Mel Bourne

If his foot becomes an issue again maybe we could just plant him in the midfield, doing this all day.

I think most of the objections you’ll receive is for employing the word “Tomald” as a nickname for Tom MacDonald.

Couldn’t get the grin off my face watching that. Man, I really hope Harley runs onto the ground in the red and blue this year. I almost don’t care what happens after that. It clearly means more to him than we could ever truly understand. And just watching them go so hard at it; I honestly don’t know what more a team can do. If success doesn’t come to the club this year, you cannot say that it was due to a lack of effort and commitment going into the season. Even though they have no idea who I am and never will, I’m extremely proud of my boys after watching that. Tackle-coach-psycho-guy doesn’t mind saying [censored] and [censored] a lot.

I would’ve been in favour of a long-term contract for CP two years ago, and nothing’s changed in that regard.

Sure was. That’s quite a list!

It’s very hard to shake these kind of concerns, isn’t it. We just have to put our faith in those deciding these sort of things. Which is a whole other concern ??

Really? I just have the AFL app free with my Telstra account, but are you saying if I paid extra they’d lift the restriction on screen-mirroring?

Pros - Every AFL game both live and on demand. Solid selection of AFL- related programming and also classic games, for a dose of nostalgia (I watched the ‘86 Vic vs WA game the other day - still tragic). Obviously quite a lot of other sport on it too! Cons - They never broadcast my favourite NBA team’s games (Grizzlies) and my hard-earned goes toward purchasing more human growth hormone for Rupert Murdoch. If Telstra allowed me to screen-mirror via Apple TV I wouldn’t bother with it. But Telstra are adamant that all the broadcasts of their matches via the app must remain tiny to the eye.

Very promising, and terrific news if your source is on the money. Though I’ll be happier if they just hold him off till the actual footy starts.

Strictly speaking it’s “Hear, hear!” Ok, the grammar-slammer is outta here. ✌️

Sure, and I accept that training-related injuries are an unfortunate by-product of what is a very necessary practice. I just don’t think games where players are going full-tilt for the purpose of “warming up” are necessary. Just play the freakin’ game, already.

Is it our failure to find talent or inability to nurture it?

Sure, but isn’t there an argument that if all teams started out “rusty” then it’s just an aspect of the regular season? I guess my point is that the nature of the game these days is so much more physical and high-risk, that any kind of match that takes place with your team’s best players on the ground should be for premiership points. Plus, the nature of pre-season training/intra-club matches these days is so intensive that I don’t think you’re going to see any teams start out rusty in any overt way. I realise it’s an unpopular opinion, but if I see any of our players injured in this series I’ll only dig my heels in on it more. And I’ll also swear. Swear a lot.

Even more reason not to bother.

Agreed. And while we’re at it, I’d be up for scrapping any games that aren’t AFL, full stop. This Marsh stuff? An opportunity for players to get injured in return for what? A trophy that nobody cares about. If the point of a pre-season comp is for players to warm up a bit before the real thing, let them all warm up in the first few rounds together. The game is too intense and too injury-prone now. Any sacrifices made on the ground should be for the real thing.

If halfway through the season we are looking back on an utter disaster, Goodwin is gone. Contracts aren’t what they used to be (though it will be expensive).

On the one hand that is absolutely true, on the other, a lot of supporters are on a hair-trigger thanks to last year and are very unreceptive to any platitudes from the club. Especially from the marketing department. Anyway, sorry to bring up an old comment. It is just a silly title, but it is also telling of how on-edge and simultaneously worn out some of the supporters are that they view it simply as a poorly thought-through jinx.

Can you hold down a job as a sales rep, smoke cigs, celebrate both wins and losses with a couple of beers and still be considered an elite athlete? (absolutely)

I’m a little suss on the seemingly cut-throat and ominous nature of going 0-3. For a start, a team did it and made finals not that long ago, and it wasn’t like that team was even the best in the competition at the time. Going 0-3 is technically no different to losing three games in a row at any given point of the season, and plenty of teams have done that and made finals. The most plausible explanations for the history of “0-3” are a combination of mentality, luck of the draw (literally) and for most of it’s history, a much more uneven league. Essentially I’m asking for DL not to turn into Jonestown should it happen.

Nah, I was just making a silly joke.

I mean, to be fair, nobody usually asks for anybody’s opinion on anything around here.

This 8-win threshold that people are proposing for Simon Goodwin is extremely generous.

Don’t think we’ll win the first two, but we should beat Freo. WCE over there will take something ridiculously special, and GWS are in rude health right now. Whoever manages their injuries is doing a great job.

So not being particularly fussed over? Still wearing the boots? Ok, can’t be too bad.

Quite the expert, aren’t you.