DeeSpencer

If Hannan plays he probably plays pretty close to goal, a move that worked very well against West Coast where he was able to exploit smaller opponents. The Cats are going to have a big backline that is very strong defensively in the air. I'd probably favour getting Petracca deeper where he can get 1 on 1's in the air and swoop on to loose balls and get Viney, Spargo in there as well pressuring and crumbing. They'll also drop back and make us bomb to Weed/T Mc/Melk in which case the crumbs matter more than the one on ones. All up JKH might make more sense as a flanker/wing option to provide more run and versatility up the ground. Viney's inclusion should also see Oliver and Brayshaw playing some deep forward minutes as rotations. I'm surprised to say this because at times I've been as big a Hannan fan as there probably is but I'd lean towards JKH if I were picking between them.

Ben Cousin's never tested positive to a banned drug. No ASADA test ever caught him. I fully support the AFL's illicit drug testing policy that tries to stop young players getting caught up in dangerous drug taking behaviour. If it were in place earlier in Cousins' career it might've helped him (and several team mates) from going down the path they went down. Cousins' was out of control and deserved to be deregistered from the game for a year. If you think every AFL player who's done illicit drugs deserves harsh suspensions then be prepared to watch AFL games with about 4 players in each side and not very many people in the media available to cover them! Heck if you banned the crowd as well there'd be a big drop in attendance. Drugs have never been my thing, but our society is plastered with caffeine, alcohol and sex as well as a huge number of people addicted to seriously dangerous drugs like heroine and ice. I'll spare a 20 year old doing cocaine on his day off from my indignation.

I can make it appear faster than that!

I'm not suggesting they'll trade him, everything I've heard is the coaches really like him. But I think it's logical given there's no rumour of outside interest, and there's no reason he'd move for the common reasons (playing time, go home factor, success) the most likely reason is a dispute over value. The club has been very quick to sign up players they value, which I assume is because they offer a fair market rate and get the deals done. A strong finals campaign will change my opinion on Oscar pretty quickly so hopefully he can deliver. It's all off topic. My main point is good VFL games doesn't mean we're locked and loaded at key defender. Glad Petty played well, thought he was tiring after a long first season, hopefully with a bye he can have 2 more great finals. Also glad Keilty played well, he's fighting for a spot on the list and does a fair bit right, a consistent end to the year would surely see him given another year, which would be great for him and for demonland!

Part 2 was released at the same time as Part 1 (or close enough to), it's just over on Sal's Against All Odds Podcast and not on BS'.

If the AFL left the WADA code and weren't punished by the federal government then I think they could easily convince the NRL, Netball and other major sporting codes to form an Independent doping panel that recommends punishments. Pretty much just modify the WADA code so the punishments fit better with a domestic sporting league compared to international events or competitions. The AFL's integrity department is far better staffed than ASADA as is and were on to the Essendon stuff way before ASADA were involved. Really the AFL just use ASADA's testers and follow the code, maybe with more funding ASADA can police things but at the moment it's not like they are investigating AFL players all that heavily. As for Essendon if the AFL were in charge - Dank banished from the game, Hird suspended a year, team removed from finals. All that stuff happened well before ASADA had finished their investigation. The players are either spared or offered and take a short term suspension rather than missing a year long after the alleged offences occurred.

Without getting too far off topic all I'll say is if the club really loved Oscar wouldn't he be signed up right now? Only regular best 22 player out of contract.

Oscar - still not sure he's up to AFL level as more than depth Lever - still not sure he can stop an opponent Frost - in great form, will it last? Huge test this week Petty - played 1 AFL game and it was a stinker, I'm a big fan, but it's too early to tell J Smith - another I'm a fan of, but is a 3rd tall option Keilty - never been given a shot at AFL, VFL form has been up and down for 2 years on the list If there's a chance to upgrade from Oscar to Steven May at the right price I'm taking it

Drink driving and get caught in a booze bus - lose your license for a short period (only recently has that become strictly enforced), education session, relatively small fine etc. Kill someone drink driving - 5+ years in prison. That's how justice works. Murray will get a similar ban for a trace amount of cocaine as someone would get for juicing themselves up with anabolic steroids. It's like that because the Olympics and sports like cycling have basically no wriggle room, for the sake of their reputation they can't afford to. The AFL doesn't need to have such drastic punishments. We don't subscribe to the same draconian criminal laws as the US and Asia and other places when it comes to illicit drugs, why do we sign up to the same sporting rules as a world body for a domestic sport?

