Skuit

If true, I have even more faith in our administration (for you know, agreeing with my thoughts precisely). I ordinarily hate regional games - Alice is an exception, and something we can build into an annual showcase with a fair number of peripheral benefits.

i think under the circumstances, you're being a bit hard on yourself with the chosen username.

Maybe we left it a bit late if we were only circling at around 4pm today after he had re-signed with Port? However, SWYL seems to think we can bend the time-space continuum by passing on Wines in the draft when his first league game was a BOG.

That's quite a sound-off against our co-captains without bothering at an attempt to dig any deeper into the stat. How do we rank for first touch alone? Are we first to the ball while the opposition are waiting to tackle? Are we instructed to lock it in until a clear option arises? How are our stats for scoring from stoppages/the centre - are the opposition clearing sideways or into territorial danger while we're selective with how we want to clear the ball? Or are Viney and Jones just stupid?

On the flip-side, Tyson.

Did you know at 1.55 a couple weeks back which Melbourne had shown up against the Bulldogs?

You could embark on a Simon Goodwin tribute bar crawl as a pre-match warm-up, kicking off at the Ramsgate Hotel in Henley Beach before heading to Raglans in the city (via the casino).

I've been eager for Garlett's return to the side. But not if it's going to be wet.

A strange world where you're considered a bandwagon jumper for not having supported your team before the time of your birth. I suppose when I die, I'll get accused of jumping off. I also have no idea how you could bring yourself to accuse anyone still supporting our club after the past decade of being a fair-weather fan.

Yes, I'll give myself an uppercut to my still taut jowls which were formed this side of Vietnam War.

OP clearly states 'good' players. Don't want to slag off Troy and have no idea of who Stuart Spencer is - otherwise the red pen may have got more of a workout.

I have concerns like a few others on here which I think are reasonable to express: According to the grapevine and the evidence at hand: Pert developed his professional career in an environment which is not like our own. He has shown a heavy hand in the past, and a disposition to involve himself in footy dept. matters. Regardless of what due process at that level should ordinarily be, Jackson seems to have been sidelined. Our president has made some comments to this effect which are suggestive of political ego. Our board still hasn't demonstrated that they can be entirely trusted. We have some decent operators who have missed out on the role. That said, I'm happy with this appointment. For the following reasons: It seems the AFL had a say in the recruitment - which is okay by me and I think super important. The AFL would have had a say for a reason - e.g. they have plans to support our expansion. Pert seems like the right fit for such a job, and has the experience to get it done. Indeed, I see a parallel to the Roos-Goodwin transition (not in experience obviously): Jackson steadied the ship and laid the foundations, and we now have an ambitious operator to take us to the next level. My one simple hope: Pert makes us great again and stays the [censored] away from the on-field activities. And that the board has the foresight and chutzpah to enforce these divisions. Otherwise, I say congratulations MFC on another coup and let's make it happen. Go Dees!

Eddie mentioned a couple weeks back the spooky resemblance of Keith Truscott and Clayton Oliver and I think he has point.

As to the above, it's sometimes hard to separate opinion and mail on here with the uninformed but definitive statement style some posters lean towards - can you please make clear? As to the below - mods, can we also please pin somehow?

If so, it's a pretty decent trick and I want him to be performing it for us for years to come.

4 is certainly my/our idea but I don't have confidence in 5a because we've had to fight so hard for 1a in part due to 1b and I'm concerned that the board's desire to turn 2 into the status of 3 will compromise 5b and ultimately 3 which will in turn impact 2 and undermine 1a.

What gives you such confidence? The history of our board ensuring such? And backing in the footy department when meddling has occurred?

On Open Mike a few years back if anyone is interested. I recall that I thought him pretty impressive at the time, but on watching it again I hope that he can curtail the heavy on-field focus that he developed at Collingwood - which I also hope was out of necessity rather than it being a natural personality/ego thing. I further hope that our board have made it clear that our club is an entirely different landscape to the CFC and such an approach isn't necessarily necessary, rather than our board thinking that such an approach can magically emulate Collingwood's success. That is all. Good luck Gary, and welcome aboard.

