Diamond_Jim

perhaps OD but as he will probably spend most of the year at Casey I cannot see him qualifying as a regular whipping boy. I was starting to think Lewis was making a late run for the role this season but I suspect his B&F position will keep the wolves away for the first half of the season at least.

perhaps we should move onto a flugel as distinct from a mere bugle .... far more in keeping with the blazer and handkerchiefed pocket look

Agree ... just a hypothetical that I am putting out there... let's say the pick is 46 (or whatever we have around that number). Personally I think Fritsch will go late second round but others think he could be top half of the third which is not too far from 46

but if Jack goes we will at the very least need a new whipping boy .... though somehow I think Tyson could firm for that position

That Watts for Tippet trade that everyone was lambasting earlier in the week is starting to look reasonable

If you have to chose between Balic and Fritsch which player would people favour?

Brilliant summary PSD .. it was the kind of discussion I was trying to initiate when I opened the thread about where the Tigers would end up next year. Both against GWS and Adelaide, Richmond denied them the corridor. Will be interesting to see how the classic clubs restructure to try and regain dominance. Why not come over to this thread to continue the discussion. http://demonland.com/forums/topic/42981-richmond-2018are-they-the-bullogs-of-2016/

read the post !! "he became a valuable cog in their Grand Final Team."

this is becoming more of a farce by the hour... why am I not surprised anymore by the MFC. By the way... anyone remember Woewodin who we traded to Collingwood and then part paid his salary while he became a valuable cog in their Grand Final Team. We are the team that keeps giving !! And yes... we were paying W way too much based on his Brownlow year in 2000

The original Oak Dairy milk bars (just outside Newcastle) used to make a fabulous milk shake. Can't say I like their chocolate milk these days .... way too sweet !! As my mate Andrea Bocelli used to say..... Time to say Good Bye !!!

How about .... " we rate Jack highly as a player but after discussions it may be best for him to look around. This being said both Jack and the club agree that if we cannot be adequately compensated for the services of a player whom this club regards as a significant contributor there will be no trade." The second sentence is the key and leaves room for bargaining as against hanging him and the club out to dry

not much choice after the way this game has been played. To say it was amateur is a gross understatement. Remind me never to ask the MFC list management team to negotiate on my behalf.

Interesting that people rate the Tigers so highly given that pre 2017 most pundits had them missing the 8 in 2017. They will have a harder draw in 2018 and other than Rioli there are no stand out youngsters coming through that I know of. An injury or drop in form to any one of their main 3 in Martin, Rance or Riewoldt will test them. 7-10 is my prediction. In my opening post I also raised the question of the way the game is going from a tactical sense. While it seems that the "pressure" game works well (best) in finals it is a very had game plan to maintain for a whole season. As MFC appears to be favouring the pressure plan it will be interesting.

It was obvious to many that the Bulldogs were a lucky winner of the 2016 GF and good luck to them. Are Richmond the same ... will they make the eight even in 2018. I'm not sure but my gut feel is that at the end of the home and away they will sit between 7 and 10 and that will be the end of their season. Will there be a new Richmond (MFC perhaps) or will traditional football (Adelaide, Geelong and GWS) re-impose their dominance. The only caveat I have is that whereas the Bulldogs rode their luck in the 2016 finals and had some close wins the Tigers were rather emphatic in their victories.

That is my concern as well. Next years first rounder could be used to trade for another player or go into the draft. Now we will have to rely upon picking up an unrestricted free agent (hard with salary cap restraints), trade a decent player (we don;t exactly have a surplus) or do nothing. Of course the pessimist in me says we will have a few first rounders next year when our full forward heads home !

Impey goes to Hawthorn for pick 33 and Freo are asking pick 27 for Balic !! Tell'em I know where to get a good deal on some jousting sticks !!

of the fringe players he is probably one of the best but will need to show something this season

and what coin do we have to trade with next year as Lewis Jones etc etc come to the end of their playing careers. Not as though we have a wealth of players we can offer up for trades

Way overs and when combined with the high salary it is much too high for a medium level performer. (By medium I mean this is the price that one pays for an elite performer and he is not that.) Oh well let's hope he delivers .... MFC does not have a great history with high priced trades

Sport's a funny thing The attached article describes how the almost unthinkable happened in that the USA failed to make the soccer world cup. Just change the names and you have MFC. USA just needed to beat the lowly Trinidad who played some fresh untried players (sounds like Collingwood). Even if USA lost all would probably be okay because the top team Mexico (Adelaide Crows) were playing the not so good Honduras and then the US would have another chance against Australia. You guessed it Mexico who had already topped the group lost to Honduras and the mighty USA are out ! Just goes to show .... never rely on other teams !! https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/oct/10/usa-trinidad-and-tobago-world-cup-2018-qualifier-soccer

Interesting comment by the US coach: "I would love to see one of these hotshot teams from Europe come here and play in our CONCACAF qualifying and really get a taste of this and see what that's about," Arena said. "This is very challenging, it's like survival of the fittest. They could do one of those TV shows on this. Who will survive in the end, that's basically what this is."

The return leg is in Sydney .. why I don't know More importantly there are reports that Ange will resign in November .. win or lose https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/socceroos/stunned-reaction-to-socceroos-coachs-plan-to-quit/news-story/6840e7416865f28294488a53e364a13e Just saw that Chile failed to qualify ... wow

spot on G .... it was a horrible season ... hard to believe that with five games to go we were still on track for a possible top 4 spot. Just unforgivable

Time to start thinking of sponsors (or more importantly lack of them). Unfortunately because they made the finals Essendon will take the Friday nights that we were so desperate to get for the purpose of sponsor exposure. I would like us to get one of the Thursday night games in Adelaide for the purpose of TV exposure. I would not be adverse to a Thursday night game at the Cattery if they have them again for TV exposure. If we are going to play Alice Springs in the indigenous round we need to get the game on national television with strong local indigenous input. It is just so obvious. Tasmanian afternoon games should be avoided if possible. Darwin is a dead end and other than getting through it I am not sure we can improve it. Finally I want an early season game against North so we can just beat them and move on !!

Another high humidity game (relative humidity for November.. 77%) ... temperature just a little lower than Melaka at average high of 26 degrees. Will be a very tough first leg. Any word on where the Australian leg will be played. Got back to Melbourne just in time to watch the extra time .... painful stuff..... seems to be no flow to their game. Desperately need another class striker.