Dr. Gonzo

Just a reminder for all the sad sacks on here

You're joking aren't you? Sparrow was good today.

Thanks for typing this to save me the trouble.

Geez you lot jump off quick. Grow a backbone FFS. Win today and we are equal first a game clear of 3rd. Win by a lot and we could pinch top spot back. Sydney did us a huge favour last night, up to us to take advantage of it. Our only losses this year have been to sides sitting 1st, 4th, 5th and 6th. Port are not a very good side and missing a ruckman. Looking for Max to have a day out and Viney to step up in Oliver's absence. Despite our loss last week Petracca has been back to some of his best hitting the scoreboard with 3 goals in consecutive weeks. On a dry track I expect Kozzie, Bedford, ANB and Spargo to bring the manic pressure we were renowned for last year. Demons by 24+

We can only land a 23-27yo key forward if one is available. Who would you target?

Exactly, Freo want Jackson to make their list better. Why would they give up one of their best players for him if it means they end up with a worse side? I don't think we'll get any players back for him, at least not any that Melbourne supporters will be too enthused with. It will be draft picks but I just don't see how Freo can satisfy our requirements without shooting themselves in the foot. When we prised Lever from the Crows they would have wanted Petracca or Oliver in return. They ended up with two mid first round picks.

And won't even hit his peak for 5 years.

Yeah that ain't gonna fly. We should reasonably be expecting 2x top 5 picks. Freo need to come up with some kind of equivalent to satisfy a trade.

Teams don't just lose their ability to run and repeat sprint etc during games. It's not just down to some intangible like "hunger". How "former" is this former great? Many former greats have NFI when it comes to the modern game and get paid handsomely to espouse their ignorance.

Agree but we basically have 3 months to convince them. Most of these conversations getting someone to move across are a year/years in the making. If Freo are going to dig their heels in and say we'll only deal picks (think they did similar over Hogan?) then they need to find picks not just expect us to take whatever they have in hand.

I would love someone in the media to ask the question "how do Freo get the deal done?" It's all well and good to say they want Jackson or he has agreed to go there but he is not a FA and they still need to satisfy is in a trade. So how do they get it done?

The players have to actually want to leave Freo though. That is the hard part when they would likely be comfortable there under a food coach with good prospects in the coming years.

The difference is Cerra never nominated us. If Jackson nominates Freo it makes it hard for us to deal with West Coast.

I hope there is something, it would be extremely mean to tease us like this with nothing to come of it (or something less than we expect such as a debut this week which would be good but a letdown on what is expected based on this morning's tweets).

Hmmmm???

And Parfitt

Agree swyl, when on our midfield still [censored] on every other midfield in the league and can bulldozer over them. Our defence is the best in the league. Our forward line is clearly the worry but more than capable especially when our mids are on top and contributing to the scoreboard. I await the next two and a half months with nervous optimism.

Problem is the kids coming through have grown up doing this their whole careers now since Selwood started the rubbish in 2007. There's been plenty of them coming through, McLean and Hunter at the Dogs, Mathieson at the Lions and yes Spargo and to a lesser extent Pickett. Now Ginnivan and even Pendlebury has started at the Magpies and you're completely correct, it should've been knocked on the head 15 years ago!

Either that or tackle with a swinging arm. If the duckers cop a decent belt around the ears it might make them think twice before doing it again.

If we're 3rd and Geelong is 2nd (or 4th/1st) doesn't really matter tho. It's only if we have to travel to Perth it becomes a problem.

We're probably better off with the Cats winning putting a gap between us and Carlton. Geelong will finish top 4 so we're in a better position if they beat Carlton.

With the Lions getting done today I have us still making top 4 even if we lose to Freo, one of Carlton/Collingwood and Brisbane. Lose all 4 of those and it drops us to Elimination Finals though. So by my calculations we have to win at least one of those four while getting the job done against Port and Footscray to secure the double chance. If we win 2 of the three Pies/Blues/Lions games we should avoid playing Freo in Perth week 1 and play the Cats at the G.

What if we rehabbed him into a genuine human (and won a flag with him as a pleasant side effect)? Surely being supportive of our indigenous players means changing the behaviour of people who make stupid racist comments rather than refusing to have anything to do with them and let them live in their squalid racist beliefs.

With who?

Performance and results are two different things. Loading can partly explain the performance (lethargic, sloppy etc) you're the one wringing your hands over the result