TGR

Gaff is vanilla squared. He and Shuey are front-runners. Surprised we didn't go for Saad last year. We have paid 800k for Lever. That makes TMac worth 900k in my book, which would be a bargain. Do we have the luxury to keep purchasing, or do we try to keep our talent that will get offers in the next few years. Lets go for outside speed in the super-draft. Hang on, we have hand-delivered Adelaide our picks in the super-draft. Sometimes, when you pee in the bed, you have to lay in it.

If the club was hell-bent on paying superannuation 18 months ago, invest in a Boomer Harvey, who would have taken a 2 year deal, instead of treacle Lewis on a 3 year deal. Would have added to us, and might have been the difference in 2017 and 2018.

Thank god there is another who thinks Gaff and to a greater extent Shuey, are the most overrated front-running players in the comp.

Agree. At the end of the day, Lewis won’t have been the difference between us making finals and not. Listen to Roos last night, and he can’t believe we leave speed in the seconds (Garlett and Hunt (pre-injury)). Lewis wasn’t our worst. “Give it to me Harmes” and “Body language Hogan” could take claim to that last night. But the Lewis experiment has failed, delayed development, and slowed an already one-paced side. All for ‘leadership’. This recruitment personified the veil of negativity and lack of trust in our own leaders and their capacity to write their own history. Opposition coaches now are instructing players to take Lewis and Vince on, and disregard their perceived pressure. You can carry one; not two.

Paul Roos is a decent judge of character Andy has known him since their U19 days. History was no doubt ratified by Roos. As for Malthouse, the last bit of advice he gave the MFC was about Neeld ticking all the boxes.

Quote of the year. Our biggest weakness is foot speed entering our D50 from a quick play. The club either has the balls now to get games into Frost and Hunt, or go down in flames in finals with Lewis and Vince plodding.

Luff mentioned last week that Melksham is at about 50%; Dusty 54%; whereas comp average is 30ish for memory. Melbourne seem to go to him in a one-on-one, when he isn't even at a clear advantage; which means his 1-on-1 prowess has been long understood internally. I wanted Melksham dropped after the Richmond loss for the record.

1 year off

Gus is more tilted, like Rod Carter.

Oliver. Don't forget this club could have and should have picked you. We even had more intel on you than any other club. If I were you, I wouldn't give a sucker and even break.

When I think of Trac over McCartin, that makes one forget in some ways the fact that the MFC has passed on Nic Nat, Wines and Co. Thank god the Saints listened to their dietitian over common sense. The MFC has always defaulted to the nice guy you would want your daughter to marry. I am surprised we don't have 21 young-liberals representing us. As for Martin, there is no way in the world the MFC would have retained him during his wayward years. Just my view.

When all is said and done, Lehmann is my bet as the mastermind. Where is he? This will not only end careers, it has the potential to end a life. A few will be in a dark place for a long long time.

Can't believe the test is still going. Australia has lectured the world in playing proper cricket. Remember Murali and the no-ball saga? Darrel Hair? Hair wanted to make a name for himself. Remember Stuart Broad? Just stood his ground like a lot of Aussie cricketers (bar Gilly) has in the past. David Warner and Australia have been pushing boundaries for years. There comes a time when the bully meets a bigger bully. South Africa 2018 has rattled them.. A leopard rarely changes his spots. Just feel sorry for Bancroft who has been thrown under a bus. Darren Lemon - should be his last national coaching gig this test match. In it to his eyeballs. Murali and Broad must feel 50 feet tall today. And Darrel Hair? Is he a free man or in the slammer at the moment?

Northey Coach. How B Lovett can not start in the 18 is beyond me. How G Lovett makes the squad is beyond me.

I like Fan's quote, but this one also resonates with me too.

It took you 3 years to get over Frawley? Took most 3 minutes. Be careful using the adjective AA. It puts Rance and Frawley on an equal pedestal.

Adelaide were going to take what they could get. Which club was going to offer anywhere near what we did? Like going to an Auction, and bidding 200K above reserve with your first bid

We paid too high a price. Which Vic club was going to offer anything like the farm? Adelaide are laughing. We could have screwed them and played chicken to the end. Goodwin and Co are desperate for finals in 2017. Great, but takes from the next decade.

