in that year. Jack is an exceptionally talented player and if he can get some self belief and if the media will get off his back we might see, over the next 5 to 6 years the elite player that's always been hidden away inside.

The look on Chips face, as they trudged of the ground last week, was priceless, it was the same look he had at Melbourne when we were shyte and now he's back in it again. Yeah, nah Chip, we don't want you back.

That's why I never go to the game, or watch the game with a friend who supports the opposition, I'd prefer to keep them as friends.