Nasher

Meh. He’s paid a considerable amount of money to defend the interests of the club he is employed at. He might have considered shutting his trap when he was the Carlton CEO just in case he found himself in this situation later, but ultimately of course this would be his position when running a struggling clib.

Bastinac has been running around in the NEAFL. He is on the brink of extinction as an AFL player.

Please. Will Hoskin-Elliott’s name doesn’t belong in the same sentence as Jesse Hogan. If he wins this “competition” then it wasn’t worth winning anyway. (If Hogan wins it’s just further proof that he is a superstar, hehe.)

It’s strange you would ask me who to replace him with: I wouldn’t replace him at all, it was you who said he was awful! But I guess if we’re playing that game, I guess I’d be keen to replace him with anyone if he’s that bad. I’m only engaging you at all on this one because I enjoy your posts mate. Normally I just ignore posts that I think are excessively critical (or excessively gushing). Just saying, next week as an exercise, deliberately put yourself in the frame of mind that you’re actively trying to pick his contribution to the team. I just want to know what you see. If you still think he sucks, we’ll agree to disagree.

You may be right. The only thing I’ll note is that he’s still in the side - not a bad effort for someone mostly awful.

Same, but I reckon they’re the best side we’ve come up against since Richmond way back in round 5. Still confident of a win, but I reckon the thrashings will be shelved for the time being.

?! Your challenge next week is to watch him entirely with rose coloured glasses and report back. Not saying he’s been great, but I reckon you’ve let a predisposition creep in and poison your perspective.

No, injuries have interrupted two (Melk, Lever). You made it a third by moving Salem to the other end of the ground (to accomodate Stretch). I think most would agree though that this is all a non-issue if Melksham is good, which I expect him to be with the longer break.

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.