Fat Tony

Smith allowed Lever to play the way he did in the second half. Not sure he is definitely best 22 but judging his game on possessions and rebounds is not seeing the whole picture. We would get similar results out of any two of Smith, Hunt, Bowey and Pig.

I feel strangely confident about tonight but the key is no injuries.

Looking at Andrew's highlights he is still a few years off AFL. He is not a great kick and needs to add 10-15kg of muscle. It will be interesting to see where he lands. I love the athleticism and the similarities with Aliir Aliir are obvious. Still not convinced a club will be brave enough to take him inside the top 20.

Our cap will be similar.

Parker would be an amazing get, but I am not sure he would come cheaply and we have salary cap pressure. Also, why would he leave the Swans?

Jack Ziebell & Ben Cunnington are the type of players we should be looking to lure across with the chance to win a flag.

Smith is probably not going to feature in the finals and he will never read the play like Lever, but that does not mean he cannot improve in that area. Mal Michael, Alex Rance, Trent Croad and Liam Jones are all examples of athletes first who later developed their ability to position themselves as defenders.

Smith has played just 19 AFL games and only ever 8 games in a season. IQ and inexperience are different. The main issues with Smith are skill related. He is so elite with athleticism that he has the ability to recover from being out of position. Your love child Oliver could cost us a final with his poor goal kicking.

If the Dogs win and we are locked into top 2 and rest players Oliver could miss out on the Brownlow. That said, maximising a chance at a premiership should be all that matters.

Goodwin said Smith was cramping in the third quarter. The VFL has been off, so he will be better for the run. He is usually one of our best runners.

Hawkins dumped in the tackle but did the umpire even pay a free kick? It was hardly dirty play worthy of missing a final. Selwood running past the ball and bumping the head last week was a much worse action even though there was no concussion. You hit the nail on the head with the biggest issue with the MRO being inconsistency. Stars get preferential treatment and the system is completely relaxed in the finals.

If the Dogs win on Friday night, we are locked in for first or second. And if the pre finals bye is scrapped, I would be willing to rest some of our big names for the following week.

The least wealthy Melbourne based club will always be vulnerable. North existing as it is puts us less at risk.

The Demons benefit from not being the poorest club in Victoria. Those wanting North to move need to be careful what they wish for.

We don’t need any more teams. Even the most ardent football watcher would only watch 6 games per week. We have 18 teams by virtue of the competition going from the VFL to AFL. Not because it is the ideal number. There are 3 games per week which add little in revenue and are net losses. A new side would only be economical if it gets a massive government subsidy (which means it would be uneconomical).

I still think Smith is capable of being a good AFL player, particularly in our system which is so defensive from the back half. He obviously has below average skills but he is absolutely elite athletically. Given we have no draft picks and are in Premiership mode, we don't want massive turnover to the list. One year deals to players like Smith make more sense than two year deals to pick 99.

We would be better off allocating our finite resources to highly skilled players on the outside and forward half. Just by having gun rucks and Petracca and Oliver we are already well placed for inside ball winning. The main issue with our midfield is that they are not great kicks. There are only 240 minutes to go around for inside mids and Oliver and Petracca take up 120-130 of them. And Viney and Harmes are on long-term deals and play their best footy in the midfield. Plus Brayshaw is an inside midfielder playing on the wing.

The A-League is a basket case. I doubt that any of the clubs are truly financially sustainable. And the NRL is not really interested in making the Storm work. I can't see NRL working in Tasmania. The AFL have been smart to put the onus on Tasmania's state government to fully fund a new team. There are already too many poor Victorian clubs and clubs needing support in NSW and Queensland.

Bowey is 15kg lighter than Mitchell and 25-30kg lighter than Petracca and Bontempelli. He will need to spend a lot of time in the gym to get strong enough to play in the centre IMO. That said, he is super clean.

They will probably also get a few carparks at the ground with a federal election around the corner.

I think everyone would agree that Hibberd is the most likely to come back in. He was playing decent footy before getting dropped. As much as Hunt's injury is a bummer, we do have decent depth.

Smith was one of the players who flew to Perth, so it would not be that big a surprise.

I have seen Bowey play 5-6 VFL games and have posted several times on here that he looks a future 200 gamer. And I was also calling for his inclusion in the AFL weeks before he debuted. I am a big wrap for the kid. But he is not perfect and his obvious weakness is height and strength.

I am a bit surprised they are not playing Sunday night and even Monday night games given half the country is in lockdown.

He will still be able to play at AFL level because of his leap, pace and skill, but he would have greater scope if he was taller. He got out marked by Zac Langdon last night.