Ollie fan

Not surprising, but he's going out while still playing good footy. I thought that after quarter time he killed Elliott who is s good player. He's been great for Melbourne - and we've been great for him.

He made his debut in a final in 1982 and kicked 5 goals

So Gawn, Viney, May should have beaten Maynard up like Carl used to? Who would play in their places against Carlton?

I probably agree about Greg Stafford. But poaching a key forward? Next year we will have JVR really starting to fire, and Petty back and hopefully free of injury. So what do we do with the new recruit? Send him to Casey like we have done with Grundy? In fact, which key forward would want to come here when there is no assurance of a game - because you can't have three!

What's all this about Hibbo? After the first quarter he was right on top of Elliott, who is a VERY good player!!

The article just riled me. It confirms that he was going to Freo from halfway through the season on - and to my mind he really played like it. Gave us virtually nothing in that period. If he'd been upfront we could have put him at Casey and played someone who wanted to play.

If they play Cox, we MUST play Grundy. Cox has got the wood on Max, largely through very questionable tactics, but Grundy knows exactly how to play him and treats him with almost contempt.

100% with this

I just watched the replay of the KB match. It seems to me that unfortunately Cox can get Max, usually by pretty poor tactics. On the other hand, Grundy treats him with contempt - he knows just how to play him. So I think he should be picked, as a ruckman, to share with Max. Normally I like to have Tommo in the backline but if we play Max and Grundy, Max can probably drop back and be the third tall in defence,

Clarry is ready.

They probably want to get as much game fitness into him as possible

Completely agree. The week's delay meant we were not tuned in in the day we played WC. You could tell in the warmup that we were in trouble.

I think Clarkson knows enough to know that tanking is a terrible idea. Look at what it got Carlton 15 or so years ago - and what it got us. Just more failure. Even if you get a no 1 draft pick, the player - who presumably is a good player and probably a proud player - won't want to play for you, and the damage it does to your club culture takes many years to repair.

Well, it is pretty clear that North are not tanking!!

Turner has been tried twice and failed both times. I think he will make it eventually but IMV this should NOT be tried at this stage. I wish Tommo was in - the defence just functions better when he is in the side. And i really hope -and expect - that we will be trying our absolute hardest on Sunday, regardless of other results. Winning form is good form and you want that coming into the finals. And i want our players to truly believe the mantra: any team, any time, anywhere.

John Northey?

I agree completely. He clearly has the trust and confidence of the players and all the staff. He is a cool hand at the tiller. Our structures in defence are the envy of the league., He has learnt how to pace the season so we are not wrecked by the end of the home and away. Great news.

..... and don't even mention holding the ball. These days it seems that a player can take the ball, run 10m and then get tackled but if he immediately drops the ball at his feet the umpires let it go, presumably on the basis that it was "knocked out in the tackle". Just rubbish.

I agree entirely. I have always thought that 1990 was the one that got away. And I also was completely confident with Petty in the form he was in. Now we need to make a statement to the rest of the comp - we need to win with authority! And then TMac in next week to provide at least an option.

I thought the ball was deflected. The issue was confused by the commentators saying that it hit the padding which it clearly didn't.

I swear i saw twice in the last 2-3 minutes that free kicks were paid against a Carlton player, when the player had the ball in his hands, and he just dropped it to the ground - no 50 paid. In each case out would have brought the GC player within about 15 m of the goals.

That is a tall forward line!!!

I cannot think we will go out of the top for - and if we did, we don't deserve a flag. It's all about top two as far as I'm concerned. Go Pies (gulp); go Freo (gulp again)!!

Having a "take it easy" mindset at ANY time in a game is a recipe for disaster.

I doubt if they are tanking, and I don't think any team would at the moment. Surely the lesson has been learned: the draft picks you get can turn out to be duds, and the damage done to team culture is irreparable. Surely, we know that, and I suspect every team has learned from that lesson.