Ollie fan

But exactly was there to gain by giving it to Morris? Absolutely nothing. This whole thing would otherwise be insignificant. A very senior player got into trouble and was moved on. Anyone who thinks that wouldn't have been a hotbed of gossip is blind. So at a meeting of players and WAGS the discussion veered off-topic and things were said which were possibly a lot LESS than has been speculated among the group. End of story - until someone, for who knows what purpose, decides that they will tell the media.

I agree with all the posters who say that the meeting should not have happened. What would've been far better would be if all of the players and their partners – who all undoubtedly know each other and are friendly – gossiped about what had happened with Stephen May, speculated, and undoubtedly ended up magnifying the events into something unrecognisable from the truth. (For those who don't realise it, the above is IRONY) Really, the Club was damned if they did and damned if they didn't. Obviously, they tried to keep people aware of why a very senior leader of the club was being let go, and trying to show that they were supportive of players and their partners. I don't see what's wrong with that.

He just got 3 coaches' votes, taking him up to 13....

He sure has - so much for the theory that the game has gone past him. He is feeding lightning-fast handpasses out to players in the open, which has always been his strength and which will always be very advantageous. I'm still bleeding about letting him go....

Didn't Jason Ball come out over a decade ago?

I completely agree that we are short a power defender. I think the selection for this week was terrible because we knew Freo had several key forwards and we went in with just Petty and Turner – I don't count Lever, because body on body is not his thing. TMac should have been played, and that was obvious at the time, not just in hindsight. But the future really worries me. We had hoped that Adams would be the man but it seems that he is not. AJ probably has the physical attributes but even if he could be played in defence, it will obviously take a long time for him to learn the craft. And whether he is talented enough is open to question. Even though we unexpectedly lost May just before the season commenced, he was definitely losing his powers. So I just don't know where we go. Upfield, we certainly will miss the physicality of Oliver and Petracca. Langford has the body size so perhaps he will be the person to take over. But at the moment, he seems to be struggling with the pace of the game. The other thing is not a positional change, but simply, we have to learn to stick tackles. The modern game seems to be very much based on players running in waves and it seems to me that the way to defeat that is to make sure that when the opposition has the ball, anyone who is in a position to run past and receive a handball must be closely checked and then tackled as soon as possible – effectively! It would be nice, too, if umpires decided to pay holding the ball - or throwing it.

Yes, Cranky's crazy comment is a shame because it causes us to criticise Oskar in order to refute CF. The comment was absurd but as others have said, he always seemed like a really good bloke and a trier and I too am happy for him.

Just arrived at the game, open up the footy record, look at the team photo on page 15 and I swear to God, I see Jeff White there. Of course, it must be Kalani. But the resemblance is astonishing.

I absolutely hate all this stuff. The AFL has no faith in its own product, so it tries to jazz it up and just makes it obnoxious. When someone kicks a goal, that's the time to talk to the person you are with about how good it was. At halftime and quarter time intervals, that's when you talk to the person next to you about how the game is going, what needs to be improved, etc. But no, we have to listen to absolute rubbish being played over the loudspeakers at deafening levels, which makes conversation impossible.

Possibly because those days ended about 45 years ago. These days players don't want to be suspended for 3-5 weeks.

most of his possessions were getting it from out of a pack into the clear. It might only be 10 m, but it's a pretty important 10 m. I'm completely with picket fence on this. It's very upsetting to see you.

Ummm - so far, in the 3 top players on the ground....

Am I the only one who noticed that the mark paid to Curnow was not a mark? He juggled it and collected it over the boundary line, by quite a way!

There are lots of things I don't agree with PF about but I am 100% with him on this. We should have worked hard harder to help him defeat his problems and kept on of the greatest players ever to play for our club.

BOG in the Collingwood/GWS match sim. Power, clean hands, killing them at stoppages.... 😭😭😭😭😭😱😱😱😱😱😱😱

Really loved him as a player and he always looked like a top bloke, too.

I have no opinion at all about the show itself except that if it gets up Trump's nose that's fine by me, but I hate the AFL shows. As always, the AFL demonstrates it does not believe in its own product, by refusing to accept that some people go to the football for the purpose of watching the football. The Superbowl has the advantage of an extended half time break ( if we did that we would lose the advantage that the fitter team deservedly has) and huge funds - but it still detracts from the focus in the game. If we must have entertainment, the Grand Final sprint would be fine.

I would think that his joining us makes Kossie very happy, and I imagine that was a factor in us selecting him. This might lead to a very good outcome for us: Kossie secure and happy, and an underestimated player to join him.

My very close friend and fanatical supporter, with whom I had attended innumerable matches over 30-40 years, died unexpectedly a few weeks before the finals. My daughter is convinced he was manipulating things from above.

Occasionally?

I am a broken record on this topic, but that was the year that got away. We had a phenomenal forward line but Neil Balme wanted us to "share" the footy - ie mess around with it, over-handballing etc, instead of just getting it into the forward line quickly. As a result we lost lots of games that we shouldn't and ended up 7th. And therefore had to go to Perth for the prelim. I still think that that was the most talented Melbourne side I have seen. So many gun players: Schwarz, Lyon, Stynes, the Lovetts, Tingay, Wight, Charles ... and no weaknesses. And to return to this thread: pre-injury Schwarz was better than Carey.

I have thought for ages he should be at least an assistant coach for the men. Watching the forward line moving on Saturday was eye-opening. If only the men moved as much!!

I remember Len Mann vaguely- wasn't he a ruckman? - but I didnt think they were related. Anyone know?

I still have and treasure a signed guernsey and his photos remain on display in my office. I will never forget how great he was and even though it would be for GWS I hope he gets it back.

Exactly. So many times the man odd standing in the mark while the player with the free out mark is metres to one side of it and then plays in. The rule that you can play on FROM BEHIND THE MARK needs to be enforced if the stand rule is going to work. The reasoning behind most of there changes, however, is to shorten the games. These obvious reason for the longer games is the breaks after a goal, which seems to be now out to a minute or even longer. But perish the thought that we reduce advertising time!