Nasher

We're MFC supporters, apparently no news is terrible news.

Who the hell is "The Package"? I clearly don't watch enough Fox Footy. What happened to the good old days of just referring to people by their actual names?

There's not much science in it at all.: I just worked through the entire list, and Kent wasn't in the team after the first pass, that was all. He went straight in on the second pass without much consideration of alternatives, so yes, "hotly contested" is probably overstating it in his case.

B:Garland, Dunn, Jetta HB: Salem, McDonald T, Lumumba C: Brayshaw, Tyson, Vince HF: Watts, Pedersen, vandenBerg F:Garlett, Hogan, Kent Foll:Gawn, Jones N, Viney Int: Oliver, Bugg, Kennedy, Harmes (or Stretch for any of the others) Bolded are the the players I see as the core group (there are 15) - injury/fitness the only thing that might stop those players from playing. The non-bolded names I see as being hotly contested. After I named all my players in position, I was left with 5 names that had to go in to 4 (i.e. the interchange). I'm comfortable with Oliver, but the jury is still out on Bugg and Kennedy, and I'm not sure Harmes is better than Stretch, so I expect I'll flip-flop and change my mind on the last 3 or so players in the leadup to round 1. Matt Jones is also in the frame based on NAB1 form - I'm not a fan by any means, but am open-minded enough to select him on merit if warranted. Other notes: Assumed Petracca not available for round 1. Assumed Dawes not available for round 1 and behind Pedersen anyway. Pedersen ahead of Frost, subject to further analysis over the remainder of the PS. Lumumba on the HBF is more what I think the bosses will do rather than what I like. The fresher faces such as Hunt and Wagner who might push for this spot didn't on the weekend. Grimes might play here also.

<-- is sorry for ever mentioning it

I usually ignore all baiting from opposition supporters. If they say anything to me, I just stare at them in stony silence, with a "you're a complete moron" look on my face. I can't help myself though when the Hawthorn supporters start tossing on about how it's their great culture that wins flags and blah blah blah. They seem to want to attribute their success to every superfluous 1%er other than the fact that they just have a lot of good players in their team.

Sam Michael? Reconciling the stats sheet vs the team sheet.

I mean more their stance, shape and running style. The ginger hair and no. 13 on the back just makes it all the more comical. Anyway, subjective thing is subjective. We could go on with the "does not!", "does so!" all day long.

It's hard not to - they look so alike. BB is right though - time to move past it.

As I said in the other thread, it was strange seeing a gun in Jordie's body (including jumper number - are the club taking the piss or what?) - and I say that as a former Jordie fan. Oliver is probably bigger though, I was surprised at the size of him. I did a similar double-take as I did when I saw vandenBerg for the first time last year. He definitely looks physically strong enough and good enough to play round 1, with the question of fit enough to be answered over the remainder of the pre-season. Exciting times.

Despite Demonland posturing, it should be beyond question that Matt Jones can occasionally eek out a good game at AFL level. That's why he's been on a list for 5 years (or however long it's been - can't be bothered fact checking). If I remember rightly he was excellent in the Geelong win last year. It's just a question of if he can do it often enough to keep his place in the side. His worst is woefully inadequate, but if he can play "best" more often than "worst" then I agree that there might be some life there yet. I don't think it will happen - I forecast a year of few games and an end of season delisting, but I'm keeping an open mind and will reassess as the facts present themselves over the season.

Ahh. If that's the case then it's a complete non-issue then, if it wasn't already!

It's a new rule, and the pre-season is the only chance we'll get to practice and get it right. It's probably no big deal, I just thought it seems prudent to try and get it right before it becomes essential to do it. It wasn't intended as a criticism, just something I was interested in. I was also really just annoyed that nobody bothered to ask him about it when it probably impacted the result of the game. People gripe about coaches always talking in predictable spin and cliche, but nobody ever seems to criticise the media for asking boring, shallow questions. It'd be nice if footy journalists would adopt a bit of an analytical touch to their work, but I suppose that's not going to happen any time soon.

Lots of positives to come out of that. I wish someone would have asked Goodwin in the post match presser about the discrepancy in interchanges, though. Someone on here earlier suggested that it might have been because it was our first match and we lost a player early, which is a plausible reason for it. So too might be the fact that we just want to conserve our players' energy in general for zero points matches. But if our numbers are high again next week I might raise an eyebrow; I don't like the idea of round 1 being the first time we attempt to manage our interchanges properly, so I'd really like to see us get a dress rehearsal or two in for this before the season begins.

Intent seems alright. Lacking polish though. Seems weird seeing a gun in Jordie's body. More interested in an update on Brayshaw than the actual game really.

You're right. My mistake.

He signed a 2 year contract mid-season 2015 - we had every opportunity to ditch him and elected not to.

And speculation is all it will ever be, as it's a little too draft tampering-ish for anyone to ever officially say it happened. It resonates well with me though and I think it did.

Speaking for myself, I didn't "want" him gone, just thought he would be based on output to date and how these things are usually managed.

Purple isn't even trying to be credible any more

Yay! This topic involves females, so let's make it about sex!

I can't understand the logic in not allowing us a top-up, but I'm not really bothered by it. 2016 model James Kelly does zero for me and if we'd picked up Ryan Crowley I would have spontaneously vomited. The pickings out there are very slim and Essendon are going to be crud because of it. It means Mitch White will play instead of Melksham; I can live with that.

Agree with GRRM re: OH&S. I don't give a fig about Essendon or if they lose by 150 points every week, but you just can't field a list 12 short. It's not any fault of, say, Darcy Parish that this occurred, but it's his like who would bear the extra workload in an environment that is already punishing on young bodies. I also can't see how the logic doesn't extend to the MFC, Port, St Kilda and Bulldogs, even if it is to a much lesser degree. I doubt conventional logic will come in to it when the AFL is involved, though.

Yep, the old blame the victim trick again. While I'd have thought that folk in the public eye might show a bit more discretion, at the end of the day it's their discretion to use and their right to decide who sees it, not the recipient of the photo.

Fair point. I always thought Zaharakis "I fear needles" when he apparently has a tattoo on his arse sounded like an excuse for getting out of it without appearing to be dissenting.