Nasher

Holy moley. I know it's exactly what I just wished for, but now that it's happening it's hard to watch. That feeling of watching a trainwreck unfold in right in front of you... better them than us!

Crows coming back now. I'm a sadistic bastard and would love to see them run over the top of Richmond.

Yep, just as has been the case in the last few years, there's a bunch of teams contesting for that coveted position of making up numbers in the finals and getting spanked by the team who finished fifth. You have to wonder if it's really worthwhile having an eight team final series when the teams that finish eighth are never really in the contest.

The ban last year was a tokenistic gesture.

This is dumb and illogical. Even if they were guilty then, they're not still doing it, so why punish them over and over again? This could go on for years yet. If they're found guilty, their true punishment will come in time. What you're asking for falls firmly under the presumption of guilt until proven innocent.

You remember that they were disallowed from playing finals *last* year, right? Do you propose that they just be banned from playing finals every year for the rest of time?

Gee we have some charming "supporters".

Grimes and Salem in for Bail and Kennedy-Harris. Another 22 game candidate bites the dust (Bail). The only ones left now are Jones, Tyson, Vince, Dunn, Watts and Howe.

No player's future is ever decided on one single game. Col Garland would have been delisted after his debut if it was, because it was a shocker. What if Terlich gets 45 touches and kicks 5 goals in the VFL next week?

I've read heaps of comments now from people who would be happy to see the club put Hogan on ice for the year. I must be the only selfish bastard who would be absolutely shattered if I don't get a glimpse of him this season.

I've never got the impression he needed motivation or a spur on; he's always appeared to work hard from the outside at least, just hadn't been able to pull it all together. He just needed some direction and a role that suits his skill set.

Reward for an amazing turn around. So happy for him.

Q: What do an elephant and an asprin have in common? A: Neither of them can drive tractors.

I would be very surprised; there's been 6 games he hasn't played in. I know he's been good - excellent in fact, and I expect he'll poll as anyone on a per-game basis, but can't see him tallying enough votes to win from that far back when the likes of Jones and Tyson will most likely have 22 games to count from and have been good in most.

I didn't see the game in question, but does an unbalanced free kick count automatically equal biased umpiring?

To be fair, that rule is hardly ever paid now for some reason, Melbourne or otherwise. I don't think it's part of the great Umpires Are Against Melbourne conspiracy. I agree that it's not being paid in some absurdly dangerous situations though.

Good memory. Ro's first serious concussion if I remember correctly.

Nah not really. As has been my position in this thread all along, I only take exception when the criticism becomes unfair and unreasonable. On the bits that are fair and reasonable (if not debatable) I have no comment.

Please do not put in quote marks words that are not direct quotes.

If you think it matters that Watts was caught grinning for a second after the game, you're a dead set goose. It does not mean he is unprofessional. It does not mean he is not disappointed, or happy with the result. Just because you want to kick the cat when we lose does not mean everyone must. It was an instant caught on camera. I'd bet money a player on every losing side, every week, has a laugh with the opposition at the end.

This is the most hilariously split personality thread I've ever seen. All we need is a contribution from hogans_heroes and it will be complete.

I've had a foot in both the optimistic and the pessimistic camps this week. All I will say about this post is that I probably wouldn't have called supporters of this club "pi55 weak" for being apprehensive about this one.

We may not be able to play worse, but if we play even closely to that badly the result will be a lot worse.

My nonchalant optimism of earlier in the week has waned and been replaced by absolute dread. Please dear lord, be kind to us today.

Surely we can do better than any sort of McKenzie. I think Robinson is a spud as well as a flog. I'm not the nuke my membership type, but I would be greatly surprised if we were even remotely interested.