FarNorthernD

Congrats to Mitch. He has the lovely habit of making goals out of nothing. With his leap and ability to play at ground level he can be a difficult match up for the 5th or 6th defender. Will also add to our midfield depth. Good on him PS. I do like the way that even though it feels like Viney has been around forever and he is co-captain of the club when he comes out of contract at the end od 2020 he will still only be 26

It’s got me stuffed. How can the AFL be anti pokies while simultaneously vigorously embracing football betting? It seems so hypocritical. What am I missing?

Just to keep everyone updated as they hardly have mentioned it on the telecast, no they are not fixating on it at all, nup keeping it very quiet but Ablett/Danger/Selwood are all not playing. Watching the Cats play the thing we can take from this is that the Cats midfield don’t bat deep. They have been very, very average today

Of your list Ron I admit I’ve flip flopped around a bit. Melksham. I was told by an Essendon supporting friend that he was glad to get rid of him and that he only played one good game in five. His first few games were pretty bloody woeful and that’s what I thought of him too. He has since improved and so has my opinion of him. OMac. He wasn’t AFL quality, hardly VFL, when he first played. He is now. Stretch/ANB. I thought Stretch was going to be the better of the two. Now I’m not sure if he is in our top 24. Harmes. Let’s just say I thought being good mates with Hogan would be one of his big positives in any contract negotiations. Salem. Blind Freddy could see that Christian had all the goodies to make a very good footballer if he got his body right. Of your list though I can only really see Salem and, strangely, perhaps Harmes becoming ‘very good’ (A-) players. The others may have very good games on occasions but will be serviceable to good overall

It was great to hear Drunkn’s views on some of the lesser known players. He is obviously a big fan of Bayley Fritsch, Dion Johnstone and Tim Smith. Most of the media commentary obviously centres on the higher profile players; Petracca, Gawn, Viney, Jones etc. If you have Drunkn on again could you please ask him for his views on Maynard, King, J Smith and Filopovic. I always find it interesting to hear about the up and comers.

I agree. As someone who was firmly in the keep Jack Watts camp you watch that game on the weekend and realise that we now have a team where everyone will ‘go’ when it is their turn. It is easy to see why he was not considered a wanted player. Part of my thing was just hoping Jack would string together a whole season of his best games just to shut up all those who gave him such grief. Not to be unfortunately.

Im going to get this story wrong but I’m relatively sure the broad outlines are correct. The softest tribunal decision ever was when Colin Sylvia got suspended for something along the lines of ‘rough conduct’ when he didn’t actually physically come in contact with the opposition player. I believe the tribunal said he had ‘intent’. Some weeks later Sylvia had his jaw broken and the other bloke got off!!

And our ability to ‘respond’ seems to have no gender bias. The MFC girls were being talked up as flag favourites just a couple of weeks ago.

Yes going into games last year actually expecting to win just upped my blood pressure. Also explains why I have only just got over Rnd 23.

Not sure if anyone is making Brayshaw the new whipping boy. I believe the general consensus is that, given his injury history, we all wish him the best and hope he fulfils his potential but going on Saturday’s performance he may struggle to make the Rnd 1 side.

Nice win. Anyone else think the navy of our jumper was a really, really dark navy. Loved it.

Brayshaw and Stretch will need to improve if they want to be playing Rnd 1. We have depth these days

I really like this idea. Jesse has the ability to run all day and having such a big boy playing as a mid, even just for short periods, will upset the opposition in match ups both mid and forward. Most importantly though the guy has a really footy IQ and it wouldn’t surprise to find out that he could be bloody good around the ball. Jesse is a natural footballer

I had always assumed the football leadership group peer voted thing was a bit like voting for a school captain where the kids votes counted unless they didn’t pick who the principal wanted.

And then Brayshaw, O Mac and Harmes who, going by training reports and AFLX form, is set for a good year.

You would think most players would want at the start of their careers to finish as one club players. Most humans are loyal (long term, paid up MFC members being ‘elite’ examples) and would rather have success with the club that chose them as a 17 y.o. Of course it doesn’t always work out. Twelve of our 44 players started at different clubs meaning a tick over 70% are one clubbers. I have no idea what the league average is but 70% feels about right. Lets hope the core of our young group stay with us. Let’s face it there aren’t too many reasons to leave.

