Nasher

I love my brothers dearly but I don’t think someone punching them is any worse a crime than if that same person had punched someone unknown to me. If I could move on from a mate punching a random, I could also move on from a random punching a mate. In my eyes the Bugg and Gaff punches are equal, even if I pretend it’s me and my brother in place of the Brayshaw boys. I also reckon I’d be able to pretty easily push it aside enough to be professionally civil with the player. There’s no requirement for Gaff and Brayshaw to be best mates if they become teammates. I accept my perspective isn’t universal though and that most people are a lot better at hanging on to grudges than me. Anyway I hope I’m not seen as endorsing the punch. I’m definitely not. It was a reprehensible act.

Angus seems to manage just fine with Bugg as a teammate.

old dee, cast your mind back to the Melksham trade. He got rubbed out for the season a few short weeks after the trade was done. The outrage and frustration at trading a valuable second rounder for a player who couldn’t play was palpable. Now nobody gives a toss, because he’s playing good footy again. When you recruit a player with a huge amount of footy ahead, the value plays out over their entire career, not just year 1. Lever will more than repay the cost. He had already started before the injury. If short term success was the measure of success for a trade, Mitch Clark was the greatest trade in history.

The Sydney that lost to Gold Coast and Essendon in consecutive weeks is going to beat Collingwood, Melbourne and Hawthorn? K.

In b4 someone with a really short memory suggests trading him.

Great article. I didn’t know Hibberd and Melksham were such close mates before they came. Obviously they’re grown adults, but still being able to walk in to the club together would have taken the edge off the nerves. Because I’ve become a spiteful footy supporter, my favourite part about all this was that Melksham was Watts-level (or even greater) whipping boy at Essendon. The fact that he’s come here and become an important member of the team and even pretty popular among the fans gives me great morbid pleasure. Suck it, Essendon. Hope it stings. When he’s going he’s an such enjoyable player to watch: a reliable contest winner, gets the ball to boot very quickly, and is an absolutely fantastic kick. He won’t always fire which is probably what separates him from the very best, but no doubt he’s an asset to the club. Congrats Jake on the 150!

Do you understand the difference between anecdotal evidence and actual research? This is not the first time this week I’ve seen you call on your very narrow personal experience to draw a very wide conclusion.

Every single club has those coulda-woulda-shoulda moments. If a club manages to find some absolute jet at a pick in the 40s, it usually means every club has passed on him at least once, including the one that took him. You might say “we could have had Cripps/Brown/Whoever” - but so could just about everyone. There will always be wins and busts in the draft. Taylor’s strikerate is as good as anyone’s.

That’s revisionism - at least in Martin’s case. Many were spewing when Neeld traded Martin. He was a good ruckman when he was here, the problem was that he was behind Mark Jamar in the pecking order and he couldn’t play anywhere else. There were also a few personal issues at the club that might have prevented him from staying anyway.

That’s a bit like selling your car just in case someone steals it. When Jesse gets to the FA stage, he’ll be a RFA anyway. If he comes to the club with an offer and wants to go, we make the other club come up with a suitable trade, Dangerfield style. I definitely wouldn’t pre-empt it though. Save that stuff for the paranoid and the insecure, and back ourselves to keep him. This is all hypothetical anyway. I’m very confident he’s not going anywhere. I know some people think footballers are all filthy liars, but the quotes from the article listed by @ProDeereally resonate with me, because they align with exactly what I thought would happen. So long as we could successfully navigate those first few homesick years, he would develop in to an adult that was settled in Melbourne. That’s precisely what has happened.

This is what playing AFL footy until you’re 40 does to your brain.

No matter what happens from here on, if anyone says "we don't deserve to play finals" as if implying we deserve it any less than Geelong, Port, Hawthorn or any of those other clubs around our mark, I'll know they're full of it. Our game against St Kilda has nothing on what Port just served up against Freo. This year's flag is anyone's at this point.

I think from a top 4 point of view we would prefer Collingwood to beat West Coast wouldn’t we? Given we play West Coast in the run home, it could be their spot we are trying to pinch, whereas we have no influence in Collingwood’s final ladder position so they may as well win every game from here on.

Another one down. The Geelong and Hawthorn results this week show why there’s no need to go overboard with poor results. The clubs we are competing with are just as flaky and likely to shoot themselves in the foot. That said, I’m hopeful we can put Geelong away next week. If so, top 4 remains within reach and finals overall get a lot more likely.

Do you take that view about people in general, or just football players?

Happy to go on record and say there is absolutely no chance, whatsoever, that he is going anywhere. Zero. No source, just confidence: belief in his character and belief that players would want to stay at Melbourne.

Why would he leave?!

There would be a degree of setness to it. A few times I’ve seen Gawn smash it out to Brayshaw running at full pace. That kind of play has to premeditated. They would also have to plan for the unlikely event that Gawn doesn’t win the tap as well I guess!

I wasn’t expecting him to be the huge possession winner he is. Has had over 30 possessions in 4 of his 12 games, and at least two of those where he didn’t were prior to finally being put in the guts. Having an outstanding season. I wasn’t as worried as many others that he wouldn’t hit his straps, but nonetheless it’s a relief to see him out the other side of the issues and playing with confidence.

I wouldn’t bother. I think we’re past the point where we retain decent but undependable players just in case they come good. That’s definitely where I’d put Kent. Seems 1/3 in form, 1/3 out of form and 1/3 injured. At this stage I’d say he’s most welcome to explore other opportunities.

This poster was also famous for “I’ve had enough of Tom McDonald” a few years ago. If you’d run a book on hardest bundle dropper I’d have wagered the house.

It’s not that interesting; there is absolutely zero chance Brayshaw goes to Freo. More chance of us getting Andrew here than Angus going there, and even then that’s remote.

Okay, I’m listening.

Um, I read their BF forum and all I saw was how to work Hogan or Brayshaw in to a trade. Their views aren’t worth squat.

I had literally never heard of Ed Langdon until the weekend when I saw a quarter of the Freo game. Just assumed he was from WA and a relative of that white haired muppet who used to play for West Coast and now makes a living stirring s*** in the WA footy media.