Nasher

That quarter was less good than the previous two.

52 to 15, to us.

Epic bump Pedersen. Love it.

Gosh that protected area rule sucks. Terrible 50.

No changes to the squad so far.

Done.

If Hulett is just being rested this close to the end of the season, does that suggest the FD are preparing him for a long Casey finals campaign? It could be a good sign for the Casey fans.

Being an upgrade on Dawes or Pedersen should not be the benchmark. Weideman showed on the weekend that he's not far off being able to finish his development in the firsts. With a solid pre-season, he should play most games next year I'd think. We have no need for Cloke, notwithstanding the fact that he looks totally and utterly finished anyway.

What's convenient about the timing of Weed's injury? They could have just dropped him if they thought he wasn't up to scratch. I reckon it's actually pretty inconvenient - he looked good and I was excited about getting a second peek. I doubt our selectors are afraid of making a tough call or two.

Not the worst result from a "don't want to be mean to poor Pedersen" perspective, but pretty sucky from any other perspective I can see. The Weid looked the goods, and I'd have liked to see him get the chance to really consolidate. Big bummer for me.

His next contract will be the big one for his career. He'll be 25 and probably one of the competition's premier defenders then. I expect a 4-5 year deal on big money - he and his management may have taken the view that anything too long this time would eat in to the term of the major one up next.

5. Tom McDonald

lol yes - obviously the 'open arms' policy does not apply when you've already been given the boot once.

You're obviously new here.

They also tell the truth.

Dawes, Trengove, Newton, Pedersen, Matt Jones, Terlich, Grimes, and the rookies King, White and Michie. JKH contracted for 2017.

It's hard to believe Tom is only 23. Still just a young man, but sometimes gets marked as a senior member of the team. His name really still belongs in the talented youth group, but he's acting as our back line General.

I'm not though; I generally assume things will work out if the actual machinations are invisible to me. Yes, Scully blindsided me as a result, but I still believe that was an exception rather than the rule.

"I was trying to keep it separate from him, because that’s his deal and mine is mine. But once mine was almost done, I was told Oscar’s was almost done as well and then I was told that it’d be nice to announce them together,” he said. I knew it!

According to Tom in the Burgs article, he never talked to any other clubs or assessed any other offers. Can we please stop assuming that a long negotiation equals player leaving now? Not every player is Tom Scully.

http://m.melbournefc.com.au/news/2016-08-10/two-big-macs-order-a-couple-more

Next game? I'm not done with the last one yet.

See, that to me just makes it even funnier.

Wouldn't it be funny if Tom signed ages ago, and all the delay was waiting for Oscar to sign because the club wanted to announce them together?

No, if anything it sounds like you need to finish the job. Do we win?