Nasher

Then you’ve interrupted the stability of two positions - three in total with Lever. I want us to keep winning games by lots of points. The more we fiddle with the structure of the team, the less likely that is to happen.

Not a close enough like match IMO. The forward structure is going well, I’m not interested in disrupting it by introducing a player who has never played there. Garlett or Balic are next in line for that role.

Which midfielder would you drop to give him that reward?

Because Pedersen was KO’d at Casey I thought.

Lol, here’s “Spargo needs a rest” again. He has played 7 AFL games, playing essentially as a forward pocket. This isn’t first year, didn’t know about professionalism Clarry we are talking about. There is no way known he’ll be rested. Is it so difficult to imagine that a first year player could play out half a season? Sounds like Frost was the best of the talls at Casey, but that just fills me “meh”. Think I’d prefer to see Keilty get a crack of Joel Smith is no good. Stand by my previous selection of Garlett if Melksham is injured, and Weideman if Tim Smith is injured, but no unforced changes.

Anyone who reckons it doesn’t hurt the team is kidding themselves. Lever is a gun and had developed in to an essential part of the side. His replacement, whoever it turns out to be, is indisputably a significant downgrade. I just feel terrible for him though. After a rough start he’d just reached full swing. He’ll be struggling, no doubt. Hopefully the recovery is as smooth as it can be. Golden opportunity for someone else to step up now.

In: Smith (Garlett) (Weideman or Pedersen) Out: Lever (Melksham) (Smith) Brackets indicate pending injury. Ins depend on Casey results of course. No unforced changes.

Lewis is on 29 so has 278 to go, Jones only has 57 to go. I have a sneaking suspicion Jonesy might get there first.

Thank God Essendon are poo again, I was starting to worry. The temporary seat in 2nd was nice, but it’s important that order is restored. We can always pass the Tiges later. I hope Richmond are aware that this thrashing they’re dealing out doesn’t count, though.

If this turns in to a political thread, anyone participating in that discourse is banned forever. Not even kidding. (In reference to deleted posts).

I often wonder if his pulling rank and show pony behaviour pisses the other umpires off.

Dad stuff here too, timekeeping at a swimming meet. Honestly never considered how having kids might impact my general footy fanaticism. Oh well, might bang the live stream on during breaks (and the 1500) and enjoy the full replay later.

It's just been a regulation case of a crap team bringing a good one down to their level. Carlton are awful, Sydney are starting to break the shackles.

Was Dale Thomas ever a good player? Struggling to remember but he's been poo for his whole time at Carlton.

They don't count because they were against teams worse than us. Honestly, it's the most absurd paradox ever. God help us if we ever end up on top of the ladder.

Our fifth test in a row, apparently. Three "should beat" tests, a "good team" test, and now yet another "should beat" test. Our poor lads are going to be knackered by the bye after all these tests.

Exactly. I’m fully anticipating a flogging. On form, it should absolutely be a flogging. If it’s any less than a flogging, I’ll be disappointed. If I’m disappointed, I won’t jump on Demonland and rant and rave and make silly motherhood statements and demand a response from the club, because I understand my own expectations are my own problem to manage. I’ll just adjust my expectations accordingly. If the result does go how I expect, though, I will experience a level of contentment that others who have tempered their own expectations won’t get, knowing that everything is actually as good as it seems. When you hold your expectations low, you create doubt in yourself when things actually are working. People see the world through their own lense. If people choose cautious optimism, good for them. I was at cautious optimism when Clint Bizkit was looking for a purchase in the hope market. I’m way past that now.

Regarding the emergencies, so long as the team is remaining unchanged, I expect all the viable choices will just continue cycle through and change every week. Not about who is “closest” per se, just meaning they minimise the disruption to the emergency players. Pedersen would be the exception as he is the only viable tall available at present until Weideman gets going at Casey.

Exactly. Huge chance to poll very well this year if current form continues.

There were plenty of wise heads on this forum in the early years who said this was how it would pan out, in that if we could convince him to stay in the early years he’d eventually grow out of the idea of returning to Perth. A strong bond with his teammates, a Victorian girlfriend, a club that has actively supported him during his more homesick periods and a bit of team success would (and has) created a sense of home in Melbourne. In my opinion the risk of him going has now completely evaporated. It may resurface when he’s a 30 year old, 200 game player looking to transition his life and spend his last contract at “home”, but by then with 3 flags and 2 Brownlows to his name, I’ll happy wave him goodbye with thanks, knowing he was a loyal Demon when it mattered.

It’s a circular argument: we’ve beaten teams by this degree because they’re poor but they’re poor because we’ve been them by this degree. Adelaide are suddenly nobody because we thrashed them; before the game all the talk was that this game was our test. It’s still all just noise, in Riewoldt’s case it’s just well measured and articulated noise. People can say whatever, as long as we keep winning I couldn’t care less.

I’m still spewing for not selling you hope while it was at a huge premium. The stuff is everywhere now and my stock is worthless ?

It’s so hard to have this conversation with a straight face.

Maybe they’ll bully him when we play them like Adelaide did with Lever.

I feel like I should be worried, but I am 100% not. We haven’t seen this Melbourne side before, past embarrassments are irrelevant. My only problem about this game is it’s still sooooooo far away. I am itching.