Tony Tea

Sack the Suns.

I have my fingers crossed that our loss to North didn't pull the plug out of our season like out loss to Carlton last year.

A 12 or 13 win season is about where I thought we would be in 2017. The coaching handover was not going to automatically guarantee a big jump in performance. But we are kidding ourselves until we can find a more efficient way of taking the ball into the forward 50.

This.

Plain jeans are okay. Stretch, stonewash, jeggings or "distressed" jeans are not.

Tidy debut.

Just like councils, who make builders take rennos to VCAT so the council hacks don't have to make a decision.

The News crews are currently camped outside Clarrie Oliver's house.

Watch the end of the Eagles game. Twice in the last two minutes Max hit the ball over the top to running Demons. Worked brilliantly. But. Only an idiot opposition coach would not have gone to school on those taps. Scott would have instructed his on-ballers to block our running lanes so that Max's taps didn't enable us to saunter away from the ruck contests. Hinckley backed Port to win from Ryder; Scott backed North to win from Max.

Port plays seagull footy.

I don't know how many times I have to say it. We have a less than bulky side. We often get out-buffetted by stronger sides. And stronger sides are able to break our tackles. North did it last time too. We often put in maximum effort, but we lack grunt. Our losing streak against North coincides with their two coaches in that time, Laidley and Brad Scott. Both coached (Laidley also played) under Malthouse. Mick was masterful at getting players to stymie opponents' clearance work. Yesterday's last quarter was precisely the time we needed our on ballers to go to work. And yet North took the honours around the tight stuff. Tackling, clearances, the hard work. We are not winning a flag until we bulk up.

No wonder he's great mates with KB.

I think Shreds applied for the job which went to Bailey, not Neeld.

Play him in the back pocket and let him see everything in front of him while sweeping up easy touches.

Best ask Martin Riggs.

Without a camera on Kent full time it's impossible to make a solid call on the Demons' treatment.

Did Fox show the goal from any other angle than behind Hunt at ground level?

Wallace knows what it's like to barrack for Melbourne so he should know not to talk us up.

How's everyone coping? Well, Demons prospects are one the up, so I'm not coping well. I'm too far out of my comfort zone.

Hard to believe Frosty didn't pinch a vote on Sunday.

Simpson is not used to playing on an opponent.

We love to emulate the Yanks, except in one significant aspect of sports broadcasting - the Yanks almost always use a trained commentator to do the play by play. They even have university courses for sports casting. Hence Joe Buck, Howard Cosell, Pat Summerall, Al Michaels, Dick Stockton, Bob Costas, etc are trained to call the game, or they are already journalists. The ABC is a pretty good training ground for callers, but all too often we elevate the likes of BT or Drayne. Match a trained caller with a good voice with a former player who knows his onions.

You now need pace off half back, otherwise forward pressure will close you down. Hibberd is quick enough and strong enough to run past the pressure and find space. Not sure Rich had the same ability.

He's always had trouble breaking a tag, and he's slow. Nevertheless, his left leg is a cannon and if he can be one of a fleet of on-ballers he'd be handy.

Bugg should get the same as Houli. High impact, high contact, intentional. 4 weeks. Unfortunately for Bugg it looks like the AFL's media flunkies are drumming up a lynch mob. Make a statement, make an example, that kind of filth. Hall got 7 weeks on the back of a dreadful record. Should Bugg get 7 also? No. Six? Why two more than Houli? Five? Well, no one yet has ever accused the AFL of being consistent.