poita

In: Pedersen, Brayshaw Out: Pick from Melksham, Neal-Bullen, Fritsch, Vince, Jetta (looks injured to me) Lever and Frost both lucky, but I think we need three talls against Hawthorn. One will go for Richmond.

Quality teams with good intercept marks will destroy us if we persist with this strategy. With Hogan roaming far and wide, and Pedersen and McDonald out of the team, who exactly are the big bodies that are crashing packs and creating opportunities for the crumbers? So far we have been lucky that Taylor & Henderson at Geelong, and then Tarrant at North have been missing. Arguably Majak Daw was our best forward on the weekend. Hawthorn and Richmond will be licking their lips if we try it against them. Rance might just set a new record for marks in a couple of weeks.

Good on Christian for turning things around, but it is a little disappointing that he had to be told these things at year end. It should have been apparent to him throughout the year that he wasn't fit enough and, if not, the coaches should have been all over him about it. Obviously injury and illness were a factor initially, but he has basically wasted the first four years of his career by just cruising along. He was very good on Saturday, particularly in the third quarter, so hopefully that level of effort becomes his new normal.

Clayton is a star. Yes, he was relatively quiet by his very high standards on Saturday, but 2 goals and 20 possessions against a hard tag is pretty handy for quiet day. We've had plenty of good players in the past 30 years, but most of them have had an enormous gap between their best and worst football. If Clayton can still contribute on his lesser days, as he did on Saturday, he will be the best of the bunch.

Lever has been a major disappointment to date. I never expected to get a quality lock down defender, because he was never that at Adelaide. But his poor positioning, his lack of workrate / intensity and his inability to help out Oscar at any stage have been a damning indictment. As I've said before, I suspect the club significantly understated the impact of Daniel Talia as a reliable, intelligent footballer on the game of Lever. Perhaps Jake needs Jordan Lewis to be telling what to do and where to be at all times, just as Luke Hodge is doing at Brisbane. Either way, Lever is underperforming himself, and he has thrown the entire defensive group out of sync. Something needs to change pronto, or we will be flogged this week.

God forbid Gawn or Hogan cops an injury at some point. We'll end up with Frost in the ruck and Kent at full forward.

Exclusive picture of Simon Goodwin picking this weeks team.

Our membership costs are already at the higher end of the spectrum, relative to the other Victorian clubs, all of which have won a premiership and played finals since we last did. The club better not jack up membership prices again next year to replace its gambling revenue. As for a decent social facility, that is so far overdue its beyond a joke. It should have happened in the early 2000s.

The more I think about this decision, the more I hate it. My 7 year old son has probably never seen a poker machine in his life, and certainly wouldn't know what to do with one. For most people they are out of sight and out of mind. I certainly can't see anybody forcing people to use them. On the other hand, sports betting is absolutely everywhere - at the football, on the TV, in the newspapers. My son certainly knows all about the odds, even though nobody in the family gambles. It is a far, far bigger problem, not least of all because it can be done any time, any where without anybody knowing. For the AFL community to decide that pokies are the work of the devil on one hand, but support the betting agencies on the other, is incredibly hypocritical. However this is fairly typical of an industry that chooses to go all in on certain causes and turn a blind eye to others, depending on the views of its financial backers.

Surely the club wouldn't be so stupid as to give this guy another contract without seeing him play at least six VFL games this season. Coming up to 4 years on AFL lists, and hasn't come close to playing AFL football in that time. McKenna is number 1 on the chopping block for me, just ahead of Vandenberg & Kennedy-Harris. Patience and loyalty are one thing, but you can't just keep blokes around forever if they aren't playing.

It's all about the midfield. If the ball is brought in with zero pressure as per the 2nd quarter against Geelong, Brown will kick 10. If we put pressure on the ball carrier and force them to kick under duress, we can make life very difficult for him. We also need to give Oscar some assistance by ensuring that our loose man, if we have one, is third man up in any contest Brown goes to.

Yet another example of a small minority of people not wanting to take responsibility for their actions and hence the majority who do the right thing and have some self control suffer.

Here's a tip for the simple minded who don't like this thread: don't read it, don't post in it, just ignore it. Carry on with your lives as though it never existed. Let those who want to talk about Jack Watts do so.

