napster

Let’s hope the Dees don’t get offered the same privilege. But if we find ourselves in that state, and if ladder positions stay as they currently are, we’ll get first choice. I think we should take Norton. Given the current state of the economy, we don’t want to go back to Owen.

I expect from now on we’re going back to long waits when going through security, with full bag searches etc. What was a much faster system of security screening has had a major fail. I’m guessing they were Carlton supporters, because a) it’s a club for crims, b) they started getting agitated in the second half. I know the Collingwood fanbase has its fair share of crims, but they tend to be lower level crimes, consistent with lower IQs. To get loaded guns past security requires a level of planning and execution way beyond their skill set.

If you’d held off on posting until this morning, you could have claimed April Fools. Oh well. But given that it’s getting colder, we’ll understand why it’s the smallest of small flags.

Goody’s excuses/deflections. Round 1. Six debutants. Round 2. Max’s family issues. Round 3. The players and their form. Round 4. Any chance it is the coach? No, come on, it’s the trip down to Geelong, of course. It’s a hard place to play. How often do Collingwood/Carlton/Essendon played down there? (Actually, good point Simon, but 20 goals?) Round 5. It was disappointing to see how few Melbourne supporters made the trip over to Adelaide, and it didn’t help we had to give up a home game at the G. Round 6. The supporters can’t even be bothered to turn up at the G. There were more Freo supporters. Other than that, I’ve got no effin idea what went wrong today. Round 7. Clearly we need to start from scratch again. We might have missed out on pick 1 this year, but I think we’ll be able to trade in a few first round picks. Or maybe second rounders? Would you believe some salary cap relief? (Nathan Bassett). Please be aware that round 7 comments are subject to the intestinal fortitude of the Melbourne board, which cannot be guaranteed.

Due to fond past memories, I felt obliged to attend yesterday, as you should for a funeral.

I think he’s got an important role to play, twice this year and at least once a year until 2028. Jack, it doesn’t matter how many weeks you cop, every time we play Collingwood (or Norf, if he takes the coin, but preferably whilst he’s still with Collingwood), I want you to put Maynard in hospital.

The main source of opposition droppings will be from the sight of AJ bearing down upon them. Will take some clearing, as I suspect they’ll mostly be liquid.

Surrounded by horse sh*t. Are you sure you haven't wandered into AFL HQ?

I believe that losing Brayshaw was a significant factor in our loss to Collingwood, but even if we had beaten them, beating GWS in the prelim was no given. They only lost to the Pies because of a large number of shocking pro-Collingwood umpiring calls in the last quarter. We would not have enjoyed the same armchair ride from the umps. The Giants ball movement and superior disposal efficiency would have exposed us.

It’s good that Cornes has turned the spotlight onto Melbourne. The mainstream footy media are usually so obsessed with the big Vic clubs that MFC flies under the radar for way too long. For ‘questionable’ list management decisions I would substitute ‘poor’, especially in regard to trading in of other club’s players, but also with our exchange/trading of picks at the draft. The club should have been up to speed with Oliver’s issues when they re-signed him and thus been more cautious. They should have also been aware that anyone with Brayshaw’s concussion history is one serious ‘Maynard’ away from a career ending injury. Bringing Grundy in was a mistake that didn’t recognise our main weaknesses (lack of midfield speed and poor midfield foot disposal skill), but selling him for next to nothing and also strengthening a flag rival was an even bigger blunder. Then replacing Grundy with Fullarton, whose contested ruck work issues should surely have been revealed with a modicum of research into his Brisbane playing history, compounded the error. Fullarton might yet make it, but it seems we wanted to turn a ruckman, Grundy, into a key forward (fail), and now want to turn a potential key forward, Fullarton, into a ruckman? I disagree with Cornes about trading out Petty. At the time we needed to keep him, assuming 2024 was our last chance at a flag with Gawn and May in the last year or so of their prime. It didn’t work out with Petty this year, but his serious foot injury appears to have had a greater impact than anticipated and hopefully he’ll be back to his old self next year. Our depth issues are part of our list management issue, but Jordon and the unmentioned Bedford were both victims of Goodwin’s poor use of subs. As for Goodwin, a lack of creativity, slow response to game day and broader issues, favouritism of certain players etc etc are ongoing issues. Even if he doesn’t change, I expect he’ll get away with it for a few more years. The Cornes snow reference was unfortunate but (I can’t help myself…) it does appear to be a club whose future is threatening to turn into slush.

If there was any brain injury it must have been temporary, otherwise you’d have ended up barracking for Collingwood.

Hopefully Fosters Flop has limited the future damage.

Just returned from the Swan Street party/puke zone after picking up my daughter, who couldn’t persuade her friends to go elsewhere for the night. It was a descent into Hell. A morass of morons chanting and droning the same old monotonies. It’s where this horrible month has been inevitably heading, once that thug opted to ‘flinch’ and put his shoulder into Gus’s face. As much as it hurts to say, I thought Collingwood were the better team today, but the AFL gifted them their opportunity, not suspending Maynard, a 6 day break for the Giants (Carlton gets an 8 day break of course), then the umpires stopped doing their job in the last quarter and ignore 5-6 blatant Giant frees. And now the calendar is scarred.

Would have been Nicky D but for his dicky knee.

Only if Carlton are bowling, then there is no doubt, you are out, you're totally fARCed.