Bring-Back-Powell

O Mac must stay. The one department we are at full strength at the moment is our defense and O Mac has been a big part of that over the last 2 months. I'd actually put the microscope on Pedo this week. Has had 7 poor quarters over the last 2 weeks and was worse than bad against Sydney. He was admirable between rounds 6-13 but he just plays too many poor and ineffectual games to be considered a regular.

Not sure they're a danger. They've won 3 in a row against North, GC (home) and Freo who lost Sandilands when they were leading. If they beat Richmond this week and Essendon then I'll start to take notice of them.

Hogan's a young player who's been through a heck of a lot this year. A VFL return isn't as silly as it sounds...even though it doesn't help our injury plight. That being said, we'd have to be the most conservative club in the league. When the stakes are getting serious in August, surely we'll start rolling the dice a bit more.

More likely to play VFL than AFL.

Hogan to return via VFL. Weed highly likely to be picked. Sauce - Mitch Cleary, 3AW sports today.

Any chance he gets away with a $1,500 fine with a guilty plea?

I just wish the club would come out and be transparent with Watt's injury. If he's going to miss 3 more weeks, then tell us he's going to miss 3 more weeks. Rule him out early if he's no chance to play this week.

Not at all and it would certainly be a side capable of beating the third worst side in the league. That's a very good defense on paper.

Could the club not update the members and supporters by confirming Watts strained his hammy last week and will be out for a further 3-4 weeks. It certainly sounds like it's the case. A bit of transparency would be appreciated. Same deal with Garlett.

Misson and his department have clearly struggled to keep the playing list in good shape as a result of these 6 day breaks. So many hamstring injuries. Hogan appears to be in everyone's ins but I read he's far from a certainty.

Plowman should play. Can't recall a player missing with a dislocated figure.

If the players got on the turps after Bernie's 200th vs Adelaide, it would certainly explain why we were so flat against the 17th place North the following week. I'm of the understanding that the players are permitted to get on the sauce after a game provided we have at least an 8 day break until the next game.

Disappointing by those blokes but the reality is that they're all a bunch of C and D graders so would not have made a difference to the result last night, if any of them played.

White would be the first taxi off the rank followed by Wagner. ANB and Stretch were also garbage.

I wouldn't be backing Goodwin's judgement of injuries during his post game presser. He's been way off the mark over the last fortnight with his assessments of Watts, Salem and Garlett. Either he has no idea, he's been misinformed or lying to the supporters so as to not stress them out.

Try Swan Street Richmond. About 78 establishments close to each other, and only a 10 minute walk from the cathedral itself.

Any chance that Sydney have any injury concerns or is it all just us?

The AFL website almost gave me a heart attack: "Has a star Giant blown a hammy" - with a picture of Max Gawn. Turns out that star Giant was little Zac Williams from GWS. Late Mail Live: Has a star Giant blown a hammy?

Realistically we were never going to win all those games you just mentioned. I can forgive the Richmond loss as we were down 2 players after half time in a helter-skelter contest. The Freo loss was a disgrace as the Dockers only played 1 good quarter of footy and somehow found themselves in front at the end. Hawthorn was also unforgivable considering they'd just copped three 80 pt losses in the previous 4 weeks. The North game they were on, we were a bit off...it happens... good sides lose occasionally.

Ok perhaps "entitled to lose" was a poor phrase. However, given that we've just had 2 of the finest wins this club has delivered since 2006, we've got injuries to key players, coming back from Perth after three 6 day breaks, I don't think we can go too crook on them if we lose. Obviously hope we win and believe we have the character, hunger and determination to do it. But it is a tough assignment.

You can't really count Hogan as an out considering 6 of our 8 wins have come without his services. He's obviously in out best 22 but we've shown we can easily win without him. We didn't have the services of Jones and Watts last week while Garlett was a non entity with 4 possessions and Salem only played a half. You'd imagine/hope Kent or Kennedy would provide far more output than an injured Garlett of last week. So the outs for this week (Garlett and Salem) barely contributed last week while hopefully the 2 ins provide far more. That being said we're entitled to lose this game given the back to back to back 6 day breaks coming back from Perth. However, we must beat Carlton the following week, not negotiable.

I wonder why that would be? He could at least be doing rehab on the boundary line with Garlett? Is he doing a secret fitness test?

On the basis of Hogan hopefully playing, it's looking like we'll have Jones, Watts, Salem and Garlett out from our best 22. I don't include Brayshaw as he's only played in 2 of our 8 wins. A lot of outs but we'll still be able to field a competitive side to win the game.

Cleared by the MRP.

"Melbourne can finish top 2. They're a genuine contender" - Ben Dixon on Fox footy's Saturday's scoreboard..