Very happy with that Mack trade. Getting back a 2nd round pick makes it not much more than giving up a 1st round pick. Done. Bears D just went from solid but unspectacular to very exciting and capable of really shutting down other teams. Week 1 in GB might be too early for that but should be able to cause some trouble as the season goes on. The NFC is loaded.

Melbourne played Hawthorn in round 4, got belted, Jones tagged Mitchell and limited him away from the stoppages. We played Cripps a few weeks after that and he got a few kicks but we won by 100. For the rest of the season our players didn't have to study either of those guys or watch their games. There's not necessarily a lot to base their decision on. I'm sure most players watch some footy. Some watch none, some watch a fair bit including most Friday nights. I have no issue with the MVP as an award but it certainly isn't one that holds a lot of weight. 1. Coaches award 2. Brownlow - due to tradition 3. A combination of media awards - if the same player is winning Age, Herald Sun, 3AW, ABC etc then they've had a great year 4. MVP

Surely has the skills to play regular games. Which usually means it's a question of work rate. Liked him as a forward when he first started but he looked good down back as well but couldn't consistently perform. He's certainly worth asking the question. Right age where he could get it together quickly if you sorted him out.

Gawn coached Flip in juniors and liked him which is a natural reaction to coaching any kid with a bit of talent. But I think that's different to actually having come up against a guy at AFL level and seen his talent. Preuss has a lot of talent, but I'm not sure why he'd leave being stuck behind Goldy to be stuck behind Gawn. We could play both but not if Weeds is playing like he is now. We certainly aren't in a position to promise games.

I wonder if current sponsorship contracts have clauses that pay x amount of money based on Friday night games, channel 7 games or wins. I doubt it because the trade off would be that we wouldn't make much in the lean years! I expect PJ and his team sold our newest sponsors - especially the big ones in Zurich and iSelect - on a strong chance of more success and more exposure in the future. Pretty much it was get in now and get good value or the price will go up. So I'm not sure if we'll make more money on current deals purely on the back of a better fixture right away, but if we keep the same fixture due to success then we can charge more for the same sponsorship's we have now. And we can add more sponsors I'm sure. I'm sure instead of chasing sponsors in the lean years it would be very nice to have companies competing for us.

2 open list spots now with Bernie retiring. High quality free agent signings looking unlikely, but at the same time trade outs of guys like Frost and Tyson don't seem so popular all of a sudden. Not sure what Garlett will do, probably a chance that he stays on the list for salary reasons even if he doesn't play on. 12 more to decide on. Oscar - stays unless we do a Steve May trade Vanders - stays JKH - leaning towards stays, he surely has more faith he can play at the level now than 10 weeks ago Bugg - goes Filipovic - probably goes Kent - leaves if someone else wants him, otherwise could stay Pedersen, Keilty, T Smith, King - got to keep some combination of at least 2 of these guys for tall depth. If we delist them we'll need state league or delisted player back up replacements in the ruck, key defender and forward. McKenna and Johnstone - wait and see based on other list changes

