Rodney (Balls) Grinter

But the stats don't exactly support what you are saying: http://m.afl.com.au/stats/stats-pro#/Compare?playerIds=CD_I294675,CD_I298281&comparisonTab=h2h From what I saw of our first four or five games, Lever's disposal was pretty ordanary. He hacked quite a few of his disposals completely and alot of the ones he didn't were down the line to a 50/50 or worse contest, which resulted in either turnovers or stoppages. But in fairness I think this was true of alot of our players over the first five weeks, when we were playing without great confidence and system. I think the manner in which players hack kicks and turn it over influences people opinions of them. Players that play conservatively and turn it over in more conspicuous ways don't stick in people's heads like ones who try to do too much, get caught and/or turn it over with absolute clangers. Just look at the career stats of Hibberd Vs Frost if you want an example of this. I was even suprised myself how good Frosts stats were in this respect. http://m.afl.com.au/stats/stats-pro#/Compare?playerIds=CD_I290160,CD_I293738&comparisonTab=h2h To be honest, I don't think loosing Lever will make that much difference to our team performance. From what I've seen, his best is good, but I don't think he has provided that much of his best for us in games this year that we will miss that. His absence will provide an opportunity for someone else to step up and personally I'm looking forward to see who that is and how they go. Guys like Frost, Wagner, Hunt and Smith all have some attributes which have the potential to make them a real asset to our side and in some way, I almost think we needed an injury to give one of them a go and keep them motivated to compete, perform and improve at VFL level, it's just a pitty that it's an ACL that puts Lever out for such an extended period.

On the basis of my understanding of his form over the past 3 or so weeks, I would think Bugg would be the other that would be well in contention.

My recollection is that Stretch has played most of his AFL footy at half forward.

Replaces Melksham if he doesn't come up?

I'd say Wagner is the closest like for like with Lever, plus Goody and the coaching love him. To be honest, I can understand why Wagner gets picked, he is athletic, tough and takes the game on by foot. A good fit with our game style.

So glad the boys got the win for Jonesy today. Congratulations on 250 Nathan. GO DEMONS!

I like this parallel universe, particularly if there are more 91+ point victories for the MFC in it.

I was pleasantly surprised with how well we did with the umpires against Adelaide. I actually remember thinking a few times as I watched the game that we had given away a free kick, but no whistle, play on. Also got a fair few fairly soft free kicks in favour of Hogan and Lever that I'm not sure we would have got in the past. As much as we made the running in many ways and should probably have an amount more free kicks as a result, I actually think that umpires are more likely to favour the better side, even in an unintentional, subconscious way. Hopefully a good sign for things to come.

Like a few others have stated, I'm waiting for us to grind out a close win against a quality side in form and maintain the rage through the whole season before I will be satisfied. One of the problems is that there really are not many quality, in-form sides I rate. Geelong at Geelong perhaps, Sydney, West Coast and dare I say it, pehaps Collingwood are about the only games we are yet to play that I can really see testing us from the perspective of quality opposition. I have probably under rated Richmond to an extent to date, but also think we are well and truly capable of beating them. We continue to improve, whilst much of the old gaurd fall away or stand still. Ablett is showing his age, wear & tear and hasn't really made Geelong a better side. Happy to see the Hawthorn resurgence stall at the moment. Never really rated Adelaide anyway and it would be nice to think that Sydney are slowing falling away from what they once were, though they are the side that most concerns me could yet come good. I also have a feeling that GWS might get they her act together in the back half of the season and make our final round game against them pretty compeditive, but their season should be well and truly over as far as finals are concerned by then. Don't give two shiits what the media thinks of us. If we can continue to bank wins over the next 4 - 6 weeks and then manage the players mindsets and physical condition comming into finals, that's where it's at for mind. Whilst I do think we have a team that can beat any side and who over the last 5 weeks have put together more consistent good form than any MFC team I have watched, the premiship isn't won in May, so I'm quite ok with just taking each week as it comes and celebrating in retrospect.

Seriously, it's just a [censored] toe. If it's going to stop him playing all the time, just cut the bloody thing off. I have a set of bolt cutters at my place and would be more than happy to do the job. What did Chopper say ?- "it makes a kind of popping sound when they come off".

Without getting too carried away with what it means for where we are at as a club, bathing in the glow of Sunday's glorious record win against the Carlscum, it has basically taken me to this point in the week to get interested in Demonland. Can't help but think how much better the win was being played in something clearly identifiable as a MFC jumper and how it would have taken the edge off it, had it been performed in one of those crap white Bali singlets. Also got me to wondering would beating Carlton by 109 points have been the biggest win for the MFC in a royal blue jumper? ...pitty T Mac missed what for him was almost an unmissable goal after the siren, or it could have been a 114 point win.

