Chook

Isn't it weird that it's okay to hate racist people? I guess prejudice is accepted, but you just have to pick the right kind.

. . . I will praise Satan's glorious name, for he will have granted all my wishes. Now, has anyone seen my soul? I could have sworn it was right here . . .

There's no such thing as "reverse racism." White vs black, black vs white, green vs blue, it's all the same. The reverse of racism is not being a prejudiced son-of-a-biatch. EDIT: Dumb censor. What if I want to talk about female dogs? Talk about prejudice!

The way I see it, every group of players will be a metre or more further away from the outlying players than normal. This extra space will give a player who bursts out of a stoppage more time to size up their options and hit a target. More Distance Between Players = Less Pressure on the Ball Carrier

What it means is that fast players can get out of stoppages more easily. If we don't stay right on top of that, we'll be killed out of the clearances and packs and it will all be downhill from there.

Well he still is our coach.

I can pretty much guarantee you that we will be completely outdone for pace in the backline on Sunday. Dropping Strauss instead of Sellar is such a stupid move. Honestly, I've just about lost all faith in Mark Neeld by now.

This is a well-run organization we're talking about here. Exposing it to the current Melbourne board would simply spread the infection here.

So they say . . .

I think you'll find that a lot of our players try to tackle but are simply too weak or unskilled at the technique to bring the ball-carrier down. Some weights training and a few hours a week with the Storm boys should fix that though.

They're both useless as far as I'm concerned.

Does anyone know how Pedersen went last week (the game before the Hawks I mean)? I can understand not picking him if he has only played one good VFL game. But if he has been tearing it up for a few weeks, you'd think he deserves a game.

I resent that.

It might be interesting to see Spencer as a backup ruck and Gawn as a full-time forward.

I think you underestimate the extent to which a defender's ability to spoil is affected by the amount of pressure put on in the midfield. Players like McKenzie, Magner, Jetta, Bail and Terlich all prevented the Richmond midfield from laying the unstoppable low passes every forward dreams of. Most of Sellar's spoils were stock-standard, and considering the smaller size of the Fremantle forward-line I think it would be wise to trade in for someone who can outmark his opponent and rebound us out of defence.

You won't find me disagreeing with you that Davey should have attempted the chase, but to deny him credit for such a great game is a pity. He was involved in 5 of our 11 goals, as well as 2 that should have been goals (the Jetta mishap and Dawes' miss from directly in front). Not to mention he provided the physical pressure he should have provided many other times during the game. He contributed to a number of Richmond turnovers, and generally made sure that when he was given the ball, a Melbourne player ended up with it when he was done. I still think it was the best individual performance of the year. If you don't agree, then perhaps you'd like to come up with some other candidates?

My least-favoured rule is when players are given free-kicks for self-initated high contact. My favourite aspect of the game is when players are rewarded for properly executed tackles. Have I contradicted myself there?

The fact is that Richmond already had possession of the ball and were clear all along the wing. Davey could have probably made the kick into the Richmond forward line a 50/50 contest if he worked harder, but we shouldn't let that one tired (or lazy) display take the shine off what was probably the best performance by a Melbourne player this year.

CHOOK'S CHANGES VS FREMANTLE INS: Watts, Kent, Pederson, Fitzpatrick OUTS: Toumpas, Bail, Sellar, Nicholson Jack Watts: Contract talks or not, he is one of our best ball users. He is criminally underrated and his year has been far better than some suggest. He should come in for the injured Jimmy Toumpas, who I know we all hope recovers quickly from his rolled ankle. Dean Kent: This is probably a bit of a surprise selection, but his first two games were both quite good. The Dockers are a fast side, and I think we need his speed on the wide open spaces of Paterson's Stadium. He should come in for Rohan Bail, who admittedly did play reasonably well as a sub last week. Unfortunately that was on the back of an atrocious three weeks that I believe should have seen him left out of our game against Richmond. I would be very surprised if this change were made, but I would certainly like to see it. Cameron Pederson: I think his VFL form warrants another call-up, and I would like to see him take a defensive role this week. He should come in for James Sellar, who despite performing decently in the backline this year is simply too tall and slow for the small Fremantle forward line. I do think Sellar is a fine defender, but I just don't know if there's a match-up for him this week. Jack Fitzpatrick: So often do we fall down at half-forward that I think we need another target up there. I'd play Fitzpatrick out of the goalsquare, rotating with the super impressive Chris Dawes. He should come in for Daniel Nicholson, who has been in our worst-performed handful of players pretty much all season. Nicholson does have a lot of good qualities, and his pace is perhaps something we could look at using against Fremantle; but he is simply not very good one on one. I think his disposal is better than people suggest, but I believe his small frame makes it too easy for his opponents to brush him off. This will be especially true if he lines up on Fremantle's ginormously tall and strong midfield contingent.

If Aaron Davey can finish his career like he deserves, I think it could go a long way to mending the rift in the club's psyche caused by James McDonald's early departure. Of all the things we've gotten wrong over the past six years, that stands out to me as the biggest "what if" of the lot.

If Max Gawn leaves Melbourne I will eat my hat. I never wear hats, but this will be a special occasion so I think I'll splurge for a big one.

I want to see us regularly hit up targets on the half-forward line. This is where we fall down every week and it costs us about 10 goals a game. In my opinion, it is the single largest reason why we're a bad side.

This being Indigenous Round, this article is extremely timely - even more so in the wake of the Nathan Lovett-Murray stabbing that just occurred. I haven't heard that it's race-related, but it still shows the problems that many indigenous people face in this country.

I meant "capable or better than capable," not "capable or better than Frawley." Easy mistake.

Where did I say they were better than Frawley? Regardless, to call him the best defender in fifty years on the back of one All-Australian year is astoundingly poor judgment. This is a man who can't even be bothered holding his hands in the air when standing the mark.