Rodney (Balls) Grinter

If only he didn't slightly overcook that pass around the 25 second mark, it would have been the perfect centring kick and forward 50 entry. Still great signs for me that he had the skills and awareness to make space for himself at half forward and then lower the eyes to hit up a great leading option and not just chip it deep into the pocket to get bottled up or a low percentage shot on goal. Also took whoever it was to be making the lead straight down the ground giving the option. Noticed that Jefferson provided that several times for us and hopefully it is team directive in our game plan over the pre-season marking an improvement in how we move the ball into forward 50.

That competition for spots will be great. If Spargo can get back to his best, I'd certainly see him as the closeset competition to Henderson, but no doubt Tholstrup will also heat things up as he matures and gains in confidence. Hendo looks to have that maturity, hardness and composure to play at the top level already sorted.

Add to that Winsor given licence to take on players and have a shot at goal whenever he wants as well (I think this licence has already pretty much been handed out by the coaches).

Agree. I've seen May have a few games where he turns it over again and again. But I think those are mulligans. Conversely I actually think T Mac is a much better kick out of defence than people give him credit for. I do think there is a bit of perception bias at work here from 1 - the days we were getting pumped and the backline was constantly under pressure with a lack of good outlets and 2 - his lumbering movement and kicking style. I actually think T Mac's kicking out of defence these days is pretty good and something he regularly executes well are almost pin point 50m passes which clear the defensive zone and put us on the way into attack.

Went on Sunday and sat out in the open on level 1 of the Southern stand, got a little wet here and there, but thought it was a great atmosphere created by those that did come. The collective clapping that the crowd with the Irish dancers doing the jig was awsome. Actually liked being able to be close enough and quite enough to here the players and vice versa at boundary throw ins. If we had have come away with the win, it would have been one of those days out at the footy to remember for mine. It's one of those true joys being there as a die hard and savouring those moments and wins when all the band wagon jumpers and half hearted supporters have given up and don't bother to come and show their support. Just wish the club would recognise those that do show up to the lesser games like GWS week in week out more when it comes to the big high crowd drawing games, when they want to cast us asides into the depths of the top level unless you are willing to pay top dollar for reserved seats. Yes they want to profit off those big games, yet if we didn't show up to the GWS type ones, they'd be screwed.

Great to have another elite ball user in the backline. Has alot of Bowey of 2021 about him in that respect, always looks like he's got time, space and awareness. ...don't get me started about Caleb, he's in a league all of his own 😍

Would love to see May through forward in bursts here and there as a circuit breaker if we are dominating forward 50s, but not putting it on the scoreboard, however IMHO he's too valuable as the rock of our backline to move away from that role perminantly. Absolutely encouraged by Petty's performance down there against GWS though and also rapped that T Mac can step up as an emergency and more than hold his own. Thought Salem also looked back to a good level. Great to re-establish that elite backline again. Now just to get McVee back in 3 - 6 weeks (know the injury report might say less, but I'd rather not rush him).

Knees someone - for the hundredth time. I do actually like Toby, but he's more than just a serial offender on this. Should be an automatic suspension every time he does it.

Improve you takleing technique maybe AJ, but don't change. More of that bustling aggression and attack on the ball every week is exactly what out forwardline needs. Make sure you bring it double against Collingwood.

Love your work Binman. Very comprehensive list of facts and figures there.

Love his unwavering faith in the young man

Also slightly less impactful given that Jessie isn't playing as well.

So glad to hear it's just illness. Disco has had such a c r a p run with injuries (pardon the pun)

And how did we fit both him and former No.1 pick Josh Schache on the list last year?

In the back is technically illegal, but so rarely actually gets paid due to the interpretation being applied that it might as well not be there.

While we're at it, the falling forward into the player in a takle is another one that needs to be policed far more heavily. If I recall in the days before ANB was a reconsed quite acahevier type superstar, he was rubbed out for several weeks for the sort of thing you see happening every week now. Similarly, it frustrates the heck out of me to see players get jumped on when the ball is on the ground when attempting to pick-up the loose ball. Sure we don't want players scoping it in, sitting on it and holding up play, but give the guy actually going for the ball some protection and opptunity. Maybe we'd see more balls comming free, more fluid ball movement around the ground and less scrimmages.

Yeah, that great venue we have out at Casey. ...Well at least it's better than Cockburn Central!

I love this story, just for that purpose alone. They're happy to try and unsettle the MFC via the Kozzie rumours, so I'm more than happy for it to go back the other way as well. Actually wonder if our administration had something to do with planting the rumours on that basis. Credit to them in some ways if they did, though based on the character of those at the MFC, I highly doubt that is the case.

No way Jonesy would have been sitting on the bench for the full game. Think there would have been 22 players literally willing to pull a hammy for him to get him out on the ground.

That's something Fritta should be able to bring.

Campbell, Brown I think. A punctuation mark marks all the difference to this situation hey. Would be a fair effort for Campbell Brown to get up to VFL standard at age 41

Or is he one of Elon's kids?

Lol Just a hunch! Why stop at 70 pages though! ...WHY? Indeed

He did mention big Maxy in his interview and I think that's a sound choice both based on talent/player profile as a supporter perspective, but also politically for Jai to nominate his captain. If you look at the squad we had in 2010, there are some great ones to pick from: Top of the list for me at that time would probably be Nathan Jones, James McDonald, Aaron Davey, Brad Green (surprised he didn't mention el presidente for good measure), Liam Jurrah, and Brent Moloney who was a fairly strong performer at the time amd although he was probably not much of a player back in 2010, I always did feel Maxy 37 hinted at that X factor even then. Then there are the other solid performers of the time: Jared Rivers, Kyle Cheney, Joel Macdonald (wounder how his business ended up), Cameron Bruce, Austin Wonaeamirri (a personal favourite), Stefan Martin (wish we'd been able to hold onto him), Neville Jetta (another favourite that ended up going the distance), the Russian - Mark Jamar and Chip Frawley Those that showed potential at some points, but never quite made it big: Lynden Dunn, Ricky Petterd, Jack Grimes, Colin Garland, Luke Tapscott, Jamie Bennell, Rohan Bail, Jack Fitzpatrick, Jordie McKenzie, Jake Spencer, Addam Maric, Clint Bartram, Jack Watts, Colin Sylvia, Brad Miller, Jack Trengove, Matthew Warnock Lastly, Jai would have been one of the young fans that had his heart broken by that greedy deceitful $cully.

Do like the idea of our main logo having the Demon on it somewhere and the flaming Demon logo is probably the best, most contemporary looking one, only I'd probably loose or rework somehow the white diagonalised "Melbourne" on the bottom, but still somehow work the word in there. Maybe just changing the Melbourne to navvy blue would look more contemporary. I'm a bit conflicted about the MFC monogram. Think it can look classy on formal wear, but on the other hand, it reminds me too much of Carlton's jumper and monogram to be overly enthusiastic about it.