Earl Hood

His is an interesting case for our perennial natural talent verses "it's all about their development"debate. This guy is mature but has been playing NEAFL up in Canberra, I believe. He does three months preseason and has already gone past some our elite, early draft pick talents who have had 3 years or more of AFL level development.

Very similar to us from 26 to 64!

Let's hope we don't sucked into this controversy somehow!

It looks average at training. He kicks it too up and under and not overly accurate

Interesting viewing DFrog. I am surprised at the upbeat, joyous nature of life with bananas as portrayed here by the industry especially given the dire state of the banana industry that we face. The Canarvon crops have been smashed. Queensland faces the Panama disease. There is only my neighbours banana crop down on the Surf Coast left unscathed. These are dark times for bananas. Grab a banana smoothly while you can I say.

Agreed Al if you don't have that core elite six players you don't get to finish top four. The bottom six may make the difference in a grand final but the top six get you through the 22 home and always and the early finals to give you a shot at it. A good bottom six without an elite top 6 won't get you very far at all.

Read an article in The Age today that notes that as of February 2015 we have racked up 360 consecutive months of monthly global average surface temperatures above the 20th Century average. That is since 1985. Gee I reckon that might be a trend that even a dolt like Andrew Bolt would recognise but of course he will want to talk about the so called global annual temperature hiatus or pause which is nothing more than a reduced annual average increase in heating as compared to that experienced for some 30 years previous. But we continue inexorably to heat the globe year on year. Thank God for Greg Hunt and his direct actionpolicy which is delivering ummh, well it must be doing something surely.

I had this match penciled in as I work across the road from the ground but just realised it is my wedding anniversary! No chance now.

RL are you referring to old wino's with bottles masked in brown paper bags or a place where grapes are grown, picked, processed, stored until ready to be decanted as wine? I have seen plenty of the former in Richmond but not the latter unless you are referring to the Chateau Royal Oak?

RL It could be Kellybrook Winery in Wonga Park. Can't think of a closer one. They make wine from apples I think and cider. Can't vouch for the wines but the food is good and the restaurant is in a very pleasant setting.

I have a feeling the gap is about to get a lot bigger with Tony basically signing off on Barnett's policy to close down what some 150 indigenous communities on the bases that he has lost federal funding. And Tony basically signs off on the life style choice. Does this man actually have a soul, is he actually human? We dispossessed these people, moved them off their lands and shoved them onto reserves in the outback or outskirts of our society because we didn't want to have to look at the results of our actions. Now we say we can't afford to subsidise their reservations. But of course whatever small rights they have are linked to the land but Tony wants them to move back to where exactly? Regional towns, major cities? Where is the planning for that, the policies, the resources to facilitate this movement of people? Of course there is nothing in place because Tony is reacting to just another thought bubble he or someone else created yesterday. With the sort of strategic thinking and planning displayed by this Government they would struggle to run a brothel operating just outside a US Military Base successfully.

Thanks for that Biff and BBO! This weekend I had the choice of doing the Hawthorn Open Houses tour with SWMBO or attending Ballarat for our NAB challenge. It all depended on being able to garrantee a good dinner after the game for SWMBO. I asked in good faith about the possibility of one getting a quinoa salad up that way possibly at Graigs Hotel but was advised that the best I could do would be a mixed grill! So I reluctantly trudge off to Hawthorn only to hear of your 8 course degustation!!! With expensive red wine. Thanks for nothing and by the way can we clarify who really did pay for the dinner? So far we have conflicting accounts of what happened. A Royal Commission my be on the cards.

DFrog not anymore. Cyclone Olwyn has taken out all the banana trees in Carnarvon! What price for a banana now?

If the Dorks snaffle Dangerfield at years end it will be time for a Royal Commission into the AFL salary cap I believe. Are we expected to believe that half their list is playing for rookie dollars? Of course they will claim they have room because Sewell or some other veteran has moved on but they were already playing for peanuts anyway if we are to believe their claims that everyone takes a pay cut for the greater good. And to think we are paying 100% of the cap! It just doesn't add up!

