Smokey

These would have been hilarious if Carlton ended up with 0 wins for the season

"Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security" - Benjamin Franklin. And before anyone asks - yes, beer is absolutely an essential liberty. End of story.

I never bought in to the hysteria surrounding May's poor arrival at the club, as disappointing as it has been. His attributes are obvious and he's just served up an entree of humble pie for some that were having near meltdowns about how poor of a decision his recruitment was. The main course and dessert are only around the corner.

Not sure you giving 666 enough respect here. Hard for the club to see the future and know outside class will become crucial when we built a list of contested beasts that was working just fine until 666. We did make a prelim Afterall.

Ironic, as this is a childish response (to an otherwise interesting discussion) that is normally reserved for 30 years old's still living with their parents. According to current meme culture, that last line is a jab at people with autism. What a compassionate soul you are. As fun as this has been, I'll see myself out. Until next time, Matsuo ...

He was top 3 in the league last year ... According to the umpires we routinely label as incompetent on a weekly basis.

"You appear to be" was in reference to you announcing to the internet that you completed an undergrad while arguing that white people suffer racial bias. Wow that sentence is hard to read without throwing my phone at the wall. In the context of racism, being white is inherently to be privileged. It doesn't matter if you're from housing commissions or a private school, you weren't and never have been subject to racial bias as our indigenous people have, ergo your comments are truly condescending to those who actually experience it. Your meaningless verbosity may be enough to fool some, but here in the real world, white people are not subject to racism. Anyone that claims they are on a quest to be recognised as a victim because they likely have nothing better to complain about in life. And that is what I call privilege.

I would argue that, as you appear to be a tertiary-educated white male, that you are the one who is out of their depth when discussing the true meaning of racism. Look beyond how the dictionary defines the word and understand that the notion of racism is underpinned by thousand of years of white imperialism throughout history. And sadly, in Australia, we don’t need to look back very far to see evidence of that. Our high court didn’t recognise native title until 1992. We didn’t apologise for the forceable removable of aboriginal children by Australian government agencies until 2008. Oh yes, how civilised we are. Only a white man of privilege would believe that they can be subjected to the same racial bias as our first peoples have been. And why anyone would seek to identify with this through idiotic comparisons of “racism” toward white people is hard to understand. Again, look beyond the word and have the common sense to accept what the term racism actually means in practise.

Best post I’ve read in awhile

Because it is easy to infer that we are experiencing something more than fundamental technique issues having gone from the highest scoring team to one of the lowest in a single off season. Things are never that simple at AFL level.

I dare say the boys are aware of this

Hard to imagine dropping jeffy, one of our leading goal scorers. On his current scoring output, compared to the teams overall, he cannot be dropped. ‘It’s time to rest tmac though. Pruess must be played. ‘Agree with Fritsch going to half forward. We are killing his development playing him out of his position for this long. I have no idea what selections we’ll witness this week.

Better chance of Donald trump becoming a respectful, measured statesman overnight ...

Problem with that is that no one that we could choose from would be a better option for his role. I’ve been ok with Tracs year so far in a forgettable season for all except Maxy Gawn.

Nailed it. There is definitely a shift in the common perception of what a man should be these days, and although I’m sure there are some downsides to it (like anything in life), I think overall it’s a positive thing that young blokes are more open to talk about their issues and seek help when required rather than bottling it up and letting it consume them in the long run. At Sam’s age I was mostly worried about having enough money to go to the pub on weekends, can’t imagine what it’s like carrying the pressure of #1 key forward prospect of the oldest footy club in the world starved for success for so long. As I said earlier, retiring a 250+ game club champion is there for the taking for Sam. And I reckon he will. I have enormous faith in this young blokes character.

We live in unprecedented times. Between the 24/7 commentary, the myriad of “Experts” on tv all vying for the most interesting comment and the negative culture of social media it’s any wonder these young men have issues. There is no indication he is a sensitive soul. He simply made a few honest comments about the pressure he’s been under. Couldnt be happier he resigned. He’ll retire a club champion if he wants to, he has all the right tools as a key forward.

I reckon he'd benefit far more from the forward 50 entries of a classy and skilled midfielder who can lace him out a few times a game

Spot on.

Brave statement based on his 2019 form

Not sure the hall of fame induction is based off playing ability alone, although you're not wrong re: Hardie.

I get that same funny feeling literally every week for no real reason. My feeling brain is ultimately the architect of my frustrated weekends post-Melbourne game as a result.

Thanks for the info mate. I wonder if they give kicking technique instructions while watching tapes etc. then the coaches just let them go out and do what they were told to do. And perhaps the coaches didn't need to guide them because they were all following their instructions perfectly. We probably won't miss a set shot for the rest of the year based off that. Happy days.

Can't argue with much of that, except I will say that even though Petracca hasn't hit consistent output yet, this is still his best season to date (which I guess is pretty uninspiring in itself at this stage of his career). But from my view his improvement over the last few years appears to be linear if you look at it holistically. His trouble is he is still prone to going missing for entire games, which is incredibly frustrating given his abilities and potential. And of course his set shot kicking. On the positive side, he is asserting himself more in the contest, using his strong body to his advantage and has set up many scoring opportunities this year. Tmac on the other hand I agree getting a bit exposed this year. Whilst he has shown patches of dominance over the last few years up forward, even when Hogan was injured and he was #1 target, he has proven himself to not be such a natural forward this year. Whether that's because he is carrying an injury remains to be seen, I certainly hope that's the case or else we are in desperate need of an established key forward over the trade period.

Tend to agree, although Tmac more than held his own when Hogan was injured for extended periods. I think last year he was under-rated, and is now getting the defensive attention he deserves.

Don't get precious on me now, your opinions are not immune to scrutiny.