3183 Dee

Could have and should have beaten them. The inside 50s were like early on this season. We need to get cleaner. Good effort and intensity - Jetta and Viney huge. Fritsch did some sublime things. I believe we will still make finals. Terrible umpiring mistakes killed our momentum and gave Port clear advantage several times. Disgraceful.

Thanks for the report DZ - much appreciated.

Agreed - brilliantly played by us, now to kick on ?

Spooky stuff!

Just listened to the podcast - well done guys: some great questions. I don’t know why, but I always get a bit emotional when I hear Roos talk about his journey with the MFC. His opinions on the club have the benefit of true insight and should be listened to for a more measured analysis of where we are at right now. Regarding QB, he simply said that the Pies played really well and we didn’t play so well. That was it - no panic stations. He said that you can’t compare the current club and team to 2013/14 as it is a completely different entity - that club no longer exists. His only expectation is that we play finals this year, which continues our planned trajectory and sets us up for sustained finals over the next 5-8 years.

No Plan B etc.

I was at this game tonight (builders’ night out!) and thought both teams looked ordinary. There was very little pressure, except in the 3Q when the Pies won the game. Collingwood do have some genuine talent, but I think the relentless pressure we bring, when we’re on, will account for them. Not sure what has happened with the Doggies - they were atrocious.

Very good.

Anyone thought that maybe they were trying him back in the Coaches Box, but given what happened last week, they’ve moved him back down to the bench where he can get closer to the players?

I also thought Lever was good yesterday, after a bit of a slow start. As well as his intercepts, he’s great at getting himself out of trouble and into space once he takes possession.

In my opinion, the concussions have set him back a fair way. It seems as if he’s starting to get back to his best form, though. He is a gun, but still has to prove himself, like everybody else, and earn his spot. He probably looks [censored] off, because he’s running around at Casey this week, when he thinks he’s done enough to warrant selection. Hopefully, it’ll just make him hungrier - I think we’ll see him back for the MFC before long.

Hurn got Viney, Viney got Hurn back harder. There's footage of Viney running back through the rooms once he'd been taped up: I bet Shannon Hurn heard those footsteps and felt like a Mafia hit, whose cards were marked!

I have been wondering about this for a long time - it seems blindingly obvious and I am amazed that it hasn't raised a murmur amongst the footy journos. Essentially, the Bombers must have offered huge compo packages, otherwise there would have been a class action through the courts. If you cast your mind back to last year, the rumours were that Dyson Heppell (and his family) was furious with the way he had been treated by Essendon and was almost certainly going to leave. Same, I think, with Michael Hurley. Nek minnit, they re-sign and are as committed as ever to the Bombers. It seems to me that they have been able to rort the system by paying out large chunks of contracts as compensation. I take it that the AFL will be sweeping this under the carpet?

I spoke recently to a family member of Jack Hutchins, who said that whilst it hadn't worked out at GC, he was determined to give it another crack, and if that meant going via the VFL, then he would do it. Hope he has another great year.

This is what is not getting much coverage - I have no idea if the compensation awards are made public, but it stinks to me. It could be seen by some as a way of staying in the salary cap, yet awarding players with 'compensation' to ensure they sign on.

I completely agree. He's contracted til the end of 2017, so whatever happens, happens. Don't get me wrong: Hogan is a very good player, but we now have a few more very good players, who haven't even hit their straps yet. If he decides to go, it won't be for any negligence on the part of our off-field organisation. The business management of the MFC is so much more slick and well organised these days, they'll do what they can to keep him, but I don't believe we're a club looking for a Messiah anymore. Instead, we're building a team of gifted, tough and confident young men of whom Hogan is one.

Yes - because after the first year or so, we got rid of the likes of Bruce and MacDonald. Even if they only had a year or two left, they would still have been around to mentor the young guys. Then we tanked for a year or two to get the top draft picks, which the hierarchy believed would be the making of our club. Then we appointed two kids as captains and expected them to create a new culture under Neeld. All this, whilst the new expansion clubs - GWS especially - have had an obscene amount of trade and cap concessions. At the same time, the off-field administration had been run by an apparently self-serving dummkopf, a number one draft pick has [censored] off to the AFL's pet project and we have been rogered with a $ half a mill fine for the aforementioned tanking. I don't know what the answer is, but I can't fathom how we can tear Geelong a new one at their place and then not have the momentum or will to hand a hiding to the Bombers and avenge the previous Saints defeat.

Correct. This is why the Doggies and St Kilda have bounced back after a couple of years of bottoming out - they still have a nucleus of experienced players who have played finals footy.We are starting from a point way back from these clubs - effectively the same as GWS and GC but without the massive concessions. IMO the only option is to bring in players like Daniel Cross, who I think has been our best pick up overall, to nurture our potentially great young guns in the right way to go about their footy.

I spoke to a client today, who has a connection to the Watts family. Apparently, Paul Connors (Watts' manager) has been desperately trying to convince Jack to get a deal done with Carlton. However, after meeting with Roos on a couple of occasions now, Jack has been so impressed that he will almost definitely re-sign.