binman

Interesting. No watts. Can you do score involvements?

Was thinking exactly the same thing. Well allmost. I'd add to your excellent points that quite a few of his tackles are run down from behind jobs, where the defender is attempting to run it out of our back half. Not only does it create a scoring opportunity it can also foil one as so many goals these days start with run and overlap from the back half.

Oliver has an incredible ability to step out of trouble (often retreating away from our goals) and with his amazing vision and decision making get us out of trouble with terrific handballs to teammates (often also backwards i've noted). I find it amazing how short into his career we have come to rely on him so much and how confident i am when he gets the ball. Also he might be one of those rare players who influence how the game is played. His handballing technique where he he holds it at eye height and punches it (rather than from a flat hand) gives him a huge advantage in clearances and getting the ball out quickly. It sometimes leads to him wrongly being pinged for throwing, though not last weekend i was pleased to see. it won't be long before other start to copy it. Does anyone know if he used this technique as a junior?

He is also very consistent, an great trait and one that can sometomes be under valued. Jetts is similarly consistent

Treloar wasn't their best mid. At least i don't think so. I would have had Greene, Cognilio and Shiel all ahead of him.

Agree but also let give jack the credit for getting front position. On on the couch they were talking about the likelihood of teams only having the one ruck man and Jackson Trengove being the new model of the second ruck - a mobile, versatile player who plays forward but can be an on baller as well. Funny because Jack was really the first to play that role last year (a Goodwin innovation?)

The Wet Coke 20006 flag tainted? not in my book. In fact i reckon they deserve more kudos. After all still being able to win a flag after a decade long tear is quite some feat.

Agree and you would have to assume there is fair chance it was Hird who both recorded and leaked it. If it was him it really beggars belief. It might well be a manifestation of him being unwell - an leaving aside the hypocrisy of him leaking given his trenchant criticism of the AFL for doing so - but if was him it can only be a bad thing to have more media about this story. But more concerning would be the decision of the Hun to run with it and make it front page news no less with probably dozen related articles (regardless of who leaked it). They ran big stories about his mental health when he was hospitalized and gave air time to people who slammed the media and the AFL for bullying him and causing him to become unwell. And now they put this out there when it can only harm his mental health? Irresponsible.

Another sad chapter in this sad story. And one that show just how compromised the Herald Sun is in all of this. As Gil said there is absolutely nothing new here and nothing even remotely newsworthy. Faced with nearly an entire list being suspended the inner sanctum, after thinking they might escape this scenario because of a commitment they thought they had from Gil are furious. That seems to be the gist of it. Of course they are furious. Next they'l run a story with the headline Man stubs toe and says OW Even more ridiculous is that a peanut MP thinks this somehow justifies an enquiry. Please. I haven't bothered with the articles but is there any detail on who recorded the meeting, if those present knew it was being recorded and who gave the recording to the Hun?

Nice hat. I notice red hair runs in the family. On hats i was amazed they chose to set the merch tent up on the opposite side to where all the fans were and were always going to be given the heat. Marketing 101 I was going to buy a hat and thought bugger it.

Seems like a nice kid. By the by Drunkn i went to the sessions today and on leaving at the end saw some people around dec, Do you have a nice new dees hat?

Really great signs. I'm generally not one to remind posters who make what i consider to be completely wrong player assessments but geez i'll be tempted to do so to those posters who made comments before he re-signed along the lines of him being over rated, we can cover him, he is too one dimensional (really?), he's good but not great etc etc. I say again the last player to come tor Melbourne with comparable talent and impact was David Schwarz pre knee injuries. If he can avoid injury i have no doubt whatsoever he will be our first superstar since Flower. And what is exciting is that i don't think the Trac is far behind.

Why?

100% agree with all of the above. I'd add that once the players have served their time there should be no further punishment

The other positive is that the MFC players who played multiple game for Casey and Smith and Keilty will know each other pretty well, which has to hep in terms of them settling in and the general vibe around the club

Its great isn't it? Plapp must be stoked as both likely to be with Casey most of the year so they don't lose the talent or the synergy and history they have with their Casey team mates. But will have the advantage of AFL level training, development and training. A win for both young men and both clubs. A very smart move.

Good get

Well fancy that ... Stephen Dank fails to front at AFL appeal

I had to laugh that he is angry he can't give an oral submission. With his meticulous record keeping he shouldn't need to. I caught the last couple of minutes or so of the big ticket on the weekend, which was a recording of a live panel about drugs in sport (not sure of the exact topic but it seemed a WADA bashing exercise) hosted by Tracey Holmes. Dank was on the panel. I'm not an ABC basher but it infuriates me my tax dollars are going to a program that legitimizes this lunatic.

And all this from the captain and most respected player at the club. such class

Exactly. What is so frustrating is that now continues to be a story when it should have been dead and buried. Thw afl should have made clear when wada found tbem guilry that should all legal appeals fail he will have to lose the medal. The angst would be done and dusted. instead we have to put up with dross from efc apologists like slobbo

Id rather merret

Just read it over a coffee. The fact im not surprised how woeful it is says it all about slobbos journalistix skills. Had to laugh though. The headline of the article says AFL COMPELLED TO STRIP BROWNLOW. Yet the article argues the opposite, concluding with a statement that jab must keep it. Also had to laugh at the front page treatement and two page spread repletw with what must be the hun's 20th timeline (they should do a timeline of their timelunes). Thw hun will milk this to the last drop. The quote from a mr hird in london that a great injustice had occurred and that the players were innocent also made mw chuckle. Who is mr hord in london - a cabbie?

I'm not in to serials. Mainly because i watch enough footy and sport that more TV would be too much but also because i lose track of episodes and i'm not on one of the streaming services. But one i did watch all of was The Wire when it was on ABC2 a few years back (though to my dismay they didn't show the final series and i ended up buying it on DVD). Simply brilliant. The best thing i have ever seen on TV and the closest TV experience to reading a novel i have had. As it was on free to air it was old school tension having to wait a week for the next episode, but i think that really added to the experience. Interestingly it was set in Baltimore and two of its main characters (both American) were played by English theater actors

Agree. As you say both the Melk and Hibberd strenthen our list consdierabley. Perhaps not at the top end but as is often said it it is about a club's bottom 6 as much as their top six. Which is one reason i think the Hawks fell away in the last part of the season amd will likley struggle next yeay (i hope). They also really help the age profile of the list giving us a couple more quality mid twenty players (with 100 odd AFL games and 7-8 pre seasons under their bel) to help even out the list.