durango

At round 9 last year the 8 inculded West Coast and Richmond who dropped out for Essendon and GWS. I believe this year some teams may make way for Port and WB if they get on a roll. This weeks matches will be critical for Port annd WB in their quest to make the final 8, if Port beats Geelong at Geelong they may become the team to dropout?

As a club we have gone past the throwing young players to the wolves prematurely and I believe the senior coach would listen to Mark Williams' assessment whether he is ready or not at the appropriate time.

Also Hawthorn lost in 2012 and won in 2013.

He went missing when the team was under pressure and takes the wrong option on lots of occassions, I have the opinion he was and is an ordinary player who is just an opportunist and rarely creates goals from nothing.

The teams of the 1955-1960 expected to win when they played, much like 2021-2022 at this stage but they have a long way to go to get success like the 1955-1960's. The MFC in those years had an advantage playing on the MCG in the finals with no co-tenants, the players today are professional and the senior coach has a group of assistant coaches and professional medical and fitness staff. In 1955-1960 the coach had a doctor who was a volunteer and had no background in sports science, a seconds coach and a group of players upto 50+ to coach with no fitness staff. So comparing the 1955-1960 is very difficult but supporters turned up expecting the team to win no matter who was the opposition.

We may not be able to match the Saints in money but with Melksham and Hibberd likely to retire or be delisted there must be some good coin there and if we win the flag he will be coming to a team with prospects of another flag before he retires.

The players drive the attitude when players are confidant they can win in any situation the veil of negativity is lifted. The match against Geelong at Geelong in 2021 was a lifting point that being 44 points down is not impossible to win and then in the grand final that belief when 19 points down rose and guess what they won.

You realise his girl friend is Danny Frawley's daughter and lives in Melbourne?

I have always believed that coaches are their worst enemy after a bad loss because after the game they should not address the players unitl they have thought things thru even waiting until monday to address the elephant in the room. It is too easy to say something outlandish after a bad defeat even during a gameyou have to be composed to get a message across to fatigued minds and bodies.

He was a great coach who listened to others but his foul mouth ruined his chances to be a great senior coach when he applied for the MFC senior coaching job they rejected him because of it and selected John Northey who was successful but never could win the ultimate prize because he was more inspiring with his speeches and lack the knowledge of tactics.

Slug Jordan also won a premiership in the reserves in 1984 and was runs up in 1985 with a large group of players who became the 1987 MFC team.

The only thing that Neeld got right was as he said 'we are going to be the hardest team to play against' which was premature but we are now that team.

At least he marked it and did not fumble and then it would have been a point.

Brayshaw has become a backline weapon a la Hodge for Hawthorn and Bowey, Hunt have become runners whilst Salem has been injured. I would play Salem on the wing instead of Jordan. Yes Rivers form has been up and down but the pre-season was interupted by injury and has just been pitchforked back into side because our backline depth was tested this year.

They still managed to win 3 premierships recently and 5 others since they moved there home games to the G. They increased the size of the oval in 2012/2013 to the same size as Marvel stadium 159m x 124m yet complain they cannot play well at Marvel, so if the increase the size to 160m x 141m its 1 meter shorter which means half a meter shorter from the center to the goal line and 17meters less width. The stand has been there since 1915 which is a heritage that the club cannot and should not destroy, seem we destroy history for development in all suburbs and replace them with new building without any character.

Only Bob Johnson hardly ever rucked played mainly in the forward pocket, because there were other work horse ruckmen like Don Cordner, Denis Cordner, Terry Gleeson and Len Mann. I saw these players in their prime and Gawn or Stynes would wipe the floor with them due to his height and mobility.

I manage to see some of the MFC greatest players and as ruckmen Gawn and Stynes are streets ahead of the others and we only realise how lucky we are after they retire from the game but Gawn has set a very high bar for our next generation of ruckmen to follow.

I was at MFC when Ray Manley was and on game day he was always listening to the races to the get result letting players know which horse won and how much it paid. He was a lazy person who got the job and just wallowed in the job giving his offsider all he work he did not want to do, these are facts I saw first hand. I don't blame Cranky because there were a number of leads given to Ray and he along with Jim Durnan ignored.

I have watched the replay and ANB kicking and disposal was poor he had at least 4 getable shots at goal. Some on this site have criticised J Smith for his handball to Lynch yet when other players have a poor handall like May in the 3rd quarter resulting in a Riewoldt goal nothing was said.

I am amazed that the medical people did not sub out Dunstan after the knock as a pre-caution if nothing else and allow Bedford to play?

His play on the weekend was Salem like in the Grand Final where he attacked the football and kicked a goal as well as defended his territory.

When new rules are brought in the umpires tend to go overboard with their interpretation and the AFL then should to step in and get this rule right because it is making a farce of the game when a umpire abuse is the reason a team wins games when a player throws his head back or raise his arm without any verbal comments. Players are human beings who get frustrated when the lose a contest, so long as players don't rush up to the umpire in a threatening manner or verbally it should be ok.

If Gil has created this rule then his legacy to our great game is a joke where the punchline is S??t

The one thing I hate about modern football are statisticians running the resting of players after they kick a goal and not seeing that this player is hot and should be left on the field to take advantage of their form not sitting on the pine. In the GF I believe that Burgess decided to take the reins of the player movement and guess what! The statisticians only look at GPS numbers not watching the play and getting a feel for the games ebb and flow. When I was at the MFC I told a statistician there is only 1 stat that counts and thats the result on the scoreboard but he argued with me because he had the football IQ of a gnat since he did not understand the game only numbers.

I noticed that a week ago Rosman was being touted as one player to be delisted at the end of the year. About 12 months ago I made a observation that he would be a better player as a CHB with ball in front of him and finally the coaches have made the move due to the depletion of our defencive stocks at the AFL level. He is 194 cm which is close to 6 foot 4 and half inches in the old money, he was lost on the wing where he did not know where to run or man up due to his lack of football in the past 4 years. I hope they leave him there for the rest of the season to grow into the footballer he could become. For those who saw the 1970's and 1980's Gary Hardeman only blossomed when played at CHB this could be Rosman?