Good Times Grimes

But haven't you heard about #PedoMyths?????

Are the Dawes jokes missing the mark?

Is this a sign that we've finally turned the corner?

John Scott with 2 goals and named the All-Star MVP. Awesome.

If a player is out of contract and they nominate a club of choice to be traded to, it's often the case that the deal is either even or favours the destination club. I'm sure that Mahoney knows what he's doing and won't pay overs if negotiations eventuate.

I believe Essendon are allowed to promote 5 of their six rookies (they have two category B rookies) as well as adding up to 10 players. PA will promote 2 rookies, leaving them one player short of Essendon. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/essendon/essendon-guilty-verdict-afl-announces-measures-to-allow-bombers-to-play-in-2016/news-story/2353a944791a6c619a30348875538a31

Essendon is also allowed to promote their entire rookie list.

Kent. Really hoping that he can stay injury free.

?

Based on his interview on the AFL site there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of passion there either.

Joel Smith effectively compensates the loss of Melksham, numbers wise.

If I were him I'd pick Port over getting pumped by 100pts every week. He's had enough losses like that in his career; surely he'll want a bit of success.

Here we go...

Hopefully he's on a heavily front-ended contract that's due to pay him $1m+ in 2016 and very little for the final three years

This is a really good read by John Scott, the enforcer that was voted into the NHL All Star game as a joke by fans only to have the NHL try and interfere.

We kicked 225 goals for the season last year, which I don't think will be too hard to improve on. I reckon the midfield will be responsible for increasing their totals this season, which is something Vince said in a recent interview. Also look for Kent & Petracca to contribute ~20 each if they can stay healthy. If Dawes plays 22 games, he should be good for 3 goals. Hogan-50, Garlett-40, Kent-20, Petracca-20, Watts-15, Frost-15, Vince-15, Gawn-15, Jones-10, Brayshaw-10, Tyson-10, Pedersen-10= 240 goals, being relatively conservative. I'm sure there will be some players that don't reach the total that I predict, but there will be others that exceed it, and there are 31 other players on the list that I haven't accounted for to contribute as well.

Look at Hawthorn's progression prior to their 2008 Premiership. There was gradual improvement each year with four more wins than the year before, and they became premiers very quickly. In 2005 they finished 14th with only 5 wins. 2006, they were 11th with 9 wins. 2007, 5th with 13 wins 2008, 2nd with 17 wins and a Premiership. Compare that to us since Roos signed on: 2014 we finished 17th and had 4 wins 2015 we finished 13th with 7 wins 2016??? It seems that there is a genuine sense of excitement at the club, and I'm more confident than ever that we've got some exciting times ahead, starting with contending for the eight in 2016!

Colin Young

The AFL needs to introduce an offer-sheet system like there is in the NHL, whereby the club with which the player signs has to provide compensation in line with the salary that they agree to pay them. For example, McCarthy signs with Fremantle for $500k/season, Fremantle has to give GWS it's first round pick for the next two years. See here for a better explanation.

There's another club in WA that might be interested.

While I agree that psych testing should be able to figure out which players are most at risk of doing this sort of thing, I think that him signing a new two-year contract last season is a pretty clear indication that he wanted to be at GWS. Something must have happened for him to have had this change of heart so suddenly.

It'll probably be Sam Frost this year, though I see him in the backline long-term.