Ouch!

...... well if his powers were in his hairyness... I hope that he never shaves the backs of his hands!

Holy crap people are going off over nothing... again! He 'Misled' the AFL over his betting account last year, he didn't use it, he let someone else use it. FFS you would think that the AFL are so bloody pristine in the way they do business, with WCE drug scandal, the 'Tanking' and Essendon Drug issues, the AFL has painted themselves in a pathetic light in terms of how they have handled any of this. What Melksham did last year in his suspended year, and how he has played for us in the first 4 weeks have absolutely no correlation. He hasn't been great so far, and TBH there is a good chance he might get dropped for another player, but for all of the Chicken Littles out there pecking away at their keyboards, this is no more likely to cause the sky to fall than Hogan's indiscretion last week. AFL has to fine him a large amount purely due to it being a betting infringement. Nothing more to see here...

Sam Docherty was the fourth...

How is it any different than a concussion test? In fact in some ways it is worse because it's a hell of a lot more obvious, and negligent as you say.... that said it's the same for Richmond and Martin for that matter,

Sorry that's what I was wondering... imagine if Cripps gets taken out with a bump like the one Varcoe hit Dalhaus with in rnd 1. In of itself the hit might not have caused an injury but with the existing fracture it turns into a more serious injury. How can the medical report play any serious role in the MRP decision making process... the MRP should be judging the act,not the consequence of the act if they are to ever be seen to be consistent.

I'd like to see what the MRP does if Cripps plays and someone does more dmg to the hairline fracture in his jaw... can't exactly use the medical report again can they?

people also need to remember that the medical outcome plays a part too. Vince got 'Wright?' who actually had to go off for a concussion test. I think Varcoe hit Dalhaus hard enough off the line with a bump that constituted a week. Hogan and Lewis whilst stupid in their actions (as in not in play) saw both players bounce up pretty quickly. Cripps stayed down longer more for Viney's push than Lewis's action 1 week at most for both...

Not expecting to win, but confident that we are a significantly different team that shouldn't be scarred by hoodoos any more. Certainly I won't be surprised if we beat the Saints, and whilst I don't like the cliche' of it being an 8pt game, it's could be a pretty significant one to win or lose first up.

I actually like the way both the Saints and the Dees have gone about turning around the fortunes of their respective clubs, and lists. Not confident going into Round 1, but I would nominate the Saints and Dees to be the two clubs outside of the eight would most likely push up into the eight in 2017. I hate using the word, but I think we have a greater ceiling and potential to push for the flag, but potential means nothing without the hard work and team cohesiveness. Again I would not be suprised if the Dees got a top 4 stop if they have a great year, but I can't see the Saints pushing higher than 5th....

Interested to see if you hold the same argument for why Jetta wasn't included? If it was supposed to be the best 22 or 24 from our fit players, why was he excluded from both the team and the subsequent scrutiny?

Good point, and if this is just a reminder and a refocusing attempt on Watts by the coaches, or even if it is about not meeting a KPI it should remain under the category of player management,? The subsequent noise has almost made it into a player welfare issue!

I also think you are reading too much into what I think was a pretty poor interview from Tom Mac, and I think got caught out by the journalists. Again I have no idea whether there is truth to the story, but I think the words got ahead of him, and he spent most of the interview trying to backpedal on what he knew was about to be misinterpretted. Don't think he expected any questions regarding Watts!

I will add another thing, and I suspect others feel similarly. Regardless of whether it's smoke or fire, most of us are not happy to see negative press so soon with Watts after what was an excellent season in '16. If there is substance to the rumour then people will direct this frustration at Jack, if it's nothing but a media beat up, we will likely be pi$$ed at the media and those spreading it about the impact that this potentially could have on Watt's season or the positive wave / momentum the club has coming into the 2017 season. I am also a little concerned that if Goodwin is trying to use a rocket to put under a senior player that they could have found a better target... IDK

I've just listened to that interview with Tom Mac, Whilst he speaks well, he got blindsided by the Watts questions and struggled to get his way out of the line of fire. I suspect even *IF* anything is there about Watts, then it's minor and is being blown up.. It would be good to have Goody or Macca talk to the media soon and explain it...