A necessary strict liability and harsh punishment for the Olympics, which happens every 4 years and has global implications. Olympians sign up and sacrifice for that to be the best in the world. Sam Murray is a 20 year old kid who's about the 30th best player on the Pies list. Maybe the 400th best player in a sport that is played by just over half of one small country. He's worked hard to get drafted and get to a second club and get some opportunities to play. He's well rewarded for that in terms of money, but he's not representing his country and isn't on the global stage. The AFL has had one major PED scandal in Essendon. They caught the club and instigators. And despite hardly overwhelming evidence and seemingly little intent they punished the players. Otherwise there's only been a handful of others who have flirted with PEDs. There's no intent from Murray. There's no real damage done to results. There's no gold medal falsely awarded. He rightly suffers deep shame. Giving him any more than about 6 months is just using the harshness of the WADA code where it doesn't need to apply. Some people on here seem to think that's good because they've seemingly never made a mistake. Some think drugs are the devil, probably the same people who drink 3 cups of coffee in the morning and a bottle of wine at night. Some are jealous of the money AFL Players make. Some just want to punish him for his stupidity. Not me. I'd give him 6 weeks just to [censored] of those on their high horses.

He looked ok, but not all that fit and not impressively big, skilled or quick. Add in the likelihood he does a hammy at any time and it's probably a risk we don't bother with. Taylor has shown an interest in getting in guys they liked in their draft years though. He's clearly a guy you'd try to get to train with the ground in October/Nov and see how he's going if you were at all interested.

He could kick and run to find the ball and Hawthorn's kick - mark style was what everyone was chasing at the time. It's a reminder not to be caught up with the hype of the times. No idea how much the club ruined his body and mind. Some players you only get one chance at getting right, others can bounce back from disappointment and retool their body and spirit. Toump played a couple of decent games at Port but then faded out. Certainly clubs have to be careful with 18 year olds and get their bodies right. There's no excuse to not do that. And to not over tax them or over expose them to AFL level. And the best way to avoid draft busts - don't have a lot of top picks!!! And draft well with all your picks. Keep adding talent in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th rounds and you can miss the occasionall first rounder.

Sure why not. And Toumpas as well. One on each wing.

I was always a big fan, no idea if he could get back to this level this year and it's still a bit early to say what level he'll reach consistently but I was hoping he had this in him. He injured his ankle in 2015 and should never have been playing in the games he did play in 2016. But I did believe his 2015 run of games was legit. He was predominantly playing half forward in a struggling side which isn't easy and he made us far better with his aggression and pace. 5-9 in 14 games with him. 2-6 without him that year. I think it was more than just 4 good games, injury and one stinker against the Saints aside I thought he was about as consistently good as you could hope for a first year player across half forward.

Spot on! Players now routinely use most of the shot clock. An obvious reaction to its introduction. Given the umpires go and mark the spot, often with their boots, spraying a line of shaving cream would either be quicker or take no longer. No idea why it hasn't come in yet.

ANZAC day and BCNA are really variants of the traditional jumper and for a good cause, so I support them. I'd try to combine the clash jumpers - red and retro blue - with any Indigenous or Heritage efforts. But at the same time I understand these heritage jumpers were $300 a pop to get your names on them. Even if there's only 50 people who paid up that's 15,000. Not a bad little earner.

His ability to pick it up off the deck and handball accurately on either side might be his best skill. It's top draw. Combined with a nice leap it's made him an effective ruck option. Playing him in the ruck at Casey has really improved him. I can really see him being used in the ruck a lot next year with Max playing forward. Leap for the ball is good and can clunk them, should only get better there. Goal kicking looked good at Casey, bad at AFL level, so that means confidence. Technique is solid. Watching the post game interview his arms look well defined but you can see there's really not all that much of them and he doesn't really fill out the jumper. Got to get him training with Tommy Mc over preseason because if he had Tom's strength and anything like his endurance he'd be a force!

It was red, it was blue, and we won by plenty. Combine those 3 things and it's hard for me to dislike. I thought the red contrasted very nicely off the darker blue. But I only saw them on the ground. Might be a jumper that looks messy on TV.

Tyson is likely 3 weeks minimum. Hard to get back even with a plate in your wrist in 2 weeks. Kent is a decent AC joint. Can play in 2 weeks if everything goes well but I doubt it. Tackling and marking is vital to how he plays. You don't want to do that with a sore shoulder.