Lord Nev

Watching this, it definitely looks like Lockhart has him in the first contest, Nev has someone else in the second, then Nev gets beaten by Rankine in the third. Rankine Highlights

Didn't Lockhart play on Rankine for his first 2 goals? The 3rd one was on Nev but it was also a horrendous tap. Definitely not in peak form, but maybe a bit harsh judging it on someone he wasn't even playing on most of the time. Now that we've got a more solid mix of tall backs I'm backing Nev in to find some decent form again very soon.

Can't agree with this premise mate. It destroys the whole purpose of social media, which is to be immediate and direct. To have what is essentially phony corporate identities representing your brand is the quickest way to lose all your engagement, closely followed by any connection to your company/product/personality/footy club. The players control their brands, it's a huge part of what the AFLPA has worked for over the last decade, and their individual brands are considered separate from the club even though they work in tandem. I don't think anyone has asked for this or remotely expects it. The push is for accountability and the determination of who that sits with from a moderation perspective but also from a publication perspective. It's impossible to stop harmful things being posted, what is being asked for is purely and simply accountability.

Agree with both posts here, and binman you've really nailed one of the core issues in that there is no differentiation on social media between positive and negative engagement. That is one challenge for facebook especially where harmful, misleading or intolerant content ends up reaching a wide audience due to it having negative reactions which are given as much value as positive. Facebook is at an intriguing stage. It's very much going through an internal revolt due it's lack of ethical moderation, and not just of it's organic content. And Mazer I very much agree with your sentiment around the lack of understanding between 'free speech' and 'free of consequence speech'.

I completely agree the AFL was weak in it's action (or inaction) for that specific instance. These are different aspects of the same issue though. One is about direct racist speech, the other about the determination of responsibility of publication platforms. I don't see how Eddie being punished for his racist comment has any influence at all on how facebook moderates it's platform. They're separate things.

I'm a big fan of May, and I reckon he could make a great forward going by his junior years, but for me it's more an emergency option during a game than something I would actively structure and plan for, at least at this stage. I think the trio of May, Lever and OMac is a safe and solid one, Hibberd and Salem are starting to find consistent form, then we have that mix of Nev, Lockhart & Rivers who are fighting it out a bit for a spot. I'm reasonably happy with the backline, and now that Goody has finally caved and started selecting two forwards I think we might start seeing some improvement down the other end too.

Talking about different aspects of the issue there though mate. One is the comment by a club president in his job in the media in 2013. I agree the AFL failed on that one in not only refusing to officially reprimand Eddie, but also holistically in the whole Goodes situation. Gil has admitted as much only recently. The issue we were talking about was the AFL pressing government and social media companies about accountability for the content they host. Clearly both fall under racism as a broader topic, but to conflate the two separate things is not addressing the post correctly at all.

Do you have specifics here? Would be interested to hear where exactly you've experienced that. Reckon you just defeated your own point here mate.

Disagree mate. I think he's become the glue and leadership that holds that backline together, and his kicking efficiency is number 1 at MFC. The whole reason we got rid of Frost was to make the backline more safe and predictable, so to move the main linchpin now would be a bad move IMO. Not sure we should be pointing the finger at him for being predictable out of the square, would think that's a strategy down from the coaches box. Put Tomlinson and Lever together and it's a completely different mix than May and Lever.

I don't think with young players you can read too much into that IMO. Might be better for some development-wise to stay here and work on areas of focus. All that aside, are you sure he's not there? Thought I remembered seeing a photo of him in the gym up there. Edit - Yep, he's there mate.

Extra voices creates extra pressure. It's a VERY slow train with this issue, you may have seen the controversy growing with facebook already, and there's no question it's only going to get bigger. The AFL integrity unit has been involved with all these kind of cases from what I've seen too.

You said depth, now you're talking 'starters'. As I said, all the players I listed are 'capable' of playing there as depth. Brayshaw is playing minimal game time this year, let alone spending much time in the centre, hardly think losing him is going to make a huge difference to our midfield depth.

I'm pretty sure they have been mate. Seem to remember Gil pushing the issue with Government and social media companies and the AFL integrity unity is involved in these cases now. It's a growing issue being felt in social media, you may have noticed twitter have started to take action (albeit minimal) and facebook as a company have a massive internal cultural issue with how they moderate content and have had staff protests, high profile staff quit and more all over this very issue.

Actually, to Goody's credit, the move to have Salem take some kick outs with May providing an extra target proved an important late move IMO.

Is it though? Viney, Petracca, Oliver, Harmes, Melksham, Salem, Tomlinson, vandenBerg, ANB, Sparrow, Jordon, Dunkley, Jones all capable of playing in the guts. Seems a bit of an overreach there.

Sparrow delisted? Very highly doubt that mate, even with diminished lists.

Trade Brayshaw for Saad.

Undefeated when this bloke is in the team...

Who's choppin onions in here.....

OUT: TMac (inj), Melksham IN: Brown, Jones Lockhart and Nev maybe lucky we won't want to change a winning team too much.

Showed a new level of maturity with his delivery forward, reckon we saw him genuinely become a real leader tonight.

Yeah fair, tonight is still a test, but I just think this is your standard media attention week that most teams respond to. We'll be fired up, we'll be focused and we'll be conscious of the weaknesses at the front of our minds, but next week when the pressure is off again (should we win tonight) it's easy to just go back into cruise control.

Know it will sound like a cop out, but next week is the real test. This week is another one of those 'heat is on must respond' games. I expect us to win, but then next week we come up against a quality club with a fantastic coach on the rebound. That will tell us more about where we're at than this week. This week is the easy one to get up for, next week is the character test. Of course in saying that, lose tonight and next week and I think that may be it for Goodwin.

Fogarty or Larkey spring to mind, but would rather chase the free agent options this year.