RalphiusMaximus

How? More people will be free to go along and enjoy it. More people on the streets of Melbourne is better for the small businesses in the area who supply food and such as they will get more customers. I think the parade will be fine.

According to this article: Bellchambers, Tom - 2015 - Yes Browne, Alex - 2015 - Yes Carlisle, Jake - 2015 - Yes Chapman, Paul - 2015 - No Dalgleish, Lauchlan- 2015 - No Dempsey, Courtenay - 2015 - ? I could have sworn he was, but the HS list I found didn't have him on it. Fletcher, Dustin - 2015 vet - Yes Gwilt, James- 2015 - No Hams, Will - 2015 - No Kavanagh, Elliott - 2015 - No Melksham, Jake - 2015 - Yes O'Brien, Nicholas - 2015 - No Pears, Tayte - 2015 - Yes Stanton, Brent - 2015 vet - Yes Winderlich, Jason - 2015 vet - No Rookies; Aylett , Kurt - 2015 - No Long, Jake - 2015 - No McKenna, Conor- 2015 - No McKernan, Shaun - 2015 - No Steinberg, Ariel - 2015 - Yes

Apparently Hird has lost more than any of them. Not counting the cash, that is.

Here's a good one.

I've seen a couple of comments saying this is Essendon's Norm Smith moment. I guess I can see the similarities if you ignore the lack of premierships or any sort of dominance of the competition under Hird. Right?

Reports this evening saying the driver was a 17 year old learner high on Ice and they were in a stolen car.

I saw the second half. It wasn't great. The first half was far worse. I'm not terribly upset, because I told a Bulldogs-supporting colleague that this would happen and now I look like a genius. We were always going to rely on winning the centre to keep ourselves in the game. When the doggies took that off us it was all over. The worst part of today was how readily we reverted to high bombs when under pressure. Bright spots? Watts and McDonald both racked up good numbers. ANB looked to have a pretty decent game from what I saw, and Michie is improving. I don't see much else from this one.

When Grimes and Trengove were co-captains people were screaming for Jones to have the job. Now he's got it and they question him? He's won the B&F for how many years running? Been the only player who consistently stood up through the worst years in the clubs history, remains among our best midfielders, Puts in a huge amount of work training with the youngsters and setting standards at the club. Of course he's the right man for the job!

I too think he needs a more work, but I agree he has what it takes and should make it eventually. My understanding is that he didn't get taken in the main draft because clubs had doubts about his body holding up, so taking our time and making sure his body is built up properly before putting him up against the bigger and stronger AFL players. There isn't any real benefit to playing him this year. Give him another pre-season to bulk up a bit then unleash him.

He was 21 when we rookied him.

I am a little surprised by this comment. Obviously I don't know the guy, but my understanding was that he has a problem with a specific person rather than the club. Was there more to it? The club backed the other guy and didn't support Stef maybe?

That's fine. Shelve him for next season, he can have a full pre-season his time and show us what he's really capable of.

Minimal changes. We don't need extra height against the dogs as they're playing a mid-sized mobile forward setup. vandenBerg to come in if he's fit. Unsure who makes way for him. We need to crash in and fight them head-on for the contested ball in the middle. Gawn should smash Campbell in the ruck, so no worries there.

You have to be careful with lines. If you're not careful you wind up with squares, and once that starts it's all geometry from then on.

Hogan is back into second for the contested marks across the league. Hawkins - 43 Hogan - 41 Lynch - 40 Hooker - 39 Then a gap to Jack Reiwoldt at 33. It's a tight race. Also up to 36 goals for the year which is nice.

I think many of us, myself included, looked at some of his kicking, particularly towards the end, and wrote him off. Might be unfair, but some of his mistakes stood out for me more than usual.

The reports we've had from training and such seem to indicate that Roos has focused almost solely on a defensive setup where they play the boundary and look for safe uncontested possession while Goodwin has advocated more attack and use of the corridor. Roos is a very big fan of defensive play, has repeatedly pointed to Fremantle and Ross Lyon as the model he's looking at, and his Sydney sides were very stoppage-based. A lot of watchers have observed that the faster attacking game seems to be Goodwin's plan rather than Roos'. I don't know if any of us will ever be in a position to know this for certain, but it seems to be in line with their stated coaching philosophies.

I know I'd be shattered.

Scully subbed off with a shoulder injury. Not that we hold any ill-feeling towards the lad or anything. Edit: He had 5 touches to 3/4 time! Worth every cent!

Blame Hunt. He's the one who had the bug last week. Clearly he infected the rest of the team.

Giants vs the Druggies. I'm not sure which side I want to fail more. Fortunately it's an ugly low-scoring game, so they both look pretty crap right now. You'd back us to beat either side based on this.

Possibly referring to the records Goldy holds. He's got the record for the most hitouts in a match and probably a couple of others for hitouts to advantage and such.

6. Hogan - He again beat a repeat AA backman. Took more than the three CM he's credited with and converted well. 5. Dawes - Didn't think I'd be mentioning him in the best any time soon, but he was really good today. Kicking was much better, he held his marks and kept us in it when we were being blown away. 4. Viney - Keeps up his good form, he was once again a beast. 3. Tyson - Probably his best game of the year. He got rid of the ball quicker, linked up and was a threat going forward. 2. Gawn - Was beaten, but fought it out well. Needs to get fitter still. Struggling to find another to give the nod to. There are a bunch who had OKish but not great games who could fit in here. 1. Brayshaw - Didn't get enough ball, but give him credit for that great goal. I still think he needs a week off to recharge his batteries. His output has been way down the last month.

THe good out of today was the performance of our youth. Viney and Hogan were once again in our best, Gawn was beaten but not shamed by the best Ruck in the game, Brayshaw and ANB showed a fair bit and Harmes fought really hard. We got nothing from Jones, Vince and Watts and our backs were hit and miss, but the young guys stood up really well.