pitmaster

More likely pick 23 given how compromised the draft is this year.

That didn't take long.

Interrupted preparation for the skipper. I suspect he was underdone.

Positives: Oscar's best game; Langdon gave us some penetration through the middle, Viney was fantastic, Pickett and Bedford both showed promise. So it was not all bad, but it looked a lot like last year. Still plenty to learn about setting up the forward line. Can't tell from 3000kms away but were our forwards sucked upfield again? Because Hurn had it easy. Would love to see that turd made accountable.

that would be a coup, right? or are we racing pigeons...

Exactly. Why no asterisk for Fitzroy 1916 premiers in a four team competition shrunken by the First World War (Collingwood, Carlton & Richmond were the others); or Collingwood premiers 1917 in a six team competition? Or how about Fitzroy 1944 premiers after five years of war that hit, most of all the Melbourne and St Kilda clubs, and Carlton 1945 premiers after six years of war? You won't find John Elliott or Eddie McGuire worrying about asterisks.

Thanks Sue. I do understand that people'scircumstances change - people lose jobs, take on new responsibilities - but we do know there are still about 10K MCC members who don't contribute. I know they have paid about $600 for their MCC dues but I'd like to think they can find another $85 for the club at least. If the Demons are rubbish then their MCC memberships are devalued. They can maximise the value of their MCC membership by helping the MFC to stay healthy. I must admit I don't understand those others who say they'll wait to see how the season goes. For mine it's all in or out.

Age is irrelevant in the face of your absurd sense of entitlement.

Jeff K...I know, I know he's a donkey, but anyway...Jeff K warning the Covid 19 crisis means a 10% cut to Hawthorn's revenue, and that's before the attendances are taken into account. Our club's going to hurt. From afl.com: Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett has called on fans to get behind the team with the coronavirus having a huge impact on the club's financial situation."In going through our revenue, line by line, given the perception that the virus has already created, the situation is looking grim," Kennett wrote in a letter to club supporters. "The very best scenario is that our bottom line might be hit by about 10 per cent of budgeted revenue over this football year. This is before the AFL informs us of any curtailing of the AFL season, so clearly this is serious."

I thought so until I remembered that the Chinese doctor who tried to sound the alert back in December, and was arrested and interrogated for his trouble, died of Covid-19 in February and he was in his 30s.

Gawn is our outright MVP. TMac on fire is great and Petracca and Oliver also, but a dominant ruckman is a rare thing. Any number of beanpoles can fill in the ruck and any number of battlers can give you a chance in the ruck but a standout winner is irreplaceable.

I like to think of it as slightly more nuanced than that, but you're close.

I have some sympathy for him because as I understand it his manager talked him out of Melbourne by talking up his price to absurd heights on the back of one query from either GC (most likely) or GWS. The chatter ran all through his last year with us so that it passed the point of no return and he had to leave, and yes, he was sold a bill of goods by Buckley with the promise of going forward which lasted about three games. And he was paid about the same as he was at Melbourne. The big dollars promised earlier never materialised. Had he been smarter he could have been a one club player so long as we were prepared to tolerate his miskicks which were a weekly occurrence, just as they were with TMac in his time in defence. I had a chat with JH in the pre-season after he left us and told him we'd give him a good welcome. He knew exactly when that was - round four - better than I did, and seemed nervous about it. Now, with five years exposure to the self talk and bull of Eddie and Co he is showing the signs of all true Collingwood believers. Poor bugger. He displays no gratitude for Melbourne's role in plucking him from the obscurity of Dodge's Ferry. Let's hope we smash them for as long as JH remains there just as we did in round 4, 2016 and pull a flag as he totters into retirement.

You seriously want the club to confide in the public details of injuries, recovery times and illnesses? Why? So the opposition can plan better how to set up against us, who is likely to play and how our players might be hiding injuries? I am without words to respond to such expectations.

Coaches are the last people to decide this stuff.

Currently buying six.

Just our luck that the year we have two genuine home game blockbusters that the coronavirus is going to diminish crowd numbers. Last year we had neither Anzac Eve or QB and blew a $1.5 million hole in the accounts because the supposed big drawing home games came at the end of the year when the season was shot. Even if the virus is contained both our blockbusters will suffer lower numbers, maybe 40,000 instead of the anticipated 65,000-plus if the behaviour of the past week is any guide to the resilience and public spiritedness of Australians (Hint; there is none.) So the heat should be on those who sit on the fence every year waiting to see how the season unfolds, and also the estimated 10,000 MCC members who still resist buying even a token membership to do for this club what they demand of the players: go hard and go often. Time to buy a membership folks because the club budget is probably blown without you. NB: Moderators, I didn't put this in the Coronavirus thread because that derailed some time ago.

Great. I forgot to worry about this. When I saw it I thought what else was JV supposed to do? A suspension would have been misguided which is probably why I should've worried about it. Relieved.

Nah...if they're in the toilet Adem'll be in the box seat, unfortunately.

I don't see why Goodwin should spell out the style or the team rules for anyone outside the sanctum. Let the other mobs work it out for themselves. That's what they're supposed to do. Clarkson never talked about his 'web' before, during or after its operation that I know of.

Your comment on Scully is spot on. He is a cog and as it turns out a cog that doesn't often hurt the opposition. Wish we all had known that about him years and years ago, but it remains a lesson for the future. We copped a lot of pain to ensure we could have him and it was only ever going to be for a very small part of what makes a team. He proved to be no Judd, or Hodge, or Fyfe, or very much at all.

We know what happens to these privileged prats once success departs...they disappear very quickly, yet they're very bloody noisy soon after their club lucks out with one of the strongest drafts of all time while they're on the bottom.

Greg Williams was slow and one dimensional too. Viney has something rare and that cannot be manufactured: true grit. BTW I had a look at The Roar piece. The bloke who wrote it has 'expert' next to his name. Who's ever heard of him before this? I am backing Jack to tear The Roar a new one.

For a chronic pessimist and whinger you have a charming vein of optimism. Congratulations. Seriously, it's a compliment.

New one on me. Potentially as annoying as tennis players saying 'he played great/good etc'. Maybe moreso since it's meaningless.