Good Times Grimes

I like it for seeing the reactions of players as they get drafted and hearing their first interviews in the AFL. After about pick 10 though, it gets pretty boring.

Dawes has been okay. Not terrific by any means. Hopefully he'll be able to get on the park for most of next year alongside Clark and Hogan and THEN maybe he will be terrific.

I don't understand why some people want Dawes as captain or vice captain. Those that are in favour of this, could you please explain? From what I've seen, he's rarely able to get on the field, and when he does he doesn't impact the game very much. Sure, he's intelligent and well-spoken, but a captain needs to be more than that, in my opinion.

Drastic improvement is quite unrealistic, if you ask me. I do agree that he won't re-sign unless there are good signs next year, though. Frawley is a player that we absolutely cannot afford to lose.

Not to turn this into a Bailey thread, but we were in finals contention up until the last couple of weeks of 2010...he did have us improving. Not quite sure where the decline began, but for the record, Jurrah's issues became publicized after Bailey had left.

Yes, but if he's going to be playing he might as well be playing seniors. He's just as likely to get injured playing for Casey.

Why? If he can get fit enough, there's no point playing him in the reserves. He is in the top 3 players at the club, he'll slot right back into the seniors once healthy.

You'd sure hope so...

That's Melbourne footy!

Fighting is an interesting debate. Take a read of Brian Burke's recent article in support of fighting: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/2013/10/30/pro-fighting-column/3320245/ There's good points to be made on either side, but ultimately I think it should be removed from the game.

Jeremy Howe remains, but Troy Davis has already been delisted. I assume the other player you're referring to, though, is Tom McDonald.

Pretty disgusting news; any sort of domestic abuse is terrible, but it's even worse when athletes do it because they are role models to so many people. I hope he is punished appropriately. On a side note, my Maple Leafs are killing it so far

I seem to remember hearing this but can't remember the details.

Is Lucas Cook the biggest of the MFC's recent recruiting blunders?

The way we have been doing has been with poor coaching, leadership and drafting. No matter who we pick, we won't be "doing things the way we have been doing", because the development of all our new recruits is in good hands.

But after the trade and free agency period doesn't. You'd think they would want to give the new coach the best possible chance to make his own team.

Perhaps the club was looking for an excuse to fire him in November?

I'm glad you chose to use the Red Sox as a cause for hope, when you could just as easily have used the Chicago Cubs as cause for despair.

I think she means he left the club headquarters, not left the club permanently.

Some interesting stats there, but it still doesn't change my opinion on what we should do with our late picks. I want to see us use our picks to give kids a shot, especially now that we have some decent leadership and coaching at the club. If we were to take Dalziell you know what you're getting...an average midfielder-- I think we've already had enough of those come and go in the last few seasons. Let's take a punt on a kid who hasn't yet been giving a chance in the AFL and see if we're lucky enough to strike gold.

...or prepare for the preseason. This is the strangest timing for a sacking that I can remember.

I would be very surprised if they sacked Watters without already having a replacement lined up. We will soon see, I suppose.

I agree. He was consistently in the best in the VFL, yet we gave spuds like Rodan chance after chance ahead of him. Magner deserved to play much more often than he did in 2013. I'm not saying that he didn't deserve to be delisted; I was never his biggest fan and I don't think he has what it takes to make it in the AFL, but he was unfairly treated by Neeld/Craig in 2013 and for that I feel sorry for him. 52 disposals should get you a game in the worst midfield of all time...that is an inexcusable non-selection in my opinion.

I assume this is sarcasm? Hard to tell on the internet... Very strange time to fire a coach; I'd be very interested to hear the whole story.

Not always, rpfc. It is possible to strike gold with a late pick in the draft, whereas with a discarded player you pretty much know what you're getting. A few examples of good players picked after pick 40: Taylor Walker (pick 75 in 2007) Tom McDonald (pick 53 in 2010) Nick Duigan (pick 70 in 2010) Dane Swan (pick 58 in 2001) Scott Burns (pick 90 in 1992) James Hird (pick 79 in 1990) Corey Enright (pick 47 in 1999) Cameron Bruce (pick 64 in 1999) Andrew Swallow (pick 43 in 2005) Brent Harvey (pick 46 in 1995) Justin Westhoff (pick 71 in 2006) Robbie Gray (pick 55 in 2006) Sam Fisher (pick 55 in 2003) Adam Goodes (pick 43 in 1997) Ryan O'Keefe (pick 56 in 1999) Daniel Cross (pick 56 in 2000) Chris Grant (pick 105 in 1989) Personally, I'd rather take a punt on a speculative teenager on the slim chance that we could find something special, rather than go for someone like Dalziell.