BW511

One thing that is not ending is our premiership drought

Richmond seem to have very good awareness of where their teammates are, or perhaps where they are supposed to be. When we get the ball, you have absolutely no idea what will happen

If he is to convince everyone he has turned the corner, you would like Tom McDonald to kick 4. Would like Jordon or Sparrow to get plenty of footy and raise a few eyebrows over the starting midfield mix in round one

Sorry, I didn’t realise they bled money down there. They do win lots of games of footy though

If we are using travel as an example, the people of inner Melbourne expect people of the outer suburbs to travel to games, yet would not be open to doing the same? There are plenty of people who live further out than Casey Fields who may suddenly be interested in going to the footy too. Warragul, Mornington Peninsula, Bass Coast. I think a 30,000 seat stadium at Casey would be a game changer for us. As discussed, Geelong absolutely clean up from their ground and they will be hosting finals there before we know it. I think the club is stuck in a never ending cycle of mediocrity, we don’t win enough, we don’t get members. We can’t do anything elite facility wise because we don’t have enough members ($$) and we can’t win games because of it.

So once in every how many years?

Agree wholeheartedly. I don't think we will have a facility within 5 years, not within the city/MCG precinct. We don't have the supporter base and therefor power to make something happen

Understand that completely, but my point still stands. The arrogance of the club has done nothing but harm it's cause. We are the only club in the AFL that doesn't have it's own facility, it's not due to available land or money, it's due to stubbornness and narrow mindedness.

Think the MCG Precinct and inner city mentality is probably detrimental to the club in the long term. With the spread of our population away from the inner metro area, why focus on an area which has zero growth. We are a club that has a small membership base and attracts very few supporters to our games, we need to be creative with our membership and keeping them engaged. Where the players want to live should rank very low down on the priority list.

If Hunt is moving back as suggested, he is a strong chance to be one of either. I think with our dire forward situation, T-Mac will have the biggest target on his back. Would like Jordon to be the surprise, he seems to be attracting plenty of attention already through club commentary (Gus and Gawny) or track watchers

Not me, in fact I would encourage it

I thought a fit T-mac was going to save everything?

I never discussed Williams vs Oliver. I like Clarry a hell of a lot, but don't necessarily think his 30 touches is more damaging than Walsh with 30. Would I take Viney with 20 touches or Williams, well that is a no-brainer. Williams every day of the week. I know Clarry is bloody good, but if people are happy to say Cripps was no good last year, they need to remember that Clayton wasn't either. We also know Cripps was carrying a very heavy burden with his partner and her issues

I hear what you are saying, but if all 3 played at their best I think Carlton win that hypothetical. Cripps and Wiliams could do a lot more damage than Oliver and Viney. Walsh and Oliver probably even split (on output), Cripps and Trac similar, then Williams vs Viney is probably weighted in Carlton's favour.

It’s funny that everyone spruiks Carlton needing support for Cripps and Walsh, yet they have bought in Zac Williams as a mid also. That trio would be arguably top our best 3.

Could see Jacko playing plenty of footy as a Grundy/Nic Nat type ruck-extra onballer. Max might end up more of a pinch hit ruck role. He will need to add some strings to his bow as he is extremely one-dimensional - not a bad thing when you are good, but in the long term, how long will the coaches be prepared to hold Jacko back for?

According to MFC Twitter it is, he’s out for 10-12

This reminds me of a time when I was in a side coached by 2 former AFL players, one of which was known for his skills. We had the classic 'old school' challenge before calling it a night and had to collectively kick 10 goals in a row from 35-40m out. Said coaches picked a couple of good kicks (who all missed) then proceeded to pick blokes that didn't even get a gig in the 2's. After about 25 shots on goal, I piped up and politely asked why they were not trying to help people, rather than belittling them. Needless to say I ran a few sharp laps after an almighty spray - still bugs me 15 years later. If someone has the ability to teach skills, you have to be doing it all the time (Chocco, Yze etc) Even really skillful blokes lose their touch if not practicing constantly. From what we keep hearing via training reports and from my ideal scenario, we might finally see a bunch of young lads squeeze some blokes out of the side. This can't come soon enough

My changes in bold I don't have Hibbo in, replaced with Salem. Brayshaw won't play Round 1. I would prefer Tomlinson at CHB and Petty at CHF, but it's likely T-Mac will get a chance with the way he has been applying himself in training.

I'm pretty sure everything that's been said about his knee mentions he was not in pain.

Also, on the taping thing, there are plenty of blokes who get strapped for mental reasons. I've played with many blokes who were so used to being taped that they could not make the leap to removing it

I think we have proven we are not competitive with T-Mac, Weid and Fritsch as our forward line. We are terrible at developing players historically and quite frankly, our list was not exactly overflowing with key position talent. Ben Brown is far less of a risk than Joe Daniher is to Brisbane.

Agree, I think rule changes have been responsible for a lot of the issues we see. Will be interesting to see if teams setup their zones with players in the area that could normally be occupied by the man on the mark.

You'd think the move of Hunt to HBF is a direct result of this change. Won't be too many blokes that can catch him with a static start

Steven May looks very lean. Rivers has definitely added some mass, he is a good size!