Earl Hood

HT sorry to hear about all this. Bringing your son down for training is one thing but are you sure you want him to witness the actual match? Could be a shock to the boy who obviously gives his all for his club to see grown professional footballers not show up mentally to play. As for your band did you bring the house down with " Dont Blame Me" to finish the gig?

Yes. It was reality.

Leadership when did we last have enough of it? Even when we were motoring along in the early 2000's we lacked real leadership. We had Neitz and that was about it. The Ox earlier perhaps and then Junior but it has always been in short supply. Leadership needs time to develop and we are still paying the price of the recruiting from 2004 onward. We should always be looking at leadership qualities in all recruits but especially first rounders and we just ignored that variable year after year at the draft. I could forgive that if we had targeted some other exceptional gift but as we know we largely have no idea what special attributes many of our first rounders had. Jurrah was an exceptional talent and a risk but he was a very late pick. Hopefully we have leadership qualities in Hogan and Brayshaw and perhaps a couple of other kids but they will take time. And let's hope we can keep them long enough.

Been out all day thankfully, haven't seen any video but I checked the stats to find we won the clearances and the inside 50's, marks inside 50 while other stats such as for contested possession were close. I was expecting to see that we got smashed in the centre and had 35 odd I50s. Lousy kicking for goal did not help. Agree with many here, where is the leadership? It is hard to work out this mob and if we will ever turn the corner

The scary thing is what it could have been. On slow mo it looks bad Hodge is plainly intent on contact even though the ball is dead and Wingard is next to the post. Lingey keeps saying you have to take out the fact that Wingard is next to the post, I don't agree, lining someone up next to a post is dangerous.

On MRP previous form because Wingard has come up OK they will say nothing here, move on. It seems to be about the damage inflicted not the act itself.

Darren Bennett could, so it is not gender based necessarily unless you have something way out of proportion Pig?

Unless they already know they are getting an extra pick and are making space?

I am a convert I reckon they are great. The blond ruck/forward Tayla? is mesmerising, there have been numerous photos of her in the Age, they are all incredible images. What stands out is the graceful poses caught by the camera but also her demeanour, her face looks so calm. There was one photo in the Age of her taking a contested chest mark in full flight and you would expect a guy to have a grimace in expectation of impact but she has this serene look as if she is on a casual walk in the park. Amazing images. But I also like the centre half forward who is of Islander background I think, she can play and looks to be a real character. Huge potential here.

I want Hogan out for one, N Jones, Vince as well. We need to make a statement to the playing list. I am just not sure what the statement is at the minute!

Just do it through the parliament. A conscience vote with our Pollies and then make it happen in legislation. Good God it is not that big a deal for those who aren't impacted by this. A plebiscite? At what cost? For Gods sake Tony make a decision for once in your sheltered life. Cardinal Pell might not be happy but he is in Rome and you are PM now.

Agree Let's have a look at White and perhaps a last look at Fitzy and bring in Salem. Give Brayshaw a rest, out are Bail and Jetta injured. three games left we need to check some fringe players out before we mark cards etc.

With this holiday We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan, "Before the year is out."

I have to agree I don't think the lists are that much different but the game plans are. It takes time and acceptance of failure but the frenetic attack on the ball to keep it moving at all costs, the forward press that we saw from the Dogs this week makes sense. It doesn't give players time to think and second guess themselves too often. But it does require everyone to chase, tackle but just as importantly it demands that players run into space to create an option forward of the ball. And we are pathetic at that. It drives me nuts how our guys forward of the ball fail to present. The top sides always have options when challenged. All out attack when you have the ball, man up when you don't. Is it that hard?

Hopefully the hordes of non AFL Melburnians will take the opportunity for a long weekend in our regional areas and spread some money around to small businesses there. It's not all about Melbourne.

7.30 Report reports that Vegemite cannot be used as a base for drug production. End of beat up! Move on.

Isn't that an Emerson, Lake and Palmer song Fence? Not sure they were playing about a slow midfield at the time.

Who ever is calling it next year we need to change our game plan. Defensive skills are great, holding possession is great but when that makes you static against the newer frenetic offensive forward press game plan of the Dogs and other top sides, you need to change your style. The Dogs were frenetic, manic and aggressive, we were shell shocked, static and reactive, they ran forward in numbers, won possession, then spread in all directions, giving numerous options. What do we do? Take a mark, prop, look for an option, turn it over! It is a lot to do with the game plan.

I kept riding (my bike)!

Al if only we had those criteria for selection since 2007! While I think footy smarts maybe difficult to test for in all cases I would substitute leadership skills. If we had drafted those that have leadership skills, appetite for the contest and kicking skills we may have made different choices ~ the likes of Scott Selwood, Hurley, D Martin, J Darling, Stringer/Wines etc, etc might be on our list.

I think I was on the money with the Derby result. Haven't seen the match as to whether it was more free flowing than usual but the outcome was very predictable. Maybe Adrian Anderson should investigate this one?

Gee I picked a good day to go for a bike ride instead of the footy!

HH has he taken that mantle over from his assistant coach Mark Neeld? MN set a record I thought could never be broken.

Re Parker forget about sling tackles we need to deal with these swing tackles where you grab a smaller guy and swing him around your torso so his legs and feet get caught under yours with no way of comming around with his body so you get a knee wrench, an ankle give way or a break to a leg. There is no need for that spiral type of tackle, it needs to be outlawed.

Jako yes you are right Dipper was a similar build. Off topic But a discussion point would be how would Dipper go these days? He played in great sides, in the days of slower play and plenty of crash and bash and he could intimidate players, at least when he wasn't actually shirtfronting them or just plain king hitting people off the ball. He would still make it given his mental toughness but not sure what elite skills he had.