Demon17

I'm with you BBP. Lever was/is huge.

So why not reported to staff 4 weeks ago by him. when first became aware of it. Unbelievable! Won't be back this year and a chance for someone else for rest of season. I am comfortable having watched live on Saturday the way Oliver, Brayshaw, Gawn, Hogan.... stepped up that leadership is not an issue. He will be a loss though.

You mean like the tiges did last year? Whats the saying about rules and exceptions?

I would be mortified if the Lever-less defence also had Lewis out. Maturity and a cool head needed and given his limitations sometimes Lewis does that role very well. Same for Bernie. They will help the transition with Oscar this year and one or both should be mandatory at present. Lever BTW seems to becoming a Ch 7 darling and was great with Daisy on their Sunday show today. Future skipper for sure.

Shut down this thread. Clearly irrelevant.

No way will pies end 4th with their difficult draw without treloar

Anywhere from 9th to 6th. But I used the points predictor with some confidence based on when we win , we win big (9 goals plus. Thus the prediction of 119% could be low and I think 125% will be closer giving some insurance at the end. Sunday will tell if the team is still on that track regarding crushing the poorer opposition.

People forget the Pies were absolutely taken to the cleaners by the Cats only a few weeks ago No goals in a half or something close to it.

And its the teams, and Trac's, chance to re-build any loss in confidence since 2 losses through absolutely hammering poor opposition. 2 goals wins, and in Trac's case , average contributions, won't cut it from either % build or Trac's later 2018 contributions.

Bingo.

The AFL site says a new ladder predictor is to be relaesd by end of this month (June) I agree on Pies. I think they are the team in real danger of missing 8. I have them on 11 firm wins and every other match a tough one. If they make it they will fully deserve. Personally, I was pleased North got up. I think Dees will make it, but my nightmare is meeting Hawks in first final. North helped to keep them out by their win against the Dogs.

Flat track bullies is a cheap and lazy cliche by media and posters on here.. The evidence in 2017 was that This team by and large beat Adelaide in Adelaide last year and eagles in Perth . Not much has changed team wise except for Hogan being available and Gawn in better form since then in terms of team membership and mindset and the team has arguably improved. Last night is being hailed as the great Friday night game of the year and Melbourne lost no respect ( so says Gerard Whately) had the Cats beaten in Rd 1 and flogged last year's Grand finalist only a few weeks ago. The game is more complex than a slogan.

FWIT I thought I would add that after last night, and the Inside 50's, I am confident the forward issues can be fixed and we have huge upcoming % builders for next 3 weeks. I think this will be important also as well as point obviously.

Bartlett actually said: "... PROCESS has been going for quite a few weeks..." Not that Pert applied a few weeks ago. Didn't say "..short time...". Just that he achieved a lot in his time there, which he did, especially with where the Board wants to take the club. Very little discussion on it, except Bartlett refereed , as SF says, a non-leaking Board. As if to say the ' experts' were bind sided by appointment and a bit miffed they were not in the loop - that's you Damien Barrett.(who has no idea IMO) What does concern me is the constant sniping by John Rothfield on the non-transparency of the process. Dr. Turf needs to understand its confidentiality that' s most important and on Monday's Footy Classified, Chris Judd gave an excellent summary of his well sourced knowledge of what happened. Worth a listen, taking it up to Barrett.

Really good post. The fugazi will be coming from media and others who have no experience and or idea how CEO's are appointed under these circumstances, and the probity issues required. FUGAZI !!!!!!!!!!!!! Move on .

This post isn't to gloat and i wish Watts well. Just that watching him last week, even in a winning team, I thought I saw exactly what he delivered to MFC. No aggression, slipped tackles and falling over. Not surprised at this selection decison by Power. Unfortunate for him, but early validation of MFC call last year.

Smart post. McGuire has done this before; Introducing him as a "...Superstar..." Really? I have felt he has been overrated all year and was showed up in endeavour by Joel Smith, spargo in tight spots , and a few others. I'm not sure what his tricks/strengths are either. Seriously worried if he can make it.

Correct. Enough was enough for goodwin.

Last week I may have imagined this but I believed we saw the first good signs of Lever and OMac playing very complimentary sides to their games on Sunday, along with Hibberd being their go - to player in a tight situation. Time will tell but quietly confident the team has close to a finals standard defence now in the making.

I think the club overall may be working on the lowering the eyes to hit forward targets. Done well yesterday, and noticeably by serial offender Jaydyn Hunt who made some great first 1/4 decisions in the game.

Ouija Board says no! But it has Pt Adelaide as 5th yet couldn't beat ANYONE last season and embarrassed themselves in the only final. Seriously?

yes it does. and I agree, but the issue for me is the " what if..." The club clearly have a strong view on list quality which I agree with. No finals next year will be a bigger disaster than 2017

And the sky might fall too. Confusing post. We have a great list , and strong backlines win flags, but "...if we finish bottom 4..."

A really sensible post and an insight into Mahoney's thinking. As said earlier, they are backing in the talent there now, topping up, allowing Tom Mac flexibility and saying again - destination club.. This stat from MikeAlpha says we have pro rata 4 times as many good Under 22's than we should on average. Mission accomplished. Beating yourselves up over picks or whatever is meaningless and not how business gets done in real life. A key message there I reckon.

Thanks Stingray. Hibberd is a great ball distributor in defence allowing the not so good kicks to do their thing , but he provides great outlet, like Salem. Watching him end to end at Adelaide last week was insightful. Huge pick up by Goodwin.