Nasher

Out: Hunt In: Hibberd I’ll be really surprised if they pull any levers on the talls (TMac). I don’t think you can make decisions for talls based on a game that really didn’t suit aerial contests and I think Goody largely errs on the side if “if in doubt, leave it alone”, especially when we’re winning.

Why worry about things that couldn’t be helped? Retaining Pike was never an option for the MFC given his behaviour at the time, nor would it have brought us any closer to a flag ourselves.

Was that the one that resulted in a Gold Coast free kick? If I remember it rightly, it was a two on one contest, Viney completely cleaned Petracca up, and the Gold Coast player got a free for high contact. LOL

Brayshaw plays the Salem distributor role I’d have thought. Jordon to slot in on Brayshaw’s wing. Smith seems to be covering a role that is some combination of Hibberd and Petty with Tomlinson doing the other part.

They can identify which variant you have with a PCR test. If you've only done a RAT, you won't/can't know.

I had it last week. I don't recommend it.

I don't think Hibberd is anywhere near an automatic selection, and I reckon he's behind Smith. He was definitely behind Smith up until Smith got injured before the prelim - Hibbo wouldn't have a premiership medallion if it wasn't for that. I don't think that's a change that will be made until forced. I reckon it's just Lever for Salem. I'm assuming Rivers isn't ready yet. Bedford or Tomlinson to be the medisub.

Odd feeling. I know it sounds cocky but I didn’t feel stressed or tense at any stage in that game, even in the second. This team will get it done. I just know they will.

My heart rate got up to the dizzying heights of about 80bpm with those last couple of ump calls. I can’t remember ever being this relaxed during a footy game.

Why bother trying to apply rational logic to what Scott said?

I might be a bit of a bastard, but I don’t really regard Hogan with any more fondness than any other of the ex-MFC players who never reached their potential, and there are a lot to choose from. I’m sympathetic to the guy as a human who had a pretty rough trot, probably not helped by joining the AFL system a year younger than most other players, but that’s about as far as it goes.

I know this is pessimistic, but I’m tipping Oliver to be done by 30. He plays a battering ram style and already has chronic shoulder issues. I doubt his body has the longevity to reach 300. This is why I really hope the club is able to snaffle a couple more flags while this group is in its prime - the ducks are all in a row at present but that won’t last forever, and could wind up earlier than we thought. Trac may be our next 300 game player - even then at current count he’ll need to play until his mid 30s to get there. I think he could.

*Wonaeamirri

10 correct, two of which were rank guesses. Enjoyable quiz, well done. (SPOILER AHEAD) I was going to protest being called incorrect at the collision question when I answered Cameron and Henderson - then I remembered that was earlier in the quarter, and there was one involving Dangerfield and someone at (our) half forward. Amazing all the little details you forget.

Just finished watching the speeches. I saved the Daniher hall of fame induction until last. The tribute from Nathan Jones and Neale’s speech as delivered by David Neitz hit me straight in the heart. If you don’t like people seeing you cry I recommend watching it in private.

I had this idea all season that he was a hot-and-cold performer. The stats don’t support it. He had some poor games - who doesn’t? But he scored at least once in every game, and obviously set a few completely alight. I was also worried he might not perform in the highest pressure games. LOL The goal over the back in the third quarter illustrates his class. Firstly, he damn near marked it from way out of position but Gawn got in the way. Secondly, with the way he landed he could have been forgiven for falling over, but instead he hit ground at full pace and charged in to open goal. Probably the most crucial of the 6 because of the context of the game, and that it was from a contested ball. Great season, great grand final. Can’t wait to see him back it up next year.

Surely we’re past being afraid of West Coast in Perth. We’ve won more flags there than they have!

Yep. Shaun Burgoyne is nearly a full year older than me and I really struggle to wrap my head around how he’s done it for so long. Obviously work ethic and mental strength play a part, but there must be an element of physical pot luck in there too. Ageing is inevitable, for most of us anyway!

I’m 38 and while I’ve obviously never been an athlete, it’s really stark how much more easily I get sore, and how much harder it is to maintain condition even compared to my early 30s, and that’s without decades of punishment of elite contact sport. There’s a very good reason why few players can sustain the training required for that long and it’s got little to do with skill.

Lived vicariously through the snippets posted on social media and the Demonland commentary. I’m actually spewing I missed this more than not being able to get to the GF, which even in normal circumstances I probably wouldn’t have been able to get to anyway. Sounds like it was a great day.

Col Garland fits that bill too I reckon Crackers. Played more games at a lower winning percentage too: 141 games at 24.82.

On the topic of crippling pedantry, correct pronunciation of his name please? The commentators all pronounced it “Van Ruin” - I refuse to believe the “y” in there is silent.

My 9 year old son, the only of my four that has any interest in footy, starts on a much different course to what I did. I was 9 in 1993 when we suffered defeat at the hands of the hopeless Swans for their only win of the year, and the flack I copped as the only Melbourne supporter at school was merciless. Like how the current players say they’re not scarred from the past because they weren’t here for it, neither will be the generation of kids growing up in this era.

I love the length they went to relate it to Jack Watts just so they could pull off a Watt pun.

Without meaning to be a downer, I’ll be surprised if he makes it to 300. He’s a human battering ram whose arms already have to be taped on by his dodgy shoulders. I’ll settle for him leading the dynasty until he’s 28 before he starts to struggle with injuries though.