Even without the PP or Scully

[Mondê 525]

Our future looks bright. Grimes is the gun midfielder we have been looking for. He is instinctive and makes correct decisions. Petterd is a great hit up forward. Jetta's appetite for the contest is fierce. We still haven't seen Strauss, Blease, or anywhere near the best of Watts. I am firmly in the list management camp, but I couldn't contain my excitement when Grimes and Petterd nailed those goals to put us in front. For one second there I thought who cares about draft picks if these are the blokes to carry us for the next 10 years I will look forward to much success. Lord have mercy on the rest of the competition if we nab Scully and/or another top 5 draft pick. Go Dees.

[Guest Watts=Saviour]

I was thinking the same thing as Petterd kicked that late goal. Our youngsters are looking good already.

[deeflog 679]

Our future looks bright. Grimes is the gun midfielder we have been looking for. He is instinctive and makes correct decisions. Petterd is a great hit up forward. Jetta's appetite for the contest is fierce. We still haven't seen Strauss, Blease, or anywhere near the best of Watts. I am firmly in the list management camp, but I couldn't contain my excitement when Grimes and Petterd nailed those goals to put us in front. For one second there I thought who cares about draft picks if these are the blokes to carry us for the next 10 years I will look forward to much success. Lord have mercy on the rest of the competition if we nab Scully and/or another top 5 draft pick. Go Dees.

You are right, BUT just imagine us in 3 years with another 2 top 3 draft picks from this year.

[drdrake 3,038]

I agree, today we played with out Sylvia, Mclean, Garland, Aussie, Green, Jamar, Morton, Jurrah which would definately be in our starting 18 and will be for the next 3-6 years(Jamar? but the rest should be). Then we have 4 players that are early draft picks that we haven't seen much of in Maric, Watts, Blease and Strauss, plus we will get at least 2 top 20 picks.

One player that I thought was gone was Dunn but watching him at Casey and now with Melb over the past 5 weeks he is improving, his foot skills are good and has a very good goal sense and a bit of dog in him. He will never be a Key forward but as a HFF he may just make it.

[LITTLE STINGA 1]

Our future looks bright. Grimes is the gun midfielder we have been looking for. He is instinctive and makes correct decisions. Petterd is a great hit up forward. Jetta's appetite for the contest is fierce. We still haven't seen Strauss, Blease, or anywhere near the best of Watts. I am firmly in the list management camp, but I couldn't contain my excitement when Grimes and Petterd nailed those goals to put us in front. For one second there I thought who cares about draft picks if these are the blokes to carry us for the next 10 years I will look forward to much success. Lord have mercy on the rest of the competition if we nab Scully and/or another top 5 draft pick. Go Dees.

Grimes is the complete player that we have long been waiting for he is a beauty. If he has a weakness I haven't seen it. If Petterd can continue to work on his kicking which is improving then we have a very good player. I wonder if DaveyJones still thinks Jetta is still soft. Don't forget Jurrah he is freak. Still want that priority pick though if Bailey can get us that then I will do a total backflip and may even praise him.

[Real Demon 232]

Two more top 5 picks, and we have a serious group of young talent that will go places.

All top teams have 3, 4, or 5 genuine stars, and that's where need to get to.

The list as is, doesn't have the top end talent just yet.

[Binmans PA 26,235]

Wasn't Grimes brilliant today? If he had another season under his belt, I'd just about give him the captaincy.

[rpfc 27,531]

Wasn't Grimes brilliant today? If he had another season under his belt, I'd just about give him the captaincy.

He certainly is making CC's claim that we would have taken him at 4 if Morton wasn't available INFINITELY more believable.

He is exactly what we need - an inside/outside mid with a great kick (Oh, Freak - Haha) and great speed (against WCE he was clocked at a top speed of 33km/h, Priddis got up to 25km/h).

The bonus is his leadership (and his love of the Dees).

The bad is that he loves the Dees so much he decided to get Garry Lyon's back...

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

It's really heartening seeing what Bailey had to pull to stop the young guys from stealing that win. It's like seeing someone trying to hold a dam from bursting. Praying that the structure hold for just 4 more weeks, and then letting the talent loose from the start of next year... Or if we lose against Freo, we could even let them smash the Saints!

[titan_uranus 22,466]

I was thinking the same thing as Petterd kicked that late goal. Our youngsters are looking good already.

Me too. That pace from Petterd was great.

[Akum 2,660]

Me too. That pace from Petterd was great.

As was the effort from Bartram as third man up to get it to him. That was just brilliant. He & Dunn have been great since they came back from Casey and have shown they can improve the parts of their game that need work.

It was also great to see that when the game was there to be won, it was the likes of Grimes and Petterd who stood up and took on the responsibility.

We learned that Warnock & Frawley are capable of adding drive to an insipid forward line.

Also, Miller and Bate made great contributions in the midfield - Miller had 2 possessions in the first half as a forward and 9 in the second half, Bate had 23 for the match.

Stef & Spencer showed that they're both far better young ruckmen than Pattison & Vickery.

Jones showed that at least he's capable of high quality disposal - that was the big surprise to me.

The thing I like best is that even at this early stage of development, the team has shown that against average teams we can stay in the game even if we're not playing well and are getting outplayed, just by sheer effort and tenacity. All we need is to learn how to do that against top teams in the years to come, and we'll be very hard to beat. Compare that to the many beltings last year.

