The Taciturn Demon

Good call. Incredible year from McDonald, but unwise to think he'll just do it again (or, as you say, to pretend it was week after week of complete defensive dominance). I remember when Petty wanted to leave I came across a Kane Cornes tirade about him being absurdly overvalued and regularly losing one-on-one contests as a defender. I remember thinking, I know he likes to be inflammatory, but doesn't there need to be a kernel of truth even in the most click-baity take? Petty has always struck me as a very strong one-on-one defender.

I agree. The most embarrassing case for many years has been Tom Hawkins' "brilliant strength" inside forward 50 ball ups and throw ins. Absolutely blatant, stiff-arm pushes in the back ignored and often resulting in a goal to Geelong. I also think getting to the ball second and pushing the ball player away, often lauded as "smart" or "being stronger", is actually nothing to do with strength, and everything to do with exploiting a player who's almost always off balance just by the nature of the position they're in. I might be on my own with this, but I think in the same way front on contact frees were brought in to acknowledge that pushing someone in the chest as they open themselves up to mark wasn't fair, a second-to-the-ball push, especially in a one-on-one, should be looked at way more closely.

Well, that was enormously fun to watch.

Poor effort in not organising a jogging partner who is also a lip reader and body language expert.

This would be very close to mine.

The club just posted this B&F preview. Who's your top five?

Didn't realise you occasionally worked blue.

I agree. I'd love to see her spend more time in the ruck this year. For the draft, I skilled mid would be wonderful. I'd also love us to get a defender with strong hands who reads the play well - through draft or trade.

Dominance of private school prospects in AFL draft expected to continue in 2024 - ABC News As a funny coincidence, I have a feeling the author happens to be a Melbourne supporter.

Getting 25 and kicking three for the Stingrays on a weekend. Sweltering in a portable for the rest of the week. What a ledge.

And Shelley Heath. And Maeve Chaplin. And Eliza McNamara.

Well put. When you show people being themselves and reacting genuinely, rather than saying what they think they need to say, you're halfway to something interesting and worth watching.

He's going to be a lot of fun to watch - from March onwards, I suspect.

Languid and reluctant in the background waving eagerly, almost desperately.

Interesting. I had the impression any link to Reid might have dried up.

Goodness, I hope so. We need this so badly.

Interesting that Reid seems out of the picture if the most recent discussion around Tauru, Allan and Langford is accurate. I liked his highlights as well.

You thought you were a mischief-maker and it turned out you were a prophet. I hate it when that happens.

Monograms often look great. Fitzroy's jumper between 1940 and the early 1970s is probably my favourite footy jumper ever. Gold Coast's original logo looked like it was designed in MS Paint for a car leasing company.

Geeze, that would be lovely.

This is a great explanation. Thanks so much.

And she's never made the All Australian team. If you peruse stats to make your decisions, I can see how you wouldn't like Hanks. If you watch the actual games (and, as you said, play in them), you'd find it much harder to go past her. Give me 15 Tyla Hanks disposal over 35 of Ebony Marinoff's or 300 of Kirsty Lamb's.

I can't believe they've done this. The whole problem was a big corporate logo in the middle of the guernsey looks terrible. It's amateurish - like they never graduated from their Under 18 selves. The logo itself was hideous, and they've improved it - arguably not as much as well as they could have - but why keep it on on the jumper? McDonald's red and yellow aren't great colours to work with, but all colours can work if you go with any of the dozens of traditional Australian rules guernsey designs. Stripes, hoops, a V, a yoke, panels, a sash... there are so many options and variations. The logo is such a bad idea. The away strip is right up there with the worst jumper of the last 20 years.

Now that it seems Smith is fairly likely for us at Pick 5, it's been interesting to return to this thread. A really interesting, robust debate. I have zero experience watching junior football (I watched Jed Adams' highlights after we drafted him and thought we were getting Peter Knights). I also don't rate myself a good analyst of football, so this is all probably nonsense. I definitely see what DeeSpencer worries about. The term "nothing handball" is blunt and seems harsh, and yet it often seems to apply in the highlights I've seen. For me, a top five who's going to handball more than he kicks has to be crisp and decisive with this skill; they need to put teammates into space or at least make the game easier for them. I see a fair bit of slamming the footy into a teammate's midriff for the sake of not getting caught. What excites me is his centre bounce stuff. It seems like there's a creativity, dynamism and instinctive understanding of where the ball's going that could pretty quickly alleviate some of our clearance woes. One thing I feel has killed us for a long time is opponents winning multiple centre bounce clearances in a row - often very damaging ones. Smith seems like the sort of player who could give us a different set of skills and big advantage in this part of the ground (with luck, before Max retires). He seems to have a real desire to be part of strings of possession, which I like, although I'm not sure I've seen much to suggest we want him hitting the final kick. Parish comparisons worry me. I also see a bit of Scully, although it sounds like he's a much more... ahem.. mature person. I see the Neale likeness, as well, and I distinctly remember his disposal being questioned for years before he became a champion. Not sure if he improved it significantly or just learned to play (brilliantly) within his limitations. What I'd love to see some of is even a hint of Zach Merrett, because good disposal is so important in modern football. But I can't. I trust Taylor, and I love the fact that so many far better observers than me think this bloke is an out-and-out gun, so I'll stay optimistic when pessimism seems a natural default after the last three seasons.

Her non-selection is embarrassing, but McNamara missing is far worse.