whatwhat say what

over the course of his career thus far, he has now played as: - developing / learning forward - half back - wing - occasional centre midfield player - centre half forward - ruck has his versatility hindered his career? i tend to think not, mainly because as a club we haven't been good enough, and early in his career jack was unfortunately not confident enough. he's no adam goodes but he's certainly one of the more adaptable players i've seen at the mfc.

tending to agree with others that oliver should be in - we need to win the contest. st. kilda's run and spread is impressive but as essendon are currently showing if you beat them at the contest you can outwork them. hickey 'beat' gawn i thought (at least drew even with him and curtailed gawn's dominance), so we need another big one from max next week. OUT: stretch, o mac IN: oliver, dunn

What I like about Harmes is how plug-and-play he is. Need a lead up half forward who can apply defensive pressure? Harmes can do. Want someone who can run up and down the wings and is a vital part of the switch mentality? Harmes can do. Need a player who can plug a rebound half back gap? Harmes can do. Mills has had a very good first year but Harmes' versatility really makes him stand out to me.

Harmes has also gone from being a push up half forward flanker to a wingman to a rebounding half back this season. Hes vastly underestimated by the wider football public - as good as Mills and Daniel have been this far this year, he's having just as good a year. I can't see him being dropped. You'd presume O Mac is no chance of coming up for next week, so it's one of Wagner, Dunn or Garland in to replace him. Neither Kennedy nor Garlett had much impact on the game, and Stretch and Petracca looked knackered at the end, but they weren't alone there. It'll be curious to see whether they eschew the youth policy of 2016 or not. Does Dawes get a reprieve straight away so that we structure up with the three talls again, away from the slippery conditions in Darwin? Is Hulett a chance to debut? If not we can't drop either vandenBerg or Petracca as they provide that 'lead up' target required when you don't have another tall. OUT: O Mac, Stretch IN: Dunn, Bugg B: Jetta - T McDonald - Dunn HB: Hunt - Frost - Harmes C: Vince - N Jones - M Jones HF: Petracca - Watts - Kennedy F: Kent - Hogan - Garlett Foll: Gawn - Tyson - Viney I/c: Grimes - Bugg - vandenBerg - White

He and Grimes both have weaknesses to their games but they both put in time and time again and so it's hard to not enjoy their efforts and scream in frustration at their stuff-ups. Both should clearly hold their place for next week.

6 - Tom McDonald 5 - Neville Jetta 4 - Jesse Hogan 3 - Jack Watts 2 - Nate Jones 1 - Jack Viney stiff: grimes, m jones, gawn, hunt

Shocking third quarter. First goal vital in the last.

They've got serious momentum.

God I hate the maggots.

And another two years locked in to play home games in the NT. Ugh.

Playing in Darwin is ridiculous. Players are out on their feet before half time. The humidity must be killer. We are playing now okay-ish and controlling the game, which is great to see, but Its a terrible game to watch because of the conditions. Need to come out and smash them early in the third quarter - the heat will inevitably kick and and then go out of the game after the first 10 mins IF we can again hit the scoreboard. My only complaint currently is that we are not absolutely burying them.

Wasting opportunities currently.

Playing better currently, really need to impact the scoreboard.

Yet to win a clearance, yet to hit a target by foot.

Ugh.

Pretty worried about this game, same as per match up with Peptides. It's the sort of game we routinely drop when we shouldn't.

That's about what Tigers are apparently throwing at him - it's the money they didn't spent on Treloar. $700k a year is a lot of coin. Would love Prestia at the Dees tho...

Classic AFL. Clubs would have spent all year working on this proviso and the rules change less than five months before the draft? classic AFL!

Another week, another "rule of the week" from the maggots.

I love watching Sydney play. Hope they do an absolute number on the Cats in this second half.

Was chatting with a blues mate who likes to rub it in that we took Salem over Cripps, and I was saying one of the things I'd love in our team next season is a gun run and carry half back - he asked whether I'd 'given up' on Salem but I don't think it's quite that simplistic. He's another that I've put in my 'nice to have...if he can come back' category, alongside Clark, Trengove et al. I think when a player of his ability is unavailable due to an odd condition like this you hope he can come back more than depend on it. It's not like a hammy or even a knee these days, which seem to be easier to come back than a foot injury or a compound leg break or a thyroid issue. Until such a time I think you have to build the side without his availability factored in. (FWIW we were talking about Scrimshaw as a player who may be available in Melbourne's second draft pick range - classic left footed rebounding half back playing for Vic Metro and Sandringham Dragons.)

he's more of a pure midfielder than benken. jason taylor loved him in his draft year, fwiw.

bit harsh, he's better than all of them.

one thing i think that is worth pointing out is that all the brickbats that t mac cops is very, very similar to that which beset rance at about the same stage of development. rance is now clearly the premier tall defender in the competition. when t mac is up and going, he's the equal of rance imo. i would not want to lose him without the equivalent coming back in. we are already light on for genuine key defenders - arguably t mac and dunn are our only truly physically strong and imposing tall defenders, and the latter is clearly out of favour - and if we lost t mac our defence would be under even more pressure than it is now.

nothing we have experienced compares to the travails of morabito at fremantle.