RalphiusMaximus

I am not at all offended by alternate opinions. I will say that they require one of the interchange spots to go to a defender, hence Byrne-Jones getting a gig. Hogan, as I said above, I left out because of his inability to hit the side of a barn with his kicking lately (possibly unfair given that Daniher is also having issues). Petracca is too inconsistent right now and like Hogan has to sort out his goal-kicking. As brilliant as he can be he is still only getting a dozen or so touches a game.

Deliberate. Hogan's yips have become a real issue. I couldn't have him and Daniher in the same side with both of them kicking so badly. Plus Wright can switch with Grundy in the ruck.

This was my attempt. I don't know when they announce the official one.

Having second thoughts about Williams. Maybe better to have another tall instead.

You'd think so, wouldn't you? It's an interesting exercise overall though. There's a few in there I just don't know anything about. You can put together a pretty good side though.

No, it wasn't. Q1, Oliver sidestepped Kreuzer (I think). Kreuzer swung wildly and slapped him across the face. They were the only two players in the area, so no possibility of the umps not seeing it. Both players stopped and looked at the umpire, who looked confused. Oliver then kept going and hand passed to a teammate. On multiple occasions Carlton players scooped the ball upwards from the ground to a teammate. There was no pretence of punching it. This is adjudicated as a throw for most teams. We had 1 free kick paid in the first half. It was for a trip. There were at least two other trips not paid, one of which was again in the open with no other players to obscure the umpire's view when a Carlton player made a despairing dive and ankle-tapped his opponent. The other four frees were one each of a throw, high contact, holding and HTB. Max Gawn was held away from the drop of the ball at most throw-ins and ball-ups in an attempt to clear the way for a third man to take the hit-out. When he did get free at throw-ins he was often pushed in the back to force him under the ball. Others have mentioned the headlock tackle on N. Jones which was paid as HTB. No need to go over that again. Weideman with the sit going for a mark was tackled and bull-rushed sideways as he attempted to jump. No call. Seriously, these are just the glaring examples that I can come up with off the top of my head. The Umpires were shocking.

Can't agree. Jetta was BOG by a mile for us.

Hogan cost us four goals with his shocking kicking. How many marks does it take to offset that? He and Petracca need to be sent to kicking school in the off-season to sort their [censored] out. If they'd scored the goals they bloody well should have we won today even with our poor play.

We'll miss his foot skills if he doesn't come up. I love what he brings to the table when he plays more in the midfield.

What were you doing hanging around a primary school?

We're talking about Voss, Black, Ackermanis and Lappin here. This group have the potential to be that good.

OK, I haven't read the thread yet and I only watched on a tablet, but my thoughts so far go thusly: Oliver's goal was just awesome. To think that he's still in his first year, the kid's ceiling is just insanely high. This is a first year midfielder who ran back into the face of the pack, crashed through them, brought the ball down on his side and had enough balance and poise to get a boot on it and score the goal. There are plenty of KPFs who couldn't have done that. OMac's one-handed mark was a thing of beauty. They had him right where they wanted him, his right arm was being held and a crumber was waiting for the ball to spill in exactly the right spot. This is a KPD in his second year holding his ground and calmly reeling it in one-handed. I'm not at all worried about Hogan's antics right now. There have been plenty of high quality forwards who started their careers with questions being asked about their attitude and body language. Jack Reiwoldt comes to mind. My big concern is whether he will ever get that kick sorted out. Is he going to be a Trav Cloke or a Wayne Carey? I am so damn excited about next year with this group of amazing kids coming through together.

Oliver: What a goal!

I really don't see the need. Personally I think he'd be better off going to Fremantle if it can be arranged. The coaching would suit him and it would give them some much-needed presence in the forward-line. They can't expect McCarthy to do it all.

I'll be pretty happy.

Well, we had a mixed miracle with the Horsies. Mark Todd did indeed stuff it up and knocked the Kiwis out of the medals, but then our last rider knocked two rails down as well and suddenly we're in third behind the French and German teams. I guess this means that The Saints are going to get eighth spot?

Things are insanely close in the equestrian right now. We're in second place in the teams event, marginally ahead of the French. Right now we need our last rider to go clear in the jumping leg to get us the Silver. If he does that and Mark Todd has a disaster on his round then we might sneak the Gold. For reference, Mark Todd is one of the best riders in the world, has been for about twenty years and the chances of him blowing this are probably similar to the chances of Melbourne playing finals this year.

Harmes is a genuine hard nut with white-line fever and good pace. He can also take a pretty good mark. These are the reasons he's in the side. He is also capable of nailing a pretty good pass sometimes, but sadly it's very hit and miss with him. He's holding his spot for now but sooner or later he's going to find himself in the Grimes boat if he doesn't fix it.

Just had another read of my comment on here. Feeling pretty good about things right now. I was so happy on the weekend to see so many passes actually hitting targets rather than just bombing to the square. I'm pretty sure I've made my opinion of that plan clear.

If you look at the MRP guidelines they can have a no penalty option a couple of ways. Either accidental contact or negligable impact (or something like that) will get you no penalty even if you meet the other criteria. Odd. I went to a Richmond home game a couple of seasons ago that was a reciprocal Melbourne membership thing and couldn't get into any of the members areas. Wound up finding a seat in the top tier at quarter time having spent half an hour or so looking for somewhere they would let me sit. Also the carpark was closed which totally sucked. And for all of that, I was there when The Mighty Dees took it up to the AFL's biggest thugs, went toe to toe for three quarters and then took the game away from them in the last. Great day to be a Demon.

If it were to be an issue in the next couple of years I'd say Watts is a viable choice because we don't want to put it on Viney too soon. If it's a question for four or five years in the future then Viney will be in his prime and more than ready for it.

That's all very well, but to play the same event on two of the three channels and run filler on the third when they have people on social media (LOTS of people) screaming at them about the events they aren't showing is just bad management. Especially when they were advertising their coverage leading up to the games as showing every event.

Anyone else notice how much bigger he's looking already? This kid is going to be a monster with another pre-season in him.

Almost finished downloading the game (Bloody useless slow internet). I'm really looking forward to seeing it from the TV perspective.