Lord Travis

I'm ecstatic with that win. Made a $100 bet with a mate at work about two months back that Richmond wouldn't win the flag. The team that finishes top of the ladder is rarely the premier. Only happened 2-3 times this millennium so far. It's a mindset thing. The team coming for them have nothing to lose and throw everything they have at them and take risks. The team on top have everything to lose, everyone against them, and don't take risks. Happens nearly every year. The Pies were brilliant in the first half. It just goes to show if you work hard, keep up the pressure and intensity around the ball, it doesn't matter who you're playing, you are a chance. Credit to them for making the grand final despite massive injury list. It's a fantastic achievement and they've learnt a lot of respect for their efforts. If we win tomorrow it's a Melbourne vs Collingwood grand final. Nobody would've picked that, and it would be an epic. Let's hope it happens! Fire up Dees!!!

Spot on. Rance is a decent footballer when he's allowed to roam around loose without a man, but as soon as he has to go one on one he is poor. A legitimate liability, and every time this year that coaches have gone through his man he's been exposed big time. Got smashed by Josh Jenkins, Kennedy, Melksham, Cox and then De Grey tonight. He was directly responsible for 6 goals tonight. He was atrocious, and yet the commentators barely mentioned his horrible performance. Tigers would've been better of with Tom Gillies at full back tonight! Rance is one of the most overrated players of the modern era. It's laughable to hear him discussed as an all time great defender alongside Scarlett, Jakovich etc. He's not a pinch of sh*t on them. Seeing him get thrown around like a sack of sh*t tonight was the highlight of the year for me outside of Melbourne's performances.

So Collingwood vs Melbourne grand final next week!

I think it’s something you get when you’ve been near a Collingwood supporter...

I'm praying for anyone but Nicholls. The game will be worse off with him umpiring, not to mention how much he favours the Hawks. He is a horrible umpire and it still mystifies me how he is employed in a role he is unable to perform adequately.

Hunt had back issues over pre-season, meaning he struggled to build fitness and confidence in his body. He had back issues in his first few season on the list, so it's an ongoing thing unfortunately. Once fit enough to play, he struggled with confidence and then multiple other injuries. When fit and in form, he's in the top 10 players IMO. He's got a really high ceiling, as his running is used as hard to defend as it is to attack. He's got unmatched speed, a great leap, and plays with flair. He's one of the few players I feel could be really effective on a wing for us long term. Last season he was bordering on AA half back flank form, nearly as damaging as Hibberd. He's still young, and with less than 50 games to his name I wouldn't trade him unless he was part of landing us a bonafide superstar.

He stood up big time the past few weeks and especially last night. That was a break out game. He’s always showed he could become a threat in the air and was already one of the most aggressive tacklers on the list. Last night he put it all together. Always knew he’d make it, and now it’s onwards and upwards! Weiiiidddddd!!!

Correct, that was a key reason for it's creation. It was also intended to aid lower clubs to lure players without costing picks etc. All reasons aside, Free Agency has been the worst thing to happen to the game in my lifetime, and changes need to be made to stop players being able to go to top clubs. The reigning premiers (who are favourites to go back to back) have just had a club captain and All Australian standard key forward nominate them. They get stronger. The competition, and therefore the game, is worse off. It needs to change.

I like this rule too. Free Agency was introduced as an equalisation method so that lower placed clubs could attain players without the ned to trade. In reality, the lower placed clubs have just become feeders for the top clubs. Who would want to go to a team like Carlton and play in a team getting belted by 100 points every week when you can just go the Richmond/Hawthorn and get a premiership with minimal struggle. The best way to fix it is to put a rule in place where top 4 or top 8 teams are not allowed to sign free agents, but can lose them. This would stop the endless cycle of top teams being propped up, and mean if players want to leave their club then they'll have to move to a club where they earn the big bucks they're (usually) demanding.

Hit him harder until he’s incapable of whining due to be unconscious or gasping for air. Hit them hard Dees. Make those tackles hurt.

This. We've struggled all year with teams that play a loose defender to intercept forward movements by foot. When we're playing well we lower our eyes and hit shorter leading targets. Hitting these targets means we maintain possession and force their players to come man us up, thus spreading them out further and creating more space for us to utilise. It also creates pressure on the opposition defenders. When we're really on, we also use lots of overlap running to build the pressure even further. Games like last weekend, we were hitting targets and running forward in waves with confidence. When we're panicked, we bomb long. Good teams don't do this. They pass backwards or sideways to maintain possession and open up gaps in opposition defence. Teams have identified we struggle with this and play a loose defender against us. No use winning the ball at stoppages if you're just handing it back to the opposition. The Hawks game should be reviewed as a perfect example of opposition coaching on how we can be beaten. Control our forward movement without bombing long to an out number we we will win comfortably.

