P-man

Jack and Cotchin? They're captains of their respective clubs and are currently on multi-year contracts. Should keep your targets somewhat grounded in reality. I'm not totally sold on Swallow, personally. He looks to be a shadow of his brother. Though it might be too early to call, there's no way I'd be giving up pick 3 for him at this stage.

On what basis can you say that? What's your reasoning? There is overwhelming evidence to suggest there are some things about Watts' game that won't change and will always prevent him from being a good, consistent footballer. I'm intrigued as to what Roos could get out of him but you're making it sound like it's a given he'll be transformed.

lol..I actually was thinking of this earlier. Great minds Cowboy.

Not a chance. If there's a more injury prone player in the league I can't think of one. The most benefit he could give us is on the field and it's perpetually 50/50 (hm, sounds familiar) he gets on there. I think Roos could still go after Cross as well as some younger types. The senior player void needs to be filled and Cross still has quality. The beauty of an appointment like Roos is that players may suddenly, remarkably, want to come to Melbourne.

"Jack Trengrove" That's okay. Under Roos he'll just be referred to as "Trenners".

I had all but abandoned any hope of Roos. I'm not popping the champagne just yet, but wow, this would be massive for this club.

Roos has just stated on the pre game that "there is more interest now than there was 12 weeks ago" in relation to the Melbourne coaching role. Holy [censored]. There's a chance.

I'll be rapt with Choco. Was still my choice ahead of Eade.

A midfield.

- My guess is he doesn't know anything that isn't in the public arena. This is just his gut feeling which he often goes with. - A bottom six finish, AF? I dream of getting out of the bottom four. If we can manage to take a few scalps other than the expansion teams, and be competitive against the rest, that would absolutely be an end of the dismal era. It would mean the club is finally moving up, not down. For the record I don't see next year bringing much relief and I think bottom four beckons, but hopefully we see genuine improvement. - The excuse about being low on confidence is wearing a bit thin. I'm not counting it out, but Craig doesn't instil confidence in them? Why not? I think we have to face up to the fact that many of the players we drafted in this period just aren't that good. Look at Gysberts. Taken out of the toxic environment and still stinking it up. Confidence in terms of trusting in each other on the field is another matter.

Big yes. Still playing decent footy and goes some way to filling the gaping senior leadership hole. Just what we need.

Considering the unbridled hatred for him on here, he's done pretty well to be coming 10th in the player of the year votes. Stats might not tell the whole story, but to disregard them altogether just seems to be treating them as an inconvenience to the pigeonholing of Dunn that occurs every time someone dare mentions his name.

To be fair, Rodan was looking an inspired selection up until he got injured. But point taken. I'd be happy to see either of Jetta or Taggert given a run but really don't care either way at this point.

Have to admit I'd have taken much more pleasure in having them finish below us. I suppose weakened draft position by the third round is a minor consolation, but they should be getting the spoon. With Hird's smiling face carved into the wood.

"This is my football, this is my gun This is for kicking, this is for fun" They must recite until they figure out which one is which.

It seemed to go beyond that. There was a pretty clear implication that the list lacked the quality needed to turn things around, period. I think rjay is correct in interpreting it as a message to AFL House.

I read that into it as well. It does seem to be quite a backflip though. I recall him explicitly stating that this group of players could take the club forward. Now there is scoffing at the suggestion of a quick turnaround like he did at Adelaide, because Adelaide had "quality".

I'm assuming this was a typo? "Knocking on the door of the top 16". So, 17th. Daring to dream. If you meant knocking on the door of the top 8, this club is a gazillion miles away from that. Without some major coups in the trade period and injection of genuine talent into the midfield, I'm not expecting next year to be much different to this one. Viney has gotten me through 2013. I suspect Hogan will be playing a similar role in 2014.

Understatement. Someone give the lad a sandwich.

Yeah okay. Hopefully not.

