Chook

I hope you're wrong about all that.

What a stupid design. The whole thing is mostly carparks….

I'll make this short and sweet: We won't be a good side until Simon Goodwin begins to respect the wing position's importance in the modern game. I call your attention to this article by forward-cum-midfielder-cum-defender-cum-ruckman-cum-wingman Mitch Robinson, of the Brisbane Lions (y'know, the 2019 version of 2018's Demons, except they actually made the top 4): https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/mitch-robinson-why-allaustralian-panel-made-a-mockery-of-players-by-not-selecting-genuine-wingmen/news-story/9e0d4e49d1770d54788d0a2174461cef I serously doubt there's a single player on the Demons list who could write an article as nuanced and informed on the wing position as Mitch Robinson has. And until we have at least a couple of modern wingers (and a coach who knows how to use them), we'll go nowhere in 2020 or beyond — and that's regardless of how many or how few injuries we get across the rest of the field.

To not select the best actual ruckman in the All-Australian ruck position is to completely disrespect the art of ruck-craft, big boy. #MaxForAA1stRuck

Stern learnings the stalwarts of my generation learned from the callous retiring of James McDonald (IMO the worst decision ever made in my years of supporting Melbourne, though one I naively supported when it happened) are now more apt than ever: Retire a club stalwart who has also served as captain at your peril. Ergo, Nathan Jones gets to be a Melbourne player for as long as he wants. Any less would destroy the fabric of the club, just as it did when McDonald was forced to wear a franchise jumper while his real team continued to fester in his absence.

Leaving aside the fact that you screwed me out of a $400 pot in my tipping comp, way to screw yourselves out of a positive end to the year Dees. See ya next year Melbourne!

It's actually quite simple. When a Bad Thing is spelled out upon an entity (any entity, but particularly a sporting team), all Bad Things that happen to that Entity (or sporting team) are forevermore attributed to the Bad Thing. This is called the Curse. When a lot of people stop believing in the Curse (or resolve themselves to just, y'know, succeed?!), then the Curse is dispelled forever and everyone can go on living their lives. After that, the Curse then goes about its un-merry way, eager to haunt another overly-superstitious entity (again, any entity, but particularly a sporting team as mentioned above).

And the merger is almost complete...

How hard is it to just not train him so hard, he's not made of glass right?

On the postive, the introduction of dung beetles into Australia gave us outdoor cafés. On the negative, it gave us Gillon McLachlan.

Our press is far too high. That's reason 1..100 of why we're terrible this year. Reason 101 is that we don't know how to slow the game down when we have to.

I don't spend money on old hats as a rule, but this thing is pretty sweet if a genuine MFC relic. Probably not as much tackling in those days.

The AFL, on all issues, all of the time:

Statistics like these give stats a bad name.

CAMPBELL BROWN: "I just feel that if you take a forward and you put him down back, you lose what they can give you as a forward, and that's kicking goals." Brilliant analytical mind there.

Playing some decent footy here for a change.

You sure about that?

We don't fix it. Clayton and Angus fix it.

Another way to look at this is that we have the easiest road upward of any bottom 4 team in history. How many terrible teams would kill to be in the position where if they just fix up their forward entries they'll be good again (at last)?

I think Jetta is very close to finished actually.

Sam Frost is clearly our best defender this game. Without him we'd be stuffed.

Yeah these big bad North Melbourne players are a protected species. I mean C'mon.

Why do we have to blame one person? Why can't we blame everyone?

Not really.

The whinging in this thread is unreal.