Rodney (Balls) Grinter

So Peter Bell thinks Melbourne underutilized Dogga and that his best role is in the forward line as a contested mark beast! https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/teams/fremantle-dockers/afl-news-2022-luke-jackson-fremantle-traded-from-melbourne-contract-game-plan-where-will-he-play-sean-darcy-peter-bell-interview/news-story/ba5714fefa8b95830f2b9dd11ba671c4 Good Lord. Peter might want to have a look at Harrison Petty's mark as a forward late in the final against Brisbane before he commits to Jackson as Freo's new key forward now that they have no Lobb.

And then an away game against them once they do, so we can thrash them in front of their 10 die hard supporters. We owe Hawthorn that pleasure particularly.

Definitely this. Sorry, I could hardly give a [censored] about how much prime time our sponsors get or don't. If they get the ultimate prime time of Grand Final day and all the subsequent promotional opportunities that come from a premiership, they should be pretty happy with that. Our supporters that have rocked up week in, week out for years deserve to be looked after more than a bunch of corporates that have been on the ride for just the last few and will jump off whenever it suits them.

Really hope he does get signed. Always makes me pleased to see our delisted or frindge ex-players get a chance at another club.

That one incident got so over exacerbated it's not funny. I think it was more just a case of lack of awareness of the player bearing down on him than him actually torching Trac. Fritta was in an easy goal scoring opportunity himself and 99 time out 100 he kicks that goal. In another scenario that plays out he hand passes to Trac who fumbles and then we'd have the same comentators accusing us of lairising and claiming Fritta should have taken the shot. It was at a point of the season where we were just going off the boil and alot of comentators were loving the oppertunity to have a chip at the side for whatever reason.

Actually think BBB is alot better once the ball hits the ground than many give him credit for. Yes he looks awkward, but in my view he has brilliant footy sense that means even when he misses the mark, he knows where to go to put himself in dangerous positions to stay in the contest and be useful option in chains that end up in goals, whether he's the one kicking them or some deft tap ons to others. Don't think he would have been the leading goal kicker in the league over a period of 3 years if he was a one trick pony and couldn't do stuff off the ground. I also think he's an absolute asset and great teacher for guys like JVR in this respect.

Agree, but then I'd actually like to see that done too on occasion. If we're behind early in the last and need to kick a bunch of goals to get back in the game with a forward line that's struggled to kick goals all game, then I think pinch hitting either of these guys up forward would be worth a shot. I recall that game 2020 (against Freo I think) when we through May forward, he kicked a succession of goals and we nearly pinched the game back. Maysie can be an absolute weapon on his day up forward. Would have got us into finals that year had we got over the line. But overall I agree that Petty to FF is too much robbing Peter to pay Paul. We'd only be that injury to May away from swinging Petty back down the backline and at the same time taking away or key forward and destabilize both ends of the ground. Disco could be a solid option down back one day, but I'd be very surprised if he's close to Petty and May's standard just yet - give the guy a few years to build his game and body like we did with Petty.

Looks like he's working on that impresive tan of his too!

Glad to see Tipungwuti is comming out of retirement to play for Essendon again. It's a win - win I recon. Footy lovers get to see a freakish talent in action again and at the same time, he'll probably help get Essendon's competitiveness up there for a few years to help them avoid getting better draft picks.

We have the best VFL team in the comp, I say bring it on!

The opposition have enough trouble kicking it to Max when he's the main ruck, if he can have even more licence to drop back with Brodie as the main ruck, that could make things very difficult for them. Likewise, the unpredictability of using Max as a wepon forward or back while still having a dominant ruck in Grundy could provide some real headaches. Luke wasn't exactly that much of a contributor in alot of games this season, particularly the longer it wore on.

Best in my lifetime. Jeff was great, but Steve May was a key plank in taking us to premiership glory and I think that tops Jeff's very respectable contribution. Him still wanting to bury the Bulldogs with minutes to go in the final quarter of the GF speaks volumes about his competitiveness that helped get us there. Jamie Shanahan and Anthoney Ingerson were also pretty decient recruits down back from other clubs, but May is bloody awsome. Elite.

I think this much has been publicly acknowledged by the club and was one of the key reasons stated for recruiting Lauchie Hunter.

Would have put a huge smile on my face (and definitely his) to have seen him pull on a senior jumper for the MFC, but I guess that's life and I guess just because he never did that doesn't mean he didn't impact the team. Definitely a Demon whenever I hear or see his name these days. Still need to get around to reading his book!

I think this belongs here too

What a difference a few years makes. Not saying it was you Binny, but I recall a number on this forum telling us how much closer to a flag the Saints were to us at the end of season 2020!

