Elwood 3184

My conspiracy theory this week is that the AFL and North Melbourne conspired to ensure that they lost to the Swans to keep their chances alive of special draft assistance at the end of the year. Couldn’t happen if they won too many matches.

Apparently the indigenous name for West Coast is Boorloo. At least we know what the “loo” part stands for.

6. Clayton Oliver 5. Trent Rivers 4. Steven May 3. Lachie Hunter 2. Jack Viney 1. Christian Petracca

Especially older players like a Dixon.

Not yet (if at all). These rules are for the midseason draft.

My conspiracy theory is that the long break in getting Ballard off the ground when there was nothing wrong with him was contrived to settle the Suns down and give them a run at winning. Up until that point Melbourne had kicked 2.3 to nothing in the final term and GCS didn’t look like scoring. That trend would likely have continued but for the break in play.

Because even if your employer is thrilled with your work, it might not necessarily mean you’ve done the right thing. Richard Nixon might have been thrilled with the plumbers at Watergate but that means Jack [censored].

Exactly why he should consider resigning.

Given the rebuff given to him by the Appeals Board, should we expect Gleeson to do the honourable thing and resign?

I remember thinking at the time that all our troubles were over. In fact, they were just starting.

Perhaps this might be the perfect opportunity to manage JvR for a couple of weeks so that he’s fresh for the difficult phase of the season from Round 11 to 13 when we faltered last season. He is after all young and would have been rested sooner or later.

6. Christian Petracca 5. Max Gawn 4. Clayton Oliver 3. Angus Brayshaw 2. Tom Sparrow 1. Steven May

No conspiracy. The Hawks want every Melbourne player on deck next Saturday so that we can well and truly pants them in order to help the get Reid campaign.

How did we win this game without Jacko?

They’re a point in front with 42 secs left!!!

Giants having a crack.

Scott Pendlebury is a huge out for Collingwood against Adelaide on Sunday due to an eye injury

My MFCSS has been eased slightly by the fact that North have beaten us to the mystery injury of the week when they withdrew Luke Davies-Uniacke who has a heel problem.

True but there’s a good chance that this year’s specific player is Harley Reid. A lot of good judges think that if he had been available for last year’s draft, he might have been taken with pick 1.

We’re second in points for - Geelong have 2 points more than us.

That sort of defeat is demoralizing. Season over for the Bombers. They won’t make the finals.

Except against us!

‘Extraordinary’ ladder reveals extent of AFL injury toll… and which clubs are coping the best

Tom McDonald’s last game for the year … coincided with our fall from premiership favourite to not even getting in the preliminary finals.

The three players coming back into the Melbourne team from injuries this week (Gawn, Hibberd and Lever) are all mature age players. The selectors might have wanted to maintain a balance of youth and experience especially given that sometimes the older players take time getting back to top form.