Straight Sets Simon

Excellent debut, love his fight and thirst for the contest. His goals were both excellent and very timely in the circumstances.

I’m taking credit for turning it around. We have been much better, but is it sustainable? A lot of the same issues I mentioned are still there, it just helps that the opposition are putrid.

As I am writing this Melbourne are only one goal down at half time, against Essendon but it is continuing the trend of rubbish football we have seen over in the past few weeks. The same problems still exist: Fumbling Missing tackles Not being able to break clear or dispose of the ball when tackled Poor skills Overrunning the ball on the ground Kicking into the man on the mark because not getting back behind the mark far or quick enough Drifting off the mark causing the umpires to call play on resulting in free kicks turning into unnecessarily pressured kicks Panicked kicks and handballs Not looking to break clear for disposing of the ball, just coughing it up Multiple players flying for the ball and no one staying down The opposition getting easy goals out the back in the clear Stagnant down-the-line ball movement with no flair or dare Out-numbered in our forward line Even with all of this we are only one goal down, it just shows how much we still need to improve because our ceiling is much higher. I've got no doubt that the systems and structures in place are what is leading to these poor performances. Talent on the list isn't the issue, we no longer rely on players like Magner, Crouch, Bail and Sellar. We have even seen a nice debut from young Spargo who has been lively. So all you optimists out there, convince me of why this isn't the Mark Neeld era all over again.

Way too many people.

This year he has been on the box, in previous years he was on the bench.

3% from a bank if lucky the way interest rates are now.

The club can invest their money in lots of things, do you really need a list of everything that isn’t gambling?

Oh I don't know, maybe any business that doesn't involve gambling.

Just think of it as getting rid of Jack Watts. Short-term pain of losing a much-loved and skilled player for the long-term gain of ridding the club of a bad influence. There will no doubt be a revenue equivalent of Bayley Fritsch waiting in the wings.

I would love the AFL and all sports to rid themselves of all gambling revenue and I appreciate that there is some hypocrisy here. However, in my mind there is a slight difference between sports betting and pokies. At least sports betting has some skill involved, whereas pokies are machines that a designed so that over a period of time the user is guaranteed to lose money. I'm not trying to defend sports betting (the over saturation of it makes my skin crawl) and I totally agree with your point, but pokies as a product offer its users no benefit at all.

Please, what benefit to society do pokies bring?

They've made profits the last two years from memory. There are other ways to make money other than gambling.

Great news, if North Melbourne can do it then so can we. Really proud of the club for doing this.

He tends to poke at the ball a bit, not a long and fluent kicking action.

Your Twitter account has been hacked, change your password.

His best ever game was his return game against St Kilda last year where his marking was a highlight. At the very least he could come in and play as a forward, he wouldn't be any worse than Bugg.

As mentioned in a 2017 post above, I think it’s our style of play which relies on pure grunt effort and not necessarily good skills and system.

The chase and tackle his highlight of the night, last week he didn't look like even thinking about laying a tackle. He still can't kick for goal further than about 35 metres out which a big concern. His kicking action just has no power to it.

Fritsch will be better.

Last chance to enter before the first game tomorrow.

I'm grateful the club haven't wasted any time with your questions.

Rightio.

This is going well. Good idea, Clint.

Go on, you can do it.

Every nuffie in the media is having their say so it's time we football forum nuffies have a go. This is the final ladder at the end of the home and away season. Point scoring system: Three points if you correctly guess a top eight team's position Two points if you correctly guess a team outside the top eight's position One point if you correctly guess a team finishing in the top eight but you don't get their correct position The winner will be showered with compliments and the loser will be forced to watch Mark Neeld's pre-game speeches on repeat. I think there will be just a handful of points separating the top and bottom teams, such a lottery this year. Sydney GWS Richmond Melbourne Adelaide Geelong Western Bulldogs Port Adelaide Essendon Hawthorn West Coast Fremantle St Kilda Carlton Brisbane Collingwood Gold Coast North Melbourne