TGR

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.

I am not stupid enough to get too down on a bloke that has had 2 average games; or get too up when a bloke has had 2 good ones in a row. But I will stick with my original view in Oct/Nov that the MFC blinked unnecessarily and sold the farm in a super-draft year. Even if he finishes top 5 B&F for 5 years running, I won' t change my opinion. He was going nowhere bar Melbourne; and we bid as if we were 4th in-line. Jason Cloke amazed the footy world in 2002 by playing the intercept loose in defence. Food for thought. Chris Scott alerted the footy world to force Lever to be accountable deep. My guess is brother Brad has had the run-down, and will use Waite and Brown to keep Lever deep.

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?

Bevo's dogs had a few injuries in 2016, I recollect. As for soldiers? This is a brutal game. How many times has Clarko taken the Hawks to Kokoda? I don't think he refers to them as footballers on these (ad)ventures. Don't think they have ever been a holiday. Clarko refers to them as soldiers more than we know. Started in his first month there. The fact that we didn't have the stomach for a challenge that was overcome by other clubs/entities, is an indictment on the club as a whole. The fact that the youglings didn't have the guts to speak to the 'leadership' group and/or coaching staff is incomprehensible. I am not blaming the younglings here actually. Just speaks volumes in terms of trust, communication, loyalty....and the list goes on. This is unprecedented.

Don't know if Lethal could have pulled off: - What Blight did in Adelaide in 97/98 (granted that they were lucky to win in 98 after we beat them easily in 98 final series) - What Bevo did in 2016 especially - Hardwick in 2017? - Malthouse in 1985 - Wallet in 1997/98 - Roos in 2005 & 2006 In my book, the best coach gets maximum and more out of his list. Matthews was 5hite tactically, with little innovation. He also coached without any sense of sustainability with one eye to the future. What Roos did with Sydney, against the Eagles who were blessed with speed, ice, and talent; and to leave a dynasty after that, was extremely special. A guy that drives a McLaren,against a guy that drives a 120B? The McLaren might finish first, but I'm dipping my lid to the guy driving the 120b, that gets beaten by a length.

Thank god for Caro. As if I'm going to get somewhere near the truth from Robbo, or back-slappers that post on forums. This camp fiasco is more than a passing pre-season story. It will define our year. An average/poor year in the past was invariably blamed on luck; psychology; curses etc....and any other convenient get-out that a simpleton can muster. There will only be one reason we fail this year. The camp fiasco primarily, an also the underlying issues (no medical input into boot camp 1; communication between U24's (bar Viney) and the 'leadership'/coaching group; the willingness to undermine Goodwin at the expense of getting a cuddle from the PA) underpinning the fallout. The camp fiasco is an indictment on most at the club. Its the urine infested mattress that we [censored] in, and we will have to sleep in. Don't shoot the messenger you bozos.

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.

A year ago, who would have predicted Tom McDonald would be playing AA footy... as a forward? Probably as important to our defense as Rance for Richmond. But when a guy can just go forward and play the way he has, in a year where Hogan has stagnated, and Kent has gone backwards; we have no choice to bank on McDonald forward. Those stats don't surprise. North took a risk by playing 3 tall forwards. They don't clunk it, then defenders run it out easy. They gambled. They won. We just need to stick fat with Frost (who should keep taking them on) and Oscar. If Watts doesn't impact forward, he will be the next one thrown back IMO.

One of the worst 34 possession games I have seen. Didn't like him berating a few teammates when his decision-making and positioning was questionable. His kick in-board to Hogan was puzzling. His shepherd for McDonald on Preust was great. Watts had a shocker, but I prefer him to play the easiest gig in town (plus one in D50); especially when he aint firing a shot up forward. At least he can compete in the air. Talking about the "+1". Why was Jetta loose in defence in the last 2 minutes when we needed to go all out attack.

Great game last night with little midfield help.

Welcome back Martin. We have missed the ultimate sunshine poster. When it rains, you are hiding under a rock. 5 minutes of sunshine, and you are beating your chest. Interesting that Luke Hodge announced his retirement today. I thought he has JL for leadership, kicking, speed and not going to ground. Maybe Todd might ring him about 2018 at the dees? That'll mean we just need Ben Button so that we can field a side in the Villa Maria Cup.

Damning stat. That is almost a thread closer. Viney will reach his average (2) under anaesthetic. Some would question JL's intent. I probably have no faith in his defensive spread and ability to get to the man with the ball (A1) or other close options (A2 or A3). On the flip side, our adversaries on this topic might say he is not playing inside mid as much whereby in congestion there are more opportunities to tackle. Anyway, his leadership is apparently worth 3 tackles, 1 goal and 7 other junk-time meaningless stats a game!

Slightly off-topic, but one area where Jordan has excelled in the past 12 months is the region at the back of his head. Last year I had him covered for follicle growth in that cracker-sized region that most men struggle to keep covered. At the minute (Newmanism), Jordan is absolutely smashing most in the hair stakes. He has turned back time in relation to his head; if he can do the same on the field, TGR is out of here and will hide at MFC Flame for the remainder of his contract. pTGR