The N stands for 'no' and the H stands for '-heads' in an often cited footy club policy that is promptly forgotten about when the likes of De Goey enter the market. Incidentally, Collingwood won a flag off the back of an all-DH policy in 2010 and have underperformed ever since they reversed it and switched to a Buckley-boy model. Until this week, of course.

LH - you've just effectively called Kent a DH. You don't need to share why, but do have any solid grounds to make such an assertion? Or are the drinking suspension from last year and his general mien the primary things you're referring to?

Not to split hairs, but Port lost by two points in a tight elimination final to West Coast, a poor team on the road who then got smoked by GWS in what was a wide-open season. Port may well have been down-hill skiers, but I don't think you could say with confidence that any team has just been making up the numbers in the past couple years. Make the finals, and you're in with a shot. The Power, if you can recall, also beat West Coast during the year at Domain and had a close contest with Richmond.

I've wanted to bring this up but couldn't be bothered with the likely blow-back. But I see you've been hinting around the edges Stretch, so here goes . . . Perhaps a silly fan perception, but I almost sensed that Viney was a bit lost on his return. When he put his head down to dig out the ball, Oliver and some other ursurpers were already there. He then seemed to step back a little, and it looked as if he was easing himself back in. Since then, he has returned to a primary extractor role, but now Oliver looks a bit frustrated and ANB and Harmes are suddenly down again - and Brayshaw, who was in top-notch form as a play-maker, has been shunted to a run-with role. I don't want accuse JV of being a one-trick pony, but is primary strength is in burrowing under. We've switched our approach a bit since he was last in the team, from shutting down the stoppages to really getting the ball moving. Hence the blowouts for and against. Right now, Jack looks on the slow side, and I think has upset the mid-field balance a fraction. It makes sense to want him back in the thick of it, because he is one of the league's best, and we need to back him in in the role, but the trust the running mids and half-backs have with Oliver isn't there yet with Viney. We were seriously sucked into the ball versus Collingwood. Jones too, seemed to have struggled on the weekend with the new mid-field mix and his own role. I feel something right now has to give. Maybe Jones back to half-back to replace Vince, or Viney, who is a fantastic tagger, to swap with Brayshaw for the time being. We have ten or so weeks to get it right, but I think that sorting it out is absolutely critical to our ultimate chances to push deep into finals. When we break down in the middle - the cornerstone of our game - we get well and truly done.

What do you rate our performance out of 10 to this point? Why? 7.5. We’ve stepped up, are running smoothly in most areas on and off the field, and have adjusted off-field at times – but we still need to find a way to counter the opposition when things aren’t going according to plan. Which player has impressed you the most? Tomald. If he didn’t have a history down back he would be lauded as among of the league’s top echelon of forwards. Which draftee has made the biggest impact? Fritsch. Though I still think we aren’t quite getting enough out of him, even at this early stage. He has such a good spring and clean hands that we should be working on plans to get him into some space up forward at every opportunity. What has been our best win to date? Adelaide was as close to perfection as a team is ever likely to perform. Never mind the depleted opposition, they didn’t get so much as a look-in. Otherwise, oddly, I perhaps most fondly recall our effort against the Cats. Which player(s) needs to improve in the second half of the year? Petracca is the obvious one in terms of potential and impact. Hunt ditto for the leg speed. We fall down when the middle does, so we need to ensure Viney is up to speed and integrated in the mix. What has been our most disappointing performance? Hawthorn I think. Completely unraveled us. Collingwood played out of their skins. Where do you see us finishing? Give a win/loss and finishing position 4th – 6th. 14 wins. The difficult thing to predict is percentage. After so many close encounters last year, both our wins and losses have lately been blow-outs. Final thoughts? It's the mid-field stupid.

Feel sorry for Pedo. Comes back into the team when our centre-line goes to crud again, in a match that will possibly mark the end of his career. A game where Hogan only tallied the three marks and didn't trouble the scorers either. Hardly their fault.

I actually agree with 20% of your exclamation points here Picket. However it might appear on the surface, that's a significant statistical improvement in terms of your punctuation performance.