poita

I'm not sure how some of the people on this website function in the real world. "Mummy, the mean man on the TV didn't say nice things about my football team". If you don't like the commentary, turn the sound down.

I'm not particularly a fan of Weideman, but I do like the three tall forwards. Whilst I would prefer Pedersen to play, I'd still rather Weideman play than neither. Amazing though that three weeks ago we played Hogan as the only tall - what an absolute debacle that selection meeting was. Neal-Bullen surely has to come out - he has had about five last chances now and he continues to regress. Viney plays if genuinely fit, otherwise Garlett given that he starred in his last game at the Gabba. I'm assuming Salem won't be right - if he is, maybe Hunt comes out. I still have grave concerns about the ability of Melksham, Fritsch and Hannan to play in the same side. We look much better with Garlett in the side, assuming his attitude is up to scratch.

Happy to see McDonald and Spargo in, although I sure hope the medical staff know what they are doing with McDonald's foot. The last thing we need is another Viney-esque debacle. Not sure why we have Hannan, Fritsch and Melksham in the same team, and I certainly wouldn't have brought Lewis back without a game at Casey given his recent poor performances. That said, Pedersen is the only one at Casey who is worthy of a call-up, and clearly he is out of favour. None of Garlett, Stretch or Wagner could feel too aggrieved by their omissions, although Neal-Bullen and Harmes should feel very lucky.

Yep, the only reason we lost on Tuesday was because of the umpires. ?

We have reserved seats on level 1 of the Southern Stand. There were large numbers of Richmond supporters in that area on Tuesday who had purchased seats on Ticketek. I don't like it, but I don't blame the club for selling seats when Melbourne supporters don't bother coming.

Certainly a far stronger and better balanced side this week, but there are still a few passengers on board (Melksham, Harmes, Neal-Bullen & Lever to name four). Hopefully those guys can make a contribution this week. I'm no Weideman fan, but clearly we needed another tall forward in the side. All I ask is that he consistently presents and crashes packs when he needs to. If he can give us 8 minutes or so of decent ruck work a quarter, that will be a bonus. If Sam doesn't show some appetite for the contest, I hope he is sent straight back to Casey and Pedersen is in for Essendon. The key to us winning is to play through Rance's opponent and make him accountable. If we just bomb the ball inside 50 and allow Rance to be third man up against Hogan and Weideman, we will be flogged. They are too good at moving the ball for us to stop them once they break from half back.

Tend to agree with this. There are just too many of these stories floating around to think that it is a happy camp at present. Hopefully there are just one or two dissidents who can quietly be ushered out the back door. If it is more widespread than one or two, then clearly there is a major problem that Jackson and Mahoney need to handle immediately.

Just so I'm clear on this, do we have 27 players set aside for this game? Or do we have a bunch of players carrying injuries that haven't been reported? In either case, the question is why? Other than annoying the supporters, what would you hope to achieve from it?

Lever is making Lumumba look like a committed, competent footballer at the moment. His lack of composure and awareness, together with his atrocious disposal, surely warrant a stint at Casey. If I didn't know better, I'd wonder if he'd actually played the game before at a decent level. Yes, our defence collectively has been woeful (with the glaring exception of Oscar McDonald), but Lever is the biggest culprit. As a loose man he has had zero impact and has offered zero support for his teammates; as a true defender he has been flogged by everyone from first gamers to D-grade hacks.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I find it incredible, and highly concerning, that we have so many fringe players coming out of contract next year (Balic, Bugg, Filipovic, Keilty, JKH, Kent, King, Johnstone, McKenna, Smith, Vandenberg, Wagner). Add in potential retirees and there is a good 12 - 15 players who may need to be replaced this time next year. Hopefully a few of those guys step up and earn a new contract, but surely best practice would be to spread these types of contracts out and to have delisted a few more players this year so that we could have had some rookie picks.

Wow, 12 months of work by the recruiters results in us reading out the name of a midget with bad shoulders with our first pick. This ought to end well.

I buy an 11 game reserved seat membership each year. The money I have saved over the past 17 years of no forking out for a higher membership level far outweighs the cost of buying a GF ticket on the black market. Why anybody would pay for a guaranteed GF ticket for a club that hasn't played finals for 11 years is beyond me, but each to their own. I really dislike the idea of the club bleeding loyal supporters dry when it keeps on wasting money on boneheaded decisions such as paying players to pay for other clubs (Watts), or to not even play at all (Garland, Lumumba).

Trade for pick 66 is fair. A one year contract is also fair. Well done to the club for at least getting one deal right this year.