Pates

There was very little contact, the afl.com.au report of the incident is just breaking things down. The umpires should able to remove a report after the incident, anyone would look at it and know it's fine.

The boys should be on an absolute mission tomorrow. Of course every match at this time of year is important but if we win by a large margin tomorrow we would just about solify our spot in the finals. A comfortable makes it likely, a close win still leaves the door ajar, and a loss........well let's not talk about that. Ultimately we have a lot to play for in EVERY contest, every minute tomorrow. They should be throwing themselves in as if this is our big chance to make a statement. We should be going into this match with a ferocious no mercy attitude, the type that we have endured on the other side.

When's she starting her channel 7 commentary roll? Sounds like she's got at least equal intelligence!

Reading write ups on Watts it wouldn't surprise me if he's back next week. Personally he is a best 22 player almost every day of the week, every now and then though he needs a kick up the bum. Frustrating that this is the case but he is who he is. Now we wait and see if current 22 is able to keep him at Casey for another week.

This pretty much sums it up for me, at times he has made some excellent points and whichever way you look at it him being called "Chimp" (even if was just a few days) is ridiculous. Theres no doubt there's a long way to go with making inroads on racism, at the end of the day as someone who has never (and extremely likely will never) experienced racism directed at me it's impossible for me to actually know how it feels. Career wise publicly confronting Eddie over his King Kong comment was a mistake, but with the knowledge that he was called Chimp at times it makes a lot more sense and he felt strongly enough to do it. All that aside though I don't think he does a good job of creating understanding, it feels like the way he gets his message across can alienate and come from a holier than thou perspective. He's a very different cat, on that I think everyone can agree. I was excited about him coming to Melbourne but I don't think his heart was ever in it with us, whether that was a disillusionment with the entire football world I don't know. His exit was messy and unprofessional on his part, the way we have managed Brayshaw through his concussions and the way he's come back proves that our medical staff know how to manage these situations. As for his comments on us not having an indigenous former player as a coach, I would welcome the addition of anyone that can impart useful knowledge onto our players whatever their background. It's a fair few years off but I reckon Nev Jetta would be a great defensive coach/mentor when he retires.

I can give him that, that Rockliff, Zorko, and Beams CAN be elite. But as you say the spread of talent and ability can't be questioned at this moment in time. We should (and I believe will) have winners everywhere on the ground. The duel I'm looking forward to is Gawny vs Martin. Stef has been good at Brisbane and Gawn's still a little patchy at times following his return. If Gawn gets on top though we will kill them, as long as our on ballers lower their eyes.

Would be a strange thing for you to be keeping count of but I know what you're getting at. Hogan has had the same thing happen to him at times as well. Watts when he's on does A LOT of work off the ball that goes unrecognised by both his teammates and fans. I'm backing him to be back for the Pies game.

I'd say our club has been very diplomatic during this process, Maxxy was a little cheeky but didn't outwardly say anything derogatory. And following the response from the umpires as well they've taken the, "ok we understand" stance but internally they must've been shaking their heads.

St Kilda still had something to play for, I think we've seen it enough when we were a steaming pile of......well you get the point. With teams down the bottom a fast start to us could kick in the "here we go again" attitude and the players start going through the motions.

I think that's what it comes down to, no matter what people seem to have the bar set higher for Watts. Admittedly him being dropped at this point in his career isn't a great look, but I feel like he's been made an example of (and not for the first time either). As I said before, this could prove to be perfect timing as he may be able to find his mojo should we make the finals (I'm not counting out chickens just yet!).

We start well, break their spirits and cruise to a win. We get a slow start, give them belief, and there'll be a lot of nervous Dees fans! Please can we just do it easy for once?

