dee-tox

Great quarter apart from Fritta's conversion. Salem playing best game of year. Vanders terrific. Gawn, Viney, Oliver and Langdon doing great.

At least the umpiring is excellent! Thanks Ray. Fritta's kicking the opposite

I like it. Early second rounder should suffice. He's a classic example of clubs scouring the VFL and finding gems. Papley (Casey) is another. Would love it if Melbourne put a few more resources into this.

Time for Jonesy to be put out to pasture. Don't mind him staying involved as a runner/development coach etc. but as a player he is cooked.

Apart from the last eight rounds of 2018 when he was playing terrific football, Harmes has been a fringe player. Giving him a five-year contract seems to be extremely generous. Great work by Harmes' management negotiating that!

Terrific player but I reckon the target should be those between 18 and 25. In theory this is the when players have their most upside and perhaps not cruelled by injuries. We have plenty of guys already in that 28 plus age group. Hibberd, Melksham, Vanders, May, Max, Brown, TMac, Nev, etc. They rarely get better. Go the Ajax model and have four or five classy, experienced guys. The rest young and ambitious.

You raise some excellent points Nascent. However, he looks finished. Slow and with the turning circle of the QE2. From a list management point of view, if the club thinks he won't get any better, it is better to offload him now than in three years time. That way we get 700k off the books and have the chance to draft/develop a couple of key position players to replace him. It is easy to be sentimental but I would like to see a more ruthless streak to ensure we add depth and talent to our list. These days you can't not perform for two years and command big money. It destroys your list and salary cap.

That explosive pace off the mark is more than handy. Would complement our hard at it mids. Having to go through life being called Jaidyn and being a bogan from Fern Tree Gully are hard to overcome though!

Nev looks gone. In: Lockhart or Hibberd. I thought AvdB and ANB were useful role players

My point is that Bedford, Baker and Pickett do not deserve a game this week. If Bennell is not match fit why did we give him games early in the season when we had a full list?

Bedford gets dropped but not Baker or Pickett. Both their games were as bad as Isaac Weetra's debut! No one can hit an I50 target to save themselves but Bennell remains out of the team. Lockhart must have gone back to Tassy and got himself lost in the wilderness. Hunt, apparently concussed last week, is named in the backline. Fat chance of that happening!

I'd say Caroline after our latest loss decided to ring a few people to see if there was anything brewing at the club. Obviously, one source, probably a former board member, decided to mention Stephen Smith. Caro has a bit each way in mentioning him saying he might challenge for the presidency and he may not! The rest of the article is padding/commentary. The world according to Caro.

Apparently the league's highest paid player. Do we have a spare 1.2 million + in the salary cap?

Hasn't fired a shot in two years. That's around 1.3 million wasted. Has turning circle of QE2. Has lost pace and seems top heavy. Can't see Tom getting any better at his age. I'd move him on now.

Sometimes with young guys you just want them to show something. A little glimpse. A great tackle. A good shepherd. Great positioning. A good kick.... a one-percenter. I can't remember a single thing Baker has done that that I thought: That's good!

You saw a different Baker than I did then. Messed up everything he tried. Terrible.

Yep! We tend to overate non-performers and our list in general.

Really some ruthless calls are needed. Think Jones, Jetta and KK need to retire. I think TMac is finished and club should look to see what the can get for him. I'd shop OMac around too. Smith, Bedford, Baker, Bradke, C Wagner, Brown and Chandler delisted. That's 12 outs. Enough for 2021.

6. Viney 5. Fritsch 4. Petracca 3. Langdon 2. Rivers 1. Oliver

Was garbage, As was Baker, as was Pickett.

So obviously the club has severely overated its list. I have as well. The depth is poor and development of low draft picks non-existent Sure we have Gawn, Oliver, Viney, Petracca, May and Langdon. Then second tier players like Salem, Melksham, Lever, Fritta, Weed, HArmes, Hibberd, JAckson, Rivers, , etc But the bottom layer of Bedford, Pickett, Sparrow, Smith, Baker, ANB, AvB, the Wagners, Spargo, OMac, Hannan, etc. seem to be no where near it.

you're not a small forward if you can't kick that.

Gawn. Pathetic.

Trying to play counter-attack with the wind! Bizarre.

Why did we put Baker and Bedford in the team? Liabilities.