Melbourne should play hardball. Crows have treated Lever like siht. We should re-arrange contracts so we can front-end him a whopping amount that other clubs cannot match in 2018. Let him go to draft. One thing better than Lever? Lever and 10 and 27. Worth the risk in my book. That is my take. I aint KB.

Whatever your cuppa tea. Each to his own.

Boomer Harvey in an MFC jumper in 2017 would have offered so much more than Lewis. Boomer was a commodity we didn't have; and needed. He was captain of North, so might have offered 10% of the "leadership' that many here think Jordie gave us. Also, not a good look in my book to be sitting with Hawthorn mates, in the Hawthorn rooms, at a Hawthorn game 1 day before what became our most important game of the year. Of course his blood runs brown and yellow, but you don't have to cut yourself and show his teammates.

If Howe felt Roos didn't value him (1 point of his 25 points), then I don't blame Howe for wanting to go. Our supporters on here certainly didn't value Jeremy Howe.

Would be an interesting sliding doors, but imagine no Lewis in 2017; but we kept Howe. A guess, but Howe would have commanded 35% more of Lewis' wage. Yes we wouldn't have had Lewis' leadership, which is overrated. If our boys had any steel and thirst intrinsically, we would have finished 5th, not 9th. Lewis' last month was pretty good, but I still maintain he gets a lot of cheap handball receives that inflate his stats. Oppositions realise he can't run with it, won't break a line, and hence zone off him on to potential targets. When they have the ball, they know that he'll make a hail-mary contest and lose his feet, and if he doesn't, can easily be run off. Howe had a lot of detractors on coincidenceland. Could never understand it. But I had faith in Roos, as players that he has attracted (Richards, Jolly, Ball, Joey Kennedy, Hally, McGlynn, Cross Vince etc...) over the journey have been mostly ticks; and he hasn't let go of many that would be regretted later. Howe might be his first stuff-up. Intercept marks at half-back (McGovern, Howe etc...) are vital in the modern game. Howe was unlucky not to be AA this year. Could have replaced Docherty easily. BTW, Howe single-handedly spooked us in the first quarter with the obvious directive of not going long and direct. But there was something in Howe that Roos didn't rate. Workrate? Tackling pressure? Surely, it is on par or better than Wattsy. I think bypassing Kelly (or Roos now says Billings) for Tyson, Salem & Hunt was OK, in view of the fact that Neeld depleted our list with B-grade trash (Gillies, Couch, etc....). If Melbourne were fair-dinkum, Lewis should join Montagna, Rooey, Hodge, Mitchell, Jobe and Co.... right now. If we think we need Jordan Lewis to make finals, we don't deserve to be there in the first place. Petracca should play on-ball next year, so JL is destined to play loosey in defence.

Good points about peak pace being similar to old-man pace when the player is slow to begin with anyway. I think MFC needed Cross at the time more than we need Lewis in 17/18/19. Cross though never chose when to go in his superannuant years. Cross's hands were elite, whereas I would say Jordie's kicking has been good in 17. Cross's decision-making was elite at his time in Melbourne. Wouldn't say the same for JL. If you go through Melbourne's list, and some commentators pointed to this during our lean stretch in the past month, we are over-stocked with one-paced players that are not brilliant on the outside. I wouldn't swap Petracca for the world, but he aint lightning. Brayshaw's game surprised me, but he aint lightning. Ditto Vince, Jones, Tyson, Salem, Trengove, ANB and the list goes on. Stretch's and JKH (not super quick anway) slow progress doesn't help this situation. The emergence of Hunt and the cheap get of Garlett has saved our hide to some degree. Lewis was the last player type I would have salivated over in November 2016. His going to ground to a make one hail mary at a contest, rather than staying in the contest, will cost us in September. Do some of us really think he is on par (capable and productive) than many of his contemporaries that have announced they are retiring now. The AFL have purposefully taken congestion out of the game with certain rules being implemented and highlighted. The game is getting quicker, in a different way.

His form over the past month has been good as VP said; but I don't think he was instrumental in resetting us when the saints got close. They should have got in front, and would have gone on with it if they had IMO. I think he gets a lot of cheap handball-receives from Gawn and Co. Like Montagna, he sprints for an easy HR. That no doubt has inflated his stats over the winter. I still think the biggest winners of the 3-year deal will be Al Clarkson and Jordie Lewis. Great thing about the game and these forums are that time will tell and it will be hard to hide.