Agreed. Bar that one game where we had a complete brain fade, if you look at the respective sides played, won Vs lost and the ladder, I think we are going at least as well as Hawthorn. Yet they keep getting talked up as a strong finals bound contender and us a good chance of missing out again. I guess it's reasonable from an outsiders perspective when you look at the recient history of the teams over the past 10 years, but hoping we prove them wrong, that we keep improving and they have peaked this year and start dropping off. Can't stand those Hawthorn f#! $ers, so pussed with the way we lost to them.

On the flip side it was refeshing listening to our own Daisy Pearce on the ABC's call of the Lions V Dogs last night. Some great special comments. I particularly liked one she made after Hipwood missed a fairly elementy set shot: "Do you think a haircut would help?" lol Gold - telling it like it is!

It ant rocket science (I'm just a poor old ex-garbo). They (footballers) might talk up all this "one club player" stuff, but at the end of the day, they (probably at the urging of their managers) think with their head not their heart when deciding to accept a deal and stay or chase a better deal and leave.

...many footballers like the romantics of being a one club player and I believe a reasonable level of genuineness in this assertion from most, but at the end of the day, I believe that almost all would be making their contract decisions on an dispassionate, pragmatic basis, so on its own, the stated notion of being a one club player is almost irrelevant.

Puss off BT for starters. Wheatley is a moron - he has nothing on BT.

I know what you are saying, but: a) I really don't mind if the media and rest of the footy world underrates us, so long as we keep improving and winning (when they will inevitably and regrettably jump on the band wagon); b) Some of our lapses within games still righty cause the objective observer to question the MFC's present capability to be a finals side. Until we consistently put together convincing four quarter efforts against all commers, I think many will have trouble having any confidence in us - refer point a).

Yes, the over [censored] zealous auto censor.

Until it's a done deal it's not and then these days, it's still not completely binding if one of the parties looses faith or goes shopping, i.e. Jack Watts, Tom Boyd. Right now he's with us and playing good footy and the team is starting to win and perform, so let's see where that takes us.

What player would be?

Sorry, I am going to sick my neck out a bit and compare him a bit with the asertion that at this point I think he uses the ball better for is than Lever does. It's actually a bit more of a statement of non confidence in Lever at presemt as much as anything. Where I think Oscar makes sound, safe decisions and generally passes within his capability with good execution, I think Lever is the complete opposite and I would go as far as to say that I think Lever is the worst ball user in our backline right now. Whether it's because he is uncertain of our system of ball movement and his teammates positioning and that he will get rapidly better once he finds his feet more, I couldn't say, because I didn't take much notice of him at Adelaide, but right now, I recon his ball use for us is rubbish.

Well the boot studder and the orange boy have also resigned in disgust, so must be something to this suposed rumor.

Hence my comment "from the limited exposure I've had to him)" i.e. O'Brian. But O'Brien wasn't even clucking his grabs when we played the 2016 (granted it was a shiity wet game). Also I get how the mode game needs pretty reasonable mobility (which Weid actually seems to have in spades for a guy his size), but I really still think you want your key forwards taking a good contested mark, otherwise you would just have a team of Jeff Garlets. Think you are missing my main point about big guys typically taking longer.

Have great faith in Pedo, he crunches packs like few of our other players do. I actually think he is a better pack mark than Hogan at this stage. Still I get your point about him seeming to perform better when given ruck duties. In this regard, I think the team should actually be looking to use that to best effect in the circumstances. I see a huge potential for Gawn to be targeted by opposition rucks this year, so I think it would be more than handy for Pedo to come in and give Gawn a bit of a chop out and take some of the pressure off him at times. Will keep the oppositions resting ruck more honest and possibly also mean that they will need to keep their main ruck on Pedo at times. Gawn can be pretty handy resting and drifting into the forwardline in his own right.

I've certainly been critical of the club playing the Weid over other players at times last year, when I didn't see him as being anything like ready and it costing us games. Still think we would have beaten Geelong and Richmond last year if Pedersen had played instead of the Weid. That said, it's more a criticism of our coaching and selection than anything directed at Weiderman so much. Like most big guys, I think this guy needs time to develop and establish his game. Tom Hawkins is the classic, but the more recient example I can think of is Tim O'Brian for Hawthorn. When we played Hawthorn for the first time in 2016, I thought O'Brain looked like a passenger in their side, failing to make much of an impact (ironically, asides from one late goal which helped sink us that day), but watching him last year, I think he started to look much more imposing as a player and gave me the impression (from the limited exposure I've had to him) that he looked like he might have a good future as an AFL player. O'Brain is 3 years older and longer in the system than Weid. If we can pick up guys with gammy hamstrings from GWS and keep them on our list for a few years on the basis of potential, then I think it's well worth continued perseverance and patience with the Weid.