Rodney (Balls) Grinter

Love Nev. Another key quote from the article: "He is ranked No.1 in the AFL from 2011-2017 for the kick-rating stat, where Champion Data measures how well a player kicks the ball compared to the AFL average taking into account pressure, field position and intent." Wasn't that long ago that people lamented our lack of foot skills, but clearly we are aquiring and importantly developing elite talents in this important area of the game in many parts of the ground. I say developing, because I don't think Jetta would have been viewed this way early in his career. I think it also has something to do with overall team improvement as players now have that bit more time, space and confidence to dispose of the ball better than in the shambles our team was when we were getting smashed. Full credit to Nev though too, because clearly he has really knuckled down and developed his game since being delisted. Also an illistration of great determination and resilience to survive both being delisted and our era of depression.

Good choice. If you foget about Steven Armstrong (which I had), a couple of great players in this jumper in the modern era (asides from Robbie whom I assume you were reffering), just Tingay and Jones have worn the jumper with great distinction. The jumper No. seems to have had some magic with it that has brought out great players ever since Robbie played in it. P.S. I mean no disrespect to Armstrong, he's just not in the same elite company of the afore mentioned.

Jacko was about the only reason my old man went to games in that era. Brent Crosswell, Carl Detterich would have been some of the other players of note in that era... Steven Icke towards the end of the royal blue era.

You would hope it is available in the AFLW version. I can see alot of young MFC girls prefering that version and would be good for all involved.

Yeah, ok, wong Selwood. lol

To be honest, that's about my only interest level in this, to see what sort of early form/promise some of our up and comming players can give a glimpse of for the season proper. Even less value than JLT though.

Would cancel Viney not playing if that eventuates.

Agree with all of the above in a general sense. Would be ok with a predominantly red with navey clash jumper next season so long is the design is generally attractive and sufficiently aligned with MFC traditional emblems/designs, should the AFL be willing to accept that under another interpretation/rethink of their requirements. White shorts are ok, but we should NEVER EVER AGAIN acept white as part of our playing jumper design.

For our guys to start playing like men, consistently playing all four quarters and playing out the whole season strongly. All these things together and finals look after themselves. Mostly, for us to look back on this season as the one where the MFC started to assert it's self as a dominant on-feild force on the comp, to be feared and reconed with. Jessy Hogan delivering on his promise to become the dominant power forward of the comp, supported by Tommy Mac who will start drawing comparisons to Nick Riewolt, with his althletisim and marking ability, cumulating with an inspirational performance from Max Gawn (who I wish to be provided in advance of new umpiring interpretations) to smash the Saints In terms of beating teams, beating them all has a nice ring to it, but if I have to rationalise, I'd take in order of priority: 1. Thrashing Norf; 2. Thrashing Collingwood (and make Howe wonder what might have been had he stuck fat); 3. St Kilda (per Norf, we owe them at least a decade of defeats... throw most of the comp in that basket as well); 3. Sydney; 4. Thrashing Hawthorn;

The Roos just want it to look more like a MFC jumper - need to replace the white with red, sorry Norf, no dice.

Every time they replayed that Tommy Mac goal in the week following our win over West Coast, it gave me the irrits seeing that white jumper. Was stoked for the win and what a great game Tommy, Viney and several others had played, but those white jumpers were just so in your face not MFC, that it really took some of the enjoyment out of it for me.

With the royal blue jumpers, it may even be possible to adjust the colour/contrast settings on your TV to turn them back closer to navy blue as if we have no clash jumper at all!

In all honesty, my era of becoming a serious MFC supporter immediately followed royal blue jumper era in 86/87 and I think the number 2 jumper I has was a bit of pre loved hand-me-down or op-shop special so it's hard for me to comment with authority, but my old man reckons that for the preceeding period of doom and gloom, wacko Jackson gave him the only reason to turn up to games, so perhaps there were a few with 25 on them. Before that big Carl Detterich had been a bit of a favorite in 10.

I just whis they could [censored] off the New Balance 'NB' from just under the neck. It makes the jumper look too busy and I bet that they are not contributing anything like what Zurich is. I'm not about to loose any sleep over it, just anoying.

New jumpers look great, not so sure about the colour of the boots. ...though to paraphrase @old dee, so long as they are kicking goals and pin point passes to their team mates with them, I don't care what colour their boots are!

Most exciting news all day. Stuff about the new sponsor is great and important, but really doesn't do much to excite the passion in me as a supporter. Well done to the club for listening to it's membership/supporter base and making this happen and also for the AFL for finally comming to their senses as well. Right from the start of this ridiculous clash/away jumper policy the AFL brought in 10 - 15 years ago, it felt like a foreign (Americanised) sporting culture was being imposed on our code with the (selectively applied) predominantly white emphasis. I'm pragmatic enough to realize the need for a clash jumper of some description, but really the AFL should have thought long and hard before it let clubs like WC, Port and Freo adopt new jumper designs that clashed more heavily with existing teams jumpers than the jumpers approved for those teams when theyou first joined the comp, so much of this was the making of the AFL. The new 'Royal Blue' clash looks great compared to the white/Bali jumpers. It actually looks a few shades lighter than the original royal blue ones, though my royal blue one with the number 2 got pretty sun faded in the end.

