Older demon

Forget Kelly Zac Jones is according to "On the Couch" out of contract at seasons end. Surely MFC would inquire to his availability. He is a better kick than his brother.

They showed the same clip "On the Couch" Thomas runs past the ball making no attempt to contest it and takes Maynard high. Straight to the AFL tribunal I hope they throw the book at him.

R.I.P. Louie he is the reason I would read the HS from back to front and loved his outrageous dares. If Hawthorn win I will wash Brereton's car (which he did). The knick names and his humour, who else put iodine on his boots so those he ankle tapped didn't catch something. Such a different era than today full of characters. A true legend

At the moment we are vulnerable to teams with talls who take contested marks forward and back. Sandilands did it, McEvoy and O'Brien showed us up. We are using key position players to cover Max and Pencil and go short when Pedo, Watts or Tom are in the ruck or resting. Consider that besides Max and Pencil we are missing the 2 Smith's (Joel was going to hold down a key defensive post) Garland and Vandenburg are all big bodies and can play in the spine. That leaves Weid and Mitch King as the only talls at Casey. I jusst think we are 1 key position player down. Up forward, and we bombed it in too much in the first half playing Hannan, Petracca and Hunt at full forward is not a good long term strategy. We are relying on run and gun and fast ball movement. Last week if Daniher kicks straight we would have seen the marking problem but that got lost in his 1.6. This problem is not going to go away quickly

Gawn is our best contested mark and that is the biggest issue to overcome. Whether it is in defence or up forward he covers the fact that our talls don't take a lot of contested marks. In the last quarter, Clarkson slowed the game down and kicked to his talls who took contested marks when we were resting ours. Rotating Pederson, Watts and Tom leaves us deficient in other areas. Spencer would fill the same spot. The absence of a true ruckman breaks down the structure and strategy they trained for all summer. WE are 5 goals worse off in their absence

We were shown up today for our kicking. Hawks slowed the game down delivered pinpoint passes, played keepings off when we threatened to blow open the game. I could not believe the turnovers and kicks to open space where there was a Hawks defender. Talk about ambitions exceeding abilities. Jones did it 3 times in the first half kicking directly to the opposition. Bugg turned into play kicked into the corridor straight to the opposition and Bernie's switch which let Rioli in was beyond belief. There were others but too numerous to list. Decision making and poor execution kill us. Their ability to take contested marks hurt us and our reliance on Gawn to take contested marks shows our lack of another marking key position player. When Gawn eventually gets back we will still need someone who can take a mark. God I hate losing these close games

Jordan Lewis wore the pink polo on AFL 360 last night and they displayed the jumper that will be worn this weekend. He also mentions it in his article about the ridiculous out of bounds rule, declaring that his wife lost both grandmothers to breast cancer so it is an issue close to his eart. The function at the G is a "High Tea" at 1.30 in the Harrison Room Sunday. The link to the BCNA website is https://www.bcna.org.au/news/2017/03/help-turn-the-mcg-pink-to-support-breast-cancer-at-the-2017-pink-lady-match/

For the Tyson haters the coaches gave him 2 votes on the weekend. He isn't going anywhere. Changes will be minimal

The club posted on the teamsheet on Instagram indicating who was playing. Weid definitely was out

Caro's latest article posted an hour ago puts some perspective on this. Explains who was using his account and why. Shows that he wasn't comfortable with the AFL investigation and that his form has dropped the last fortnight as he frets over yet another AFL investigation given the last one he was involved in didn't go so well. Stuart Crameri introduced him to the punter who was using his account. http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/jake-melksham-affair-underlines-afls-fraught-relationship-with-gambling-20170421-gvpt6c.html

I didn't realise how impressive the club presidents C.V. is. He is obviously a well-respected pro in his field and "Bartlett's proposal, which he has also put before other commissioners, is in line with industrial reforms which led to the 2009 Australian Fair Work Act." I would have thought the law of the land was a good model because whatever the AFL is doing is clearly not working. It must be extraordinarily difficult to plan player contracts if you don't know what you have to pay or can afford. WE have several young champions we want to tie up for years.

Chip was weighing up his options and didn't buy in immediately. I always thought Roos moved on from Chip and prepared for life after Frawley. As a professional footballer Chip made a commercial decision and may have realised the coaches were happy with the draft pick compensation they would get. I don't blame him for that and wish him well. If he wanted to return (he is a good mate of Max) then it would be up to the club to get him back. Remember Croad leaving Hawthorn for Free (I think Hodge was the draft pick they got) and returning later to play in a premiership. I doubt very much this would happen but stranger things have and if it did I would trust the team at Melbourne to assess he was needed. Jeremy is different, he wanted to play up forward and Buck's promised him that. It didn't take them long to realise that, it doesn't work, and Jeremy is exactly where he was with us, as an intercept mark down back. I suspect Roos moved on from Jeremy too and didn't think him made of the right stuff.

