RalphiusMaximus

Nietschke sounds like he may have hurt his knee again. Hope it's just a knock and not something serious.

Rioli Jr, what a play!

Who is number 11? Casey ruck?

Well, there was the mark to Baker that wasn't paid. That was a bit of a shocker and Rivers was still having a go at the ump five minutes later. Especially when the same ump paid a mark to Aarts shortly after where he never had control of the ball.

The truth is out there Scully.

Pretty happy with that. In particular the skills looked surprisingly solid for the start of the season. Normally they'd be all over the place at this stage. Also very nice to see some of the younger guys getting game time. We have some very neat ball-users and decision-makers coming through.

It's commonly held that the Weagles engaged in some creative character assassination on Jack Darling in his draft year to convince clubs to leave him alone. There were rumours of drug use, bad attitude, excessive partying and even an orgy with some students from an all-girls school while on camp. Whether this is true and whether it made clubs cool on him is open for debate, but he was rated a top five talent and they picked him up for pick 26.

At least a few players. Probably some of the coaches too.

I'm kind of puzzled by the lack of Steven May on that list. I wonder if they base their ratings for key defenders on disposals.

Actually, there is a reason. First, pretty sure if you spend under the cap, you can bank the difference and go over the cap next year. Second it leaves room on the list to fill a need midyear if you have injuries or glaring deficiencies.

MFC predictions Ladder position at the end of the H&A season: 5th Position at the end of the season (e.g. stage of finals): Prelim B&F top 5 (1 point for correct inclusion, 1 point for correct place): 1. Petracca 2. Gawn 3. May 4. Viney 5. Oliver Leading goalkicker: The Weed Most marks: T Mac Best first year player: Bailey Laurie Most improved player: Jackson All Australian 40-man squad selections (1 point each): Gawn, Petracca, Oliver, May All Australian final 22 selections (1 point each): Petracca Big Ben Brown will kick his biggest goal tally against: Essendon Biggest winning margin (exact guess is 5 points, within 1 point margin is 4 points etc): 71 Biggest MFC story of the year (5 points): Location for the Demon's new base to be announced. Other MFC predictions (1 point each): TMac's rebirth as a wingman AFL predictions Premier: Port Adelaide Runner-up: Richmond Wooden spoon: North Melbourne Biggest improver: Sydney Biggest slider: Collingwood Brownlow medal: Petracca Coleman medal: Jeremy Cameron Rising star: Matt Rowell

Kind of scary to think he's four or five years away from having a proper AFL physique according to conventional wisdom. The kid will be a monster.

He was spotted in Mt Eliza the other day.

His highlight package is very impressive.

Sounds like TMac Mk 2. Same size, probably quicker and better skills.

We've been crying out for quality ball-users in the forward half. Now we have two. Rotate them forward and up the ground and we'll look a lot more dangerous.

ANOTHER GINGER!!?!?!?!?!

Honestly, I find it strange that he's still on the list at this point. Surely this was the time to move him on if the club considers him to be a lost cause?

Who? Did I miss a trade or is it a new recruit?

Surely the side we want most to dislodge is Geelong? I would be thrilled if they miss finals entirely.

As always, they need to stop trying to legislate how the game is played and let the teams work it out for themselves. Tactics evolve. If you want higher-scoring, more free-flowing games all you need to do is wait for a team to win a flag playing that way and other sides will start copying them and/or working on ways to counter them. Tactics are constantly evolving.

On paper it looks like a great trade period. My only reservation is that we've sacrificed next year's first round pick for more picks in the most compromised draft in history. How much are those end of first round picks really going to be worth this year?

Surely he'd have to think twice about signing on with Fremantle? He must have some sense of self-preservation...

Just a random thought. Jade Rawlings is no longer with the Roos as they continue to flail wildly looking for someone to blame. He's a Hell of a good coach. Wonder if we can get him back to look after Casey again (assuming the spot hasn't been filled yet? I wouldn't know)?