Good Times Grimes

He's not as good at "bringing the ball to ground". Maybe Dawes could use his renowned leadership skills to teach Jack the wonders of gravity.

Gunston doesn't ruck either.

GWS did the right thing by not trading him. They set the precedent that Brisbane failed to set in 2013 that seems to have destroyed their culture.

He was played before he was ready and had little support from senior players, he was dominated by the opposition, he put too much pressure on himself to perform and when he didn't he beat himself up. After his debut, he said to Neeld something along the lines of "I feel like I've just let the entire Greek community down". Talk about putting yourself under too much unnecessary pressure. Most of the Greek community probably CGAF that he was playing. He was always trying to live up to the lofty expectations that he, the media and supporters placed on him, and it's obvious that he really struggled when he didn't perform the way he wanted. Footy is a confidence game, and when your confidence is low it takes a lot to build it up. If you can't build it up, you won't succeed.

The Western Conference race is going to be really exciting to watch in the second half, with only six points separating fifth and eleventh. I think the teams that are currently in the top 8 will be there at the end of the season, but the order will shuffle around a lot over the next couple of months.

The issue seems to be that people are arguing different things. One camp is saying that if he can get back to his early career form, he'll be best 22. This is a fact that I don't think anyone disputes. The other camp is saying that it's unlikely that he'll be able to recover sufficiently to reproduce this form. There is a good chance that this opinion will prove to be correct. The circular debate is coming from people responding to posts like this: With posts like this: This creates the argument that goes: "Trengove is best 22 if fit" "Trengove will never be fit" "But if he is fit he'll be best 22" "But he won't ever be fit" "But if he is fit he'll be best 22" "But he won't be" "But he might be" "It's unlikely" "Sure, it's no guarantee, but if he is fit he's best 22" "Trengove will never be fit" etc, etc, etc. I'm sure that everybody is hoping that the second group is wrong, including members of the second group. The best thing that we can do is support Trengove in his comeback bid as it would be huge for the MFC.

Weideman has given himself the goal of playing round one, which I think is fantastic, but I can't see him being selected if all of Hogan/Frost/Dawes/Pedersen are available. On the other hand, I think that there is plenty of room in the side for all of Petracca, Kennedy and Kent, and don't think it will be a case of one or the other. Trengove won't be ready from what I've heard. I believe that he's aiming for a mid-March return, and he will need to find some form at Casey before being thrown into the firsts.

You need to lift your veil of negativity.

If the injury is fixed and he gets his foot back to 100%, what reason is there that he can't be? Sure, he'll need to build up his form and it won't be an immediate resurrection, but he can absolutely get back to his best if his foot heals up.

That's enough out of you. '67 was great. Or so I've heard...

Why are we still talking about this? As was often the case pre-Roos, we recruited the wrong player. It doesn't matter where he was "ranked" by experts or who wanted who, we drafted Toumpas and it was ultimately the wrong decision. Being a hindsight hero on these threads has absolutely no benefit to anyone. Our drafting and recruiting over the past few off-seasons seems to be much improved as we have as solid a group of youngsters on our list as I can remember. Let's look forward, not back. If we're lucky, maybe Wines will choose to come "home" at the end of the season.

How do Habs fans change a lightbulb? They don't. They just sit around in the dark talking about how good the old one was.

What a nothing story. He didn't do anything wrong, the club didn't do anything wrong, and nothing bad happened. A classic example of the media trying to make something out of absolutely nothing. Also for the record: He wasn't "detained" in the DRC, he was denied entry while a visa misunderstanding was resolved. Very different things.

*This is not a recording*

I think the AFL needs to find a way to develop a fairer fixture whereby each club plays every other club an equal number of times. Whether that means a 17 game season or introducing conferences, I'm not sure, but I think Eddie's finals proposition for the most part is pretty ridiculous.

He's one of the few things that Essendon have to be excited about this season. I don't envy the pressure that he'll be under at all.

And we think the AFL's bad...

He looks to have put on a bit of size in the upper body since the combine. I still prefer Oliver.

They definitely have a type. Saad next? Then maybe Cousins to come in as VC?

Players suspended by WADA are supposed to be unpaid, though I'm sure clubs will find a way to pay them.

Might as well delist him now, he's not worth the risk! Same goes for Petracca!

Makes sense. Thanks for clarifying.

This article on the AFL site about Jake Carlisle suggests that due to his ban his contract will last a year longer than it initially would have. Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but is this the case with all the banned 34? i.e. with Melksham's contract not begin until next season?

A midfield of Gawn-Brayshaw-Petracca-Oliver will give opponents nightmares in a few years. I'm happy with our decision.

The Dawes/Pedersen debate has been going on for the better part of two years, and while Pedersen is no gun, I am yet to see a strong argument as to why Dawes deserves a game more than him, other than that he's able to bring the ball to ground (unable to hold an overhead mark). Stuie and others post about supposed "#PedoMyths" going around, yet the argument that most make is not that Pedersen is a star, rather, he offers more on the field than Dawes. From watching both of them play, I know which of the two I prefer, and I'm yet to see any proof (statistical or otherwise) that Dawes offers more than Pedersen. It seems that what Team Gravity and Team Pedersen can agree upon is that neither of the two are likely to be part of our future success, and the sooner Weideman/Hulett/King/Frost come on, the better off the MFC will be.