Nasher

Gosh, imagine the whinging we'd have to read on here now if the positions had been reversed, and we'd have taken Martin first and left Jesse. Actually, don't imagine it. It's very unpleasant.

Maverick Weller. That tackle really was a thing of beauty. High degree of difficulty, caused a free that would otherwise have been a goal, and would have hurt the recipient like a bastard. Great stuff.

I'd think 150 would be a stretch given the slow start to his career, let alone 200. I just read Burgs' column article and I reckon he's in the Jetta Mancrush club. Understandable given the way he's gone about it since being rookie listed. It's been a while since a player has come back from the dead as he did.

If only it were at Etihad, eh? Could have sank three of them at once.

It's yesterday's argument anyway. I really doubt we'd be that much better off if we had NicNat instead of Watts. Both are good players with flaws that will prevent them from reaching the top shelf. Both players are a case study in how elite attributes don't necessarily translate in to an elite player, and that even very early draft picks are still just a lottery, no matter how sure a thing you think the player is.

Jakovich

Liam Jurrah - 26 Allen Jakovich - 67

Tough crowd. First bad game of his career. He's a competitive lad, don't reckon anyone will be more filthy than himself. Nothing to see here.

What, no ANB this time? Disappointing.

It's probably just that he's only 22 and hasn't yet perfected the recipe for peak performance for 22 games a year.

Yep, that kick to NicNat in the middle of the ground... Could see it happening as soon as he turned inboard. He hasn't learned his limitations yet. Hopefully over time he stops trying to do kicks that are too difficult for him.

Our time and energy is not limitless. Sniff about, sure, but focus the bulk of our resources on targets that are actually likely to bear fruit. This one isn't one if those.

Sorry, realised at the time but had to run. Fixed now.

Does bringing in great players on great money ever really cause instability? I've heard supporters use that line often, but I can't recall any evidence of that happening in my lifetime. I would have thought in the professional era, most players would look past the envy of the big income earners and would be quite happy to have a superstar added to their side to enhance their flag chances.

Oh, were they? There's nothing like blatantly making stuff up to argue against a point nobody made.

To be fair, I doubt that view was shared by the overwhelming majority. The great thing about forums like this is the variety of views; the cost of that is you get the odd silly one pop up.

He basically just tackled him by the arm, having had no choice after Weller gave him the "don't argue". It would have seriously hurt, and also happened to leave Weller no legal way of disposing of the ball. Loved it.

Indeed. Mostly the issue has been guilt - didn't want to go on these junkets while the Mrs was stuck at home with the constant baby churn. Kids are a bit older now though so we have a bit more freedom. Anyhoo. Jesse Hogan eh?

I live in Tasmania, not New Zealand. I've had three kids in that time, moved house three times, changed jobs three times including one complete career change. Haven't had the cash or the time to be gallivanting back and forth across Bass Strait. Tried to go last year (http://demonland.com/forums/index.php?/topic/36432-mcg-to-tullamarine-airport-travel-time/) but circumstances didn't go in my favour. Going to try and make it happen at least once a year from now on.

It's definitely imminent. I can feel it too. Won't be too disappointed if it happens on the QB weekend when I'll be present. First time at the MCG since 2008. Can't wait.

I live in the Huon Valley, co-incidentally, and Lovell is an extremely common name around here (as well as in Tas in general, but particularly around here). My kids go to school with at least three unrelated Lovell families that I've come across so far. Grazman: Andy would've played for Glenorchy because he'd have had to if he wanted to get noticed. Kingborough is a smaller club that played in a lower tier competition back then, and all the Huon clubs (Huonville, Kermandie, Cygnet el al) are lower tier again. As far as I was aware the chopper Lovells were from the west coast of Tassie, but I could well be wrong on that.

He reminds me of Aaron vandenBerg.

It's a bit of a nonce award, really. Jesse is clearly one of the most promising talents in the game. We know it, everyone in the footy world knows it, but because on any given week someone else plays a slightly better game, he doesn't get nominated. The way the system works makes me not feel too sad about him missing out. I don't need a RS nomination to know how good he is, and I don't reckon he does either.

*than. Funny though, well done

The Lockett and Dunstall comparisons are clearly tongue in cheek. Anyway, each to their own. I don't feel the need to keep a lid on it in this case, the guy has all the attributes to be a genuine star of the comp and I think he will be.