Nasher

*shakes head*

Pleased with those changes. We add run. If we find ourselves in need of a tall defender, and/or Pedersen is getting in Hogan's way, he can be put back there. We've lost arguably the two least AFL ready players in our side and added an experienced rebounder and another young gun mid. Rubbing my hands together now, can't wait til Saturday now.

As ManDee alludes to, Spencer *is* our first ruck in reserve. The fact that he happens to be injured is bad lack. You can't carry three genuine first rucks on your list; at some point you just have to accept there is some risk that you'll lose both your first rucks and one of your skinny rucks will have to step up. This is a problem faced by every club. Mitch King wouldn't be the first well under-developed ruck of all time to be forced to play.

Misson's comment was that Spencer has just started working "outside", I interpreted that as progressing and that it's more about incremental work load and condition steps now rather than injury recovery per se. It certainly didn't sound rubbery like it did with Frost last year. I guess we'll know soon enough!

That interview on SEN was gold. What a legend.

Hi, Josh.

Haven't seen anything published; this is derived from Misson's injury report: http://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2016-03-30/rd-2-david-misson-injury-report. Apparently McDonald and King had very similar injuries, no structural damage and well on the way to recovery. Both expected to play this weekend. As expected, Trengove and Petracca expected to play in the VFL this weekend with varying game time. No mention of H or Brayshaw which I take to mean fully available and ready to go. The full list: Oscar McDonald - ankle - test Max King - ankle - test Chris Dawes - calf - 3 weeks Jake Spencer - foot - 4-6 weeks

It's a pretty loose definition of "gifted". For him to have not deserved it, in my mind, there has to be someone to have equally deserved a run and not got it for the equation to balance. He may have been the best of a bad lot; the best of a bad lot is nonetheless still the best. If your argument is that Stefan Martin should have played as a forward instead of Watts, then I'm pretty comfortable that your argument is shot. Firstly in the majority of games Martin played for Melbourne, Watts also played, so you could hardly say they were competing. Secondly, Martin was bloody hopeless as a forward and that's why he was moved on. He needed to be a first ruck.

Exactly. With early draft picks you hope for a star - particularly the first pick - but failure to deliver one doesn't mean the pick was a failure. Every single year since the draft began there have been as many or more total busts with top 10 picks (and not just the MFC) than stars, with the bulk being just good but unspectacular players. If Watts belatedly becomes a star then it's historically it's an excellent result; If he plays 200+ games at a decent level then historically it's a good result, not the terrible result black and white viewers would have you believe. A terrible result as you said, would be another Morton, but we know Watts is far better than that. Too many people can't see past the romance of early draft picks and use emotion for their judgement of players taken early, rather than hard analysis of the facts.

I'll believe Hogan's gone when he's standing at a press conference in his Freo trackies. Until then I'll give him the benefit of the considerable doubt and assume he's staying, enjoy watching his rise, and tune out from the blowhards like Langdon who always chuck this kind of carp out there to try and remain relevant.

Who would have thought that maybe it's not possible for everyone to attend every game?

Who would you have played instead for the games he was gifted?

Can't get my head around the idea of him going. The idea just doesn't match my view of his personality. He'll stay. The most I can imagine is him playing his last two years elsewhere in his 30s, but I'd be stunned if he left during the peak of his career.

Except of course it can't be 0 and 1 for Davis because that doesn't add up to 4, idiot. Must have been tired when I posted that yesterday.

It wasn't the answer I was expecting to that question, but it wasn't a surprise either. Great to hear that Nev's gone out of his way to help the kid. That's probably one of the benefits of Jetta himself now being comfortable and settled in the environment.

Interesting, I found that really hard to break down. The only solution I came up with that worked: Coach A: 5 Viney 4 Davis or Watts 3 Ward 2 McDonald 1 Davis or Watts 0 Hogan Coach B: 5 Viney 4 McDonald 3 Davis or Watts 2 Ward 1 Hogan 0 Davis or Watts One of the coaches didn't rate either Davis or Watts worth a vote. I think it makes more sense for the 1 and 0 to be Davis, as I find it hard to justify saying he was better than Watts on the day.

The top 5 all look top shelf straight up. Looks like this year's group could be an absolute bumper crop. Hopefully we'll be able to include Weideman in that statement as well.

I agree. It says: "not as emotionally invested". That is all. It is a huge leap, in my mind, to get from "stops watching footy because it stops being enjoyable" to "gives up on everything in their life". Like I said, I'm like you, and wouldn't/couldn't/don't even want to quit. I love it too much and I can't divorce myself from it. It's ingrained in my life. I just get that it's not ingrained in other people's lives, so I don't judge others for tuning out when it gets painful. It is their right. With regards to your line "but if you love the game and turn your back on the team you purport to support, don't come back and experience all the glory.", I doubt there are too many people who have jumped off the bandwagon that this actually applies to.

I don't think either of those facts are in dispute. There's the other possibility about Brayshaw and Matt Jones *both* playing...

Matt Jones should not be and won't be dropped. I love James Harmes: he has a crack, he can kick goals and his attitude is infectious, but he is presently the 22nd best player in our side.

I think it's not just that we won, but that he was instrumental in the win. Once they put him back in the guts in the last quarter, our midfield got well on top again, and he won the clearances that resulted in the first two goals of the last quarter. His absence during the third quarter was the only period where their midfield started to get on top in the contests. The kid is a freak. This may seem like hyperbole, but after one game and at 18, he is already the best inside midfielder that I've seen at the club. Even if he doesn't get any better, it doesn't matter. His focus over the next two years will be tank development; if he can get up to 75-80% TOG then he is going to be unstoppable.

Why do you struggle with it? I think we should not lose sight of the fact that at the end of the day, football is entertainment, and people have the right to invest as much or as little as they want in it. I'm like you - I sign up, I watch and support even when we're [censored], and am 100% completely emotionally invested in it, but I don't extend my own investment in to a requirement for others to have the same investment. It's purely personal choice. I say if people want to blow in and enjoy the MFC when we're going well, we should welcome them with open arms. It should not become a competition about who managed to hang on during the grimmest periods, which is what seems to happen at times.

As for if we were going to be anywhere but 9th after winning round 1 by 2 points.

I've already removed about 25 posts, but each time I refresh the page, new ones appear. People obviously want the thread to be closed.

I dunno - maybe for some just the sight of an Essendon guernsey might be enough to boo, but to me I'd feel like I was booing the players who opted out, the players who are young and unfortunate enough to be drafted there, and the players trying to eek an extra year or two in the system by playing as a top-up. None of the people I feel are guilty and worthy of my contempt would be present. As an MFC and sport fan, I'd be happy just to grind their team in to dust on the field and leave it at that.