The Demons on top of the ladder and the Pies last. Happy days.

Coming into the 2019 season Viney and Wines will be just 24 y.o, Petracca 23 and Oliver 21. Seven years of fearsomeness to follow.

The girls are certainly being talked up as flag favourites. Whilst we have a dominant Voss-Black-Lappin midfield in Paxman-Pearce-O’Dea I think the recruiters have done an excellent job this year. On the weekend we had Kate Hore. 20 possessions (2nd highest on ground behind Paxman), 5 marks and 3 tackles. She only started playing footy last year after coming from a basketball background. Fair to say she has a lot of improvement left. Is just 23 y.o. Ashleigh Guest. Equal 5th highest possession winner for Melbourne with 17, 5 marks and a couple of tackles. Has come across from GWS after playing all seven games last year. Bianca Jakobsson. Also 17 possessions on the weekend including 7 marks and 3 tackles. In order to get Taylor Harris the Blues had to give something good away. In a complicated 4 way deal it would be fair to say we came out well on top giving up Deanna Berry for the former number 3 pick. Tegan Cunningham. Kicked two goals on the weekend on top of one in the opening round and three against the Pies in the practice match. Looks a natural forward with good hands, size, speed and athleticism. Would not surprise to find she wins the AFLW goal kicking this year. Was brought in with the number 22 pick from basketball and could be anything. Erin Hoare. Early days but the leagues tallest player hasn’t looked out of place in her two games so far. Apparently loves a contest and the ruck should only improve with time. Yet to debut is our first pick last year, Eden Zanker whilst Maddie Guerin played in round one. Both are only 18. In summary we have added at least four girls who are already in our top ten players. Not bad for a team that only missed the GF last year by percentage.

Shame. I was at one of my nieces wedding last year and, for a moment, found myself dancing with my sister. I said to her that it was just like playing in an intraclub match. She looked at me very blankly.

Report in the Sun has it that Erin Phillips will probably miss again this week whilst the AFL site is saying Paxman is also unlikely for us. They are leaving options open though saying if Paxman trains without discomfort on Thursday night then she is a chance to play. Whilst having key opposition players out hasn’t helped our men’s side (Rd 23 etc) the Women’s game relies far more on its stars to perform. Adelaide will be desperate to win this one to keep its flag defence alive. We need to win this before two games on the road including one in Alice and then a six day break.

I agree and like most of the team O’Dea was much better after half time. She also has about the purist of kicking actions in a comp not known for silky skills. I thought Mithen continued on from where she left off last year and Tegan Cunningham is a good pick up for the team. Hoare, the new ruck, did pretty well and should go even better when on smaller opponents. Another first gamer for the club, Jakobsson, was one of the best too. We have recruited well. Im not sure what Mel Hickey offers the team aside from tackling (9 for the game) but a midfielder she ain’t at this stage. Hopefully Paxman will come up next week as well as Mifsud. Honestly I was unsure if I could get fired up after the novelty factor of last year had worn off but for me the timing is perfect - it’s been 5 months since last seeing a red and blue jumper run around. And then when those cheating maggots paid GWS 3 free kicks directly in front of goal well i wasn’t worrying about the standard of the game!

The commentary at the start of the game said Mifsud was apparently concussed last week. The Crows will be hard after getting beaten tonight at home. Another loss and they can kiss their premiership defence goodbye. Hopefully Phillips will be missing for them again next week which would balance if Paxman misses for us.

If they had wanted to build a Saturday training session into the schedule I’m sure they could have organised it. They have worked the schedule around a public holiday this weekend, a travel day either end of this camp and they were able to re-schedule, without apparent issue, after the boot camp was called off at short notice. It has also been possible to schedule a Saturday Maroochydore training session in past years. Why not this year?

Sorry but it gives me flashbacks to the abomination that was our ‘welcome to colour television’ guernsey. Took us years to get rid of it. Give me that reversed, predominately red one any day