Jaded No More

Nor do they have the luxury of having a home ground advantage so good they can bank 10 wins a season without breaking a sweat. I might be wrong, but I can't see where enough improvement will come from to win a flag.

To be honest I rarely ever eat at the footy. I am generally too engrossed in the game to eat. Half time snacks are usually all I bring. Also the idea of lining up for ages to pay $20 for a soggy hot dog or under-salted chips offends me. I was excited when they opened Royal Stacks. Tried it once. It was terrible! If they had good food and I didn't need to line up for ages, I would definitely consider indulging every now and then. I do love the idea of a cheese platter, which is what normally gets consumed when we are watching interstate games on TV... but it seems like a lot of work, especially when it's very cold.

I also don't get it. The Tigers will need a time machine for Dusty, Reiwoldt and Cotchin if they are to win the flag.

Congratulations! Parenting is a lot like being a Melbourne supporter... sometimes good, sometimes terrible and always riddled with anxiety. Edit: If his name isn't Max, Clayton or Christian I will be very disappointed

I mean the Dog's only pre-season form was beating North, so how much can you take from that? Richmond will certainly finish higher on the ladder than North. I am confident we all agree on that one.

Turner is no less experienced than Darcy though, so why can't he play on him? I assume Petty will take Naughton and if they throw Lobb forward, which they may not be able to anyway because they will need to somehow cover both Gawn and Grundy, then we can send Gawn back to cover him. McDonald is only a break in case of emergency solution if we lose a player MID GAME. I don't think we will start him in defence, because it will hurt us far more than bringing in another defender to cover May. We saw what happened to our structure when TMac went down last year, and we obviously don't believe JVR is ready to play that role yet. If he was, you could argue that TMac could swing back, but going into a game without Fritta and then throwing TMac down back is conceding we can't win enough midfield ball to win the game. And we absolutely can.

I guess if you add the cost of public transport / petrol / parking, plus food, it's well over $100 But of course you don't have to buy food or drinks, you can bring them with you, which we have been doing for a long time (mainly because food at the ground is [censored] and overpriced). I've never gone to a game with the intention of drinking either, so that helps. I go to the footy to watch the game, not to drink... although there were many years there where being drunk at the game would have really helped 😁

Tomlinson is my least preferred option too. I watched him get destroyed by some kid versus St Kilda and it made me unwell. Having said that, he is experienced and is also a big body. We might think that with McVee and Laurie we can't bring in another virtually untried kid in Turner (half a game last year is hardly experience to hang your hat on). Schache has a point to prove and probably knows the Dog's forward set up better than most. Can he cut it as a defender? Who knows. Look you can't replace May with a second rate player. He is arguably the best defender in the game. We just need to make do until he cherry ripe, because we can go without him for a few weeks now, but we can't afford for him to break down in finals. He is far far too valuable.

It would be an incredibly negative attitude to go into round 1 with Tmac thrown into the backline. We have options, and to rob our forwardline of Tmac, who's absence last season showed us how pivotal he is to our setup, is just defeatist. Turner, Tomlinson and Sasche can all come in and play down back, pushing Petty to the FB role, which we know he can do well. We can also push Gawn back behind play, which I suggest we might do if we need to stem momentum, which still leaves this guy named Grundy in the ruck. I hear he is not bad.

I think this is a big one. Unless you are like me, and never ever buy food or drinks at the venue, and have a pre paid membership that gets your free entry to all H&A games, footy is a very expensive outing. Add to that the price of petrol/parking/public transport, and you are looking at $100 for 2 people at a minimum. That's money a lot of people just don't have to spare right now. Unless you are a hardcore fan, like all of us on Demonland, most people will absolutely pick and choose which games to go to given the cost of living. Whereas they might have gone to 10 games a season, they might only go to 5 or 6 and they'll make those games the ones they are really keen to watch, rather than every game on the schedule.

And yet most commentators don't rate him. He is a gun!

Their biggest strength for the last decade has been their midfield. It is what they have based their entire game plan on. So while they have improved both ends of the ground in the off season, their midfield has gone backwards, having lost Dunkley and Hunter. Will be interesting to see how that changes their game style. Bont will have to play a lot more midfield minutes now, and they will need Treloar to stay healthy. Otherwise it's fairly slim pickings in terms of pure class. McRae and Libba are accumulators, but they don't hurt you like the other two do.

Everyone is over here death riding Freo. Meantime I am death riding Port, so Kosi goes to Kochi

The really unfortunate thing is that we have 3 very hard games to start the season, so this is a very unideal time to be missing 4 key players in our best 22. If this was happening rounds 7-9 where we play North, Gold Coast and Hawks you'd be far less worried, but starting the season 3-0 vs 0-3 is make or break. Hopefully Viney and Fritta will play next week. Can't see us pushing Salem straight in without decent match preparation and honestly, if we risk May and he blows up the calf and misses half the season, I would be furious. Calf injuries + old age = bad news.

Old man injury that one. Hibbo and Jones both had heaps of trouble with it. Definitely not worth risking. We can’t win a flag without him so he has to be managed conservatively. Just sucks that we have 3 very hard games to start the season.

I’ll be at the G. Like I always am. Looking forward to it.

No Viney opens up more midfield time for Kosi, ANB and maybe even Chandler so it makes sense that we have an opening forward especially without Fritta. I am much more concerned about covering May than the other 3 outs, because the only options are Tomlinson and Turner. One is not in good form and the other is an infant.

Really surprised by Laurie. I’m guessing with Viney out they might just play Kosi and Trac purely through the midfield, and with Fritta out it will make way for both Chandler and Laurie to play forward. I would be surprised if Laurie is the sub. Hate to see a debut done that way, although tactical sub now means he is probably a certainty to get a run.

Nothing quite like the wheels falling off before round 1 has even started. This is what being a Melbourne supporter should feel like! \

NRL has just gone to a 14 day mandatory time off following a concussion. Finally catching up to the AFL.

At least we've learnt our lesson. Don't burn your playing list in Round 1.

Turner will be next in line surely. Petty to FB, Turner CHB and Lever third man up. Will Hibbo get a call up as he can play "taller" than he actually is? Either way, nobody is May. It's like trying to replace Oliver. Can't be done.

Well we are doomed

Curse you Norm Smith / Jack Watts I need someone to blame for this!

Me too. It can't just be a simple "someone stepped on his foot". You don't miss that much footy from a bruise. Must be something more sinister. A hot spot they are trying hard to manage or a hairline fracture. Viney sounds like some bruising/swelling maybe a low grade PCL?