The Great Pretender

Now aggression at the football is a different matter. That comes from within.

Why on earth would you want to leave Liverpool? It's such a beautiful city.

Surprised to hear you say that. Since the end of last year, he's had his first pre season at the club, made it to the NAB Challenge squad where along with one or two others, was used sparingly and then by all accounts had a good game for Casey. Why do you think he's going backwards?

So have they actually lodged their appeal?

Knowing how very dearly you hold onto those rat's hats, I'm flattered. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

The issue I have with this rule about top up players is that the AFL has gone out and given the so far exclusive right to Essendon to search out these players. This gives the perpetrator of the offence, a head start over the other clubs who have lost players but were not offenders which puts them at a disadvantage. Moreover, the decision to not take into consideration the fact that Essendon will potentially have 12 players coming back in 2017 as a factor in their draft position is also unfair given that it will likely put the perpetrators at a further advantage over rival clubs. It really is outrageous.

I think it would be great story if both Grimes and Trengove could become valuable members of a resurgent Melbourne in 2016.

I don't think he was comparing their physiques but rather stating the fact that Lockett's about the same height as those two. Nobody really doubts Lockett's attributes. After all, he and Jason Dunstall won Brownlow Medals and kicked plenty of tons. The way the game's changed, key forwards these days need to be taller than Lockett's 191cm but Plugger would still be a great footballer today because of his strength and skills.

Agree. That's why I often come to this thread to find out what's going on at Melbourne. I always get a polite response and people are always so concerned about my welfare.

This is the elephant in the AFL room. I think Jobe Watson has to hand over the Brownlow Medal which according to the CAS was won by him with the benefit of performance enhancing substances. The question is should the Medal be vacated for 2012 i.e no award at all OR should it be awarded to Trent Cotchin and Sam Mitchell? I think it should be awarded to Cotchin and Mitchell as the two highest polling legal players over the year. It would be an injustice if they didn't get their medals.

Not sure if anybody has considered this but Kieren Collins is a fair sized unit and a strong key position defender who some believe is not that far behind Weitering. I don't believe Essendon will pass over Weideman if we take a mid with pick 3. Collins might well be the player to go for with 7.

Clubs eyeing delisted Hawks forward

I note that both of the AFL's latest franchise teams are involved in this appalling mess. I blame Demetriou and of course, Watts himself.

On the GAMEDAY thread, poster Jane02 said that she learned from her source at Casey that Dean Kent's hammy "was not looking so good after scans early in the week." That's a bit more than what were learned from the report on the club's website so I don't know how or why posters think that someone enquiring would be able to get a better answer from someone involved with Casey at the ground.

Well no - if we beat St. Kilda we go ahead of them anyway because that would give us 6 wins to their 5.

Free kick count at 3/4 time is 17-8 in favour of the Eagles. That's par for the course for their home games.

Gee I hope Hawthorn give Essendon a right royal flogging today.

Good point. If Dank is innocent of any wrongdoing, if he believes the Essendon 34 are innocent of being injected with a banned substance and if he really is so angry about the Tribunal decision then he could have responded when he was served with his infraction notice and defended himself at the Tribunal. Instead, he sat back and let this circus go on and on and on ...

Agreed. In fact, the investigation should have started already.

Whatever happened to the idea that teams suddenly improve massively when a coach gets sacked and replaced by someone else?

Jeff Kennett on Twitter

Just got on the train at Armadale. Only footy scarf I've seen is red and blue. No GCS scarves to be seen. We have them outnumbered - a good omen.

Flash back to almost 13 months ago: Eddie McGuire attacks AFL's cheats

My guess is that the Cats have already signed him at an asking price that we consider too high.

Port Adelaide treated their NAB Challenge game yesterday purely as an experiment and nobody really cared. I suppose we're in a different position but really - when you dominate a game so much in the first half what do you do when the stakes are zero?