Matsuo Basho

Play him at full forward with instructions to lead to the fat side.

When it comes to trading and recruiting some clubs go at 75/25. Others 50/50, the unsuccessful clubs (ie. us) more like 25/75. No-one’s perfect sure but to suggest all clubs get 50% right and 50% wrong is clearly nonsense. Hawthorn haven’t won 4 flags in ten years for no reason. Beau Dowler and Ty Vickery are among exceptions to a veritable cavalcade of successes. Its embarrassing reading our supporters, Moonshadow and others, pot Hawthorn in this thread. Flat out embarrassing.

Dream podcast guests - a group with Petracca, Goodwin, May and a few no-filter types like Kane Cornes, Blighty and Grant Thomas. No holds barred. Let’s air the dirty laundry.

Sshhh Hardtack that sort of comment doesn’t fit the no-risk mindset of most Demonlanders.

Pike starred in 4 premiership sides if I’m not mistaken? One North, three Lions’ flags. He was too tough a player for Melbourne.

Get Jack Martin on one wing and a Wayne Milera type on the other and watch Clarry, Gus and Jack flourish. The problem is obvious.

Worst excuse ever. The Suns allow their players to skip cardio sessions and eat vanilla slices at will? Please.

3 - 4 years.

He needs better outside mids to distribute the ball to. Extracts the pill, looks up for a split second and sees ANB, Stretch, Harmes, Old Man Jonesy and the Wagners running around like headless chooks in an abattoir. Do the math.

I doubt it’s poor luck AF. May did not prepare his body like a professional athlete should and is now paying the price for it. The Demons are now paying the price for it. In a sane world he’d be docked at least half of the $750+k he’s getting paid. It can’t be underestimated what kind of negative impact it must’ve had on the rest of the playing list to see this high priced recruit rock up to day one of pre season training with cheeseburger face and mudguts. “Surprised by the different training standards” at Melbourne compared to Gold Coast? Spare me. Poor discipline and disrespect for his new coach more like it. Steven May owes the club an All Australian season in 2020, nothing less.

Amazing how the club can accurately assess it as an 11 week-er. Guess they can’t bring themselves to just write ‘season’. Too embarrassing.

Early candidate for Post of the Year, KingDingALing. Reading that didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

No shame in learning and copying from the best hey Picket?

What if we’ve got reality wrong and Self is a mental construct that has no ultimate existence?

Broken record graphic ... ooh I get it. Great visual metaphor Moonshadow. Super creative.

That’s not saying much. Run is fine but where to? I doubt even he knows most if the time. Truth is he’s been very ordinary along with everyone else back there except Salem.

Gutsy leadership from Lewis at this point is not playing on but flagging his retirement game against the Hawks so we can free up a list space to take a punt on a kid. Pace Pace Pace is what we need, some frenetic youthful energy to spark up the joint. Bring in a freakish indigenous lad from the top end and just give him a crack. Got nothing to lose and much to gain.

Prepare for this post to bumped later in year. Apologies accepted in advance. Kidding yourself if you don't think our FD will strongly consider him. If his knee's right - and reports suggest Hawthorn for one club think it will be - then he's the best value for money KPF out there in the marketplace. Try taking no risks in this 18-team comp and win a flag. 'Aint gonna happen.

Try being a Melbourne midfielder at the moment, looking up and all you’ve got to kick to is Weideman and a Tom McDonald who’s running like he just got hit by a car. No wonder confidence is down.

Can't agree with your assessment of Shiel and Treloar DV8. Shiel is bordering on being a top 10 player in the competition. Plenty would have him in there including me. Absolutely torched us three weeks ago. Treloar is not far behind him. Both sensational players.

Agree. Zak Jones is not polished and composed enough for the type of midfielder we need. Viney, Clarry and Gus need blokes on the outside who ooze speed AND class. That’s what’s missing.

More powerful talls? Nup, their spine is already better than ours. Plowman/Jones - Weitering - Cripps - Curnow - McKay ... and their midfield is for sure a work in progress but Cripps, Dow, SPS, Walsh as a core has plenty of potential. They will be knocking on the door if the eight in 24 months, particularly if they can land the big midfield fish they keep hunting. We can too, but we desperately need a KPF. A gorilla. A ‘spine straightener’. Hello The General Jonno Patton.

Crazy statement. It wasn’t about selecting two quality youngsters instead of Lever. It was about forcing Adelaide’s hand to accept one first round pick for him instead of two. Had we done that we would’ve got Lever AND had a pick in the first round of last year’s super draft. We could have potentially added the next Luke Shuey, Isaac Smith or Liam Ryan to our list - all players drafted in the latter part of the first round. And who’s to say Lochie OBrien or Liam Stocker won’t end up fantastic 150+ game players for the Blues, who’s list is already looking uncomfortably more well rounded than ours. You might be okay with that but I and I would suggest many others are not. Caved too early during trade week and are now paying the price.

Agree DV8. We were far too acquiescent and accommodating on the Lever trade. Would a Gubby Allen or Dodoro have coughed up TWO first rounders for an intercept marking defender? Very much doubt it. For a Treloar or a Shiel sure but not for anything else than a bonafide midfield A grader or 60+ goal a year full forward. Always irked me how quickly Mahoney and Co caved to a petulant Brett Burton on that deal. We were too nice and we’re paying for it now with opportunities missed to fill important holes in the list. Nothing at all to do with Lever’s injury, bad luck happens. But so does good luck when you play the chess game at trade week properly. Typically, we didn’t.

That forward line in 1994 with Lyon Jakovich Neitz Sean Charles and the Ox. How did we not win a flag?