The Chazz

Rubbish. Take the emotional side out of it. There's no clear match up for Fritsch, he doesn't really have a clear role, and is at the end of his first preparation. Smith has a clear match up, which will likely be Darling, he has the ability to push forward if Hurn and McGovern get on top. While I don't see what the FD see in Smith, he's our best option for playing this role. I hope he goes well. If he doesn't and we lose, only nuffies will say that this decision cost us the game.

We are in a preliminary final. We're not going to lose this game at the selection table because we dropped a 23-odd game, first year player playing in a bit-part role.

Uncle @Bitter but optimistic should be able to hook you up with one of the fine drinking establishments in the Macedon region? Heck, you might even get an invite to the Manor if you ask nicely...

Sums it up for me too.

So, looks like they will go with Gawn in the ruck this week, and not Filipovic... Good call I think.

I've always wanted to see the Black Eyed Peas live...

Irrelevant. We need to be better than the Hawks, Eagles and Tigers teams on 2018.

You guys are boring. The Black Eyed Peas are going to smash it. They have some great songs that get most people pumped up, and even of they are a bit long in the tooth now, they will still get the crowd up and about. Can't was to watch them while the Demons are warming up in the rooms ?.

Means Harmes either shuts down Mitchell, but if Mitchell gets a hold of him, which is totally possible, we can swing him straight to Smith.

When under contract, both club AND player must agree to a trade. How can you not understand this?

Firstly, let's just wait until after the Grand Final to see if Richmond have gone back to back. Of course I can recognise that their game plan has worked. Results are there for all to see. I think what Hardwick has done has implemented a game style that suited the personnel that he had at his disposal, and somehow they managed to jag a flag. That said, adding Lynch to their line up next year will only improve their current game plan. It will mean the "kick long to a contest" style will be made easier, as there will be two key targets going up, allowing their smaller players to crumb. The amount of times they had Rioli and Higgins going up in a contest last Friday night is far from ideal, and something that Hardwick would know isn't sustainable. Other than the addition of Lynch, I can't see Hardwick tweaking their game plan much at all. Thirdly, it is costing them something - a crap load of salary cap space. They could spend that on Gaff, Shiel, etc, but no, they are spending it on the best KPF they can get.

Naive? Please. Why would a team that is having a "golden era", chase the best KPF on the market at the risk of "disrupting their game-style"? I'll give you the non-naive answer - it's because Hardwick would be salivating at the prospect of having 2 key forwards for his small brigade to crumb off.

Richmond play with 1 tall key forward because they don't have anyone else. Why do you think they have gone out to get Tom Lynch?

Thought it was interesting listening to Roos talk about the possibility of playing Hogan at CHB, then that talking guppy, Matthew Lloyd, talked about playing Weid at CHB when Hogan returns. This must be what it's like to have options, and quality key position players on our list. I love it. (I will admit, I mostly dismissed Lloyd's views, mainly because I can't stand him.)

Pretty happy with a couple of my tactical suggestions here...

This is pretty messed up, so much so that you shouldn't be surprised if you get a PM from Uncle @Bitter but optimistic after he reads this. If this is how you act, you tick a lot of the boxes that he looks for when inviting folk back to the Romsey Manor.

In recent weeks, they have been playing Scott Selwood as a defensive forward. I can see him tagging Salem, so I think we will need to have Fritsch sweeping across half back to make sure we are hitting targets coming out.

Without doubt they will try and intimidate us. I'm certain they will also try and physically take Gawn out of the game, especially given he will likely dominate against Abbott. The challenge for us will be how we respond. Oliver does get a bit distracted with this stuff, so this is where our leaders will need to keep an eye on it. The other thing will be the likely match-up for when Danger goes forward. Does Hibberd go to him? Could this be why Joel Smith is being considered?

I'd have Melksham tag Stewart, then try and isolate him one out in the F50. Stewart was terrible in last year's finals, and will get bloody nervous again if the ball keeps coming in his direction in a one-on-one capacity. I really think Stewart is vulnerable one-on-one, so I'd be playing our best one-on-one forward on him. I'm going to be interested to see how Scott plays his talls (at both ends). They have Hawkins, Henderson, Blicavs, Taylor and to some degree Henry. If they play 3 tall defenders (likely to be Blicavs, Taylor and Henderson), then our forwards should be too quick for them. Blicavs is the only one they have that can go with Tom, so we're going to need a huge game from Sammy Weid as I'm certain Henderson will go to him. Playing him in that traditional lead-up CHF role, taking Henderson away from his comfort zone, will help open up the F50. It's because of this that I think they play 3 tall forwards (likely to be Henry, Hawkins and possibly Taylor), then I wonder what we do about the third tall. Frost to Dorkins, Oscar to Taylor, then maybe Hibberd to zone off on Henry, then have Fritsch play that rebounding role that Hibberd normally plays. Tuohy and Bews are my biggest concerns in their back half. Do we bring in Bugg to tag Tuohy out of the game, or do we give that job to ANB? Personally, I could see ANB playing on Duncan, leaving Hannan for Tuohy/Bews. ABSOLUTELY VITAL that we go 6-6-6, and not allow them a loose defender.

While I have had a man crush on Bernard for a while now, it's not in the same league as the crush I have on his sister.

I bought 6 tickets on 3 barcodes, Saty. I can assure you, no one of my 6 will be found on Ebay. A select group of family and friends (2 of which are members) will be attending, all wearing Melbourne gear. You really are a grumpy old man.

I got 6 seats in M2, Row N, $68ea. Absolutely stoked! Good luck to those still trying.

He did that (both played on Ablett and slaughter him) last time we played them, but then had to get moved to Dangerfield and Selwood at other times. I'd like to see Viney go to Selwood. The one area that they killed us the other week was their intercept marks. A couple of names were mentioned above, but the other play that had a day out against us was Bews. He often plays loose in defence, and just takes mark after mark.

All good. Thought you were being harsh on an 18 year old Cat B rookie by calling him a downhill skier! I thought we only did that to our 18 year olds, not other teams!

Please explain?