"MFC: At least you know we're not drug cheats"

"Build your character"

Whether or not Abbott is a nice bloke, or is even more personable, isn't the issue. I don't buy into the idea that Abbott is concentrated evil, no matter how much I might differ from him on certain values. I once met Barnaby Joyce in a pub and he's actually a very nice fella in person, and more open minded than he lets on. But I don't vote on who I want to have a beer with, I vote on who is best placed to run the country. The issue is Abbott's policy ambition, alot of which has been kept in the shade from the average voter, as well as his suitability as Prime Minister which is lacking on several fronts. Forget all the gaffes and sexist remarks. What does he actually stand for? Abbott believes, in his own words, that "a productive society means greater inequality is inevitable". Fundamentally, he sees society as a market. The wealthy are given advantage to prosper and the workers and less well off must fend for themselves. But I guess that approach has worked out well in the US, UK and Europe. Oh wait.. There's little doubting that Abbott's policies will have the overall effect of distributing wealth further upwards. There's the lowering of the tax-free threshold from $18,200 to $6000 that will drag more than one million low-income earners back into the tax system. The proposed closure of the Low Income Superannuation Contribution which would leave the 3.6 million lowest paid workers in the country worse off to the tune of around $4 billion. The ditching of the proposed 15 per cent tax on income from superannuation above $100,000 a year. The effect will be 16,000 high income earners with superannuation savings in excess of $2 million get a tax cut, while 3.6 million workers earning less than $37,000 will pay more than $4 billion extra in tax on their super over the next four years. It's now discovered that lower-income shareholders will be the ones coughing up $1.6 billion towards the incredibly ill thought out paid parental leave scheme, his signature policy outside of "stop the boats". He's said they wont go back to WorkChoices, yet the policy provisions he has released undermine collective agreements and shift workers back towards individual contracts, both key elements of WorkChoices. Then there is how he plans to fill the gaping holes in his budget. He won't say, because it's obvious where the money will come from - health and education. Basic services required by, well, everyone, but especially those who are less well off. He plans to get rid of at least 12,000 public servants, but won't say where. So essentially, he may not cut certain programs or services, they'll just eventually fall over from neglect. Basically, the rich stand to get richer while those down the other end of the food chain are going to be properly reamed under an Abbott government, and they don't even know it yet. How could they with Murdoch essentially being Abbott's campaign director? And let's not pretend that he hasn't played a major part in getting Abbott elected. It's also not just the fact he's so out of touch with direction of modern society on issues of gender, sexuality and the like. He's just out of touch, period. Both parties have committed $17 billion to transport infrastructure, however Labor is allocating some of that to urban rail, whilst the aspiring "infrastructure PM" has not allocated a cent, and is putting the whole lot towards roads. To me this demonstrates little recognition of the trends in transportation, or indeed the massive frustration with public transport. The fact of the matter is, we have a very good quality of life in this country, and the previous Labor governments have done well to keep the economy growing (14% since 2007) and our head above water during the GFC, when it seemed the world was falling into recession. But despite that, we have an incessant campaign that has convinced the voting public that a budget deficit means the sky is falling, and only THEY know how to fix it. It's garbage. It is going to mean needlessly sacrificing social services all so this bloke who has made no secrets of his desire to be Prime Minister for a long time, can live out his dream, and allow the Gina Rineharts of this world to stuff their pockets with a little bit extra. The best thing to do is grit our teeth and ride it out. Thankfully as a Melbourne supporter, I'm well practised. Just remember if you vote for him, you remove your right to complain when he pulls out a swifty that you never saw coming. But hey, if you have $2 million in super, you'll be sweet.

#standbyrocket...orchoco......roosyifwe'relucky......we'renotsureyet.

Was a 23 point game in that last quarter. Ended up being 68. Typical Melbourne dropping the bundle. Doesn't help with umpiring of that..persuasion. Plus far too many bullet wounds in the foot. Tapscott needs to go at season's end. Pedersen is useless. Matt Jones tries but his skills just aren't good enough for this level. Best thing to come out of today was Toumpas. Other than his deer in the headlights moment off half back, he is looking good. Just need to concentrate on the next generation and with a bit of luck, throw some some money at quality seniors to get on board and guide them through.