Deemania since 56

How sad. Bernie gets a tick - too much of a confrontation - intimidating poor little 'umpires' mate, Patrick via the selectors' pen. Very sad. Oh well, it's allegedly his football, and he is taking it home, I guess.

Travis seemed to be a magician, so often. Yet, after a modest performance (rare) it looked like he was the forgotten man of the Club that was not being looked after as well as he could be. This affected his game, I thought at the time. Then, miraculously he would turn a game, running an entire field down the flanks doing things that 18 other players could not stop. Travis had it all.

Vagg was great. So were Hassa and Dicko. Gosh those were phantastique footy days.

Yep, it will provide Vince with another target on his body. Vince already controls his mind.

The dilemma continues and many of us will nearly always feel a loss. It is difficult to dismiss Jack now that he has left the Club and many of us wish him well in the greater football world. Now it is time for us sympathisers to heal; Jack has. We must move on with focus on the current bank balance and its possibilities. The problem with being a MFC supporter is that we are loyal as hell, forced to be reminiscent, living histories of neglect and poor decision-making, and consequently unsuccessful at the level of which we dream. Let's do it this time.

Go Kenty!

I feel that it is all a waste of time, AFLW. Never read the articles, just cannot watch a game - even televised. Quambatook Under 12s generally play a better game and exhibit better skills. Nar Nar Goon Under 13s are equally impressive as a training ground for future AFL stars. I know it is a little sexist to think this way but women cannot play footy. There are exceptions but a game is a game with nearly 40 players on the ground and I wouldn't attend to watch just one of them who might know what is required in this game. Send them on to the netball where they are more popular, or the hockey, or the basketball.

I thought it was radical.

Go Kenty!

Well done, Jack Watts. Good effort.

Regarding Bugg. Dynamic fella, full of courage and grit. Works hard, always. Not yet in the best 22 'cause he can't kick. Fit enough to last a full game in a roving-style, clearing role and prepared to take anyone on... My old coach once told me that '...it ain't good to be where the ball ain't...' but Bugg meets this criteria well. So I apply a modification of this adage, thus: '...it ain't good to have a "kickable" receive in fronta goal, and miss so often...' Enigmatic, ain't he?

Yep, it is a fine line but scalar measures often are misleading. I considered the amount of effective work each of these players contributed during their time/s at the Club and rated them both, very highly for that achievement. Of course, Wilson was an exceptional example of that mark. Powell was one of our best quite often, as well. Consequently, I rate them as champions in our team because of their reliability, much like but not at the same level of brilliance and effectiveness as Flower, Hardeman, and the Ox across a timeframe. Still, labelling them as such, in my mind, is better on reflection than 'very good players'. Please note that this is my opinion, too - some of the stuff that I used to go to the footy to see, exclusively at the time. Now, it is for Petracca, Clarrie, Viney and Gawn - all champions in their own right, to my eyes. Carna Dees.

My breakout summation is for Harmes. He is developing so well and blending with his teammates almost perfectly. I have been watching him closely, quietly and see enormous motor skills. He'd be my morphing agent to emulate Dusty in the future - and he is tough as nails. Great on the outside heading forward.

Not champions? Just good players? Those two did it all each week and then some.

No error in that kick - he meant it as you have observed. Agile, dynamic, great eyes, terrific advantageous decision. And, so quick to so do. Killer instincts....

The Weed needs lots of games but at what cost? He does have attributes so one must wonder by now if he is really training his heart out to make the improvements for the cut. He needs weeks of aggressive, driven performances in the VFL team and very close mentoring, otherwise we will have another prospective tall held in abeyance season by season. He has a great football heritage upon which he can draw, no doubt. It is time for the Weed to turn the corner. Consistently.

Both

It became a glad-rag for the 'trendy' teams ... never purchased a copy but saw hundreds of free copies on the grounds around the MCG after the match on the way to the carpark. Seems as though those who had paid for a copy were unimpressed, too.

The kick over the defenders head does not work. It is so obvious that it, too, is easily defended forthwith. It would work more often if we had a Rodney Grinter-style deliverer but as yet, we do not. Petracca comes close, yes and he showed it. The only two players who seem to have exploited it were Jakovich and Bennett and both of these did so with their mobility - one in a running trip around town and the other in an aggressive straight line.

Get the Ox to stand with him as advisor for 300 kicks at goal each training session for two months. That'll fix his inaccuracy.

We MUST stop long-bombing. It is low-percentage football on a hope and a prayer. If you bomb the ball to the goalsquare, you are off the ground to consider your folly. Forwards must become mobile to space - nothing else will do - a quick buck return from the long bomb just does not happen. We have uniquely skilled runners, ball-handlers, hand-ballers, foot skills and more. We rarely us them in percentage terms. What team would not want Petracca, Hunt, Harmes, Garlett, Hannan, Fritch, Oliver, Tyson, Salem, ANB. Jones and Bugg, for example, running amok? And, we have others for these roles, as well. The Saints ripped us up from within the 1st and 3rd qtrs because of our pathetic reliance on this negative aspect of our game. Our players were not prepared to run, enabling their opponents to tag, man-up and defend anything we were hoping to achieve. We stopped it, and the Saints - a noted running team, themselves - capitulated under the pressure in the final qtr. For PH.....Ks sake.

We all could understand why he might be keeping away from those prying eyes.

It is all such a dilemma - who to play, who to omit, the sound reasons why everyone should be playing. As the season progresses, I'd think that a few 'regulars' may wane in their fitness, not remaining uninjured and/or slowing down, considerably - this would give a few of the 'dilemmas' more opportunities. I am not sure that Lewis, Vince, Pedo, Jones and Gawn can last a whole season or in our best 22 without some considered rest or substitution during games. We walk a tightrope with Gawn playing injury-free for whole matches at a time. Plus, despite his enthusiasm to contribute all over the ground, he is in real need of a backup ruck, a mobile rucking rover and time solely in the fwd line where he is lethal after a 'resting' during the game. Just a series of opinions, that's all.

That is so funny! What do you think are the chances of such a decision being correct? One can only laugh.

I think all of our currently fit players might well stack up against Geelong. Certainly our team game will confound them for some time. Tom Hawkins rips us apart, mostly. That is going to be our main area of concern with Geelong's delivery system. I'd slow him down a little in terms of his own personal tactics to win the ball with a radical trial of '...he who can take a knock, push, punch and body slam...', namely Pedo! Pedo can also bring the ball to ground and his mass is ideal. There are elites around Pedo who can play the ball out from there.