Tony Tea

Grunt matters in big games. When it comes to the big games it's player on player. If both players are equally skilled and equally quick and equally fit, as is mostly the case in finals, the stronger player will win because whenever the two players come together at the contest the stronger player will buffet the weaker out of the way and win position and possession. Take StKilda. The Saints are currently running hard and long. But they don't have a raft of grunt players. If we were well conditioned, rather than our current fitness shambles, and we were equally as fit as the Saints, I would back us to win. We have the grunt, but we are just all over the shop with our fitness and conditioning. Currently I'd back, say, Geelong and Collingwood in any big game against the Saints.

I tweeted it at the time. Sly elbow to the head. But it's Dusty, so it will get a pass.

I'm not against giving Weed a run in defence. Worth a try.

Give Lewis a run in the guts. He's too slow for a sweeper / QB.

Hence we are sponsored by No Balance.

The Celebration Matches are one of the reasons there will never be a 17 game season. (Not that there ever will be.)

No doubt the best available free agent will go to Hawthorn.

Alex Sexton?

The last few years Bruce has become too Bruce, but be careful what you wish for: the replacement look like being one of Darcy, BT or Brayshaw. (I don't mind Brayshaw.)

Opponents have been quick to get in Hibberd's face, and he lacks the pace to beat them into space.

Prepare ourselves... for the t-word?

Jack Billings, I think.

I have issues with the notion that we should not have taken an inside bull and should instead have taken an outside runner. It is much easier to teach an inside bull how to get and use the footy in the AFL than it is to teach an outside runner how to get an use the footy in the AFL when it's hot. I'm not against outside runners, and I agree we need link-up pace from half back to half forward. That's why we had a big go at Gaff. But if you are picking youngsters in the draft and there is no obvious gun runner available (in Sparrow's case, around pick 27), pick the bull.

I would be surprised if our footy department overrated our list going into 2019. Ditto Ratten. We need an assistant who knows Clarko Footy. Since Clarko himself has said that he likes to turn over his own assistants, let's have a lash at Yze.

Clarko plays a zone (which Adelaide's one-dimensional attack played straight into) but Clarko's key has always been knowing when to take the ball the other way for easy scores.

Dunny is a Demon at heart.

The zone defence will be alive and kicking when we try to find a way through it.

Whenever we play poorly, it's because we butcher the ball going into our forward line. If we ever become efficient in attack we will be a major, major threat. But yesterday, as usual, it's our tendency to kick badly into zone defences that shoots ourselves in the feet.

Certainly the best Demon midfielder I have seen. Covers territory at pace, gets to multiple contests, hits the contests at pace, leaves the contests at pace, finds the footy in traffic and in space, makes space out of no space, good kick, sublime hands, sublime handballer, knocks opponents over, good mark, I could go on, but youse get the drift. He's different to, say, Judd. He's more like a combination of Voss and Black.

It's funny. Hogan is a beautiful kick in play, while McDonald was often a suspect kick in play. On the flip side Hogan is a dodgy kick for goal, while McDonald is a borderline automatic kick for goal. May will play forward too. Don't be surprised if he is similar to McDonald when kicking for goal. May also barrels his opponent when marking (or spoiling), while Hogan is more of a position marker, he doesn't generally jump into his opponent. Hogan also has a less secure pair of hands than McDonald, who has a great pair of mitts. Watch how often Hogan bobbles marks. Hogan is a bit like Neitz who often got rid of his opponent only to spill the mark. (Neeta still took lots of marks, tho. Weight of numbers, etc.) Not sure what May's hands are like.

I'd like to see the comparison between Hogan and McDonald in big games.

Not an extravagant opinion. A few Pie colleagues and mates think the same. Has a real go, tho.

Petracca on the ball for longer will be a huge bonus if he is up to the fitness. He ripped Adelaide apart at the SACA in 2017 (I think it was 2017), when he was shifted into the guts and took the game by the scruff of its collarless jumper.

I got my membership package today. Very slick affair; especially the cryovac sealed scarf.

Tom "Jack" Sparrow, James "Air" Jordan, Aaron "Jack" Nitzsche, Marty "Two Buck" Hore, and Toby "Wheels" Bedford.