Bring-Back-Powell

I know this sounds like I'm setting the bar very low here but I'll be impressed if we beat North this week. This club has completely owned us since 2007 and it's been an indictment on our recent history. Its not as if they've been a dominant side such as Geelong, Hawthorn or WC of recent years. Cunnington, Higgins and Brown have been the major culprits. Fortunately 2 of them will be missing. I hate to admit but I think this is the first week Bennell gets dropped as opposed to rested.

There's a lot of teams that tank but North aren't one of them. Let me give you a history lesson: North played Brisbane Lions in round 23 2017 (that same horrid day we lost to the Pies) at the GABBA in front of barely a North fan. All North had to do was lose to 18th place Brisbane and pick 1 was in their lap. They were 5 goals to 1 down at qtr time. They then proceeded to kick 18 of the next 24 goals to win by 50 points. That mob simply doesn't tank. I also agree with you in that they'll be primed for Sunday night.

Correct me if I'm wrong but Woo-hoo man made his debut in our win over Port in 2016? Roos's last win as coach. Hopefully he's up and about in the last qtr on Sunday.

Oh well if nothing else we clawed back the entire percentage we lost last week. Jackson our first rising star nominee since O Mac?

I’d argue less.

I’ll be shocked if we lose this. Ultra professional, well coached, trustworthy sides such as Melbourne would never lose a game to a 0-9 side.

Adelaide were a goal down to St Kilda with 8 minutes left in the game, and they're flying. They then took Essendon to the last 20 seconds. They are so close to an Adelaide Oval win that they can see the finish line. Adelaide at $3.30 represent value.

Thanks for that. I assumed Morris had no idea what he was talking about.

Agree with you on stability. It's a pity we had to leave the NSW hub, and a pity we couldn't host Brisbane and Port at Giants Stadium despite them being our home games. We've played out best footy of the year at Giants Stadium and Goodwin appeared genuinely disappointed at having been forced to leave Manly in his post match presser Vs Hawthorn. I had a gut feel that having to establish a second hub in the space of only a couple weeks may have taken its toll on us and we played accordingly against Port. Be interesting to see how Geelong go tonight and Monday as they re-establish at their next hub. Collingwood had an overall poor WA trip after their first (Sydney) hub.

I’m flabbergasted (in a good way) that we could potentially be one of the unassisted clubs. I thought we were a financial basket case? Can we trust Tom Morris?

Melksham's one of the rare players at the club that can kick a ball properly and through the big sticks. He stays.

Surely it's not true that O Mac has been our most recent nomination in 2006. Can't be right. Rivers played a very good debut game and may have been on track for a nomination this year, but couldn't keep it up the following 2 weeks. Kozi may get one later in the year but flashes in and out of games too much. Charles Spargo may have been a little stiff in 2018 to not get one but hasn't had a sniff since.

Good news that could become bad news if he ends up missing multiple games because we didn't take a precaution like all the professional sides do.

IN - Tomlinson, Smith, V'Berg, Bennell OUT - Gawn, O Mac, Hannan, Jones I really rated O Mac's performances against GC and Hawthorn, but he did some ordinary things against Brisbane and was downright horrible against Port. Wouldn't mind giving J Smith some more experience now that finals are cooked (we ain't going 7-2 with a poor %) Hannan hasn't clocked in for the last 2 weeks and has to pay the price. Bennell for Jones seems logical if not like for like. Fritsch will be dropped if he has another poor game this week.

He's not the biggest disaster on the list and does have a crack when he plays, but is he even in the HUB? Has he played a game of footy in the last 6 weeks?

I think the North game will be a good test for us and it's a genuine 50/50 game. They'll trouble us in certain areas. But yeah, if we can't beat Adelaide we're in a world of pain.

If Preuss has played some scratch match minutes then I'd be bringing him as he played his best MFC game as the sole ruck against Kreuzer last year. But I don't think he is in contention. So in that case Jackson takes first ruck with Tomlinson taking 5 minutes a quarter. Tomlinson took some centre bounces in last year's finals series and also may have taken a few also at our MCG games we played earlier in the year. T Mac survives and we revert to a two talls forward line as opposed to the three which didn't work against Brisbane and Port. Looking forward to a little unpredictability. Soul destroying how Brisbane and Port leveraged off Gawn's ruck work. Simply not acceptable from our midfield and coaching staff.

They’ve certainly left us for dead as a club. Very sad, but full credit to St Kilda.

They’ve certainly left us for dead as a club. Very sad, but full credit to St Kilda.

Essendon were pathetic but did have a few guns missing from their best 22 as opposed to us who had 0.5 of our best 22 missing (Not sure if VDB is genuine best 22) We need to cop it from the media and own up to it internally. It was a disgraceful performance Vs Port.

Pert called one of my family members in response to a polite but critical email his way after either the Geelong or Richmond loss. He’s certainly engaged with the members, so credit to him in that department.

Excellent and hard hitting questions by Gibson (unless Mahoney wrote the questions himself). Sounds like 5-5 is the bare minimum after our SA trip. And well done to Ben for interviewing a fired up Steve May last night . Made for very good viewing and Fox footy showed snippets of it today.

Is Peter Rhode still looking for a gig?

I'm flabbergatsed too with Harmes. This is a guy that pretty much got best on grounds in the GWS round 23 and Geelong elimination final wins in 2018. It was looking like the sky was the limit for Harmes. I suppose at the end of the day he was missed out on national draft selection and is playing accordingly at the moment.

Salem was garbage last night. The writer must have like his bleached hair because he literally did nothing all night.