P-man

Out: Salem, Terlich In: Kent, Blease Some will scoff, but Blease eventually needs an opportunity. He's been asked to get his hands on the pill. He's done that. We will need some drive and dash off half back that some of the pies players like H provided today. That was a major difference, especially with Garlo so horribly out of sorts. JKH must start. Must. Start.

Smart fella P-man. Smart, handsome fella.

"Canadia"..lol. To a room full of Canadians no less.

Mixed emotions about this game, but taking a deep breath I'm not overly disappointed. Realistically the only way to pull it off against a top four side was to lock it down and then hope it was close enough at the final change to pinch it. It was a defensive scrap and to keep Collingwood to their lowest winning score in 20 years is no small feat. Even with taking safer options there was a lot of turnovers. Attempting to take the game on in the early stages and this would have been killed off as a contest with a blowout on the cards. That said, the ball movement was unnecessarily slow at times, and it seemed the forward line was static for the majority of the game. Entries were also very poor which was very disappointing on the back of recent performances. Maggots killed us but in the scheme of things, the far better side won. Pies were too good in all areas, and they have struck gold with Frost and Langdon down back. Frawley I believe is probably gone. He again looked pretty disinterested and his defensive efforts, or lack thereof, stood out.

Oh boy, this should be good.

Did we find out why Jamar was subbed? Cause on the surface of it, I can't fathom why Roos would do such a thing.

I won't be impressed if they tamper with the song. Bugger Richmond's. Ours is the best song in the league. If they want to insert "Melbourne" into it, I am imagining "every heart beats true" changed to "Melbourne hearts beat true", or something along those lines. Even typing that made me cringe. Just leave it alone.

Hood - that's how I'm reading it: a diversionary tactic. I've heard the theory that they are trying to give the Turnbull leadership bandwagon renewed momentum by raising it as an issue when it didn't need to be. But it seems more likely it is just something to divert people's attention from the Budget. If that is the aim, it was doomed to fail. What I found remarkable is Tony choosing to defend Bolt and Jones ahead of standing by his senior minister. I suppose, where would Tony be without them? Loyal to the end. He's made a bit of a mockery of Malcolm's insistence that it is all flowers and poems behind Cabinet walls, when he's choosing to defend his old pals tweedledumb and tweedledumber before standing by Malcolm.

As much as the priority here is Mitch's health, reading the last line brought a big smile to my face. Thanks for the update.

"Answer: No, he's still undecided. Stay tuned cause after the break, we have updates on the latest Justin Bieber controversy"

Bravo. More of this please.

...which was?

Do I want him to stay? Absolutely. Do I think he will stay? Not leaning enough either way to make a call on it.

Great news. A real credit to him to get his game to the level it is at now. An important player over the next few years. Well done Dunny.

It's really a heartbreaker when you pause to think what we'd be like with Clark still in the side. He and Dawes working in tandem would've been something special imo. Best not to think about it. If Hogan returns wouldn't that mean Chip returns to the backline? I don't see Pedersen being dropped with the way he's contributing atm.

To be fair, Cloke has taken over 100 more contested marks in the past 5 years than any other player. That's consistent. He also draws the best key defender every week, sometimes a couple, which is allowing the likes of Elliott, White and Fasolo to look pretty good. It's clearly his goal kicking that is wildly inconsistent, and as you say his ability to involve himself in the game in other ways like Dawes does with his work off the ball. It's annoying that Cloke got to shake out some of the cobwebs against the Saints last week. He will still need a lot of attention on Monday afternoon.

There's the other side of the coin to consider, namely that of the media outlets. Which Melbourne player is going to get people tuning in? Ask the average punter to name a Melbourne player, and half of them will name Watts. He's an intriguing figure. A figure of interest. We don't have many of those coming from the last few years. He was nervous, but he didn't shame himself at all. I've got no real issue with him taking on interviews such as this, especially in the build up to QB with his infamous debut to reflect on changes since then.

haha..nice.

He's over there. Seems to have mellowed a bit. I think this place just brought out the worst in him.

It's a definite improvement for sure. Still too corporate think tank for my liking. AFL logos don't need to be all fancy pants. Could be rejigged if you remove the trident, football and southern cross and PICK a theme. My preference would be a demon, cause, ya know, we're the demons.

Yes, it means nothing. No-one remembers these nominations, and the award itself isn't even noteworthy. As long as we're happy with Salem I really don't see why it matters.

He looked nervous as hell. Not surprising really as it's easy to forget he's still a pretty young guy. Not a lot to report really. There were the typical questions he gets asked about criticism of his work rate, pressure of being no. 1 etc. Played a pretty straight bat to everything. Described the feeling over his first four years at the club as "helpless" but a great feeling there now. Thought he might be considered a good player if he was pick 50, which shows his confidence hasn't been hurt too much.

Sign him up! Oh, right. Props to Pedo. According to Gerard Whateley, the most improved player in the AFL this season. Whoda thunk it.

Who cares??

Nicely summed up. This Roos fella certainly knows what he's doing. To further illustrate the turn around, here is the % differential from the end of 2013. We sit second only to Port. Team % Diff. PORT 41.55 MEL 24.63 WCE 22.62 GWS 19.63 GCS 15.77 HAW 11.98 SYD 6.83 COLL 3.61 ESS -2.05 ADE -2.32 WB -3.35 NM -8.93 FREO -12.36 ST K -18.39 CARL -19.38 RICH -26.01 BRIS -30.45 GEE -34.34