Good Times Grimes

I think I would enjoy beating the Hawks more than I enjoyed our win at Mordor last year...and I enjoyed that A LOT.

Another thing that absolutely shits me is when Eddie acts like he's a good guy by gifting us the QB home game. What an arrogant [censored] that guy is.

Daw would be more likely to make a contribution in 2016 than King would, but I'd rather continue developing King and take an extra pick to the draft instead of picking up Daw. We've done well to avoid negative media attention for the past 12 months, and I don't think it's worth risking changing that by taking a punt on a mediocre footballer waiting for the result of a rape trial.

I'm loving all of these recent thread bumps. Classic.

I wonder which names we'll be laughing about from this team in 5 years time. Hopefully not more than 70%, as is the case with the OP...

I reckon he's GAWN, and it won't be his choice.

Not thrilled with the fixture, but in past years I've been quite optimistic about it and we've served up big plates of [censored], so I'll try not to get too upset. Last year you had to have 13 wins to make finals, so if that's to be our goal... Realistically we should beat: Essendon, Gold Coast x 2, Brisbane, Carlton [5 wins] We should also realistically win 50% of: GWS, North, Collingwood x 2, Richmond, St Kilda x 2, Bulldogs, Port Adelaide x 2, Adelaide [5.5 wins] That leaves us needing 2.5 more wins, which could come from matches in the list above, or against sides I think we're more than likely to lose to: Hawthorn x 2, Sydney, Fremantle, WC, Geelong. Finals are definitely a legitimate possibility for us for the first time in a long time, but we'll require a good run with injuries and a bit of luck. We can't afford to drop any matches to "easybeat" teams like Essendon and Carlton like we did last year.

KC were big winners last night to take a commanding 2-0 series lead. They're off to NY for the next three games, where I think the Mets will need to win at least the first two to stand a chance.

This is the season for getting ahead of ourselves!

Hopefully we get to play both of the Queensland teams twice, which should equal four wins and two easily accessible games for you.

We should create a poll to see who Demonlanders miss most.

I really think that Todd Viney's impact on the turnaround of this club cannot be understated.

Agree with the sentiment of this, but Hogan was acquired when our club was still very, very [censored] up. Schwab was still pulling the strings, Neeld was the head coach, we had no defined recruiting director, and Roos wasn't even a twinkle in PJ's eye.

I think that Michie is gone, as if he were to be re-signed it would likely have been announced at the same time as Harmes/Hunt.

It looks like we're in for a very good series. As long as it's close, I'll be happy. The Royals wouldn't have liked having to use Chris Young for 3 innings last night, but at least they managed to get a win out of it.

But he also kicked 40 goals. Small forwards can survive on low possessions if they make the ones that they do get count.

First pitch the Royals face is an inside the park home-run. Craziness.

I may well be wrong, but I thought that Victorian rookies could only be on the RL for 2 years and had to either be promoted or delisted at the end of that time.

Perhaps, but the timing seems strange. The list lodgement is on Friday and this decision seems to have been left until the completion of the trade period. I think it's most likely that the club wanted to see how the trade period played out and how many spots we had on the list before offering Harmes a new contract. Complete speculation, though.

I agree. The timing and length of the contract indicates that the club may not rate him as highly as some of us do. Hopefully he can continue to improve in 2016 and earn an extension, as I really like him.

Well deserved. So this leaves only Hunt and possibly Michie as OOC?

I listed the two main KPFs for each top 8 team. Dawes was one of ours in 2015. Successful teams have KPFs that kick lots of goals. Dawes doesn't kick enough goals. You said it wasn't his role to kick goals. Same reason as above. Pedersen was not one of our two KPFs in 2015. He averaged more goals and marks than Dawes though. He also did this without ever playing as the primary target in the forward line. Also for the record, in the two games that Dawes played as our primary KPF, he kicked a total of 0 goals and averaged 7.5 disposals and 2 marks. I'm not going to bet that Dawes won't be in our round one lineup, but he wouldn't be in MY round one lineup. I can say with a reasonable degree of certainty that he won't be a KPF in our next finals squad, which is something that we have publicly stated we're aiming for in 2016. So, hopefully, Dunn or Frost seize an opportunity to play as a KPF in 2016, they can kick some goals, and we'll both be happy.

This has been the case for the past few years...can't see why it would be any different in 2016. Either way, Jaded, if you're missing half the season it's definitely worth investing in an account, which would include the NAB Cup.