Macca

As you well know, the better players win you the games. The lesser-lights can't be expected to do the same. What we really need is for May & Lever to have stellar seasons next year. They need to dominate. If that happens the lesser-lights can shine. And if Petty comes on then the issue with the 2nd tall back is addressed. Oscar as pure back-up unless he improves a lot. But then there is our forward line hey? Even bigger problems at that end of the ground. I'm still holding out hope that we recruit a KPF. But we've heard very little.

'Sunlight' might end up having the same sort of glittering career as Sunline but it's a lot harder for sprinter types. She might step it up to 1400m as she gets older and there's a stack of Group races at that distance. It looks a match-race tomorrow with Santa Ana Lane but Sunlight will have the superior fitness and the weight advantage. At the weights it's hard to see anything else getting close. I like BM's choice. Both of them are running in The Everest in 2 weeks time so the Gilgai is an ideal tune-up.

This year we were almost completely unstructured. Right across the board And every one of our good players was either down on form, well down on form, or in some cases injured. Gawn was good but he lacked influence. Oliver had a B- season. Etc etc Our senior players and better players let us down. Again.

There's no way he would be on that sort of money DJ. Not even close in my opinion. A couple of days on and ... I prefer the Occam's Razor explanation. Frost probably just wanted to switch clubs and as for the contract offer we gave him or what he might have been demanding, I'm not sure it's absolutely relevent if he'd made up his mind to go. Frawley, Dunn, Howe, Sylvia (RIP), Stef Martin and a few others were looking for the door (or were getting the nudge) so we did the deals. The loss of Frost shouldn't be looked at in isolation either. It's the sum of all the parts after all the trading and after the draft where we can then make our evaluations. I just hope the club doesn't leave itself too short up forward and too short down back. And we need an injection of pace & skill through the middle and down back. We really need some dash out of defence and none of the likely candidates possess a great deal of pace. Where we've played quick in the past (2018 mainly) is when we've moved the ball quickly with decent skills. Hopefully that aspect returns as well. Time will tell.

We've gone from the 3 Amigo's to the Infamous 5. Or something like that. Wadda - Caulfield Correspondent Binman - Morphettville Marauder DZ - Femington Forecaster Gorgoroth - Randwick Rampager Macca - Hong Kong Wizard

'Enticing Star' has been retired immediately and will not run in the Everest. Must be something wrong with the horse but regardless, the mare will now go to the breeding barn. It was Chris Waller's slot so that probably now opens the door for Nature Strip.

It could be that 'Specky' has often only ever been said and not written in print. That's why it doesn't look right. But 'Specky' it is (I think) A bit like 'Jack Hill the blind miner could see that' ... better said than written.

Some great racing coming up on Saturday both at Randwick & Flemington At Flemington Santa Ana Lane & Sunlight go at each other in the Gilgai Stakes - Santa Ana Lane will no doubt swoop late but will the horse catch Sunlight? In the Turnbull Stakes Mystic Journey, Mr Quickie & maybe Rostropovich should fight out the finish. Hartnell will no doubt be thereabouts And the winner of The Bart Cummings is ballot exempt for the Melbourne Cup. Wolfe, Surprise Baby & King Of Leogrance could easily fill out the first 3 placegetters Up at Randwick an old favourite of ADATR in Osborne Bulls is running in the Premiere Stakes Lets see if we can boot home Wadda's tip. The Epsom Hcp looks a great race. There are a stack of lightweight chances including Kolding & Rock but Te Akau Shark & Dreamforce can get into the finish. And in The Metropolitan it's a wide open affair with any number of chances. The winner might end up gaining entry to the Caulfield Cup and/or the Melbourne Cup in terms of qualifying. It's not a ballot exempt race but perhaps it should be or will be down the track (if RV & RNSW can call a truce and start co-operating with each other) Happy punting folks!

Great to have you on board Gorg And we've got 3 of the 4 best bets (so far) being for the place ... my mind is ticking over again. Another idea forthcoming? ha ha. But seriously, backing the horse for the place does give you 3 chances in a race. It's probably a smarter way of putting together a multi and if we've got 5 participants, even a $1.50 chance adds 50% to the dividend as the final leg. And it's all about getting the collect. #ThePlaceCard Saturday preview to follow

I said he MAY NOT be on big money at Hawthorn Face it, you know SFA like the rest of us

Got any proof? Real proof Even if it is true so what? We're all after money

Frost may not be on big coin at Hawthorn. Could be an average amount for all we know. He might have just wanted to switch clubs regardless of whether we made him an offet or not.

2nd time ... I never said YOU hated him Others do because of the way they talk about him. And that's where my commenrs were directed And for what it's worth I'm not emotionally invested in Frost either. Just the circumstances with the move.

