Nasher

The 24 year old, 124 game veteran eh? So durable, and each year he turns up just that bit better than last year. His best footy is still ahead of him.

I'm pretty sure my wife was shitty at me for something, probably for walking past her when I got home from work and changing the channel on the TV to put the footy on. Didn't notice a damn thing at the time though

Likewise, and to be truthful I'd be happy with either outcome. These decisions sure beat the heck out of which deck chairs to shuffle after another bad loss.

I agree that Green and Dunn in particular were probably "worse" (relatively) speaking, but on a like-for-like basis, which I did say in my post, Macdonald is an inferior player to Frawley and how Green or Dunn went is irrelevant to that end. He might have played completely out of his skin and earned three Brownlow votes, but that wouldn't change my view that he is just filler and will lose his place when the better player competing for his spot comes back in. It's not because I don't like him or because I didn't think he wasn't good - he was - it's just the tough reality of being a middle of the road player.

As for votes, I found this unbelievably hard 6. Grimes. Played in the guts and absolutely relished it. Perfect 10/10 for mine, I couldn't have been happier with his game. Still getting shivers. 5. Rivers. Has hardly put a foot wrong all year under some seriously intense pressure. 4. Watts. Neeld said he's not playing loose man (from TV it's hard to tell most of the time), he just has the time and smarts to end up on his own a lot. If that's the case then his performance down there was exceptional. Loved it in the last quarter when he was all that stood between Watson and the goals and he won the contest, and his use of the ball back there is excellent. As others have said in other threads, I want so badly for him to deliver on what he was born with and if that's in the back half that's absolutely fine with me. 3. Jones. Enough said. 2. Nicholson. Used his pace to great effect defensively and surprised me by being a genuine offensive threat. Disposal was fine on the night. Was shattered that he was robbed of that goal; it would've capped off an all round excellent game. 1. Garland. Watching him charge out of the goalsquare for that mark on the lead in the last (the one he shanked I think) was the most spine tingling moment of the match and I can't believe I'm only giving him 1. Could easily have kicked 5 in the last quarter - as it was it was his scores were the winning ones. So many players I feel I've jipped here too.

What say we lay off other MFC members just for a little while? I think we're all pretty happy with how things went last night and I'd prefer we left the reaming each other for next time we get smashed.

Joel Macdonald.

It feels ok.

He's almost 25, he'd have to play until he was 33 to reach 200 and that's assuming he plays every single match between now and then. I love the guy too, but let's not get too carried away. From his starting age making it to 150 will be a stellar effort.

He spent a number of years playing in the VFL with AFL listed players - I'd say that's what he meant, i.e. sees young blokes on lists not giving it their best shot while he was missing out on the chance.

Out: Macdonald, Blease In: Frawley, Bail Like-for-like as fitness determines. No injuries equals no change.

I'd say you might be right. MindOfBlighty The Mind of Blighty Take a parodically hypnotic & spiritual adventure into the mind of the messiah.

Dan, I reckon I'd take out the "not Collingwood" caveat. Essendon are #1 on my list of favourites to beat. I just _love_ watching the way their whole world collapses when we beat them. Footy turns me in to such a sadistic bastard.

I saw the shot of the rooms while the "offline" boys waited for the players to arrive. Gysberts and Spencer were grinning like they'd eaten all the hash cookies. Disgrace! :D

I didn't cry at the end, but when Garland came charging out of the goal square and took that mark (I think it may have been the kick he shanked?), my hands were shaking and I nearly cried then because my brain did not know how to cope with the surge of emotion coming. Fuck, what a great feeling. I'm still high 11 hours later (after possibly the worst sleep I've ever had). I love footy.

Yep - remains to be seen if the move has any longevity, but it was a masterstroke on the night. Good call jungle dee.

Just like after massive smashings, I need to let the adrenaline die off before I post, otherwise I don't know how I'm going to see past Col Garland's efforts in the last quarter. That and watching completely, utterly exhausted players throw themselves on the ball and man to stop Essendon getting back in it in the last.

Start working on your goal kicking at training Col - you could be down there for good. What an absolutely outstanding game. Wow.

I'm illogically optimistic. I think it must just be hard wired in me to keep me interested.

It's only a little bit of a shame as he's largely been rubbish this year.

Agreed. Watts is a beautiful kick and user of the ball in general; if he must be down there we may as well play to his strengths.

If we'd done a list the same time last year, i.e. before anyone had signed, it'd have looked like this: Frawley, Watts, Sylvia, Gysberts, Morton, Grimes, Gawn, Martin, J Macdonald, Maric, Scully, Warnock, Wonaeamirri, Campbell ®, Evans ®, Johnston ®, McNamara ®, Newton ®, Nicholson ®. It's not equally as many, but it's a lot - as I said it's normal to expect up to half, possibly more if your list is particularly unbalanced. That's why occasionally players are offered three to balance it out. I expect this is why Trengove initially was given three when Scully indicated he wanted two - notwithstanding the GWS thing I expect the club didn't want both Scully and Trengove coming OOC at the same time every year as they'd probably be continually competing for salary cap money. Not ending up with too many - or too few (which presents its own set of problems) - players coming out of contract at years end is all part of Tim H's job. It could also be a reason why someone like Joel Macdonald gets retained on a 1 year contract as he was - it gives you some easy delisting fodder for the next year if you find yourself stacked with heaps of talent you want to hold on to. If we'd given him the flick and drafted another kid instead we'd have another kid on a 2 year contract and we'd have to find someone else to delist, possibly someone we don't want to like a Fitzpatrick.

So do I, but given Sellar was given the flick this week and no second ruck came in, we're going to hate parts of the Essendon match. Come to think of it, actually, I expect we're going to hate most of the Essendon match!

Why is it alarmingly high? Given that most players sign two year contracts it's logical that you'd expect up to half your list to be out of contract at once. There's a good reason why it's a full time job managing this and why it takes all year to get through all the signings.

Sylvia shouldn't play because he didn't earn his stripes in the VFL? Going by that logic it should have been no change, as nobody earned their stripes in the VFL due to there not being a match on.