Is it just me or does anyone else think the boys look ridiculous in those bra thingys? Guessing they have something to do with the GPS. Also interesting to see Maxy in the visor again, if I'm remembering correctly, it reminds me of the time his role model Big Jimmy wore the (floro?) cap during a game. lol

Agree with Richmond, at the start of the season, most 'experts' and the general public had them finishing bottom half of the ladder last year. But the Bulldogs had been building and increased competiveness for a few years. They were the yard stick of the comp for the first half of 2016, although they did fade a bit in the second half of the season. One of the things that I think is apparent in the AFL at the moment is that to me there is not a clear dominant super power like Hawthorn, Geelong and to some extent Sydney were over the preceeding period. Adelaide were the closest thing to that last season, but we'e no where near as dominant and in the end capitulated. It will be interesting to see if any club can achieve a position of dominance in the forthcoming period, unfortunately I can see GWS being such a club if they don't have such a torid year with injury. I suspect that GWS have also got a decent chance of sustained succss as they seem to keep loosing good players, but must be stockpiling decient young draft picks whenever they loose talent like Adams Trelore and will no doubt continue to enjoy discounted access to talent by the AFL through their academy etc. ... but I hope I'm wrong, because I can't stand them.

Said Harmes last year and have trouble going past him again this year, based on a hunch more that any external rating of his ability. This guy has some great all round wepons. Probably one of the strongest one on one marks in the team and at times his kicking can be supurb. Love how this guy breaks lines and takes the game on with his physicality and don't argues. He showed in patches last year, against the Suns in Darwin and that first quarter against Port that he can be very damaging and dominant player. If he can rise to putting in those sort of performances for four quarters and week in week out, he could become a real star of the comp. He has the tats going like Nathan Jones, who I think he looks up to as a role model, so if he can translate that into similar on feild performances, we would have a quality player on our hands.

In my recollection, team in general played like crap against North and we probably didn't really deserve to win. But Bugg did have a number of fairly regulation shorts at goal which could have (and really should have) swung the game in our favor, which has stuck in my mind ever since (it still really gates with me that we lost to North twice last year, when they were crap for most of the year excpt pretty much against us). And he certainly had the yips for a big part of last season. But overall, I think he has the ability to reliably hit the scoreboard as demonstrated by his goal kicking in his first year with us in 2016, when he kicked 7 goals 2 and always looked sure and sound in front of goal.

I think it shows fare effort and dedication beyond just the talk that some might accuse him off. Comming top of the squad is no mean feat either, though, he probably would have come second to T Mac any other year in the absence of ankle surgery. I agree that that the real measure will be in performances from March onwards, but by all reports, I don't think as supporters we can ask much more of Bugg than what he is presently doing. Speaking of which would we prefer, from our players - Tom Bugg or Jack Watts work ethic this time of year?

Coincidence or one of several contributing factors I think mostly. I think the wheels fell off our season last year when we lost Jonse, Watts, Viney, Tyson (did we also loose Salem?) and Bugg in consecutive weeks, whilst still down our AA ruckman and key forward. Three six day breaks in a row took it's toll too I recon. Asides from that, I generally agree and I like what Buggy brings to the side. Listening to Todd Viney talk on our late 80s/90s side, he put it's success down to having a mix of good footballers and 'junk yard dogs' and Bugg fits somewhere in between this, but probably closer to the second group. Calls on his kicking are also a bit off IMHO. He definitely had the yips in a few games last year (his poor goal kicking was probably one of the things that lost us the first game against North), but over the journey, he has an approximately 50:50 goal kicking record which is probably around the league average mark. In 2016, he kicked 7 goals 2 and on that basis I think he has the potential to be a good shot for goal - most of it is probably in his head. His 2016 was also better statistically all round than his 2017, but again it's a bit hard to know what that measure actually means in terms of actual contribution to the team on a number of levels. On the one hand he had more possessons, tackles and played more games 2016 (though were he not suspended he may have come close on the games column in 2017), but on the other hand I think we were a better team in 2017 than 2016, which would make it harder to get games and win possessions. Raw stats don't always tell the whole story on effectiveness and contribution to the team either, but my recollection is that he probably did make more of an impact on the team for much of 2016 than 2017. Overall, I'd say his hardness and compeditiveness are a real asset and the guy can play footy. Some have written him off as just a depth player, but I don't think that should be underrated. Sides rarely are able play their absolute best 22, so how deep they bat can make a few games a year difference which is either making finals, or finishing top 4 and setting up your season. Asides I actually think when he is in form, Bugg is better than just depth and can be a match winner.

Next one to be in Red and Blue (without any horrible white away/clash jumper rubbish).

Assuming he is fit, I think that Milkshake proved himself as a genuine quality tagger, when it was asked of him last season and I think he gets the bulk of the job over Vince, though I would still throw Vince in there to get under Danger's skin at opportune times. I recon Lewis would be good to have a go at Ablett when called for too, particularly if Lewis plays majority back and Ablett as a majority forward (I don't believe this Chris Scott garbage that he will play midfield). I really don't see why we should be concerned about this game. If I remember correctly, we were well with this mob last year, despite loosing Max early and with no Pedo to chop out in the ruck, it was up to a very undersized J Watts to ruck practically all game. No Hogan either and basically only an underprepared Weid as our one and only key forward target. We also wasted countless opertunities moving the ball forward and we were still in the game at 3/4 time. I was more surprised that we lasted until 3/4 time before being overrun, as it's pretty hard win being one man down for majority of the game in today's football.

Yep