The Chazz

Thanks for mentioning this - I didn't see that. I knew a bit about Tom when I lived on the Sunshine Coast (which is where Tom grew up), more from a basketball perspective. He was a very talented basketball player - from memory, he had been invited to some camps in the USA. Not surprised to hear he was on the Bullets roster. Was a good kid from a good, down to earth family. Good luck to him.

She's probably ours (without the official title).

Didn't Western Australia abandon ship long ago? Could've sworn it was a different country over there. Just on that, do you guys have your own Prime Minister over there yet, or are they still trying to work out how they can make Alan Bond a posthumous PM? Couldn't be any worse than what we are dealing with in the Eastern states...

Not sure if it has been mentioned on here yet, but it's actually possible for us to make 8th spot without winning another game. Would require North losing today and next week (against Adelaide in Adelaide), as well as Port losing their last two (which are against Collingwood here, and Essendon over there). Effectively means Geelong repose Port in the current Top 8.

The thing for us for the remainder of the season is about W/L's, not %. We win the same amount of games or better than the 9th placed team and our % will get us through.

Problem with the Eagles is that they have Brisbane in the last round (I appreciate it is in Brisbane), and we have GWS, so I would expect that West Coast will leap frog us back. And let's not forget that GWS are half a game ahead of us. The only way we can finish 2nd is for us to in all our remaining games, and for the Eagles to lose this week. I think this scenario is highly unlikely, but I'm not against rooting for it!

The good part about this coming weekend is that we will know the results of the other "8 point games". I think Hawthorn are a lock to make it, so we need to hope they beat Geelong. If we win this week and Geelong lose, I can't see them passing us, even if we lose the last two and they (will) win the last two. Port also have a tough run, so we need to barrack hard for the Eagles to roll them. It's unlikely that the Eagles will miss the top 2, but there's also the possibility of Power dropping 2 of their next 3. Again, if we can roll Sydney, and West Coast beats Port, it adds a lot of pressure on Port to win their last two (against Collingwood and Essendon). There's no way I can see the Dogs beating North, so we're going to need to rely on Adelaide rowing North the following week. With North a game behind us, and with 2 very winnable games in their next 3, again, we will need to beat Sydney to give us that 2 game buffer on them, so regardless of our last two games, our percentage should stop them from passing us. With the results of the likes of Haw vs Geel, Power vs WCE, Pies vs Bris and Dogs vs North being known before our game starts on Sunday, if we have all the results go our way (especially a Hawks and Eagles win), I reckon we can lock our spot in the 8 with a win over Sydney. And if somehow the Lions and Dogs can get up, we'll be right in the hunt for a top 4 position. We MUST beat Sydney this week to make finals. A win over either West Coast or GWS I think locks us in for a Top 4 spot.

A Sydney win could see Collingwood slide. For a team that is hampered by injuries, their draw isn't ideal, so those wishing for the Pies to miss out on finals, this could start the rot for them. All week I've actually been thinking that this game will be a draw. Not sure why. Not sure how this will impact the ladder either!

For the punters out there, we are currently $5.50 to miss the 8 on Sportsbet. Im expecting us to win this weekend coming, so our odds of missing the 8 should blow out a bit more. What price are you willing to pay to watch the Dees in the finals? Me, I'll be putting $100 on us to miss the 8 after this weekend's win. Should get $8s, so if the worst case scenario eventuates, I'm ending the year with a few dollars in my pocket. That said, I'll never be happier with losing $100 if we make finals.

In answer to your last line... Very.

Can you please inform me of tonight's lotto numbers? I need to know which ones NOT to play...

