Grapeviney

Never looked in doubt, Macca! As you say, Man U have some serious issues and the heat is right up on Jose. I celebrated the end of footy season by watching a soccer triple-header on Saturday night, the Hammers v Man U televised game, then Spurs at Huddersfield followed by the Chelsea-Liverpool clash. Hazard is on fire at the minute but the last minute equaliser from Sturridge was a beauty, and worth a watch if you haven't already seen it.

When Jesse first burst on to the scene with that great game under lights against the Tigers, we told ourselves that the only way we would keep him long-term was to win games - to become a good side that played finals and was a premiership contender. It seems counter-intuitive that after enduring the tail end of the miserable years and our slow but steady rise up the ladder, he's going to jump ship to another basket-case of a club just as we're coming good and about to fulfil our promise to him. I trust the club to make the best of the situation, but I'll be sorry to see him go if that's what transpires. Jesse was one of the first pieces of the puzzle to be put in place for the rebuild, and it feels somewhat surreal to think that we might end up doing it all without him.

Only for a handful of pathological supporters. The rest of us are celebrating a wildly successful season.

Anyone else been following the extraordinary events in Adelaide the past couple of days? Woodville West Torrens were about 8 goals up against North Adelaide in their Preliminary Final over the weekend. North Adelaide came home with a wet sail and eventually won the game by 5 points. Problem was, they had 19 men on the field for some of that time, during which they scored 1.2 - enough to change the outcome of the game. The 19th player was taken off the ground before Woodville had a chance to call for a head count, which would have seen North Adelaide lose part or all of their score. Woodville then appealed to the tribunal, which last night slapped North Adelaide with a massive fine and docked them 8 premiership points for next season. But the score stands and North Adelaide will play in the GF regardless. The one-man tribunal decided that while the most appropriate outcome would be to replay the game, he didn't have the power to make that ruling. He said: "I'm of the view that as this was not deliberate, a reversal of the result is too savage a penalty." It's a staggering outcome and if I was a Woodville supporter I would be absolutely filthy. It shouldn't matter whether it was accidental or deliberate, North Adelaide had an unfair advantage and it helped them win the game. The SANFL have a lot to answer for here as they could have adjudicated the matter and made the proper ruling, but instead palmed it off to the tribunal. Can you imagine if we lost this weekend's match under the same circumstances? I would burn down AFL House...

Thanks to the good folk at Carlton Draft, Lord Nev has finally been recognised as back pocket royalty.

I'm starting to think Ablett deserves his own separate thread here, just to acknowledge how often Viney beats him up. The Gary Ablett Can't Stop Crying Thread .

These are the teams of my childhood, too, Macca, and while I've been always a Spurs supporter, I did have a little dalliance with Leeds back in the Gordon Strachan days, Gary Speed etc. Tottenham will be thereabouts again this year but can't see us challenging for the premiership - we're just a step below the likes of City and Liverpool in the talent stakes. I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that the owner's 'no big spending' policy will have us treading water as a top 6 side whose main aim each year is to qualify for CL. It's funny, I was watching the Spurs - Watford game this morning and Watford were pressing hard with Tottenham 1-0 ahead. At times like that, I would normally pray to the sporting gods to not let the other team score, but I made a conscious decision to let it pass, thinking to myself that I need to save my prayers for Friday night against the Cats. Sure enough, we conceded 2 in about 5 minutes!

Why would Freo offer him 7 x $1.5mill when you think he's worth less than half that at Melbourne? You can't pretend he's a superstar at one club and an average player at the other. There's 31 pages of drivel in this thread, and only a handful of posters who really understand the substantive issue, which is how - and if - we can accommodate the 3 KPFs. Trading Hogan to resolve that issue, if it is one, is a fair way down the track right now. At this stage, I'm with @binman and think it can work, especially on the bigger grounds.

Mate, if I answer those questions, Jack won’t trust me to drive past him in the future. I just can’t risk the relationship we have. Sorry.

Just saw Jack so I’ve got a bit of an update. I was driving and he was walking so I didn’t get a chance to speak to him. But in the split second that I drove past him, he didn’t seem to be in any discomfort. He wasn’t even looking at his feet. Will try to write more later.