There are far too many Goodwin apologists on this thread. Allowing the opposition to have 1 or even 2 more extra players around the contest all day is just dumb, particularly given the lack of leg speed in the side. All it does is allow the opposition to win easy clearances, stream forward in number and pepper our defensive 50. Playing loose men in defence can be okay if those players are getting to contests and helping out their teammates. I assumed we paid a fortune for Lever for this purpose, not so he could be outmuscled by a first gamer. Having guys like Lewis and Wagner bludge around by themselves at the top of the 50 getting cheap kicks is pointless. When you are getting smashed in the clearances you need to put more players around the ball, not less. And you need to get players spreading to provide short options to maintain possession for a time, rather than just kicking down the line to a 1 on 3 contest forever.

1. I didn't watch, so didn't know we gave up a 7 goal lead (yet again) until after the game was finished. 2. We won. 3. From all reports we won't have to put up with Bugg and his appalling goal kicking for too much longer.

The free kick was borderline at best, but Lewis was unnecessarily clumsy and forceful given that he had Jetta in close support. The spray to the umpire was completely over the top and unacceptable by a senior player, and the 50m penalty was the right decision. For a leader, Lewis allows his temper to get the better of him far too often.

1. We had ten players who did absolutely nothing, and still gave Geelong a real contest. Some of those, including Lever, Salem & Jetta, could not have played worse if they had tried. 2. We didn't throw in the towel in the second half, and put ourselves in a position to win the game. 3. Simon Goodwin gets another reminder that he is not as smart as he thinks he is, and can not afford to play games at selection.

I love that so many people around here believe Goodwin when he says that both will be back in 6-8 weeks, when he has been less than honest (or at best, so very wrong) on this subject in the past. I have zero confidence that Viney will play this year, and am losing faith that we will see McDonald play any meaningful part in our season either. Goodwin should just say "we will take the time to get these injuries fixed, we don't know how long that will take, we will update you when we have something definite to tell you", rather than providing a running commentary and looking like a fool or worse when his deadlines are missed. That said, I do expect him to explain why McDonald played AFLX and JLT.

If stupidity was an Olympic sport, there are a number of employees of the MFC that would be strong favourites to bring home the gold medal in their respective weight divisions. Not only do we allow Jack Viney to destroy his foot by playing him early against all prevailing medical wisdom, we allow Tom McDonald to do the same thing six months later. At least Viney's problems stem from regular season matches - the club was stupid enough to let McDonald play a shitty exhibition game two months out from the season. Given the countless half truths and outright lies spoken by everyone from the coach down since Viney's initial injury, I can only assume that we will spend the next 23 weeks enduring the same regarding McDonald's problem. Time for the club to man up and admit to their errors of judgement and give honest timelines for the returns of both Jack and Tom. PS. Vandenberg - indefinite, McKenna - indefinite. So glad my membership dollars are paying for these two to not play football for the club.

Double post, sorry.

I would like to join.

I understand why we have moved on from Luna Park, but I thought yesterday was a little disappointing by comparison. There were really very few activities for kids, and no rides, and I thought they could have made better use of the players (Jordan Lewis was fantastic interacting with kids in the arts & crafts section, but far too many of them seemed to go missing for large parts of the morning. I get that it is not fun signing your name for two hours straight, but surely it is a small price to pay for making a few kids happy). My suggestions for next year: 1. Have a signing area for the big name players where you only need to line up once, rather having to line up ten different times. 2. More players helping out with the activities, engaging with the kids. It is a great way for the younger kids to become comfortable interacting with fans, in a relaxed environment. 3. More rides / skill activities. Even run a mini clinic or two. 4. Have a bit more space between activities, so that lines are not running into each other. PS. When you advertise something as being at the MCG, I was hoping it would actually be on the MCG.

Salem has been a big disappointment over the past couple of years. There is no doubt he has all the tools to be a very good player, but he needs to get his head right (like a number of his mates). Hopefully this is the year that it starts to happen for him.

McKenna, Vandenberg & Kent - what a waste of list space. Hopefully Tyson and Garlett are on track for the St Kilda game.

Thanks again for your great work getting this running each year. PC Demons is back again.