I think it's a catch 22 with Lewis. When the team plays well, he's definitely worth his spot in the team. The awareness/maturity of that last goal he kicked on Sunday - he knew time was flying by, he knew he had to take the kick as quickly as possible to give us the best chance of winning the game. A very, very basic thing, but many players would've gone back and taken a lot longer to kick it. You can't teach that. That's one example of one moment within a game that his experience is needed in our team. On the flip side, the problem with him is that what he brings to the team (which as I said above, is at its best when the whole team is playing well), our players are most likely looking up to hm to start. He is a leader of the club, and the younger guys need him (and a couple of others) to lead them out of in-game slumps. But I feel that Jordan is of more value when the team is out of the in-game slump. I do think he needs to be more consistent, which I'm sure he still has in him. It's a lot easier for kids to listen to him barking instructions when it's clear he is practicing what he is preaching. When they see he isn't, that's when his best quality for us becomes a concern.

So, his season has been "shithouse", because you are questioning if he has ever chased hard, laid a decent tackle, or if he works hard enough? I'm all for everyone having their own opinion, but I think yours is pretty terrible in this instance.

Just the same as a player's season isn't rated on his past 3 weeks. The simple story here is that Hogan has been shizen for the past 2 1/2 weeks (his last half last week was much better), but his season before that was very good. He has time to regain that AA form that he had in the first half of the year, but equally, he has as many games to remain shizen. It's up to him.

They are developing Baker. They are doing it the right way for a first year player. They are developing him in the reserves until such time as he demands to be picked on a regular basis. That's development. For me, I'm preferring a bloke that's played 300+ games and 4 premierships, at this stage of our (the Club's) development. Sure, he has lost a yard of pace, but I can tolerate that if he's adding value in other areas. When that consistently drops off, then we reassess where our development is at, and either move Jordan on and replace him with someone that's got a similar resume (but 2-3 years younger), or if have developed further as a club, THEN we can look at adding the finishing touches to a Baker, et al.

Looking at all that, I am now starting to think that minimal changes should be made this weekend. Every player is on notice, the media are showing our opponents how to beat us (if they haven't worked that out for themselves already). Some pretty proud players that have been heavily challenged, some for the second/third week in a row. On paper our team is quite solid, and should be a finals playing team. The time for individual players to prove that they want to do that in 2018 starts this Saturday. Line-in-the-sand type stuff for me, and I feel that Goodwin was implying the same after Sunday's game.

While Lewis and Vince may lack in some areas on field (ie pace), they make up for in their games experience. He spoke very well last night on 360, and Jack Reiwoldt explained that if you took the likes of Vince and Lewis off the field (ie put them in Casey), then the knowledge would be lost, and our younger players would have little direction. Was an interesting way of looking at it, but I'm sure would frustrate some on here.

The only "decent" team that Collingwood have beaten is us. They have also struggled to solidly defeat poor sides. With Treloar out for the rest of the year, it will be interesting to see how they go. The $7 on offer for them to miss the 8 (via Sportsbet) is certainly appealing.

When was the last time Rehn got something right? How he gets airtime on SEN is beyond me. That said, he's not on his own.

Source? I think I heard "Melbourne offers" not "Melbourne's offer".

Wow, so does that mean there will be a lot of players pushed out of PA given how much they spent on their new players (ie Watts, Rocky, Motlop), with a 4 year deal to Wines added to this?

Didn't stop them from paying top dollar for (Harley) Bennell...

Even Caro was finding it hard to accept, but did concede, on her show the other night. The reality is, we're just one loss away from the "typical Melbourne" of "fall from grace" headlines.

Kind of feel sorry for any victim of this sort of crime. When a massive majority of this sort of act is completed by drug addicts, it shows just what a sorry state of affairs this world is in at the moment... http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/afl-wrap-footy-world-defends-dangerfield-thompson-comeback-on-the-cards/news-story/8bfc0f643cd77c0d95e99be9b349b2e1 Bet that's the last time he'll let Mark Thompson sleep on the couch.

Really? I corrected a wrong post. And I will do it again with yours. No, I did not waste my time watching 360. I enjoy it. My decision, not yours. Out of curiosity, what are you watching in that time slot? As summer bay and Ramsay st have closed, I have no idea what you watch after that.