Well you did call him 'Tickets' You are assuming that Frost might have overpriced himself because he's got too high an opinion of himself yeah? Maybe he just wanted out and overpriced himself so as to serve a purpose. And he might have overpriced himself because the club gave him a low-ball offer My guess is that he just wants a new start. And he's got what he wanted by the looks of it. And we'll almost certainly never know the full story.

The other thing is that if Goodwin was always going to let Frost go and at the same time have a mind to keep Oscar why would he continually play Frost instead of Oscar? In the 2nd half of the season especially where he could have got some more games into Oscar. It wouldn't be to keep Frost's value up surely. As it stands, we'll be lucky to get a 3rd round pick for Frost anyway.

My comment about the hate was never directed at you ET. Not sure why you took it personally. When we post we talk to all. And within those posts certain comments are directed at certain individuals. See above.

As for the 'Frost-Ball' observation What a churlish and childish comment coming from the senior coach. Effectively an insult to one of your own players. That's how Frost would have seen it. Plus, one of his teammates berates him for a full 5 minutes during a game. All under the coaches eye. The feeble-minded get amused by it all but Goodwin is only in a position of strength because he's got 3 years to go on his contract. Delivers 5 wins and he's crackin' gags about one of his own players. It's time he grew up.

Well if he was offered a contract that wasn't worth much and another club had offered him a great deal more what is he supposed to do? What would you do? The offer from Hawthorn didn't necessarily come late in the season either. A lot of assumptions being made here and the reality is that all things are possible. My guess is that the Hawks have good relationships with lots of player managers and then act accordingly. The hate for Frost is over the top too. The bloke is trying his best and is probably still a better player than at least half our list. And he gets on the park and the coach keeps putting him into the 22. Or did so previously. I wish him well.

Oscar can become a better player as stated previously. See a few posts above. Whether that happens or not is up to Oscar. And Petty might come on But it's our forward line where the bigger problems lie. Unless we fix that we won't progress far up the ladder I was concerned about our forward line going into the season and was one of the few here that opened up the possibility that we might regress down to 10 wins because of that. But 5 wins? No one picked that. How people can be happy with T-Mac & Weideman as our KPF's really surprises me. I'm not sold on either. Whether we can somehow find an alternative is a big ask too. Maybe later on in the draft but I still reckon we might make a trade for a tall KPF from elsewhere as a 3rd option. There's Joel Smith (maybe) but he can't get on the park.

Best Bet Saturday Flemington Race 2 No.1 Debt Agent $2.35 (Place) Having it's first start in Australia after winning 5 x Group 1 races in Singapore. Running very good times as well. The horse was bred out of NZ and was originally called 'Debt Collector'

Hope your right 55 but I also said that we'd be lucky to win 8 games if we 'Don't' add some real talent Like most, I'm hoping that at the end of trade period, free agency period and the draft that we have added that real talent to the list Not sure we'll snag Elliot but if were to secure him along with Tomlinson, Langdon, a traded in talent or 2 and a couple of decent draftee prospects, we're back in the game. We might even trade out a player who has currency. I haven't heard anything but nothing would surprise me as Goodwin has to get the team winning again to keep the wolves at bay. The biggest issue I see is our forward line. Marking power and goal kicking ability. Our mids need to start hitting the scoreboard too. All that happens and I wouldn't rule out out an 11 win season. 1 or 2 more wins and we're back in the finals. But I see next year as one where we hopefully consolidate ourselves again (after recruiting well in the off-season) And then launch from there. But all things are possible in footy. You just never know.

You'd probably get 100-1 on that exact scoreline! What's the bet it comes off? (100-1 of course)

2 points on offer this week in the tipping comp. Highlight games include the Rams @ Seattle (Friday), Packers @ Dallas and the Browns @ 49ers (MNF) Leaderboard in the Tipping Comp 5 - Dee Zephyr, Go the Biff 4 - JV7, Macca 3 - Dappa Dan 2 - DeeSpencer, Layzie, Clintosaurus, Gorgoroth

We've got about another 20 players in the same category. C & D graders dominate the list But you'd never know it reading these threads. I know the thread is about Frost but we get way too focused on 1 player here. Frost really isn't the problem. The list has gone backwards at a rate of knots and the coaching the same. If we don't get a big influx of real talent we'll be lucky to win 8 games next year. Forget 2018 - that ship has sailed. Hibberd is as slow as a wet week, Jetta is just about done, Salem has regressed, May is injury prone and Lever the same. Hore looks ok. Looks good on paper only

Yes, that too BM but Oscar needs some muscle in the contest. Reality is that he went out of the side and became back-up accordingly. And you do need back--up with key backs. But he'll need to improve his game (and body shape) in the off-season and then force his way into the side and stay there. Right now, that's a big ask. But all things are possible and I wish him well. And here's the thing, back-up players eventually get replaced by those who have a chance of becoming good, established players. And if the team doesn't get back into finals then a greater number of list changes eventuates. I'm sure most know all that but for now, Oscar will remain. Beyond 2020, who knows?