Nasher

I dunno man, you asked what the problem was, so I told you. No skin off my nose as I'd prefer to trade in HD for no ads anyway. This is the first year I've even had the option of watching footy in HD.

The lack of HD is the problem I think.

That was kind of my point, dazz. By any measure he was an ordinary player, but he played 51 games, so he must have added something. Even if only 1 in 10 kicks hit a team mate, if that passage leads to a goal, over 51 games it's more than enough to produce a pretty good highlight reel. Obviously I am not trying to compare Pedersen to Luke Williams, just making a point about using YouTube highlights when arguing on a player's merits. It only tells a very selective piece of the story.

I doubt anyone is trying to argue that Pedersen hasn't had his moments - anyone who makes it to 61 games has to have. If Luke Williams had played in the YouTube era, I could probably come up with 10 occasions he was instrumental in setting up the play too.

Narrrrp. Their first round pick this year is with St Kilda and their second round pick is with Gold Coast. Not sure what pick 37 is going to buy on the trade table. They sold their future for O'Meara and Mitchell, and now they are just plain old bottoming out. Eat it, Hawthorn.

Great post Dave, thanks for the insights. MFC clearly taking the p*** with Hibberd in #91. Nathan Jones' Casey number is probably 157.

I just spat my coffee.

About 85% is what elite midfielders do consistently. You get the odd freak who can hammer out the occasional 90% - Cross did this a lot for us which is one reason I think he was underrated, but generally, nup. Salem, Viney and Tyson are all pretty much there this year, and Petracca exceeds the target but as a forward. It's really only key defenders who ever tickle the 100% mark, and even then it's rarely. I guess what the TOG% stat doesn't indicate is work rate - while players may spend a lot of time on the ground, we don't know how much of that is spent covering territory and how much is spent loping about doing bugger all. I'd love to see a comparative table on metres travelled during a game.

In: Hogan Out: Hannan I'm not sure this is the way they will go, but I never am. I think ProDee's point has merit - perhaps a change in the mix of players will be help Weid - I saw him as the only tall target a number of times. He's still too slight to win in those pack splitting situations - that's what Hogan is for - but I think we look better when we have two viable marking targets. The alternative is just Hogan for Weideman. I think the one change is enough - there's a few hanging on my the skin of their teeth though. This is where the late start to the VFL season is a pain. Players like Brayshaw who have been left out to work on things haven't had the chance to actually work on any of it.

This question gets asked every year, and usually after a loss people are emotional about. It's a question that is impossible to answer unless you're prepared to look at the big picture, which most people just aren't when they're cranky about a loss - and the opposite goes when we've had a good win. If you chain together all the threads and responses over the years, you could conclude that we haven't improved since 2012, which is clearly not true. Also, lots happened last year. We haven't yet reached the heights reached against the Hawks last year, but we also haven't yet been as pitiful as we were against Geelong in round 23. "Last year" is too non-specific a benchmark to compare against.

I thought he was excellent, even taking in to account the hitout diff. Sandilands is a genuine monster - once you take into account armspan he's got to have 10cm on Jake. You'd expect to lose the hitouts against Sandi - so groundwork and physicality becomes crucial. This is what the Russian did well in his strong years. Jake got involved in the clearance work a number of times, filled the hole in defence and looked dangerous when forward. Couldn't ask for more in my opinion - hopefully in the next few weeks against ruckmen of a more civilised size, he can add a few hitouts while maintaining his around the ground work.

Spot on. Today's the first day that I can honestly say I'm fed up... with Demonland. I don't think I can take another minute of the full grown adult tantrums that go on every time we lose. I think you can be bitterly disappointed - and believe me, I am - without resorting to ridiculous over the top pessimism. It's getting really, really old. Nearly time for me to go on a self imposed hiatus for the three days following a loss.

How old are you? If you're any older than the age of 6, now seems an odd time to be fed up.

By that logic, Steven Armstrong had a better career than David Neitz.

Brian Taylor.

Re: being harsh on Smith: being left out of the side doesn't have to be taken personally. Maybe they've backed in Weid as their main tall and wanted to go smaller, and have added in a player who, while by no means a perfect player, is known for his ability to pressure and become a danger on the scoreboard. It may be that once they moved Watts out, they saw that the forward line was far too inexperienced. Bugg obviously isn't a key forward, but he's an 83 game player compared to Smith's 1, it's a huge difference. There are a heap of justifiable reasons that don't involve it being any criticism on Smith. If the message is delivered right, Smith will go back to the VFL itching to prove himself ready for the next attempt. I really doubt, given where he's come from and the path he took to get on the list, that he's going to crack the sads from being left out.

We might look stupid, but I don't feel it. This is all part of the fun of being a mug supporter with no idea about what gets discussed behind closed doors. It's what I enjoy about the banter on Demonland. I'm very surprised - but more than happy to run with "if you say so Goody".

Stating the obvious a bit there. What group wouldn't the strongest midfielder in the competition compliment?

There's still time for Lewis to turn his career around. He's only 27. Don't know what's happened though, his burnout seems to have occurred as quickly as his career took off.

Imagine if we'd delisted Hunt and lost him before the rookie draft!

Exactly. (edit: redacted) The fact that Mahoney, Jones and Gawn have now all now been asked and all said "we're right behind him" says to me that Jesse is in a tough place and is being cut a considerable amount of slack. I expect he'll be back because he's a competitor who will want to compete, and surely the club's supportive attitude will only help.

Robbie Flower? ed: nah wasn't that, but I remember that event did thrash the existing record and I remember being amazed the site didn't fall over, as it regularly did at that point in time. This one could just be an error in the counting algorithm.

Disappointed to lose the best ruckman in the game for half the season, obviously, but in a way I'm looking forward to the element of intrigue this adds. Spencer's games record in a season is 8. Not many players get to stay on a list for 10 years for 36 games - most either get axed or go looking for more opportunities, so it's a very unusual case of the club and player sticking together. He's never had an extended go like he's about to get, and opinion is so divided on him. I suspect we're about to find out one way or the other if he's truly capable as an AFL ruckman or not. Good luck Jake!

He's a grown man, they can't pull the pin on anything of the sort. If they start trying to be all draconian on him, the club knows full well it will lose him. He's always going to want to go back to Perth, so be supportive and flexible about it. So long as he comes back fresh, fit and focused, who cares. Honestly. The only thing the club should be doing is saying "mate, next time please make sure you save the dart until you get home".

I reckon it's all in his head, too, because he is a neat kick when he's on. Needs to work out how to calm himself down I reckon. Definitely a player I want to see get to the next level though, because all the components are clearly there.