Ron Burgundy

The submissions that were seemingly made at Court in relation to the incident do not paint a particularly favourable picture. In fact, Carroll sounds like a total scumbag.

Jordie McKenzie?! We picked him as a rookie.

It'll be like a reality tv show, albeit one that need not be produced.

Whilst I like threads such as these, and personally I'm always considering where we might finish next year at this stage in the pre season, the reality is that it's far too early to sensibly predict, even guess. We're not even at Christmas yet, and we have had a major overhaul in terms of coaches and players since October, many of whom are just starting to get to know one another's names. By about late Feb we might start being able to get a handle on the way things are tracking under Roos, particularly now that we have some genuine midfielders to choose from and a midfield coach/mentor in George Stone who has a proven track record in teaching and implementing structures. The ingredients look reasonable relative to where we were at 6 months ago, but IMO it's too early to say how quickly, and well, this cake is going to take to bake in 2014 and beyond.

Mos def.

I find drinking beer to be more beneficial/relaxing than meditating. Then again, I'm not an AFL footballer.

Have always rated Evans highly. Hope/expect Evans and Michie to turn a few heads next year.

Absolutely sensational report Maldonboy - thanks.

Really like the bloke. Might as well have my Mum on the list instead though. They'll play a commensurate amount of games for the club going forward.

Flag.

I reckon Toumpas will win a Rising Star nomination this year. In fact, I have no doubts about Toumpas at all. Never have.

Grimes always impresses me with his communication skills and general demeanour. Just need to get him running off the half back line again, so his on field performances match his off field class. Surely he has to be right in the mix to retain the gig.

Totally agree. The MFC crest should be on our clash jumper. Why? Because it looks good.

We have Pedersen.

He's 18.

Based on that photo, and assuming it's relatively recent, he has a long way to go. Will be surprised if he gets a taste of AFL next year. There's a reason we brought in the likes of Cross, Michie, Tyson, Vince and Riley.

If that's the case, am I right in thinking that's pretty harsh player management? If the club's going to delist him, should they not have given him the opportunity of participating in the national draft etc?

It seems to me that the Dees and the Pies had Salem SLIGHTLY ahead of Freeman. That said, I reckon Collingwood will be pretty happy with their selection.

I don't know why didn't we secure GWS' pick 48 as part of the Dom Tyson + pick 9 for pick 2. GWS passed on this pick, and we then used pick 57 on Jayden Hunt. It's all academic if we would've picked Hunt with pick 48, but I would've thought we could've got an upgrade from 57 to 48 given that GWS didn't even use it. Are there any players between 48 and 57 that seem worthy/better than Hunt?

He's got a pleasant smile. Seems to reveal a nice demeanour.

I could tell some stories about a couple of poster boys of the AFL, but I'm not going to here. Suffice to say, most of the players are regular guys, not all that well educated, highly paid, young, with loads of spare time, and they are knights of their little fiefdoms. It's hardly surprising what spins off that. What actually surprises me is that many in the community don't even know what goes on - and, when they hear snippets of such happenings, they can't believe it. Head in the sand stuff. I'm surprised there's not more discussion about depression for many of these players when they retire and the glory period comes to a fairly abrupt end.

What do people think about rookie-ing Matt Thomas from Port?

I'm still coming to terms with Collingwood landing Grundy at pick 18 last year ...

This ^^^ exactly. Spot on RobbieF.

And we also wouldn't have had the $$$ to lure the mighty Mitch Clark.