Maldonboy38

BACK Jetta OMac Hibberd H-BACK Lever Frost Hunt CENTRE Brayshaw Oliver Lewis H-FWD Melksham TMac Petracca FORWARD Hannan Hogan Garlett FOLL Gawn Viney Jones INT Salem Pederson Tyson Neal-Bullen Vince could easily replace Salem, but see him not starting 22 at this stage. This excercise shows up one missing link - our forward line is still one player short of being able to trouble the best opposition defences. IF Weideman develops that will solve the issue. TMac goes back to defence and Frost moves to the bench or Casey.

The Hawks have shown a very high standard of excllence and resilience since 2004, starting when Ian Dicker was in charge. I can see them coping with this mess easily. I am actually tipping them for the top 8 next year, even though their list is ful of holes and experience now. The club is an outstanding model of a modern, functional business and sport entity. Kennett is a difficult one. An abrasive bully by nature, but my goodness he gets the job done. However, with Fagan and other culture-managers gone, there is no one left to man manage the abrasive people like Kennett and Clarkson. From memory they even got rid of their chaplain who was culturally influential. Watch this space.

What did we learn? 1. Team football beats EVERYTHING. 2. Systematic honesty. Look how Hardwick made such huge changes to his coaching and communication style. He is part of a system that embraces honesty and people feel safe being honest. Even Dustin Martin is able to open up within the confines of the club. Amazing effort. 3. Minimise injuries. This continues to be a huge issue for us and we MUST sort it out asap. 4. A central, mature, respected person to be the middle man between playing list, footy department, and the Board/CEO. Brian Cook at Geelong, Neil Balme at the Tiges. The central 2 people in the Tiges premiership win are Hardwick and Balme.

I am more than happy to keep Omac, and can't wait to see what he becomes in 2018. I reckon he will surprise many. From other DL posters this year, he is very highly rated internally and the coaching staff are sold on him. Anyone is tradable, and if the right trade came up we would be mad not to consider. But it would have to be a VERY good trade to persuade me.

53 for me. Still waiting...

As much as I love Watts' strengths, this is just nowhere near reality. Goodes did some annoying things, but was a match-winning superstar with few flaws in his game. He could play forward, back, ruck, midfield and possibly his most important trait; he was a finisher, a goal kicker. Watts COULD be this, but his lacks something (I don't know what) that holds him back from his full potential.

I simply enjoy good footy. I can stroll down to the local ground and watch U16, or stay and watch the local seniors. Other times I go back "home" to Maldon and watch them play. The Tiges played brilliant footy. Like many others, I am sick to the death of the yellow and black references, the man love for Martin, the centre-staging of Mick Molloy etc... But the footy Richmond played yesterday is what makes me watch a game. Fierce, free, skilled. I am a huge fan of the Crows footy in 2017. I loved watching them. But their highly skilled running game was torn to pieces by Richmond's team football. And that is what I like about our current coaching emphasis. We are not building on the back of Hogan, Gawn, Petracca, Oliver etc... We are building a squad of players who are soldiers filling a post. There are 22 posts that make up a single team, that is being instructed to play from the contest out. Coach one year into his leadership. A number of application glitches to work out, and some young players to mature, but our emphasis on team footy is a major step in the right directoon. Can't wait to see what we produce in 2018.

Disagree. Like Adelaide in 97/98, it shows what team football can do. A great TEAM performace won it today.

Houli absolutely robbed of the Norm Smith. Dusty played well in the 2nd half, but only just.

Amazing team football from the Tiges. And their off-field personnel changes are well proven. A massive 10/10 for all involved. Gotta feel for Hardwick. Resilience and Perseverance. Now it is our turn.

No way does Martin get the Norm Smith medal. Houli by a mile. The Crows just so fumbly and overawed. I don't get the unrating of Lever. For the most part he has been onenof their better players.

Not too far away from my 39-36 score prediction for half time. Still too close to call the game but Tiges pressure did lift in the 2nd quarter. Houli and Sloane have been very, very good. I still see the Crows winning from here.