It's probably a bit of a mark of the bloke the even now he polarises people. But I do feel people are forgetting his contributions from this year and last year very quickly. He was EXCELLENT last year as the link up forward, he had his quiet patches but all in all it was a very consistent season. He was also the ice man a few times when we needed someone to seal/win the game. This year he had his issues in the preseason but for the most part was fine while Gawn was playing, he played his role as second ruck providing a contest, working extremely hard against bigger players and being able to put enough athletic pressure on them to make them accountable. It also clearly wore him out. He played the role out of necessity and did it admirably. He got injured I feel as a result on this heavy workload put on him, but when he came back he was poor. I'm not going to argue that, and to be honest his dropping is good timing. We've got Pederson who at times this year has played career best footy (last week his career best game), we were able to beat St Kilda without him and now we face the Lions at the G who we should account for. If he plays well enough (I'm not asking for BOG performance, but competitive and hard working) he comes in against the Pies and hopefully will be able to get some match fitness/form if we make the finals. I feel like this could be the best management for him, but I'm not concerned about trade talk with him. For me that time has past. As for the thoughts of him turning to water in the finals, I believe the same thing was said about Tom Boyd. How did that go last year?

Wow those were.....interesting!

I'm a bit uneasy about Jesse returning so quickly but at the end of the day we've got to trust our medical staff. If they say he's right then so be it. I'd just hate for him to re-injure his shoulder. I'm comfortable with us giving Viney a rest, he returned so quickly and proved pivotal against Port. Now that Jones is back he can have a rest and let Jones go back to inspiring the troops. My thoughts are that the bench will be: Brayshaw, Stretch, Hannan, Wagner Weids may be an emergency in case Hogan doesn't quite get up. But given they've named Hogan on the field you'd think he's playing. I'm not sure what to expect from him, he's had a terrible year personally and emotionally and he really hasn't been able to string some form together. But who knows, if he's able to get some match fitness and we make the finals, he could become he ace up our sleeve.

I'd love us to get off to a blistering start and just never stop. We're yet to truly destroy a team, closest we've come is the doggies game. It was pretty much a 4 quarter effort. If we bring that same game vs the Lions we should absolutely murder them. Conversely, we bring the attitude from the North Melbourne games we could have some nervous Dees fans. C'mon dees, bring your best and get the job done!

This is kinda what I thought. He's got talent, and as you say some X-Factor. What do we give up for him though? What will GC expect?

Stupid words from Adams to say they deserve to play finals. You deserve it when you've won enough games, not before and certainly not when you're as infinitely average as the Pies are. I feel like they're going to linger where they are for a while, maybe sneaking a finals spot at some point, but really there are a lot of teams ahead of them in terms of talent and ability. As for us, we just need to win our final H&A games and make sure we make it. Whoever we play doesn't bother me, sort it out when the time comes.

For me, our short term goal is to make the finals. What comes next is secondary. Therefor if he feels he's ok but the selection committee want to play our best available team then he plays. But if he's 50/50 according to the medico's then hold him for the Pies next week. Everything about this week is saying we should smash the crap out of the Lions, but take them lightly and we could have another North Melbourne situation.

This game is an opportunity to find out if the club has learned from past mistakes, we can't take Brisbane lightly. Having said that, if there's doubt on Jack's foot I'd give him the week off. I'd hate to think that we're doing damage to a future champion of our club. He's incredible, he's tough, we know all this. But he is (as far as we are aware) still human. Casey also had a win on the weekend so there are players that can come in for him.

I hoped he would be valuable but I didn't expect it to be in the role he's in, on that score he's been a real surprise packet. I was thinking he could be valuable rotating through the wing and half back line, but he's been bobbing up for goals quite regularly. We've managed to find multiple avenues to goal, that is massive for us.

But shouldn't come in, he let his teammates down with a stupid act and needs to earn his place back. He also played an extremely poor game as his last game so form is not with him. If he kills VFL this week he's a chance for the Pies, but I won't be happy if he's brought straight back in.

Wow just saw the video of it, when that gets 3 weeks and Wines's gets a fine you know the system needs an overhaul. 3 weeks for a push that makes very minimal contact with the neck and chin, regardless of any record, is a disgrace. Wines got all the luck and Redpath got none of it. Overhaul the system AFL, that has to be a priority in the off season.

Definitely Casey, he's not a walk up start. If he puts in a blinder for Casey he's a chance for Collingwood.

Interesting the commentators were saying he's slowing down and losing his touch, right before he put in one of the most important quarters of his time at Melbourne. If we make finals, he will be HUGELY important to us. He will be one of the players to get the young players to maintain their focus when the pressure is on.

Not at all, Clarry's young and has good hands. Jones is experienced, leads by example, and uses his foot a hell of a lot more. Jones won't be made redundant until he's ready to retire.