Deeoldfart

We have become the hunted rather than a hunter, and every other team will be trying to unpick our winning formula. It will happen at some stage when we are one or two percent off our game, but I doubt that will be today. The midfield battle will be pivotal, but I think the Max / Dogga combination, plus Tracc and Clarrie, and Langers on the wing, will give us the edge. If we win in the middle, I’m backing at least a couple of our ‘hard to match up on’ forwards to get off the leash, leading to another 100+ points score, and our miserly ‘team’ defence to keep them to 70 or 80 points. Pre-match jitters have already kicked in for me, but so far this season this has been a positive omen. Dees by 4 or 5 goals, but any way we can come away with the 4 points works!

Geelong went to school on Melbourne's win over Richmond, and proved that the strategy works. Numbers / pressure around the contest, and fast ball movement.

Mid morning DeeZee said: "It’ll be Harmes and Petty in Thommo and Jones out Chandler the sub" and a bit later "Going by today’s training with the main group. I popped by this morning." Great work DeeZee. Thanks!

Based on last weekend's Casey game, I had a clear leaning towards Sparrow over Harmesy. So be it! More than happy to leave it in the (proven) capable hands of our Match Committee, and delighted that we have strong options (an unusual delight in recent years).

I'm the first to acknowledge that I'm a sentimental (very) old fool, but my life-long passion for our Club, and that interview with our new President, seriously made me bleary eyed. I'm an absolute true believer! GO DEES!

(Censored) arrangement. Likely no opportunity for our reserves to press their claims for senior selection. Weid, Chandler, Bedford, Harmes and others are possible examples. Grrrr!

Well is this joint still wack?

I wouldn’t be in favour of this Jaded. Tommy has revived his career, and offloading clear best 22 players to save cap space has a bit of a Collingwood smell about it.

Tracc says in his interview on the MFC site that he has matured as a player and as a person. So very true! Not only a great player for us, but a great ambassador.

Only one small outlet in my part of the world (Canberra), but I make the effort to buy Haymes whenever I need paint. Excellent product and worth the effort ....... and thanks Haymes for being long-term sponsors of our Club!

Justice prevails. Can’t underestimate how important this decision is. Brilliant news!

I’m 100% with you od, but I will admit to a smidge of Shiraz influence right now. Having said that, Monday is one of my two wine-free nights, but I decided to ignore my GP, and have a tiny tipple because we are 7 zip and on top of the bloody ladder!

Absolutely the correct decision by our Club to appeal! I hope that after the hearing, we can say that it was “the correct decision all round”.

Thanks Andy, George and Bin. Great knowledge, insight and balance. A million miles ahead of the general football media.

I’m shattered for Tommo, but absolutely loved the way our boys got around him both during and after the game. There is a massive team spirit in our group, that I haven’t seen for a very for a long time. We’ll miss him for sure, but we’ll restructure and galvanise in his absence! All the best Tommo!!

6. Fritsch 5. Salem 4. Jackson 3. Pickett 2. Langdon 1. Oliver

Well they tell me that that's what good teams do!!! So sad for Tommo. Great to see the boys get around him during and after the game.

I’ve been afflicted by chronic MFCSS for many years (well before it was formally diagnosed on Demonland), but I've been symptom-free all this week. No matter which angle I come from, I can’t see North beating our boys. Even in the extremely unlikely event that we enter the match bloated with week-old bathwater, we will hit the overdrive button at some point, and go on to win. We are just too talented, too professional, too driven and too well led, to let this one slip. Dees by a big margin!

I thought that was pathetic and incredibly disrespectful to a legend of the Melbourne Football Club. Grrrr!

I hope Jones is the medical sub

I was in a remote area with no internet earlier in the week, and have just listened to the podcast. Best yet guys .... thanks! ps having just smashed the tiggies helps of course.

North being so poor made it almost impossible to know what to take out of that match. My conclusions: - nobody smashed the door down tonight; - Casey played the Melbourne way, which is a very good sign

Live on Fox Footy. Your local should have it on a screen somewhere if you don’t have Fox.

To me, the following quotes from the MFC announcement epitomize the way JJ is now playing for us: "James has worked diligently on all parts of his game, and is now getting reward for his hard work" " he is a really mature young man with a terrific attitude" Not all players can be stars, but diligence, hard work and the right attitude can take you a long way!

6. Salem 5. Petracca 4. T. Mac 3. Oliver 2. Gawn 1. Lever