I'll always remember Bernie fondly. He chose to come to us when we were a struggling club and really bought in to doing his bit to improve us. He played some elite football in the red and blue too, winning our BnF and playing his role as a tagger and defender as his career progressed. He's a really laid back guy, and very likeable character who always seemed to bring positivity to the club. It's a shame he's retiring, but the time is right. Best of luck to him and hopefully we see his kids run around in red and blue in a few decades time.

I’m in need of two tickets!

He had good attributes in his draft year, but I haven't seen enough of him this year to know whether he's lost his burst of speed. That was his main strength, so without it he'd be just an average role player at best. If his speed is still there, I'd say he's worth a roomie spot. If not, then pass.

At this stage we don’t even have the option of a functioning website to purchase any tickets at all!

I just needed to get one MCC visitor ticket. Just one. Couldn’t even manage that. Now my dads not gonna get to go and will likely be dead by this time next year. I’m seriously gutted by this and will be contacting the club to see if there’s anything they can do.

We'd be stupid to actively trade Hogan. Quality key position players are hard to identify and develop properly, and he is pure quality. However, if he really wanted to be traded to a WA club, then obviously we have to look at it. I'd say Pick 5 and one of Andy Brayshaw or Adam Cerra would be a fair trade. Gives us a great young midfield talent and a pick 5 to draft another talented youngster/trade for a good established player. Only trade him if he wants out.

At this rate he will finish his career as the best player to pull on the red and blue in my lifetime. He's phenomenal and still underrated by the wider football community somehow!

His leap and timing for overhead marks is so pure. It's textbook perfect! Great to see him start sticking them now. Like I said earlier in this thread, he's got all the tools to be a good key forward, just needs to get fitter so he can stay involved for four quarters. Today he took another step towards that. Looking very promising and definitely worthy of a place in our best 22 for finals!

Don’t know how to finding my posts other than clicking through and reading 100+ pages! I was one of the few on here who thought he was a decent trade and defended him early on. He was good as a half forward/mid at the Bombers, so once moved away from defense it’s no surprise he has thrived. Here’s hoping he can keep having an impact in September!

Weid took 4 contested marks on the weekend. That was the most of anyone on the ground, and more than Hogan has taken in any match this year (his best is 3). No wonder the club are so bullish about him being a dominant aerial threat in the future. He's still got a ton of development ahead of him and he's already able to clunk them! Great to see Weid show some of his talent on the weekend. Hopefully he keeps up that form and doesn't tire. He could be vital for our structure in finals.

Good to see Weid stick some of those marks and tackles today. The only thing holding him back is fitness IMO He's got a great leap when flying for marks, and he's an aggressive tackler. You could see in the third quarter he was buggered and his tackles started to slip, but he kept pushing himself to more contests and managed to interrupt a few Eagles forward movements. Weid will become a good AFL player. It's just going to take a bit more time to build fitness and concentration. He'll grow in confidence once his body is capable of producing four quarters of AFL level footy instead of one-two. He has all the physical attributes and skills to make it. Keep it up for the rest of the year Weid!

That’s true, if you don’t play by the teams rules then you’re gone. It just happens that in this case the rule appears to be a hinderence against quality opposition. Surely there has to be some logic applied to when to pull the trigger. I guess I’m just frustrated, like many, that we seem to waste opportunities by being too cute. And I’m frustrated that talented players like Petracca are yet to impose themselves when opportunity has been presented. Here’s hoping Weid takes his chances today and helps us over the line.

Completely understand this and agree with it all in theory. We showed in the first half of the season that we were the number one team for scoring goals within 15 meters of goal, thus meaning our accuracy was highest. This only came against poor teams however. Against any opposition of substance it hasn’t worked and it’s been an embarrassing shambles. If a player takes a mark 40 meters out from goal, they should take the responsibility of having a set shot and not looking to pass amongst a clogged up area in slow play. I want to see guys like Petracca step up and actually take some responsibility to try to and win games.

He's not alone. Whenever any of our players get the ball 40 out they still look to pass it. None of them will stand up and take responsibility for the shot. It's either team direction from above to always look for a better option, or they're all sh*t scared. I'd say it's the later.