Ron Burgundy

Yep, 3 weeks would be ludicrous.

And, to think, Carlton once accused us of playing 'bruise-free football'. The irony. Rowe went down like a show pony striker playing for Uruguay against the Socceroos in a World Cup Qualifier.

I usually like your posts DeeSpencer, but this is a shocker. I don't agree with any of it. In particular, I loved Garlett's game today - he was fantastic.

He'll travel very well.

Petracca is destined to be a super player for us. Skills and talent aside though, I like his infectious enthusiasm and what that brings to the group. It's refreshing to have his personality type kicking around in the team - it gives the group some further dimensionality (X factor). In fact, I'm ultra confident about where this group is headed. It's got all the right ingredients. Jordan Lewis is the perfect counter-point to this. He'll harness the talent of the likes of Petracca and ensure it is utilised in a calm, disciplined and effective way. It's the very reason I feel calm about playing Carlton today, whereas in years gone past I'd be feeling super anxious about the game and be expecting an inconvenient loss against a lesser side.

Petracca over McCartin is a no brainer. We got seriously lucky here.

Great post. While Taylor has been an integral part of the list rebuild (obviously), I expect much of the terrific list management and trading in recent times has been due to the effectiveness of Josh Mahoney and Todd Viney. Taylor has then used those picks very, very well.

It's hard to dislike this post.

Snipers are universally derided by opposition supporters and players alike. We all know who the snipers in the competition are, and Bernie is not one of them. Everyone likes Bernie, and, even though he occasionally plays on the edge, he still commands the respect of opposition supporters and players. That he is probably leading the club's B&F count after round one (judging by Goodwin's effusive praise of his performance following the game) serves to show that those here who feel the need to snipe at Bernie probably don't reflect the views of the MFC's coaching staff and player group towards him/his approach. They probably love it, which is why he is in the leadership group. Goodwin said as much in his presser - he 'loved the 'leadership' shown by the team's 'leaders' in the game'.

Love Bernie. He kept us in the game. Simple. The focus by some wannabe school headmasters here is ridiculous - it's footy and he's not a nasty player. He's competitive, tough and cheeky. And he cops it back without complaint - remember how he ruffled Dangerfield's feathers and then Danger overstepped the mark. Perhaps he overstepped the mark for a split second, but it reflected his competitive determination throughout the entire game. Look at his performance as a leader over the other 119 mins and 59 seconds of the game - his contribution was invaluable.

I expect Lewis is feeling very satisfied with his decision to come to this club. Ben Matthews deserves a big wrap. We owned the clearances.

They got good odds though. ??

Garry Lyon can get stuffed. He's done this club no favours and I'm sick of the bloke. Tyson is best 22. Every day of the week.

I am a stupidly passionate supporter. I have signed up every one of mate's children to this club. So much so, they no longer seek to sell their kids' MFC memberships on eBay - they just wear it. They still find it annoying though. My 3.5 year old son just received his 2017 membership pack - his card says '5 years' consecutive member. He'll thank me for that. One day. Signed Henry up as a 20 week old foetus. And the club accepted his application (?). Youngest member ever. I will drink a ridiculous amount of booze if and when we win the flag. I'll probably die. God bless the Demons.

First round draft picks to GWS are the equivalent of pick 88 to all other clubs. Seems to be a commensurate trade to me.

Pretty sure he didn't hand over a list to Beveridge as poor as the one Roos' inherited.

This sucks. Feel really sorry for the bloke.

I think he is very valuable (and I'd have him in each week) but I'm not sure he has all the attributes that Goodwin is looking for in his defenders given his slingshot game plan out of defence.

Or the shirts that the pit crews in V8 Supercars wear. They look real good.

I agree. It'd be interesting to know which Captains thought we'd make the 8. I suspect it'd be the Captains of the top 4 or 5 clubs (none of whom feel threatened to make such a prediction) and potentially the Captains of the very bottom teams, eg, Carlton and the Lions (again, none of whom feel threatened to make such a prediction).

I'm sick of it too. It's boring. And unimaginative in the extreme. It's also sleazy from a factual perspective - Watts remains a required player.

I recall Daniher wasn't that complimentary about Powell (which perhaps explains his stance) but he made the wrong call. Powell finished in the top 3 at the Saints in 2003, yet we were bloody hopeless and really needed him.

Bit of ancient history here. Yep, Daniher made the call. I spoke to him about it at the SCG in round 5, 2003, following an horrendous final quarter capitulation during which we surrendered a 50 point (or so) three quarter time lead to the Swans. That loss set in place a truly horrible season in 2003 following a belter season in 2002 in which we were unbelievably unlucky not to beat the Crows at the G and get into a preliminary final (Powell was knocked out with his first touch of the ball in the first quarter). I specifically questioned Daniher why we (essentially) let Powell go. I think the MFC offered him a one/two year contract on less money, and the Saints offered him a three year deal on more money. He was angry and he left for the Saints after the trade period - we lost a top player and gained no compensation for it. Daniher stated equivocally that he had no regrets - Powell had no more than one good season in him. He got this one wrong. Our list management was bent way out of shape back then. We had to pay sheep stations to keep Yze and Travis Johnstone because they had great seasons in 2002 (both in the mix in the Brownlow) and, as a result, we lost Woewodin and Powell, both of whom were important players for us and both of whom I would've liked to have seen finish their careers in the red and the blue. A disappointing period, which was then surpassed by even more disappointing periods after 2006. "List management, list management, list management" - Peter Jackson, 2016.

vince - 86% tog @ 62.5% de Vince is one of my favourite players but this is simply not good enough for a player who's often used to distribute the ball off half back. It's time to put him back on the ball, potentially as a tagger from time to time, with instructions to amass possessions and kick goals from the forward 50 if and when possible. He won our B&F and was nearly AA when last used in this role. He regularly sucks when used off half back.

I agree. I think Parish had a terrific first season and will be in the elite category in due course. My point is that Parish was seemingly the safe selection with pick 4, but Taylor backed himself and went with Oliver despite him being the riskier choice. For this reason, I always keep an eye on how Parish performs in games. Not that that's especially productive though - I just can't help it.