Oh, and PJ and Newton both left us in no doubt about their future.

Edited August 3, 2009 by Akum

[H_T 2,941]

I was thinking the same thing as Petterd kicked that late goal. Our youngsters are looking good already.

Maybe. Reality check. It was against Richmond.

[Geddy Lee 582]

I agree, today we played with out Sylvia, Mclean, Garland, Aussie, Green, Jamar, Morton, Jurrah which would definately be in our starting 18 and will be for the next 3-6 years(Jamar? but the rest should be). Then we have 4 players that are early draft picks that we haven't seen much of in Maric, Watts, Blease and Strauss, plus we will get at least 2 top 20 picks.

One player that I thought was gone was Dunn but watching him at Casey and now with Melb over the past 5 weeks he is improving, his foot skills are good and has a very good goal sense and a bit of dog in him. He will never be a Key forward but as a HFF he may just make it.

Don't know if McLean, Aussie are best 18 but I agree with the others.

[Guest Watts=Saviour]

Maybe. Reality check. It was against Richmond.

True. Man, if they can only just beat a team that's doing their best to lose.....they really must suck.

[Maric Legend 0]

I was thinking along similar lines. Now that WCE are can't get a PP, would anyone be THAT devastated if we just got Scully and no PP. Feel a bit dirty about hearing some of the matchups and positional changes that went on. Hopefully can watch a bit of the replay this week.

[DeeM 42]

Just letting every one know, if you think Grimes has a good kick, wait untill you see Straussy. lace out 1m of the ground bullet!

[Jaded No More 58,226]

I was thinking along similar lines. Now that WCE are can't get a PP, would anyone be THAT devastated if we just got Scully and no PP.

YES!

There is a massive difference between getting one great player, and getting two great players.

The guys we get this year could potentially complete our premiership-winning team. With no early picks up for grab for a long while, this year is about getting the best you can as many times as you can.

One more victory or one more gun player?

Buddy and Roughead or just Roughead? Watts and Rich or just Watts?

It's such an easy decision it's laughable!!!

[Sir Why You Little 34,602]

I was thinking along similar lines. Now that WCE are can't get a PP, would anyone be THAT devastated if we just got Scully and no PP. Feel a bit dirty about hearing some of the matchups and positional changes that went on. Hopefully can watch a bit of the replay this week.

You bet i would Be!! That 2nd Pick might be the piece in the jigsaw we need.

If you are going to do a job, do it properly or not at all.

Bailey wants Top Cards in his Deck. So do i.

Otherwise we have to play against that player. 4 wins MAX this year. Next Year we go for it....

[rpfc 27,531]

I was thinking along similar lines. Now that WCE are can't get a PP, would anyone be THAT devastated if we just got Scully and no PP. Feel a bit dirty about hearing some of the matchups and positional changes that went on. Hopefully can watch a bit of the replay this week.

Where's your backbone?

I never cared what the Eagles would do.

I want two players in the top 5, now we are assured two in the top 3 if we lose this week.

One more game and then its over.

Hang in there...

[dimmy 1,114]

As was the effort from Bartram as third man up to get it to him. That was just brilliant. He & Dunn have been great since they came back from Casey and have shown they can improve the parts of their game that need work.

It was also great to see that when the game was there to be won, it was the likes of Grimes and Petterd who stood up and took on the responsibility.

We learned that Warnock & Frawley are capable of adding drive to an insipid forward line.

Also, Miller and Bate made great contributions in the midfield - Miller had 2 possessions in the first half as a forward and 9 in the second half, Bate had 23 for the match.

Stef & Spencer showed that they're both far better young ruckmen than Pattison & Vickery.

Jones showed that at least he's capable of high quality disposal - that was the big surprise to me.

The thing I like best is that even at this early stage of development, the team has shown that against average teams we can stay in the game even if we're not playing well and are getting outplayed, just by sheer effort and tenacity. All we need is to learn how to do that against top teams in the years to come, and we'll be very hard to beat. Compare that to the many beltings last year.

Oh, and PJ and Newton both left us in no doubt about their future.

Can only agree !! Good to see someone actually put a positive spin on our "boys" instead of talking about trading, "getting rid of "etc. , "how the sky will fall in if we dont get Scully".

We still have a number 1 draft pick up our sleeve hidden in the back of the gym, pumping iron and eating donuts, (along with Cale hopefully)

These kids mentioned above are only under 21/22 and many of them have over came injuries that effectively put them as 2nd year players e.g. Petterd, Bartram. Spence is still growing.

We have forgotten about Aussie who was primed for a big year

Just think of James Frawley as a 2000 version of Gary Ayres, the way he threads traffic. The improvement of Warnock has been fantastic and the best (well nearly) Garland is still to come back. The backline is looking good. Cheney plays tall for a 19 yo ( If he played for BUCKS and EDDI ) he would be a candidate for sainthood.

Jetta and Bennell are picking up the tempo nicely.

And the icing on the cake is Grimes ( see poll that rates him next best rookie after Rich, but that's because more people from Brisbane ahd the day off to ring in)

Credit to the coaches who sent these kids back to Casey to LEARN ( and for Peter German for teaching)thus providing a learning environment by encouraging flexibility. The side did not lose anything by Warnock & Frawley having a little gallop in the fwd line at all.

:)