Ron Burgundy

Pedo. To be honest, Curnow (but his loyalty now lies elsewhere). We must’ve been close. Surely.

I think it’s fairly clear that it was a game that we absolutely should’ve won, and, had it lasted another 60 seconds, would’ve won. We were all over them, for very long periods. In this context, I really hate that we dropped the 4 points because, to my mind at least, we actually won that game. In substance, though not form obviously. My view remains that we are still eminently capable of being a top team this year. The Geelong game didn’t change this. To Webber’s initial point though, the curious selections going into the game caused me to raise an eyebrow at the time - and the rumours that have since emerged for some of those omissions eg, Goodwin allegedly omitting Tyson for this game because of his involvement in Training-gate - now actually concern me. I hope this concern, like our non-existent defence in the first half of the game, will be allayed by quarter time against the Lions, and I will merely bemoan the lost opportunity against the Cats having had my confidence restored that we remain a top 4 candidate this year.

Seriously. Gawn as a senior player and leader of the club cannot be missing simple set shots as important as that. I cannot bloody believe it.

Interchange bench - wrong players selected

Curnow seemed a more obvious choice, but Weidemann seems to be a completely different type of tall forward. I expect his selection was very deliberate. And considered. I absolutely trust our recruitment and development these days, so I reckon he’ll make it. Perhaps not this year though, in the years to come. It’d be interesting to know what they are saying about him internally though.

Bloody hell.

Injuries permitting, we're top 4 this year. We have a really well balanced list with depth. From a top 4 position in September, anything can happen. It's all about momentum. Good onya Kane. Possibly a sensationalist prediction but I'm happy to wear that - it's infinitely better than reading that we'll finish 9th, or last, as has been the case in virtually every other season in living memory.

I love Paul Roos. The turnaround he pulled off is genuinely impressive. This club was on its knees. It was last breath territory. I regard him as one of the most important figures in this club’s history. If we win a flag in the next five or so years, he is immortal.

The 5 who didn’t pick us, and the 12 (or so) of the other 15 who had us finishing 7th or 8th.

We’ll surprise a few of those bozos.

As a debt demolition member, I gave the club a fair bit of dough when they were very poorly managed and (at the time) I thought in danger of extinction. I don’t believe that’s any longer the case. So I feel I have contributed. Financially at least. PJ and Paul Roos should be knighted.

I agree. Even though we ultimately lost the game, Travis Johnstone’s 3rd quarter against the Crows in 2002 is the best (short) period of football I have ever seen by any player. It was unbelievable. I can’t recall being more excited watching footy as I was at 3/4 time in that game. I couldn’t speak following the final siren though. Was a devastating and ultimately undeserved loss.

He’s got a big engine. He runs to space. And he’s defensively sound. That said, the MFC coaching panel might very well be in your camp.

Same here. I think he’s a very good player and I am still super disappointed that the club traded him. That said, I don’t think we’ll miss him. I just wanted to see him lift the premiership cup wearing the red and the blue. But, unlike some others here, I like the narrative around this stuff, the intangibles. It’s what gives sport its soul.

Bugg is in my best 22. I’ll be interested to see if he’s in the MFC coaching panel’s best 22.

“Agree to disagree.” Wiseblood beat me to my substantive reply. Round 23 was obviously a disaster, but I now see it as a positive for this group: it was perhaps the loss we needed to have.

I agree. In my opinion, the journalists, opposition supporters and, indeed, many of our own supporters who are playing down our top 4 prospects are probably heavily influenced by their perceptions of a different MFC, namely the Melbourne of old. This playing group, this coaching group, is not. Objectively, we have a super well balanced list in terms of experience and ability, we have a very good coaching group, and I think, injuries permitting, we’ll be in the mix year. Big time.

We were unreal back then.

I accept what you’re saying. Putting our recruitment prior to Taylor, Viney etc to one side, which was plainly horrible and need not be discussed/reflected upon, I (like virtually all others here) have absolute confidence in our recruitment approach and the development of our players now. I seem to recall that ANB was considered a top 25 pick coming into the draft, as was Oscar McDonald. That they are now both hitting their strides shouldn’t be such a surprise. It is hard to predict the trajectory of players though. I could not believe Hunt’s transformation in one season into a virtually elite half back flanker. I had thought JKH would turn into a really good player, yet he seems to be on borrowed time. Stretch is another player who intrigues me - he was clearly in front of ANB, he’s super professional, he’s a really neat and tidy player whom I expect diligently follows the coaches instructions to the letter, and yet he’s struggling to find relevance/a permanent role in the team. Charlie Spargo and Joel Smith are the ones I’m really watching this year. Love Melksham’s transformation, although I always had high hopes for him, Hibberd and Vince - thought each of them represented an astute use of picks in the 20s. Long gone are the days of picking dour, high possession, meat and three veg midfielders from the VFL, which is a relief. The club now nails high end picks and also its ‘left field’ ones.

I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised this year DD.

What is going on with the delete function on this site?! This is not intended to be a post - but I can’t bloody delete or edit it. Apologies for the re-post. Salem will be a gun by the way.

Did his agent draft that article? Would be great to lock him away asap, obviously. Anyone know what Brad Green’s, Mark LeCras’ and Matthew Lloyd’s set shot stats were at the peak of their careers? 74% seems bloody good.

Our recruitment is seriously good these days. It has been for a while now. I’ve always thought ANB, Harmes, Bugg, Stretch, Salem, Melksham, Oscar Mac etc we’re going to be very good players for us. What I find a little disappointing/annoying in these threads however is that, if you expressed this view prior to any of these players consistently performing for the club, you were seen by some here to be an uncritical cheerleader. Yet now some (or all) of these players are consistently performing well for the club, those very same posters feel free, unabashedly so, to laud praise on these guys without ever taking ownership or accountability for their previous statements about them. It’s really not that cool. Just sayin’.

I worked in a very large international law firm in London in 2004 and 2005. The hours were immense. Yet ... For the whole of 2004, I had my parents record every game throughout the season, air courier the VHS cassette to me at a cost of 70 bucks a game, and I’d then pick up the VHS cassette from the mail room every Thursday evening (in respect of the game recorded the weekend just gone), go home, and start watching the game ‘live’ at about 10.00pm each Thursday night. Relevantly, I filtered my email messages during the week so I didn’t ever know the result prior to watching the game. We had a good year that year. It was worth it. Cost me a fair bit of dough though.

Salem will turn a few heads this year. He's hard at it but he's such a smooth mover with elite kicking skills/vision. Roos rated him highly. While he didn't expressly say it, I always thought Roos: - rated Salem slightly higher than Josh Kelly; - would've used pick 2 in that draft on Billings or Bontempelli; and - rated Salem better than pick 9 in that draft.