The game will be tight, hard and fierce up to half time, something like 36 - 39 points. Lots of smashing in bodies, big tackles, no space and turnovers from pressure.After that, either the skill of the Crows of the forward pressure of the Tigers will win out. One of the teams to win by about 40 points. I still reckon that Adelaide is a 4 goal better side than any other team, including Richmond who I have rated all year. Adelaide by something like 40 points. Norm Smith medal. M Crouch First goal. J Caddy

The more (less?) we hear about the Lever deal it sounds very positive for the Dees, but trying to get my head around how we make it happen is starting to make my heaed hurt. If we could score one of a player like Hall, Saad, Martin from GC, Gaff from WCE, or Hartlett from PA, then the tade period would be a huge success. Seeing JW in Adelaide just doesn't sit too well with me. At the end of 2015 I was done with him and wanted him gone, only to see the very best of him in 2016. 2017 we saw his best AND worst in the same game. As mentioned above our kicking skills are below par and one of our dire needs is to reduce opposition scores from our unforced turnovers. Jack is easily the best kick in our team. If we give him over now, our pathetic turnover rate becomes potantially worse. I am torn between keep or trade.

I always enjoy Brownlow night, but this year's has been over-produced, really flat, and cringe-worthy . I just cannot understand the goal of the year and mark of the year. Not to include either of Dangerfield's left footer from the boundary at full speed or Oliver's banana is ridiculous. But Daniher for Mark of the year when Howe took pnenof the best ever - contrived and Essendon-centric. No respect or time given to Melbourne, Port Adelaide or Gold coast. Pathetic. And Pendlebury on 15 votes?!?! I really rate this bloke and love his footy, but he did not have that good of a year.

I love Cothcin's attack on the ball that maximises the physical impact on his opponent. Footy at its best. I hope he does not get rubbed out but the current climate is harsh on these types of incidents.

How good are the Crows to watch! After the highly defensive footy of the past decade, their ability to score is as good as any team in my memory. Positive, attacking, skilful, daring footy. And that forward line is overflowing with talent. As for the Cats, if you take out Dangerwood, and some cameos from Motlop and Menegola, that was a very poor game of footy. I picked them to miss the finals this year so they have surprised me, but their list looks full of holes and B grade talent.

I am a fan, and reckon Goodwin/Roos mantra of "from the contest out" might rapidly improve his game. I dont have the sense of him being a turnover king. But he is definitely not a primary target.

I was a huge fan. Never really famous and often not given the kudos he deserved. Great post.

And you get the sense that the Swans players weren't just tolerating another fan story, that they were genuinely interested and inspired by both the boys. The whole club went way out of their way to make it all happen. Sometimes culture is difficult to explain - not when you read a story like that. Great sgory and well done to the Swans.

Connors has said this not because it is TRUE. He has said it because the more he says it, the more likely these players will recieve higher offers, and his 30 pieces of silver might become 31 or 32. It is propoganda designed for LEVERage.

None of these departures come as a surprise, but the Trengove departure evokes a horrible sadness in me. A very, very good young footballer drafted to a total mess of a club, handed the captaincy by a nightmare of a coach, then mongrelled by a smallish long term injury. Footy clubs need good quality people and he is a ripper. I know his best is now only state standard, so I hope he finds a good footy life in the SANFL or VFL or some premium city/country league. All the best to a true Melbourne person whose best footy made me a fan. Thanks for your service, Jack.

Aaah, the yearly Jack Watts reflections, timed so perfectly to coincide with sneezing, red eyes, and the joys of Spring! Trading him has to be founded upon one principle - do we improve by doing it? At the momet, we have a very good list, even if the existing potential remains for the most part unproven. What are our gaps and which gaps could Jack help fill? Need no 1. Key defender. No Need no 2. 2nd large forward. No Skillful outside deliverer. Yes. So if we can get a skillful outside deliverer who has Jack's amazing kicking skills and awareness, who is ready to go now, is more consistent and a natural competitor, and has 5+ years experience, we should consider trading him. But there aren't any that are presenting, and we can't spend 5 years developing one. So keep him until some current MFC player overtakes him, or a player from another team becomes available who could improve his place on our list.

O my goodness, NO, and a thousand times NO. There are not too many genuine spuds around even though we have had our fair share of recruits who never made it. But this bloke is really nowhere near AFL standard. He seems to burn it up at training and preseason but cannot apply it in the heat of AFL footy. No.

I reckon we have to give him consideration, but he is not our first priority. Recruitung him is definitely behind Lever and Whitfield. His best is amazing but he has fallen a long way off his best.