Great Northern Summer

Any team can say if they found 4 quarters of their consistent football, no team will beat them. Especially any of the other top four teams. It's unlikely we'll have 4 quarters all on our terms in the finals, momentum will shift regularly throughout the games.

Who comes out for Fritsch then? Melksham? I'd play both of them, even if that means we drop Woey and Spargo doesn't come back. Spargo had absolutely no influence on the games he played recently, nothing. Not sure a few weeks at Casey automatically opens a spot back for him.

Without Rankine? They lose to us by 6 goals without him. Big loss.

Maybe not a bad thing to clean up our skills in the wet, in preparation for a potentially wet final..

Just give Dunstan a chance for god’s sake. What more does he need to do? He’ll make our side better. It’s not a question of ‘who does he replace’, he should just be in the side. I saw bits and pieces, like other VFL games, this season. It’s too cluttered and congested for forwards such as Grundy to have any chance of standing out. BBB had this issue too. I’m not sure this plan will help, I think it’s either (a) we keep playing him in the ones in the role he was playing; (b) he learns his ‘forward craft’ in the ones; or (c) we leave him at Casey for the rest of the season unless Gawn goes down.

Interesting, because I was also reliably told of two players who were very rude to staff during the Daniher era, one particularly who you’d never have ever guessed, the other line ball perhaps. I worked as a trainer for an interstate side for a period about 20 years ago. Whilst most of the players, coaches and staff were great, there were a few exceptions. A few very rude ones, most notably the coach in fact. Couldn’t even acknowledge us hours before the game walking past. I suspect this sort of thing happens everywhere though.

Did he spend time in South Australia as a junior by any chance?

Bloody good innings from JB. Unlucky to be left stranded at the other end. Back against the wall type of innings too, the man rises against adversity. His keeping will go up a few notches now.

JB bloody stiff. Would have been nice to see him raise the bat. Inspirational.

Likewise. Looking good! Crawley on fire. 197-2, only 120 behind. Need to get a decent lead tonight given the rubbish weather predicted over the weekend.

JB is a great player. Just having a poor series with the gloves. On fire before he stuffed up his knee late last year on the golf course.

He has a contract with us, so we don't need to let him go if we choose not to. This is a Premiership window - if we think just having him around for 15 games a year for the next few to ensure Gawn is fresh for the finals, we are well within our rights to do that. That being said, clubs generally act in good faith. If Grundy signed with us on the basis of predominately playing ruck and he wants to do that, but now we're saying he won't do that, I think we'd act in good faith to let him go to another club if he made that request. There is a catch to this - there is no way we do this as a 'fire-sale' - that is, taking less than what we gave away for him, or having to pay any part of his salary. There is also a question of his Collingwood contact - are Collingwood only obliged to pay part of his contract on the basis that he's playing with us, or also on the basis that he is 'on-traded' - the answer there could significantly effect what might happen. Ideally, we'd want to keep him so that around 2025-2026 and beyond, when Gawn may have deteriorated substantially or given it away, if we are still in the Premiership window, he would be ideal to have at the club. I can't see him happy to bide time as a back-up ruckman for two years though.

The side I probably see us going with in the finals, if we are at full strength: B: McVee May Lever HB: Rivers Petty Salem C: Hunter Viney Langdon HF: Pickett Van Rooyen Neal-Bullen F: Melksham Brown Fritsch R: Gawn Oliver Petracca I: Sparrow Bowey Brayshaw Chandler S: Smith E: Grundy Hibbard Tomlinson Dunstan

Somewhat similar game to our Semi Final loss to the Crows in 2002, but in reverse! Thankfully!

Either Dunstan or Smith as sub tonight I suspect. Presuming the latter given Smith sat out the Casey game on Sunday and Dunstan played the entire game.

Pickett, Spargo and Grundy are on the nose. Arguably Grundy is playing better than Gawn, but Gawn covers far more ground. Grundy's defence leaves a bit to be desired at times. Either way, we need to work out how to use them properly if they are both staying in the team. I'm worried Goodwin will continue with both, even if it's clear come finals time it is not working, because Grundy joined us on the proviso of actually playing. Pickett has been poor for far too long. Surely he cannot stay in if we're serious. Best case scenario for him is to play as sub and impact in a shorter game. He needs to play with more desperation, his spot in the side being in jeopardy might just give him the kick up the 'you know what' that he needs. Spargo is a difficult one. I was at the game last night and I saw him impact a few contests where he gave his all, and stopped a run from St Kilda despite being outnumbered. I'd lean towards giving him another crack and see how he goes. In: Smith, Dunstan (sub) Out: Pickett

Why didn't Joel Smith play today? He only played 5 minutes last night. Would have thought he'd play an entire game today. Maybe it's because they see him playing on Friday night, even as the sub, and didn't want him playing off a 5-day break.

Sounds pretty amateur doesn’t it!

Nor for a few weeks yet by the sounds of things…

Go enjoy a day at the Blue Lagoon and pretend it didn’t happen 😊

hang on a minute, Stokesy is single handedly playing another heroic innings to get his lads over the line

Had the chance last year, we knocked it back

Well Rankine was denied a goal that was a goal, so yep, just on that basis alone

Troy Wilson - but he didn't play for MFC

We all know that money goes around in a circular direction. They may have 'fined' us, but they basically gave it back to us later in an annual distribution (which isn't the same for all clubs). It was all for theatre (i.e. to appear they were doing something).