Hogan was definitely at the game Saturday. I saw him at the lifts on level 2 at halftime. If he has gone to Perth then it has been in the last 2 days.

I am sure Hogan will play despite what Jones says. The story was also about the home issue and Jesse may have to rush homes as it appears a member of the family isn't well. I hope Pederson comes in as the 2nd ruck which frees Jack to run around the forward line. When Jack rucks and Spencer rests we have NO presence up forward or marking option. I think Weed will be out injured and Melksham can have a rest.

I think Bernies best games are in the midfield and tagging or playing one on one with blokes like Mitchell, Selwood etc. Yes he makes errors which we don't notice further up the ground but are crucial in the last line of defence. The importance of good kickers down back is now being shown. Hibberd, Hunt, Salem and even Wagner will form the defence as 3 are are good left footers and the other (Hunt) runs it out of defence and gains yards.

This is from the website. On his performance, Viney said he believed his start to the season had been “solid without being spectacular”.“I feel like I’m playing my role within the team at the moment and doing what’s required and popping up here and there, doing some good things,” he said. “I’m certainly looking to keep getting better and improving throughout the year.” If I remember he had a late start to pre season post op which my explain the slow start. I guess we want more from him than "solid". We also don't know what this role is and maybe that is the issue, he is following coaches orders. I do know that we seem unable to curtail the opposition stars in the midfield this year. I thought Viney tagged Steven's in game 1 to good effect but Murphy, Dangerwood and Fyfe have all dominated us in the last 3 weeks. I still feel that the coach is tinkering with the team composition and game plan and isn't overly worried at the moment about finals.

Look to this weeks emergencies first and see how they go on Monday as this has been the hint each week as to who is next in line for promotion. Trengove, Oscar and Smith were this weeks emergencies so I would not be at all surprised to see Jack back. I expect Hogan to replace Weed. It may be Weed and Melksham for Hogan and Trengove and hope there are no further injuries.

Can anyone tell me why today some umpires bounced at the centre and then one decided he would throw it up. The throw up was certainly to Sandi's advantage. I thought post a goal it was always bounced now it seems optional......

My concern is that he is having NO impact on the game. I don't think it is captaincy but limitations in his game right now, such as no right side or accuracy with his left foot and he was never quick. Others in the midfield have passed him by with Oliver being the extractor and when Trac moves into the midfield he will be squeezed out more. He needs to adapt and lift.

To me, a measure of our development will be seen in how we deal with this loss. In the past we would look for positives and be pleased with the effort. Yes it is a young team and incredibly young inexperienced forward line. But we lost! This was a game where we gave ourselves every chance, had more inside 50's and shots at goal and didn't take our chances. The collective player and coaching group should be bleeding. Other teams have injuries and the Hawthorn and Bulldogs mantra is a soldier goes down another steps up. We should be filthy about losing and not happy about anything and take it out on Freemantle at home. Good teams hate losing and go up a notch the next game. This is what I want to see next week. Minimal changes and those who were down yesterday to lift. Great games from Jones (you champion), Hunt, Watts, Clarry, Stretch, ANB and Kent

Noted Cripps and Rowe both selected to play this week. If Cripps corps another knock and displaces fracture are Carlton negligent?

Well done Bull and nice to see the number 38 back.

I think Frost and Wagner played a half and not sure of the miles in Pedersons legs, so doubt any of this trio will come in yet. The standouts at Casey have been Bugg, Kent and Spencer with Bernie available. I like the idea of Spencer rucking and Max spending time up forward as he is still troubled by his back and has been unwell so my source tells me.

Just wear it. MFC becoming antisocial and it comes at a price, so be it. Bernie comes in for Lewis and be interesting to see who replaces Hogan. Maybe it will be Spencer, remember we beat Geelong without Hogan before with Spencer up forward. If Spencer comes in expect Jack to play CHF or maybe go small and play Hannan CHF and bring Bugg in to annoy Dangerwood

I was at gate 3 handing out scarves. The line to the membership shed was 50 people lomg 10 minutes before the bounce. I have never been so busy handing out carves as this weekend. Josh Wagner was there to meet and greet ended up assisting us, as there were 5 lines of 10 deep members to claim a scarf. It was flat stick from 2pm right up to game time and more wins mean more members. Josh was awesome and the number of surprised looks on members faces when they saw who was processing their members card and handing out a scarf was fantastic.