RalphiusMaximus

The one edge we have over the Crows is that a lot of their play relies on contested ball-winning and we seem to have been shading them in that area the last few times. If Big Max and his helpers are having a good day we'll give them some trouble, although I suspect our inability to hit up forwards will mean less return on our effort than we need to win it.

I'd back Ellie Blackburn to be the other. Two top-line midfielders would go a long way to building a quality side. Plus I'm pretty sure she's been with us from the start.

Ask for Sydney's first round pick and on-trade to the Bombers as part of a deal for Hurley.

Jake Lever looks like a hell of a player. I really wish we'd found a way to get him.

The Players' Association is all for it, therefore it's probably a terrible idea. They don't give a flying fruitbat for the welfare of the competition, they just want more money and power in the hands of the players.

The AFL site had a live chat on trade targets today. According to whoever the journo was Sydney are putting a pretty big offer in front of TMac. Interesting.

I just hope the rumours about their poor culture are true and come back to bite them during finals when they'll need their players to be focused and disciplined.

I need a hand here. I remember a mark Tony Lockett took long ago (obviously) where the kick was aimed right at the umpire. The Umpire saw the ball coming, realised what was running towards him from behind and dropped flat allowing Lockett to jump over him and take the chest mark. Sadly, I can't remember when, where or if there is footage available. Does anyone else remember this or even better have a picture or footage?

We should be calling Bernie Teflon Man. I can't how often he gets off with fines and reprimands.

So, when is the draft? How many of our previous squad members do we get to keep? Are there going to be foundation players for each side who will be involved prior to the draft?

The thing about Jack is, everyone in our bloody team is a terrible kick. I still remember going to the first training session Jack attended. We had the four new draftees off to one side doing short passes (20-30m) to each other. When the other kids passed the ball, their target had to move to one side, or forward or back, to mark it. When Jack kicked it, they never had to move their feet. Every pass was dead centre of the chest. There are plenty of players around the league who are short on outright leg speed yet still considered to be A grade stars. They all have quality disposal, good game sense and a high workrate. Jack has all of these in spades. Given how desperate we are for quality ball-use, especially when moving into our forward 50, I don't see how we can afford not to have Jack in the side.

I think they'll need to juggle the rules a bit more to make it work both ways. The women's league will have fewer games per season, so it's going to be really hard for players to get up to the 100 game mark. Then there's a penalty attached to being one of the founding players like Daisy Pearce who has been part of Melbourne for years but only has a few official games to her name. Despite her huge impact on the women's game and her role in getting the league up and running, there is very little chance of her ever reaching that milestone.

I'm pretty sure we'll see minimal list changes. We've sold our first round pick. To me that is saying that we'll use our second round pick in the draft and then upgrade rookies. We're required to make three list changes including upgrades, so we could very well see one live pick plus upgrading King and White from the rookie list (both are in their final year as rookies). That would leave us with two second year rookies in Michie and Wagner, plus Smith as a Cat. B rookie. Given the success Wagner has had so far, they could either cut White loose or clear out another senior list spot to upgrade him, but I tend to think they'll leave him as a rookie for another year. I suspect that we'll see White come in to the side during the second half of the season once we are allowed to play him. His form at Casey has been far too good to ignore.

I only caught the second half, but I had Watts as BOG for us. When everyone was fumbling and slipping around in a 30-man rolling maul, he repeatedly picked the ball up cleanly and managed to find a teammate. 10 of his 18 disposals were contested which is amazing for a guy who has spent his career being knocked for soft play. Also 4 marks and 5 tackles.

That goal was pretty special. He still has injury and fitness issues, but if they get them sorted out he's going to be a great addition to their side.

I'd be reasonably happy if they just wrote Gus off this year and made sure he was super-fit and ready for next. We're not feeling the loss too badly so no need to rush with him. He's only in his second year. Plenty more to come if we manage him well now.

Spencer just got his second.

And Spencer gets his first for the day, closely followed by Tim Smith missing after what was apparently a pretty special pass from King.

58 point lead.

It's a conundrum. If he comes good he'll be a handy weapon given his disposal. However he remains a stick figure after two and a half years on the list. Is he the classic slow-developing ruck, or is he another Cale Morton? I guess we'll find out either at the end of this year or in a few years time.

Newton just kicked another. Garland seems to be having a pretty solid game too. I'm seeing his name mentioned quite a lot on the feed. He's setting up a lot of attacks.

38 point lead via Max King.