Remember the ridiculous hype over NicNat's so-called 'point of the century'? Well what about this ripping goal by Robbie against Richmond at the 1.50min mark of this tribute video? He's out of position in a marking contest in the centre of the ground, effects the spoil and prevents a certain Tigers mark, keeps his feet and is first to the ball, sharks it over an opponent, streams through CHF and dobs it from outside 50m. As Bobby Skilton says in the commentary, it's football at its very best. NicNat sharked his ball from the ruck - look at where Robbie was in the contest, and how quickly he regains his balance. Amazing.

And special thanks to Elon Musk and his unusable toy submarine, which he insisted on taking to Thailand even though 8 of the boys were already out when he turned up. Musk said Thailand was a beautiful place - so beautiful, in fact, that he left his useless machine at the caves 'just in case someone needs it in the future.' What a guy! Thailand will be even more beautiful now! Sadly, his father passed away last night, Jane, not long after the rescue was completed. God (or Buddha) giveth, and God taketh away.

I love footy, but I've lost count of the number of times over the years that I wished we'd become a rifle club instead.

Yep, that is what’s meant. The ‘only’ is a reference to the absence of the fence, rather than a set of goalposts missing. The ground will only have goal and point posts, no fence.

People saying the backline is a shambles need to look at the broader context. Yes, it fell apart today, but we spent the first 4 weeks of the season adjusting to Lever, and the past 3 trying to cover his absence. That's half the season where the backline has been in a state of flux. Unless we can find the right mix back there soon, the Lever injury is going to prove very costly.

Which bit of 3 possessions is good?

Herald Sun article left out one crucial detail - the new Demonland headquarters will also be part of the development. As you can see from this artist's impression, it will be discretely located right next to the MFC admin building.

I know I'm in the minority here but I understand those wanting to protect the aesthetics of the park as it is - one of the G's most endearing features is that it's surrounded on 3 sides by parkland, which is unusual for a stadium of its size and significance. My favourite walk in the whole world is the short stroll from Richmond Station through Yarra Park to Gate 3 - the anticipation, the smells, and the trees, which change colour as the season progresses. Having said that, this development will be on the other side of the park, so I say: let the building commence! It would be a fantastic outcome for the club.

Hearing from extremely reliable sources that the MFC is looking to get out of the Darwin part of the NT deal. Club has no issue with the Alice component and was very happy with this year's 'Heart of the Nation' game. But the humidity of the Darwin match and the flow-on effects the following week is considered too high a price to pay. The AFL is apparently - finally - willing to schedule us for a bye after the Darwin match, but this would mean the Darwin game needs to be played earlier in the season (in these middle rounds), which ruins the whole concept of the Doug Nicholls / Heart of the Nation / Alice game, which both club and league are backing to the hilt. MFC and AFL have already met on the issue, with more talks to come.

I missed all of Costa Rica v Serbia last night, couldn't get on at all until after half-time and then it kept freezing up every few minutes. Pathetic from Optus. The real travesty is that it was all so predictable - the Optus server crapped its dacks on the final day of the EPL, and irate customers told them at the time to get their act together in time for the World Cup. SBS gave them the rights to however many games in return for the weekly EPL game, but really, the World Cup should be on the anti-siphoning list and all games available on free-to-air television. Edit: Just been announced that SBS will show all matches for the next 2 nights while Optus tries to sort it out. The Age is calling it the biggest farce in Australian sports broadcasting history.

We'll know soon enough, when St Kilda lock horns with Carlton in what will be the biggest and best of all the Friday night blockbusters this year. Seriously - Carlton are playing St Kilda on a Friday night in a few weeks... ? I'm tipping the Saints in a close one - St Kilda 1.7.13 d Carlton 1.3.9

Messi's penalty hit was poor, didn't look at all confident on the approach. Great effort from the Icelanders, but can't help but feel like we also deserved a point today. Agree with Fos that there was one camera angle which showed we got a touch on the ball on the French penalty, and agree with others that the hand-ball could easily have been a red. VAR aside, thought we played pretty well after a nervy start and should approach the remaining group games with confidence. Very jealous of you @Diamond_Jim - the Aussie support looked and sounded strong!!

No politics No religion No ideology No culture wars No personal abuse No exceptions

Unfortunately, these threads are becoming more trouble than their worth, and the powers that be have decreed that there’ll be no more politics, religion, ideology, or cultural wars on the general board, as it is with the footy board. Put down your weapons. Love thy neighbour. Be kind to one another.