poita

Still not fit enough, still doesn't get enough possessions, still doesn't hurt teams when he does get the ball. He is possibly the most talented player on the list, but on performances he is a borderline selection at the moment. If he wins the ball within 60 metres of goal he should be having a shot, not passing sideways and backwards. Sadly De Goey has gone way past him as a player. De Goey takes the game on and backs himself in to make things happen. He looks super fit and wins the ball in important places. Petracca seems happy flitting about on the periphery.

That fox squad is a complete w*nk. Webster, Seedsman & Pearce in the backline; three Hawthorn forwards; the entire Collingwood midfield.

Gawn, Hogan & Oliver are certainties for me, although Oliver probably needs a couple of stand out games in the next month to keep himself in the picture given his relative lack of profile. Jetta is coming from a long way back given his first month, but there isn't a lot of competition for his spot either. Tom McDonald would need to play every game from here to make the team. 17 of 22 games would be borderline to make the team, 6 of 11 at present is not even close, regardless of form. Grundy should be in the team as well. I have no issue with two rucks being named, particularly in a year where there haven't been a lot of standout midfielders.

Dom is out of the team because he is not in our top 3-4 midfielders any more, and because he doesn't have a secondary role that he can play (unlike Brayshaw, Salem & Petracca). But as soon as we have an injury in the midfield, there is no question in my mind that he will come straight back in. Longer term I would imagine that the coaches see him as a possible replacement for Lewis or Vince across half back. Clearly he needs to tidy up his decision making a little, but he reads the play well and gets himself to the right spots.

Surely at least one of King and Filipovic is gone at year end. Welcome Austin, hope to see you grace the MCG for the MFC over the next few years.

We should have been working on extensions for both Tom and Oscar pre season, but hopefully we can now lock them both away for at least three years, hopefully four.

I suspect football has always come so easily to Petracca that he has never had to work particularly hard to succeed. For the first time in his football life the expectations of him are now exceeding his performances. I hope he can respond, because he clearly has all the attributes to be a super player. At present though, he is a player who is trying to do several brilliant things a game, rather than a large number of very good things, and he is failing (eg his putrid kicking on Sunday). Brayshaw looks like someone who has always had to work harder to get to the top, and that will hold him in good stead if he can keep healthy. He'll never be a superstar, but he can be a very good player in a very good team (not the same type of player necessarily, but a Joel Corey / James Kelly type at Geelong).

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.

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.

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.

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.

This will make three years in a row that we've traded out of the first round. Those are the actions of a team that is premiership contention, not one that can't even finish top 8. We have a below average midfield, with terrible depth across the board. Pick 35 in a weak draft is basically worthless, I'm not sure why we bothered asking for it. So why the hell have we given up two first round picks, both of which could be in the top 10, for a defender? I'm sure he'll be a good player for the club, but we need to stop the ball getting down there, not worry about what happens when it gets there. Every year it seems as though we talk tough and end up capitulating as time ticks away. Other teams must [censored] themselves laughing when they see us coming. I'm bitterly disappointed that we've given up any chance of landing a top quality midfielder either this year or next.

Its astonishing that you can get 9 years on a senior list and never once be your club's number one ruckman. I thought Jake was okay depth for a while there, but he really fell away over the last year or two. His inability to put pressure on a flailing Gawn late this season really hurt us. I would be gobsmacked if he was at another club next season, and he really only has himself to blame if old dee's post above is accurate.

Viv Michie, Ben Newton, Ben Kennedy, Aiden Riley, and countless others. Not sure why this club keeps thinking it can make AFL players from other teams' state league players. We've proven time and again that we're not up to the task. Good luck to Balic if he comes on board, but the odds are well and truly against him.

I sure hope he was back to running and kicking footballs before we gave him a new deal, because spots on the list are too valuable to waste on (soon to be) 26 years old VFL-standard players with poor injury histories.