Jaded No More

I’m not a fan of Melksham, BUT when a player knows they are facing a rare and golden ticket to getting back into the side in the twilight of their career, they will do their outmost to play their best football. Melksham must have a lot of jealously and regret watching Hibbo with a premiership medal. He knows he will have to put a blinder in to stay in the side and he might just do that. He is a quality kick and has a great football brain. The knocks on him have always been his poor two way running. He knows now it’s not negotiable if he’s to press for a best 22 spot. Let’s see what he does.

Covid handled Jackson

I also had them earmarked as bottom 4. Right now only North can take the spoon off them, and I reckon North is more competitive than they are with a much much younger list. Embarrassing stuff.

When I saw their marquee player NicNat in round one, I knew their season was done before it began. He is carrying 15 extra kgs at a minimum. No idea why West Coast is letting their players get away with such poor fitness. It’s insane to me how many of them look so badly out of shape. Josh Kennedy at 86 years of age is just about the fittest player in their side.

We won’t know how much more impact Covid has had on the team until the bounce. More late outs could throw us into disarray as it’s not like we can plan for possible outs if we know someone is under an injury cloud. We also have no idea how much losing Kosi and ANB will impact the team. That’s two of our key pressure players forward of the centre. Hawks are fast and will play an open game. They will make mistakes but they can also hurt us on the counterattack if they move it quickly. There is no doubt this is a danger game.

So then they can go and get fudged. Is Jackson really gonna walk out on us and his premiership mates to get to the bottom of the ladder team? Come on.

Look I know they’ve had a rotten time with Covid and injuries but FFS their team is really not that bad right now. There is enough talent there to make that level of laziness inexcusable. There is absolutely no desire from anyone wearing the jumper to do anything.

Imagine if we lose to West Coast

Eagles are tanking and will try to get their dirty mitts on English or Jackson by low balling their club with the threat of the pre season draft. Luckily I can’t see Jackson going from the premiers to the wooden spooners.

FML

Trac and Oliver is a love story for the ages. It is why I don't worry about Oliver leaving. He would never want to play without his bestie.

You completely undersell Petty. He is as important and arguably in far better form than both Kosi and Jackson. He would be a perfect match up for Gunston who has a fun time destroying us. Petty is so firmly embedded in our starting 18, and we are a far better team with him playing, which is why he was rushed back from injury and pushed Tomlinson out of the team. I will go out on a limb and say that he will take over from May when May retires. He is that good!

Exactly. Stop worrying about who plays when. We are getting prime time slots and these are some of the best games of the H&A season. You can all sleep when you’re dead.

As long as we get no more nasty last minute changes I think this is not a bad outcome. If we stick to our system we will win.

Same. I know spouses who share a bed where one got Covid and the other didn’t.

Breaking news. To beat Melbourne you need to be better than Melbourne for 4 quarters.

No it's not because Bedford is in the starting 22 not sub. We will need to bring in another sub. Could be Melksham.

I take it pet memberships aren't included in numbers? Just got one for our new puppy. He is the size and colour of Jake Bowey. Hoping for same winner vibes.

I think the changes are pretty simple Out: Kosi In: Bedford - like for like Out: Smith In: Lever - 100% improvement Out: Sparrow In: Viney - and Dunstan stays in, so we are covered for clearances Out: Jackson In: Nobody. Bedford is elevated from the sub position and we get Weideman and Brown to share the extra ruck duties. Gawn has played as sole ruckman for years. Weideman can pinch hit and Brown can take the forward ruck contests. We are lucky that Hawks are playing a kid in the ruck, and that it will be very very wet. A great chance for Bedford to show he can really make his mark, and we won't miss Jackson as much. Dunstan had a good game and will get another run. I think he will do well in the wet weather. If Viney doesn't come up, I would bring in Melksham as he can run through the middle as well to relief the other rucks and we can rotate ANB and Trac at half forward as well. The other smokey would be Baker, and we can push JJ into the middle and get Baker to run the wing. But I rather not mess with the wings, as JJ has really settled into the role so I think this would be my least preferred option. No point bringing in Tmac or Majak when it's going to be wet and they will struggle. It will just wreck their confidence and won't do anything to help us win. Hawks are fast. We need the speed to keep up with them, not more tall timber.

What sort of food are you after? I can send you an entire list

I bet they don’t play Tmac and we ruck Weideman. Hawks have no ruckman and it’s gonna be so wet. We don’t need to go tall.

Well I ruined everything

At least our next game which is against the Saints is not for another 11 days

My best guess would be Kosi as I am fairly sure he lives with Jacko and Bedford. As someone noted above, considering Jackson and Kosi spent a lot of time in the off season not in Victoria (and in fact Jacko was in WA for a lot of it where Covid was still non existent), it makes sense they have caught it now. It is also no coincidence in my opinion that guys like Lever, Viney and Goodwin who all have kids, have caught it recently. Daycares and schools are mass spreaders. School back on Tuesday could explain why Goody has it.

I meant pre-season. You don't need to isolate or even test if you have had Covid 12 weeks prior to coming into contact with someone who has Covid.