The heart beats true

The MRP ask one question - did he have an alternative? The answer is yes - stand up in the tackle and not put his weight onto him, so at a minimum it's reckless. Player gets concussed so I reckon it's a week.

Mumford should gets weeks for that tackle. Liberatore out of the game concussed. That'll seal the deal for the MRP.

Probably not a wise thing to do the week your coach comes out and tells you to keep it clean and play within the rules.

Dogs have almost no traditional football structure, just 15 great competitive footballers of varying height, and a couple of battlers who do a job. 5 years ago there side would have looked ridiculous. We can win on Sunday if we outwork.

The highlights reel would probably beg to differ. Allen owned Mondays for a couple years. All anyone talked about was what Allen did (good or bad).

Anyone seen training this week? Am interest in Trac's knee. He moving ok?

The only thing insulting about Essendon is that they exist in the first place.

@picket fenceAt this point if you're over 6'3 and played at this level it's your lucky day. Maybe they'll bring in Oscar instead as our full forward? ?

Pedo to ruck with Frost and Watts Weed for Jesse TMac on Daniher Lewis into the back half. Hiiberd plays taller this week (see below) Frosty forward (Essendon only have Daniher as a marking forward anyways) and rotating with Pedo and Wattsy forward all day. Those 3 moving up and around the ball and then back should be confusing for the Bombers.

I'm not convinced about Petracca's fitness either, so he seems like a really solid option at this point.

4th in the competition for disposals AND 5th for tackles. The only other player on both top 5 tallies is Joel Selwood. The kid is a star. Once he starts getting wider recognition he'll get looked after better by the umps too.

You're a much better man than me.

http://m.afl.com.au/news/2017-04-25/mrp-slaps-cotchin-for-starting-melee-dees-skippers-fined How ridiculous is this. A player whose not on the ground (Riewoldt) gets involved with players in a melee and gets a fine! Thats fundamentally wrong. It should be a free kick and 50 to the opposition side in the game (like it is with every other interchange infringement). Being on the ground when your not supposed to is one thing, but being on the ground for the sole reason to be in a fight is just dumb.

Malthouse picked Max to win the Brownlow. He's easily our most important player, especially with so many inside mids. He can get it to the outside when it's their to give, or rely on our contested players if he has to nullify. Losing him was akin to Geelong losing Dangerfield or the Eagles losing Kennedy - in that half the team is built around it.

No big blokes makes our contested game style difficult to play. I'd say we trained all preseason for something we can't do anymore.

Very well spotted. Riewoldt got 3 goals from gambling and not competing in the air. Instead he ran the other way. When it works it looks fantastic.

The thing I've learned, that I think is the most important for the next 5 years, is that Clayton Oliver is a genuine A grader. I knew he was good but he's still played under 20 games. On what I saw him do last night he's going to be one of the best 3 players in the comp in a couple of preseasons.

That's a rubbish statistic. Scott Thompson has played in a Prelim quality side since that period.

6. Lynden Dunn. His best game for the club, and loved that he's finally got rid of the moustache.

I reckon they'll get done by 80 points in Adelaide next week. The Crows will destroy them.

Yeah true, but I'd still trade Riewoldt for Brayshaw because Hogan has 7 years on him and in our window we'll need suppliers for him. Hows that for optimism from a supporter whose team has lost 3 straight and hasn't played finals in a decade! ?

Dusty would have been out of the game by now under our old regime. We would have ruined each other. Id still trade Riewoldt for Petracca and Brayshaw. Everyday. When we win a flag with them both out of the centre with Clarry you can hail my genius.

I thought he tried his heart out tonight and really liked hearing him in the TV around stoppages setting up and organising less experienced teammates. Sounded like a leader to me. Oh sorry, scratch that. We lost - so he's terrible and should never wear the jumper again :/

In: Lewis, Pederson, Bugg, 4 quarters Out: Spencil, Smith, JKH, Bad luck, Not convinced Petracca or Viney are ok either. Pedo to ruck 50/50 with Watts. Bugg comes in to add some more inside grunt who we'll need with no ruckman.

Nope, that was because Hardwick was smart and instructed his players to play the other side in the last so we couldn't even run the rotations we had and were even more shot. Its easy to coach against a depleted side.