Nasher

Out: Smith In: Smith

Yes.

If that had been the outcome in a torrential downpour at the ‘G, we would be stoked. I’m content. I have a slightly sick feeling in my stomach still though that I don’t think is going to subside until we get a few more solid wins on the board. Have I caught MFCSS?

The letdown of all the missed goals made it feel frustrating, but otherwise that was an absolute drubbing. It was also greasy - the boys post match compare it to wet weather footy. It’s hard to say given it’s Freo, but hopefully we’re back.

You put money on Freo. New to football?

My position on that changes depending on whether or not it suits my argument on the day ?

Forget the scoreline. This is an absolute hiding. Still time for the scoreline to finally reflect yet.

The ball is a bar of soap by the looks of it. There’s hardly been a clean possession from anyone. Our defending has been heaps better - they can’t get it out of half back. This game should already be over though, but of course we lead by the 9 behinds we kicked. If there’s a five minute lapse, Freo kick away. Come on Melbourne. Bury them so I can bloody relax a bit please.

I hate these types of games. We’ve come off a bad loss, so even a win is going to be annoying on some level. I don’t even want to think about a loss. Bring back that feeling from our mid season streak where we were licking our lips at the prospect of playing crap teams.

I trust the FD because I feel I have no choice but to trust the FD. Unlike you I can never say with any level of confidence that my idea would have worked better than the one that was implemented. There have been just as many instances where the collective wisdom potted a FD for a decision and were proven completely wrong. The collective wisdom also only sees a small portion of what has gone in to the decision; the rest is completely invisible to it. Trusting others to make decisions that are completely out of one’s control doesn’t make that person a sycophant, it just makes them self aware. I work in an industry where the outcome of the (complex) choices of my team makes become visible to the public, and believe me, the criticism I have seen out there is so misinformed that you have no choice but to laugh and ignore it and get on with the job. As a footy fan, I don’t know if I’m just a woefully misinformed member of the public, but without the decades of experience in the industry I reckon I probably am, and I reckon you probably are too. By the way, I’m not saying FDs never get things wrong - obviously they do. Neeld’s FD got pretty much everything wrong, it is plainly evident from the results. Just highlighting the danger of assuming we could do a better job from our armchairs.

Am I the only one who thinks his form (or lack of) is being overplayed? He's not going that badly. Not great, but not badly. He's just a victim of excessive expectations in my opinion.

Frost is surely in to play as a tall defender. He has his limitations in that role, but he was utterly hopeless in his first season as a forward. I'd prefer Pedersen for that, and that's saying something. You're right that it'll probably be TMac, but I was really hoping they might let him spend the whole game at full forward for once. That is where I see him being best suited. Do I remember rightly that at times in their flag year, Western Bulldogs sometimes didn't contest the ruck? If we did happen to end up with Harmes or some other inadequate contender in there, I wouldn't be adverse to having him just stand in the circle and not jump. Make up for the mismatch by having an extra inside mid in the contest (or ready to tackle the crap out of the ruckman in case he has any smart ideas about snatching it).

Now that's a bold faced lie if ever I've seen one!

Here’s the bit where you clarify if you’re speculating, know something or are just plain making **** up. Suspect I already know the answer.

Looking forward to Harmes in the ruck.

Nup. Sorry!

It’s not even an imagineable outcome for me, but I thought that last week too.

I would love to see Goodwin just stand there in a press conference, completely mute. Don’t answer any questions or make any comments, just stand there in complete silence. He’d probably get bagged for not giving the members the answers they demand, or something.

Thread closed to prevent further heart attacks.

Bloody Burgoyne will be the first to 500 games at this rate.

If the MFC rest Max, they’ll be resting me as well as I won’t watch if the club isn’t fair dinkum about winning. Fortunately I’ll never need to deliver on this idle threat, because the probability of this happening is zero.

The answer seemed honest, and for me, what I wanted to hear. Obviously I want the actions that come to mirror the words; we all do and it goes without saying. It’s pretty rough to pot him over using words in a medium where words are the only tool he has access to. Honestly if people aren’t interested in the words the club has to say, I’m not sure why they’d watch AFL360 or read Demonland.

Redleg, that comment was in reply to Skuit’s post where he indicated I shouldn’t have to constantly defend my position. My point was that I don’t have to; for the most part I just ignore posts that are critical of me. That was a feature I developed in the early days of moderating this forum, where the criticism was harsh and regular. My answer to your question is “N/A” as you’ve never levelled personal criticism at me over anything I’ve said or done. I don’t always agree with your view but I immensely respect your view and the way you conduct yourself in this forum.

I gave Jaded a reply because I’m a fan, I respect her views and we’ve known each other on here for a long time. The opinion of most others is water off a duck’s back, don’t worry!

I’d be inclined to stick with Petty. Send the message: “we know that wasn’t indicative and you are better than that. Have another shot.” I think that would help his confidence. That and Frost terrifies me.