praha

Calling it now: he will be like Mumford. Never minded Jake. He needs to find his way around the ground more and get his hands on the ball more, but I love his ruck work. Very important he is up and healthy.

So long as Jones was our best player, we were always going to be a bottom 8 side. Great bloke and good player, but peaked maybe 2-3 years ago when we were at the lowest point. He goes through the motions, does what is required, is reliable, but like you said, seems to have little impact. I think this is a good thing.

If we want to make finals, we beat teams like the Saints. That simple.

He's a carbon copy of Watts from a skills and football IQ perspective. I think he's a little more driven this early in his career relative to Watts' career at the same point. I take it that his skills are being developed in the backline and he'll eventually move into the middle and forward. Will be a very good player.

Definitely understating Hogan's importance.

It's a midfielder's award. Long way to go but you'd think he's got at least 8 votes so far.

It's a very long season, we have a very tough draw, and there are 6-7 teams vying for a spot in the 5th-8th range. It was never silly, but we need to string together 4-5 wins in a row at some point to be a certainty. I can see us missing out on percentage. The Essendon loss is really going to come back to haunt us. That should have been an 8-10 goal win. I think the top 4 will be Bulldogs, North, Hawthorn and Sydney. Then in the 5th-12th range you have the following teams fighting for a spot. Geelong Giants Suns Eagles Crows Melbourne You know that Richmond is going to bounce back. Port can't be completely written off but I think they're done. It's a super competitive competition now, very even. On any give day any team can knock off any other team, and you're going to see some really surprising upsets. We need to bring a competitive edge every week. Making the finals and playing well in that final would be absolutely immense for the club. It's going to be tough. It's as big a challenge as ever.

Oh wow, really. That's pretty neat.

Updated.

Freo won't finish last. They'll string some games together and still win 8-10 games imo.

Mick Molloy is bearable because he doesn't shove politics down your throat like that pompous "comedian" Helliar.

Jesus. Gotta feel for the Crows. God I hate Hawthorn. But god they're good.

It's in the AFL's best interests to attract big crowds to as many matches as possible. Richmond and Carlton play opening round so they won't play ANZAC round. Hawthorn aren't massive crowd drawers relative to their success. Richmond V Melbourne might get only 5-10k less if Hawthorn were playing Richmond, and that's if Melbourne aren't going well: we're a similar or bigger drawer than Hawthorn when doing well. North, Bulldogs, Saints can't get the crowd to the MCG. Melbourne V Richmond on ANZAC is here to stay. It's very important that at least one of the teams is doing well so that at least 50k show up. But it's here forever. Pies v Dons should stay. It's tradition now and established. I think Melbourne is more deserving than Collingwoof when you look at the war history, both the Pies and Dons have gone to great lengths over two decades to embed this game in footy culture. Hopefully Melb v Richmond on ANZAC Eve can act as a curtain raiser blockbuster to ANZAC Day for years to come (yes I know "curtain raiser blockbuster" is an oxymoron).

We've been good defensively. The North game is difficult to gauge. At the MCG it might have only been 80-100 points each, we're currently 8th for points against (1st being best defense), and could be higher. We are very firmly in that 5th-12th range atm imo. Our attack struggled against Essendon and in patches against the Pies and GWS (excluding the 4th and 1st quarters, respectively). Roos has them playing confident football and it all starts in defense. We just aren't bleeding goals like we used to, and when we do, we tend to balance it out with goals of our own.

I think we match-up well with Richmond, better than we do with Collingwood imo, but either way it's still a 50/50 contest. Really depends on if August Richmond or April Richmond shows up.

I hate this. We weren't "lucky" at all. Their pace and spread was amazing but we defended superbly. Their inaccuracy was a product of our defensive awareness, pushing them to the flanks and pockets, forcing them to kick for goal at an angle. We deserved to win.

I am utterly astonished at how dumb the AFL can be at times. Truly gobsmacked. 1. The rule is that if you are under pressure, you can rush a behind. 2. At the end of the second period of extra time, if scores are level the coaches box is going to get out to the players that "next score wins". 3. A player will have the ball in defense, will be under pressure, and may rush it out of habit, or may hold onto the ball and be forced over the line by desperate opposing players trying to get the extra score. 4. What you'll get is a Grand Final won and lost by a defender from the losing team. Moronic. 5. Golden goal is no better: you could have a team kick 7 behinds in a row before their opponent scores a goal. They'll have a higher score but will lose because they didn't kick a goal. Moronic. Minimum of two extra periods, with additional periods until a winner is declared. It's like the higher-ups at the AFL have never spoken to another human being before.

Looks good.

Updated North record. Updated two-in-a-row record.

Unless you're in the MCC members, it doesn't matter where you sit, you'll be surrounded by a mix of Richmond + Melbourne, mostly Richmond by a ration of probably 3:1.

Wouldn't be surprised if Garlett gets a run at Casey, but doubtful. IMO In: Garlett, Vince Out: M.Jones, Oliver probably for a rest. Jones probably doesn't *deserve* to be dropped, I don't think anyone explicitly does, but he has to make way. Now that Brayshaw is back, Wagner and Bugg had good games, he has to make way. If Brayshaw is concussion then swap him for Oliver.

Collingwood looks a little like Melbourne circa 2007. Any wonder why Howe wanted to go there. All this talk about them pre-season. They were never going to be better than 10th, may well finish in bottom three based on yesterday's performance.

Jesus... What could have been...

I feel that he went down and got injured at the worst possible time. He was one of those guys, like Watts, that needed to play through 2014, 2015. They have been career defining years for Watts and much-needed experience in a team that can win games. Trengove is coming from further back than the club was. It'll be hard to crack the 22 but I suspect it'll happen at one point this year. Hopefully it's at the MCG.