I'm not saying the hit was good or justifying the penalty, but Downie pinged the the hamstring just prior to the point of contact, and got herself into an awkward position when the hit came, I thought she was reaching for the hammy at the time or impact, quite possibly making her more vulnerable as a result.

Have to agree with you Poita. Am a huge fan of Viney and Jones, but I can't see any reason why Viney couldn't have been named Vice Captain. It still elevates Viney above the remainder of the leadership group, and it identifies him as the captain in waiting. You have to wonder whether the playing group actually voted Viney in as the captain, but the club and coach have vetoed the choice unless done as co-captains with Jones. I Feel for Jones...

You can't make it a straight out and out fight for the number 1 pick. The bottom team in most years is pretty ordinary, to put them in a race with the 13th ranked team in the comp would not be fair. I could only see it working with a lottery system being implemented for the top 6 places in the draft, and based on tickets in that lottery. I would also like to see the conferences being locked down in terms of the free agency arrangements/restrictions, but we'll never see that occur!!

I think its pretty clear what the incentives are for the top 2 tiers after 17 rounds... Top 6 playing off for a top 4 place, but guaranteed top 6 place. Middle 6 playing for top 2 position (effectively 7th and 8th) It's the bottom one that is intriguing, ... because they can't just be playing for pride. Surely that if they introduce this, then they will also have to bring in in a lottery system to determine the top 6 picks in the draft.... i.e the win/loss/percentage in the bottom 6 determines a number of 'bonus' lottery tickets that a side would get contributing to the number of tickets assigned to you as a club based on ladder position after round 17. This would need to be balanced to still ensure the bottom club has the greatest chance of getting the number one draft, but playing off for wins in the last 5 rounds would give enough of an incentive to try and snag a higher draft pick than you would normally be entitled to based on ladder position in the 'lottery draw'

Surely Stretch in the 22 before Kent, play Vince at HFF and Stretch on the wing, also can't see Weideman and Pederson together in the 22. For me Harmes or maybe Bugg into the 22, and Pederson as the Emergency.

Whilst I don't disagree with this, it is only through circumstance... Salem being out of the side, not having Melksham able to play that Wagner got a solid crack as a rookie. This is not to disparage what was a good first season for him. I think Grimes could have been as effective as Howe in the same position last year but Wagner managed to hold him off for a good part of the season. With that being said Wagner has better defensive pressure than Howe has ever had! I think Dunn will be more valuable to the pies this year than Howe. If Buckley thinks that Howe will be left to run free as a third man up, then I think they will get caught out pretty quickly.

I can see what you are trying to say, but I still think still a simplistic perspective. It's not as if one side has to win or lose, both sides can win OR lose, and I think even if we have Kennedy for depth for a couple of years, we got salary relief and a couple of years into better prospects than Howe was ever going to be for us. I'd argue that regardless of whether they need Howe, we still did ok

Our plan was to get the best outcome for a player that had already nominated that he wanted to leave the club. We traded out Howe and Toumpas for Kennedy, Mahoney was likely just making the most out of a poor situation. Toumpas and Kennedy were both players that had not lived up to their potential, Howe was a player that we couldn't find a position on the ground for... he wanted to be a forward even at Collingwood they put him into defence. We traded in depth for a player with a great excitement reel.

Not sure if that's quite right either. There are many ways this trade could have assisted us, I have no doubt we would have received significant relief in salaries by letting Howe go, Kennedy would be on significantly less money. A player that offers our list depth without necessarily being seen as a best 22 player may have been the aim of the club when trading in Kennedy. MFC needs to have a group of players that can play their role when called on by the club when form or injury dictate it.

Don't players get rotated through the rehab group occasionally when it's their turn to be on a 'reduced load' ? Judging from BM's list updates it didn't sound like the coaches were concerned with where Kent is currently at in the pre season.

I think the fact that Dylan is taller and can play as a key defender is the only thing that he has over his brother. If Jack was a similar height to Dylan I have no doubt that he would still be on the list, and along with TMac would have been seen as a key defensive pillar in the team Jack's disposal of the footy was the questionable part of his game, which would have been less of an issue if he was playing in a key defensive post. I feel sorry that he was here through the bad times and as things turn he is not an active part of the club, but his contribution to the club along with Trenners at such a dark time will not be forgotten.