Didn't see the game, didnt hear the game thankfully! But looking at the stats what was going on? 160 plus more disposals for a 7 point win! 403 disposals for 10 goals! We lost the clearances and we lost the inside 50 count? But we took 20 marks inside 50 for a 10 goal return! I know these are only stats but what the hell were we doing with the ball? Haven't we been training to be more direct, to move the ball quickly to players on the move? What were we doing with the 160 or so disposals that on paper seem to have gone nowhere in particular. We had this problem at the start of last season when we had no forward line. Today we had targets but the stats imply we were pisseffing around again with the ball. Can someone who was there please explain?

By Jingos! Is that you KB?

The same Freo bast*rd that trod on Hogan must have got Kent as well!

I don't remember all the details but Clark was headed home to Fremantle before we diverted him to MFC on a long term big$ contract in 2012. He plays 12 great games then is injured and plays 3 more over 2 years battling foot injuries and later soft tissue problems. He trains endlessly running lap after laps but can't get on the park. Now did his depression and withdrawal from the club coincide with new contractual talks between his management and the new MFC regime who were reassessing his worth and wanted to negotiate a much reduced contract agreement? Mitch only came here for the money, if it was no longer on offer, why wouldn't he look elsewhere? So off he goes to the. cats but at what $ I don't know and unbelievably is suddenly fit to play. It will be interesting to see if he can stay on the park. If he does stay fit he will be very good for the Cats. It may be just NAB but A fit Mitch has everything you need to be a star, 200 cm tall, agile, great hands, great pack mark and can kick straight. Just about has it all but history says his body will let him down.

I suppose he means Stefan?

He said on SEN a few days ago that he was having lunch with Roosey that afternoon. Must have been a good one with Roosey picking up the bill!

Here is hoping the Prince plays well and for 20 games a year for the next 5 years in a league that counts!

Well yes the jury is still out on these picks, i.e. Petracca and Brayshaw. I am very hopeful but we need to see them playing seniors. And we have already lost Petracca for a year to a knee. So our review is delayed a year.

This was Johnny Ralph not Denham. However I suspect Denham has a special spot for MFC just because he is so critical and knows so much detail about us. Today on SEN he said he was off to lunch with Roos and talked in detail about how we are finally on the right track. He may be so critical because he has some interest.

Any goss on how Blease went over the whole match? We know full well how good Mitch is when he is fit. Six goals is about right. You can't stop this guy when he is firing. My condolence is that the Prince will play 20 games vs Mitch's ten. Of course given our luck those career averages will reverse.

I caught the last half of the SEN conversation yesterday and thought they were talking some sense. The context of their conversation was that WB, St Kilda and MFC had not won a flag between them for 61,51and 49 years. Yes there are peaks and troughs in the competition but not for these minnows. Why is that the case? They then went through a number of reasons, the expansion clubs are stocked up to the gunnels with first round draft picks and will likely dominate in the next few years. The top clubs are not going to bottom out because they can top up with experienced players via FA or just poaching good kids out of contract eager to play finals. The flow of FA transfers has generally been good players to higher teams, not the other way. I largely agreed with JR that more needs to be done in equalisation, a wealth tax on the big clubs to a maximum of $500K is not going to have much impact on the big boys and the few extra $million thrown to us and doggies is not going to turn us into finalists. The draft is thrown up as a saviour but it is somewhat of a lottery and as we know not every first rounder works. I don't think they were saying it is impossible to climb up the ladder for some clubs the odds are heavily stacked against them. AS in shyte fixtures where you barely break even on gate receipts. Apparently the Saints only make any money on their NZ game. KB wondered why the three clubs were so silent about the current equalisation set up and I agree we should be working together more to influence the agenda. KB was sure that if the Pies were down for an extended period Eddie would be yelling and screaming for change. I believe there is a problem with so called AFL equalisation. The odds are against the minnows such a us climbing to the peak and snaffling a flag under the current rules.