Slartibartfast

Dismissing Walker out of hand is silly in my view. The reality is that Tmac, Brown, Brown and Weid are all mediocre talls and with Tmac's supposed foot injury our barrel is pretty empty. BBB is either terribly out of form or injured. Worse still he could be past it. Weid doesn't look like it and MBrown is no better as a long term solution. That leaves an injured Tmac. It's a fraught situation. JVR is the future but that future is years away until he'll be an effective key forward so for the next two years he's development. Then we just hope he makes it. For those that think otherwise just look at JUH, Thilthorpe, McDonald and Reid who were all taken in the top ten, all with more development than JVR and none playing consistent AFL footy. Our tall forwards, with a few exceptions, have been very poor this year. We need some class while we develop alternative strategies. And there's no use getting fringe players like Riccardi, if they are fringe elsewhere they'll be fringe at MFC. Walker has played great footy last year and this. He's showing no sign of slowing down. He'd be our best forward if he played for us now. I'd be looking at him as we need to sort out our tall forward situation. Jack Darling is another possibility and as mentioned before Rory Lobb perhaps but his contract is an issue.

I'm very please he's got two more years, he's clearly got some attributes but he certainly has a lot of areas to improve. To say he's close to AFL selection when he wasn't selected with about 5 players out is a stretch. In my view he's got a long way to go and his selection as emergency is to show him what it's like to prepare for an AFL game.

Turner very good. Hibbo is there. Laurie not doing much.

No Hibbo? No he’s there. No influence so far.

Langdon?

Why the pejorative comment? As someone who is “older” I find that quite offensive.

You should listen to Goody and learn to respect the opposition a bit more. Have a look at some of the footy (say) the Hawks played. It was fantastic. Beating all teams is a challenge. Thankfully the players and staff understand this.

Simon Madden and Dean Cox were the two best genuine rucks I’ve seen in my life. Maxy is now well in the conversation, ahead of Cox for me and perhaps Madden, but comparing players of such different vintages is very difficult.

This is my favourite bit. I doubted We’d ever be so good as to be feared and hated! Finally. “Right now, just like Richmond five years ago, which followed teams like Hawthorn, Geelong and Brisbane, the Demons are clearly the most feared team in the competition. People want to criticise crowd numbers, just like they want to criticise media performances of players they found entertaining when Melbourne was average, because the team is simply too good on the field.” *attribution and thanks to Stats Insider. Great work.

Thanks Swooper. I think one of the most important stat is what percentage of the time does the opposing ruckman hit the ball to advantage. It may not be critical to win it but it's mighty important that you stop the opposing ruckman from hitting it down his teammates throat.

Or BFBR.

I enjoyed the game of Judd McVee and thought Rosman had a much better second half. Kade Chandler was very good before injury.

Or he was bluffing to cover our last quarter performance.

Howes and Smith very good. Chandler very good before injury. Laurie looks polished and uses the ball very well. Rosman very disappointing, hope he has a good last half.

Smith was off the ground for one of Charlie’s goals and another was when Rivers missed a handball and gave it straight to Charlie. So let’s at least judge Smith realistically.

Hey Picket, you must be thrilled to see anybody who is vaccinated can attend the game tomorrow, rub shoulders and share a drink with their best mate but you were locked out and forced to watch training through a fence when there would have been nobody within 50 metres had you been allowed inside the ground. Go figure. Thanks so much for your efforts over the preseason, your reports were insightful, detailed, imaginative and well written which helped me and I imagine many others get through the preseason. Outstanding work, many thanks.

I asked a curly question LH. I asked how members were supposed to make a decision on who to elect to the Board if candidates were only allowed to submit a 300 word description on their credentials. When i logged on last night it kept freezing so I'll watch today. I didn't expect an answer to my question but Roffey ducks anything hard. I've lost a lot of respect for the Board. Thank heavens the players have higher standards.

Great stuff George, many thanks.

James Jordon.

Who is “they”?

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/1027279/dee-s-day-lauren-magee?videoId=1027279&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1635114842001 I assume both Goldie and Lauren are double vaccinated and yet they still have to put up with this despite there being 1000+ cases a day. Go figure. Hang in there ladies and welcome back! And thanks for going through all this, I feel for you.

Time for a shout out to the Club for the fantastic stuff they are putting on the MFC site at the moment. And a special shout out to Jack, Tom and Max who have been front and centre of so many thrashings and so much pain as we bottomed and then rebuilt. What a mighty effort to stay the distance when it would have been so much easier to just take easier options. Jack's bit on the MFC site is a huge insight into the frustrations and hurt the players endured and make the "the players don't care" comments just so inappropriate. And of course to JT, to hear his comments on the strain of watching your picks run around and wondering if you'll have a job in future just as telling. Of course that applies to all the FD staff. What a brutal business.

Sorry, I should have been more specific. What would you do about COVID and opening up?

So if you were in charge what would you do Webber?

So you think we’ll take him?