The Taciturn Demon

I'm with you. Either a lot of people on here have an exceptionally good eye for talent, and are able to glean something meaningful from the most subtle acts on the field, or they're thinking wishfully. Nothing wrong with the latter - we all do it to some degree - but some of the extrapolation seems a bit over-the-top. The thing that most makes me optimistic about Tholstrup is that Jason Taylor chose him. Not too many catastrophic failures on his resume.

I agree with this. I'd put Fitzsimon in the same category and Gall very close to it. Eliza McNamara should be the first player in the 2028/29 bracket. Gun.

Good call. If North fall the football-as-commodity types don't just get to say "I told you so", they get a template for how the next ones go. I also never hear people who say "there are too many teams in Melbourne" suggest what the perfect number is. Presumably not eight. Is it six? Four?

Pity. We were starting to really look OK in those final few games and probably would have found it liberating playing finals from eighth. I like how we changed game plan mid-season and played more to our strengths. I don't mind how the list looks and think we've definitely uncovered a few this year. Interesting to see if Harris can overcome injury and work as a defender next season; we're suddenly blessed with an overabundance of tall forwards: Gall, Campbell, Zanker and Bannan (encouragingly playing more robust footy this season). Also interesting to see what we go for in the draft. An out-and-out midfielder would be lovely.

I've always found it fascinating - and to be honest grotesque - that the potential death of a 100 or 150 year old club, loved by tens of thousands of people, appears to evoke ecstasy in some people. They couch the prognostications in earnest language, assuring us of the infallibility of their economic orthodoxy, but you can see the tent in their pants from space.

Imagine how fun it would be if you had any outside inclination at all and Liv Purcell was on your team. Call her name and the handball hits you half a second later. The anti-Ed Langdon.

My ultra-amateurish take is that sideways movement is a big problem for Sparrow. With the ball he seems to get caught a lot. Without it, he seems to let opponents get around him too easily. I have hope if he can improve this.

Absolute shocker. Carlton would be pissing themselves laughing that they pulled this off.

I'm sure Brian Cook is an ethical man. The PwC bloke, however...

That's thoroughly embarrassing if it's true. Surely there's more to it.

Yes!

That's incredibly kind.

Did everyone know that was a shocker before the draft? Because that was a shocker.

I just found out who the President of Carlton is. Say no more.

Who is the player you think Taylor would be keen to skip three places to take at two?

Can someone explain how they can possibly fit Houston into their salary cap? Cripps and Weitering are surely on very very good money. McKay, Walsh and Curnow just behind them, I assume. And they went on a multi-year recruitment extravaganza, presumably putting forward tempting financial offers to get Cerra, McGovern, Williams, Hewett and Saad. I know their depth is highly questionable, but is everyone else on $300,000 a year?

Underrated problem, I reckon. I think Melbourne has fallen into this trap way too often in the past couple of years - but well before that also. I don't think it's any coincidence that the Flag came when Casey was flush with players who could honestly consider themselves very unlucky not to be getting a game.

I think I'd resigned myself to a fairly big drop before the season, and after those four bad losses, was convinced it was happening, possibly for multiple years. But I'm now really optimistic about this group. McNamara has gone to a completely different level - gun. Gall is playing really mature footy, which I just didn't expect from her, certainly not at the age of 20. I've always liked Chaplin, but she's better than ever. Denby Taylor is a keeper. Fitzsimon has always had a lot of talent - really solid skills - and now is finding more of the footy. Hanks is 24! I thought Heath might have reached a ceiling - I don't think she has. I thought Bannan might have been a one (very exciting) trick pony - but I've liked her pressure and contest this year. I think we're still crying out for another pure midfielder (Beasley may be the one), another composed defender with good hands and a crafty small forward (I reckon the best of Pisano is a way off yet). But the holes are nowhere near as large or various as I thought.

I'm guilty of that. But even as a figurative statement it's quite shocking. In the space of five or six weeks, we've gone from Goodwin saying he's never seen a player more determined to return to his very best at the club to people reporting Oliver has no interest in being at Melbourne.

Hear bloody hear.

Genuinely extraordinary.

Yearning for an easier fixture is one of the silliest things in all of football fandom. Just compete hard against everyone. "It's an even competition" is generally just a euphemism for "We're not good enough often enough".

You could ask AI to write a vicious parody of Sliding Doors and it would come up with something more insightful and coherent than the column itself.

I thought these kind of wins might have been behind this team, with its many injuries, major list changes over the off-season and several bad losses at the start of the season. Nope. Still tough and willing to change.

The media want us all to believe that trades are the main things that allow you to improve. They want trades linked directly to hope. But what lets you improve is really careful list management, player development, footy strategy, injury management, luck and all sorts of other things. Yes, trades are a part of list management, but so is drafting, maintaining a good balance in areas like position, age and experience, developing depth and so on.