Dante

I'll go with bulky, there's no fat there he is in great condition. Very pleased with ANB, there has been talk about his tank and this will go some way towards disproving this.

In my opinion that issue is the main problem on the left side of politics and the left in general, you consider it insignificant and an afterthought. Oh! well.

Yet you refuse to address the matter of inflammatory language used by the left. I have no issue with the rest of your post and it seems to be a cry in the dark for the reformation of the left, but the first part of that reformation is toning down the hatred that they show towards anyone that doesn't agree with them. If you can't see that then there is no point in pursuing the rest.

But they did get rid of Vickers, so that's a plus.

You do understand that an equal amount of this "inflammatory language" emanates from the left, don't you? I've never been able to understand the Left and their never ending desire to belittle anyone that disagrees with them. Perhaps you should take off your rose coloured glasses, take a step back and have a closer look. I'm a conservative voter and at times cringe at some of the comments that are made by my side of politics but it seems that the left just cheer the abuser on. When I read some of the left journos i wonder why there is no condemnation at some of the vile and disgraceful things they put to print. When a conservative female (can you still use that term?) is abused it's sport, when a member on the left receive any criticism, it's misogyny. The Labor Party have always had the reputation as the Great Haters and that stems back over 50 years that I know of. Who was it that said Rita Panahi and Mira Devine should be taken out and raped and was there any outcry by the sisterhood? Have a closer look, you might be surprised.

Harmes is still a bit young and impetuous, the club like the way he takes the game on and must be confident they can hone his skills in due course. He's just what we need he's got a fearless attack on the ball and loves to run. I think it will take a season or so before he is the player he can be.

Great summary STMJ, I'm a big fan of Harmes and I'm glad that there is at least one other who sees a bit of talent there. Salem too, I think the last game he played was a sample of his talent, he will be a beauty, I still can't believe there were some on here suggesting we use him as trade bait. Gus is another who will shine this year, he had a couple of concussions last year and some wanted to write him off, do so at your own peril. Appreciate the time you've taken to share your thoughts.

I think the fact that H wasn't at training today makes it legitimate that there is discussion about him on this thread, but I seem to have missed any training reports in the meantime, did anyone actually go today? It would be interesting to see if there was a lot done and if any of the players just back performed well? Usually we get a double dose at this time of the year with the Draft and Training, but with the draft being irrelevant for us this year, we only have training to get our fix.

I'd have Hunt before him and I think Hibberd and Vince, would be better options as well, I cant see him being missed this year and I doubt he'd be getting a game every week. The club obviously value Wagner as well and then you have Melksham. Some of Howe's marks were just brilliant, but they were, at times, outweighed by his brain fades immediately after.

I think that most of us just want to see a former great Melbourne Footballer get his life back on track.

Fits his new image.

Given the changing landscape of AFL football, I'd say that there's a very good chance that most of the players you've mentioned here will play senior football next year.

Should have been more specific, i meant Grant Thomas.

Some people are never Saty-sfied.

Aussies have lost 6 for 22 this morning and it's about time heads rolled, they are a disgrace. The same old players fail when the pressure is on, or not.

Thank God he did, we have come a long way since then, we went down for a while but at least we got rid of the apathy that existed and now we have a new and vibrant club. If we left that board in we would have, in all probability, still been wallowing at the bottom and probably still fighting for survival.

I guess it's an age thing, we grew up with these guys and they are just as old or older than us, I went to see the Beach Boys a year or so ago and the youngest member is now 70. I liked Leon with Joe Cocker/Mad Dogs and Englishmen but must admit I didn't follow his career much after that, except for Tight Rope.

The Saints were a good side with a poor coach, they probably would have won a flag or two if the were better coached. Goodwin is unknown but I believe he will be a good coach, he has a good relationship with the players and that's important, he has a bit of history as mentioned above but I'm sure that Roos and PJ would have asked him if there was anything that would surface that would embarrass the club.

Went past the ground at about 11 this morning, may have been a bit later and I saw a couple of players still there on the wing near the tent set up, one player set off at full tilt around the boundary. I'm not sure if he made it all the way around, or if that was the intention but he was going pretty quick and I could imagine that it would have been pretty tough lap. Maybe they were taking it in turns, I couldn't see because I was in traffic and I was a passenger, we passed too quickly.

I agree with that, they will miss Sam Mitchell much more than most expect. They have had an A grade midfield and an A grade backline, now they will have a relatively inexperienced midfield, Mitchell and O'Meara are both relatively young and O'Meara has had some serious injuries that are yet to be tested, whilst their backline relies on the three ageing stars, Hodge, Burgoyne and Gibson. Even if they get Fyffe, will he make the difference, I doubt it, he can't play everywhere. Their backline will be under pressure, they don't have enough goal kickers, Vickery, I don't think so and they put Puopolo on the table so they have obviously lost faith in him. It will be interesting to see how the lesser lights perform without the armchair ride they've been given in the past.

Maybe wholesale drug abuse like it appears there was at the Eagles. http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/daniel-chick-begs-for-medical-help-after-old-rift-with-west-coast-resurfaces-20161107-gsk1mp.html Oh! hang on, they didn't even investigate them, even though it was obvious to all that they were cheating. Perhaps if they had, they wouldn't have had to be dragged kicking and screaming in to the Essendon drug scandal. The AFL should decide to forget about image and concentrate on integrity, if the do image will be restored.

There used to be a powerhouse club called Carlton and they embarked on a spree over a number of years buying talent where needed and rarely developing their own, consequently their President went on to say "Carlton don't rebuild", in essence referring to the fact that if they need to they will just buy in another player. They became lazy and failed to develop their own and didn't realise that their bottom tier were not up to it and that you can't be carried by a few names at the top. Hawthorn may fall in to the same trap if they continue to rely on poaching other club's talent and not developing their own, their drafting record over the last 5 years has been very ordinary and the older stars that have carried the club for so long are ageing and incapable of the same magic they once were. They have lost 1 and 2 in their B&F from last season and will in all probability lose 2 or 3 of their remaining stars at the end of the next season, will O'Meara, Mitchell and Vickers make up for them, who have they got coming through. Interesting times and this will tell whether they are going to stay on top or decline like Carlton. They have traded first round picks for this and next year, where is the talent coming from, remembering that their last influx of genuine talent came very early in the draft.

Yes, I've noticed that.

It's amazing looking at our injury list this year as compered to other years, I recall that a few years back we came back to training with 12 players on the injury list to start off with. Hasn't the club improved so much in the area of player management, we now rest players when they have an injury, we don't just keep on playing them until it gets worse.

We are too closely associated with the MCC and will never be our own masters until we break that connection. It's like living at home with your parents, safe but you will never have your independence if you don't break away.