old55

They seem quite contrasting?

Tigers' backline will be stretched with Balta and Miller vs McKay and Curnow. Maybe they hope Grimes or Vlastuin can go with Curnow.

"General admission tickets for games at the MCG and Marvel Stadium will stay at $27 for adults, $18 for concession card holders and $5 for kids over five years old, while kids under five can get into games for free." That looks like 2 x $27 + 2 x $5 = $64. Less than half your calculation. It's pretty good value.

Good to hear - a different plan from last year.

I'm not old enough to have seen the careers of the Norm Smith Premiership teams including RDB so I can't include them. At the present time it's Flower, Oliver, Gawn, Neitz, Petracca for me - but there's every chance that Oliver, Gawn and Petracca will move up when their careers are complete.

Ruck: English Tall Defenders: Jones, Keath, Bruce? Tall Forwards: Naughton, Lobb, JUH, Darcy? That's 8 talls - we'll likely go with 7: Max, Grundy, May, Petty, Lever, Brown, TMac Maybe they'll go with Darcy back and Bruce as sub to even things up and get a bit of insurance at the same time?

Did anyone score 10?

My understanding is he's training with the forwards this year.

What solution do you propose? Going in with 4 tall backs, presumably May, Petty, Lever and either Tomlinson or D.Turner? Don't you think this would make us too top heavy with Gawn, Grundy, TMac and Brown?

I betcha if Fritsch does play it'll be Fritsch, TMac AND Brown in the forward line, Chandler will go to the bench, and JJ and Woey will compete with Hibbo for the sub. JVR is no chance of debut in R1 IMHO.

Probably right, and it's splitting hairs, but I betcha Max takes the first bounce.

I agree with the sentiments that we shouldn't risk Fritsch or Viney. We easily accounted for Richmond without them and I rank the Dogs in the same echelon. IMO: McVee is a lock after a solid lockdown job on Dusty, and Chandler, who could easily have had multiple goals against Richmond, will play. Laurie didn't do enough to be retained but Woey was good and I think either he or JJ will play. I like Hibbo for the sub, but it could be the Woey or JJ. Lever May McVee Bowey Petty Brayshaw Gawn Petracca Harmes Langdon Oliver Hunter Neal-Bullen McDonald Spargo Pickett Brown Chandler Grundy Rivers Sparrow Woewodin/Jordon S: Hibberd

Couldn't see Goodwin going into the 2029 season with Bevo's record over the 7 years since their flag including this year if the Dogs don't make finals. Surely goneski?

Does Beveridge get the sack if the miss the 8?

Tony, how do you reconcile that Langdon always played on the wing opposite the interchange bench because of his maximum game time and the observation that May always "went to the left" with kick outs?

Yes good info thanks. Richmond were forced to play 2 rucks which they would prefer not to do so we get an advantage everywhere else on the field. It's also not all about ruck contests - marking around the ground and goals are just as important. FWIW I am a fan of Gawn and Grundy together.

Just sayin' ... Hitouts: Richmond 37 Melbourne 24 Nankervis 24, Soldo 13, Gawn 12, Grundy 11, TMac 1. Clearances: Richmond 33 Melbourne 32 Centre Clearances: Richmond 18 Melbourne 11 Stoppage Clearances: Richmond 15 Melbourne 21

20% across the full Penfolds range would be nice. FWIW Bleasdale make some very good value wine.

Contrary to popular belief that's about the best team we could select. JJ a long way down the pecking order it seems. B: S.May 1 H.Petty 35 T.Rivers 24 HB: C.Spargo 9 J.Lever 8 J.McVee 41 C: L.Hunter 12 C.Oliver 13 E.Langdon 15 HF: K.Chandler 37 B.Brown 50 K.Pickett 36 F: A.Neal-Bullen 30 T.McDonald 25 J.Harmes 4 Foll: M.Gawn - C 11 C.Petracca 5 A.Brayshaw 10 I/C: J.van Rooyen 2 B.Grundy 6 M.Hibberd 14 B.Laurie 16 J.Bowey 17 B.Howes 22 T.Sparrow 32 T.Woewodin 40 Emerg: J.Schache 19 J.Jordon 23 D.Turner 42 A.Moniz-Wakefield 45 Notable absentees: Christian Salem, Bayley Fritsch, Jack Viney

backflip? Seriously Jack was on fire in the training sessions I attended. He was also on fire in the middle of last season in our big win against Brisbane at the MCG in June when he was captain in Max's absence: https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_match_statistics?mid=10664 In addition to his trademark aggressive tackling, he showed some incredible agility in that match - changing direction at high speed and leaping over fallen players to win possession. It was the best I've seen him play in years. Clearly he was hampered by some injury in the latter part of the season and wasn't a shadow of the player he can be in the finals. I'm very hopeful that his great preseason sets him up to play at his best this year and this knee injury is just a small hiccup.

"Bigger and better" than a flag in your 2nd and 4th years? OK ...

Collingwood would have won the 2022 PF against Sydney if Grundy was playing.

Let's hope Hawthorn's streak starts to rival it. It will be very close to 3000 days at the end of this season.

Looking forward to perennially sunny Nat's take on her Hawks as the year progresses.

2022 Brownlow: Asterisk