rpfc

I am happy if they went with no first year players but form and availability may put pay to that. Of course, I would like to see Vandenberg given a chance but sometimes chances come at the wrong times for individuals to capitalise on them - I wouldn't 'ear mark' any first year player for Rd 1.

Yes, I find myself a bit callous about it; "he wouldn't have been much use this year so if it had to happen, better to do it now." ACLs aren't the end of the world they used to be.

Trengove's injury already meant a rookie could play Rd 1. Now two rookies can play... Yay...

Fans can have a few moments to curse their fortune. Sometimes footy sucks.

I think you are stretching the definition of 'champion' then...

Poor kid. Good thing we are better equipped than ever to deal with ACLs.

You have never had a passive aggressive dessert-based conversation?

Take a breath, mate. And I am not saying get rid of them, I just don't like them - I wish the club didn't need them.

They were very close to beating Hawthorn in the Prelim. Are we close to Hawthorn? The ladder doesn't lie, but those games against PA have led us astray in my view - I think we will be better next year, but worse against PA.

What if they 'work' us out? They are obviously a wildly superior team and with a few tweaks - they might think they should blow us away. I understand the desire to say 'we were only a few well placed goals from doing the double over PA' but on the other hand, we were a few well placed goals from beating absolutely no-one last year.

That's not true. The 'consensus' was more disappointment that a player of his toughness couldn't make it, and then there was a desire for him to be rookied - the rest is history. No-one on here wishes the players ill-will, and we all hope they can become a consistent Demon. But they have their deficiencies and their bad luck and some players work through them and some don't. And some just shouldn't have been chosen to be AFL players.

You always need to have a balance of outside and inside players - I don't think they are playing the same role really. Watts is a high HF who will be asked to patrol about 80m out and get the ball inside the 50 with his feet. Toumpas may have the same skillset but he won't be able to play a high HF role - he might be on a wing and got through the backline. These two will benefit when the team gets first use of the footy and when we move the ball quickly from defence and get space for them to get into - but these aspects rely on others to get them the ball. We just have to get the footy out of the middle more, and to move it quicker out of defence.

I think that MFC fans can leave their righteous indignation of money making practices to when we are a little more settled financially and on field. We are bankrolled at the moment by pokies. The moral adjustments my mind has to make are quite gymnastic when it comes to the MFC.

I was being presumptuous. Which of those players do you not believe is more important than Watts to our future success? It's an interesting topic and my point is to highlight that Jack Watts gets attention and hand-wringing over and above his importance to the team and its future - both immediate and medium term.

No need to reserve judgements - I just found it odd coming in mid Feb. The last ball kicked in anger was 5 months ago. The season is a month and a half away - let the season reveal itself of Watts' evils. My larger point was to agree with her - I realised that Watts wouldn't be a pillar of our rise a couple years ago - that isn't to say he or we wouldn't benefit from that rise or his skills - but that others are far more important now. We would all agree Hogan, Viney, Petracca, Brayshaw, McDonald, Jones, Tyson, Dunn, Jetta, Salem, Lumumba, and I also think Frost, JKH, Kent, and Dawes are more important than Watts. And C&Bs Golden Tickets are an unfortunate reality of life in an elite sport. To reject that players with a hampered Pre Season are worse off than their peers is to reject the idea of a Pre Season at all - if it gives a benefit than those that don't benefit are comparatively worse off.

Odd use of Roos there...

If only it were just political incorrectness I am tired of...

Or the season...

...she says in February... Time will tell. There is too much attention on a bloke who is now no longer the impetus for our brighter future. We have other players to ruin, s&sd...

We don't really have a very good defensive forward. McKenzie can tag Malceski if that is what you want. Bail can keep up with any player and punish them the other way. Garlett may get himself involved in that or one of the kids but there is no Rioli or Neade around to harass and worry HBFs if that is what we are talking about.

Huh? I think you took a wrong turn on that logic journey... It's based on the desire to make money out of people who will literally pay to see us win a few games. I would pay to see us win a game, repeat it 12 times a season and play more than 22 games a season.

I think they will 'fit' Frost in. Lumumba to the midfield or Garland to the bench. Dunn marking the third or fourth tall is more desired. Matt Jones, McKenzie, and Toumpas will play themselves in or out of the Rd 1 team in the Pre Season games. Vince will be hard to leave out - he has so much time before Rd 1. 51 days is a mountain of time for a seasoned pro.

So did I. You can't let an accusation like that go - this isn't The Anonymous Internet. The servers are rented by people, the website published by people, it is people that are affected, and if they are affected by what is said on here then I am sure they will be forced to close it down, at which point we are all affected.

That was an impressive display of dealing with pressure, but the kick that emphasised Salem's skills would be the one he kicked from the boundary to a flat out Bail against PA in Darwin.

Don't know what you mean by 'starting teams' but yes to all of those. I don't care about the keepers there - put me in the 'whatever' crowd. From memory I had Sidebottom, ???, Hogan, and McDonald (NM). Maybe Greene... And, I have to tell you, I will leave this place with a 'dead in the water' team if the league continues like last year.