Nasher

THIS IS AN OUTRAGE, WHAT ARE OUR INCOMPETENT MEDICAL STAFF DO... oh.

You play it by ear. I doubt the club expects Liam to be gone for 4 weeks. It's clear the club believes this to be temporary and is treating it as such. And I think you'd be surprised how many employers would grant you paid leave if you applied in an appropriate fashion and said "I've got xxx extenuating circumstance, but I'll be back in a week and I won't ask for this again". Good employers will go out of their way to help good employees; it's a two-way relationship. , As I said, instantly drawing the hard line is a great way to go about alienating your current and future players.

The club may not be a welfare agency, but if it wants to be an attractive club to play at, showing some compassion for its players when they go through a tough personal time is essential. I'd be horrified if the club treated a player in need in that manner, and so too would players considering signing or re-signing with the MFC. I don't believe it's in Liam's character to "chicken out" of what he's made a commitment to - to both his community and his club. He'll be back.

What Rogue is (presumably) saying is that the pilot's extensive experience allowed him to make the judgement that flying and landing would be okay - this far and away trumps anything an iPhone app will tell you. That he made the wrong call is largely moot - you'd never trust the judgement of an iPhone app over that of an experienced pilot.

Common sense prevails. I reckon every non-Essendon and probably many Essendon supporters would agree that this is the right result.

Correct me if I've misunderstood you, but in 40 years, you've never seen a runner? All my ammo footy viewing has been in Tassie I'll admit, but I've watched footy at most levels down here and I don't think I've ever not seen a runner. Often it's the team physio, one of the twos players or just a bloke they've plucked out of the 7 people in the crowd, but they've always got one.

The fact that St. Kilda managed to get there says plenty, really. Definitely should be a Bummers loss, and that's not just because I hate 'em.

To be fair, we beat about the only team that plays there less often than we do. Still, it's a nice one to have on the board.

Absolutely same here - at least when it comes to expansion teams.

Absolutely! I'd love to say I'm above the rollercoaster, but I did have a minor coronary initially.

I wasn't aware Grimes had a history of injured shoulders.

Heh, he isn't issuing you a challenge, he's giving you a big fat out clause. You'd do well to take it up.

New personal best: 28 posts deleted in one go. Please abuse each other about membership purchases elsewhere (off Demonland would be a good start).

I agree, and that's why I think he's worth persevering as a forward with when not in the ruck. He also seems to have very clean hands when picking it up off the deck, as we saw when he set up that goal from the middle, so I'm not sure why he seems to get the jitters when it's at waist height. I'm convinced that he's got the attributes to be a useful forward, even if the skills aren't fully developed yet.

It could also just have been adaptation to new instructions - we're in the super duper early days of a new game plan. I thought it was a pretty encouraging start, especially considering that his career at the MFC looked all but over at the end of last year. The new lads in charge seem to think Bate is of some use, so he's another "clean slater" for me this year. Good luck to him.

Have said my piece on what I think of Dunn as a player a number of times, so I'll let that particular sleeping dog lie. For this year, I expect he'll play most of the year out at Casey before being delisted at the end of it.

I think he's a ruckman.

No, I don't think so. In the last five years the state of their finances on the books has almost been as parlous as ours. The difference is they've had the Pratt money papering over the cracks, while ours were plain for all to see. I don't think they're as strong a club as they'll have you believe.

I laugh at anyone who thinks Richmond's name belong with the powerhouse clubs. Jonny Pierik obviously hasn't paid any attention to the world of footy since 1990. The powerhouse clubs in Victoria are Collingwood, Essendon, Hawthorn and Geelong.

It's miles in the legs, and a chance to look at players we haven't seen before.

One of these days, Stef is going to accidentally kick a bag of 5.

Yeah, season's definitely over after a scratch match a month before the competition starts.

Hmm. Weird appointment.

And wears way too much spray tan. Wait, it's still open season on mindless Scully family banter, right?

No hurry. Make sure all the candidates pushing for contention get as much match time in the NAB as possible, and if anyone proves good enough, then elevate. If nobody puts their hands up, don't elevate anyone until they do.