Lol. You're (or your?) creative mastery at it's best @Demonstone love your work.

I'm neither for or against players changing numbers. Some it suits and I do also like it when players make a high number their own. Some high ones I liked were 43 Guy Rigoni, 45 Mathew Wheelan. Equally liked Neitz having 9, Stinga getting 2 and Maxy getting Jimmy's No.11. Per my post above, there are certainly some numbers that have such a history at footy clubs that getting them represents a real honour. Similarly, I think some double numbers are also quite good numbers, even when they are high, like 33 & 44 and if I was Joel Smith, I'd be quite keen to hang onto 44 for that reason.

Yeah, but changing to the number 2 would be a huge honour at the MFC and if it was offered, I think alot of players would find that hard to knock back. He'd just need to win another premiership in No.2. Tom Sparrow could definitely be one of my picks for number 2, but I'm not 100% sure he's quite at the level that could justify such an honour. Possibly someone like Jordan could be another future candidate, but I think either of them would need to have an absolute standout year before you bestowed the number 2 on them. There would be alot of pressure associated with wearing that number at the MFC and also if it get's given away too cheaply and the player doesn't quite make the grade, then I think it denigrates the number and history somewhat as well.

He didn't play in the 2021 GF, but yeah, great to have another player with grand final experience to the list. Having 26 players (with Tomlinson) with grand final experience on the list would have to be a 58 year high for the MFC!

Nope, he's on the money. Lost 1 (Jackson), gained 2 (Schache and Hunter).

Still a very decient and tough player though

Some people on here have a pretty strange idea of what makes a 5 minute wounder. Guys like Sean Charles and Jeff Hilton played 47 and 43 games and kicked 60 and 23 goals between them across multiple seasons. They were seriously capable players across a good number of games, but were either not quite up to the standard / frindge type performance or had other injury issues that prevented them from being a long term career best 22 type player they otherwise had the potential to be on a more established basis than your typical 5 minute wounder. I'd put other recient players like Dean Kent and Arron vandenBerg and others in this sort of category. The other 5 minute wounders that do come to mind for me are James Magner (did end up playing a modest number of games, but none that really lived up to his first half dozen that I recall), Mitch Clisby, Alex Georgiou and Mitch White. Georgiou also really stands out amoung these as someone who's first few games had him looking like star potential. Mitch White being an interesting case of being a solid regular performer for Casey and it was great to see him have premership sucess at that level. But from the couple of games he played at AFL level, he looked very promising as a potential capable and reliable player, but I guess it's since played out that he was just that half a step off the pace, but still good enough to be a bloody good seconds player. At the end of the day, I guess I've still got enormous respect for the guys labeled in this thread as '5 minute wounders' as I'd have loved to have made it anywhere near AFL level in my own playing days and even that 5 minutes of running out onto the G in a MFC jumper would have been amazing.

Yeah, but I hate WC every bit as much (if not more) than those teams. Only consolation is that WC are rubbish at present, but even the thought of Hunt making them more competitive makes me sick. That's said, I'd happily see WC spend decades in mid tier ladder positions, never genuinely compeditive enough to play a meaningful role in finals, but not low enough to get good draft hands either. I actually wish this for around 3/4 of the comp, so it's not a totally logical theory I know, but perhaps if most opposition teams cycle pepetually between later positions 6 and 18 and make bad calls trading low picks for duds our missing their low picks, maybe that would work. Again, this is all pretty wishful thinking for WC as recient history suggests that they are well enough run that the don't stay down for long and asides from Hawthorn, I think they have consistently snagged more flags than any duration of their existence.

I'd be sad to loose Hunt. Rode out and survived some of the hard times at the club and sadly missed out on 2021 by getting injured just at the wrong time. Seems like a genuine and likable character around the club, totally without any obnoxious excess ego. I do rate his abilities as a footballer, but I feel that neither the MFC or Jayden have ever quite extracted his full capabilities on a consistent basis. Having said that, no team has 100% superstars 100% of the time, but I thought Jayden usually played with good effort, courage and toughness for a guy of his build. Had a bad start to 2022, but battled hard to win his way back into the team in the later part of the season. His last quarter against Carlton this year was an absolute ripper and showed what he can be at his best taking on the game with pace and dare. It would be somewhat odd for a guy that's battled his whole career at a struggling club on the rise that's now at the pointy end of the league to go backwards to a cellar dweller. I guess he must have his own reasons and motivations, which is fair enough. Would rather he stayed, but respect Jayden wherever this may land.