what IS !!

what is.....is that its 2007 and we are heading into round 3 with , and lets be honest folks, not a lot of optimism.

We have three very good players out for at least a month, a couple of players who wil need some good slight of hand to convince the selectors that they too arent afflicted and anywhere of up to a dozen players who seem to have awoken sans their afl-super powers !!

Any of us have had a think about where we might be in a few months time and it sure aint pretty !!

For me there are really two ways of playing this. First : continue along the path , the methodology, the style we are and plug the holes with like gifted ( sic ) players and continue on as best as can.

or

Lets get Jiggy !!

Accept we arent goig to set the world on fire for a couple of months... and bring on some of the lads. ..each according to endeavour , enthusiasm and potential. Bring in Dunn , Newton, Buckley , Frawley...even have a look at Warnock and Neaves.. let the Fergunator have a run.

You dont need , or indeed want to bring them all in and on at once.. but what are you waiting for sometimes in life... if but an opportunity to show what you can do...and often there's no time like the present or when the call goes out.."who's prepared to step up to the plate? "

we often talk in footy about building for tomorrow..yet strangely all our games aare today !! The games are played in the present. How long do we wait for players to be 'ready"...what tell tale signs mark these supposed games whereby champions are born ? Are there special notation in the 'record' , today is the day for " fred ".. etc... No. There is only that mother of invention....necessity.

There are never perfect days for improvisation, theyare just like others. yet the inspired and the brave will grasp these and make some sort of effort out of it.

As a club , a team you either start assuming the victim's mentality and despair...oh woe is us.

OR

you get a little proactive, seize not only the day but each moment; throw a little caution to the wind and become daring.

i mean ..what are the choices... play who we know and how we know...and know the outcome..or give some guys a red hot go. who knows..we might just discover something...or we might lose a few games.. Simlar results but diametrically different attitudes..

And this club could certainly use some attitude

are you game MFC ? can you be innovative Neale ?

i thought this was about gettin willsmith, gettin jiggy with it nananana

i reckon will smith could help....we ll at least the post match interviews would be funny and i reckon the membership would go up

well at least his flash thingy might relieve us of the pain of remembering !!

Fully agree BB. Bring in the kids. Let's be daring for a change. Only the last time ND was daring was probably when he went out without nappies for the first time - and he had no say in that.

I don't believe in giving guys games who haven't earned it.

If their form at training and Sandy is good enough then fine, however let's just pick the best 22 available, no affirmative action if you're under 21.

People get too carried away with youth, even the so called 'Baby Bombers' of 93 had more than enough good senior players.

Young players that deserve to come into senior selection considerations at this stage would be Sylvia and Dunn and thats about it.

The other guys; Buckley, Newton et al need to show a hell of a lot more at Sandy.

qualify "earned it" ..seriously..

this is the whole point.. we can go down a long protracted path ..according to some rule of thumb..or if some of the kids have shown a little promise.. throw them in.. Sheeds would... Mathews does... they realise often timing is a cruel partner, but sometimes you just have to roll the dice. some of these guys arte playing Ok , possibly without setting any worlds on fire.

When there's a fire you need water.. or do you wait for the firetruck ?.. you get it from wherever it might be. Personally im tired of waiting for all the tomorrows we have been promised. Some of thses kids are no longer 'kids' in footy trerms, they simply havent been given much of a chance because other supposed more mature, better equiped players have EANT their games.. like hell they have !! they are the ones letting the jumper down...give othres a chance to show something... worse case..we might lose...!! guess what...we probably will anyways for a few months.

Time for something out of the box.....not the same ol same ol..

qualify "earned it" ..seriously..

Consistently good if not excellent performances at VFL level over a period of at least 2 weeks to a month.

this is the whole point.. we can go down a long protracted path ..according to some rule of thumb..or if some of the kids have shown a little promise.. throw them in.. Sheeds would... Mathews does... they realise often timing is a cruel partner, but sometimes you just have to roll the dice. some of these guys arte playing Ok , possibly without setting any worlds on fire.

Let's just play our best 22 regardless of age am unsure as to what more you want as we already have many of the excellent youngsters in our team: Bell, C.Johnson, Bate and Jones etc.

Team balance must come into it IMO Buckley, CJ and Bate are similar players at this stage tallish running mids/flankers.

Guys like Newton and Garland are KPP who will need a bit more time to develop, Newton may get a game here and there but he won't win us a game at this stage. I'm sure we'll guys like Frawley, Dunn and Petterd get games during the course of the season.

When there's a fire you need water.. or do you wait for the firetruck ?.. you get it from wherever it might be. Personally im tired of waiting for all the tomorrows we have been promised. Some of thses kids are no longer 'kids' in footy trerms, they simply havent been given much of a chance because other supposed more mature, better equiped players have EANT their games.. like hell they have !! they are the ones letting the jumper down...give othres a chance to show something... worse case..we might lose...!! guess what...we probably will anyways for a few months.

Time for something out of the box.....not the same ol same ol..

Maybe but you need to have some perspective. What is the point of having battle hardened guys like Yze, Godfrey, Bizz, Fergy, Holland, Brown and Ward on the list if they don't have the chance of playing a game. Let's be honest if were about winning games of footy in the short term these guys will give us better service than Petterd, Buckley, Neville, Warnock etc.

Maybe if we crap out completely we can throw some of the kiddies in the deep end of the pool. It's only two rounds in and I'm not prepared to call this season over and quite frankly I think it's farcical that some people on this board are. (Thats not directed at you bb59)

At the risk of sounding heretic...im not that fussed ...( or rather blinkered ) to winning games at this point.

Now I'll qualify that..

Given our dire circustances its not really a reasonable call to suggest we will win that many ( if any ) in the near future.

Do we play the vets knowing that we will only ( any maybe ) get a so so result ? Or do you recast your lot and start seeing what some of the kids CAN do? We pretty well know what PJ can do... unfortunately not as much as we hoped. Dunn has shown some definite glimpses...lets build on that.

Am all for Fergs playing at present. I would agree Garland is a bit of a ways off .. but personally would like to see Juice up the front at the moment. He does at least know how to play the sharp end. Frawley was viewed by some as a near "ready made".. ( but alas..even he's a casualty ) Sometimes cicumstances dictate opportunities.

Again not suggesting all at same time.. but certainly my preference is to try some of them under fire instead of just giving an ol battler another week simply because he's been around longer. I respect the opinion of many that the season is far from over.. but short of the best comeback since Lazurus we really arent in the hunt for top 4 anymore ( if we were at all) ...My simple point is...do we bumble on...or treat this hurdle as an opportunity.

At the risk of sounding heretic...im not that fussed ...( or rather blinkered ) to winning games at this point.

Now I'll qualify that..

Given our dire circustances its not really a reasonable call to suggest we will win that many ( if any ) in the near future.

Do we play the vets knowing that we will only ( any maybe ) get a so so result ? Or do you recast your lot and start seeing what some of the kids CAN do? We pretty well know what PJ can do... unfortunately not as much as we hoped. Dunn has shown some definite glimpses...lets build on that.

Am all for Fergs playing at present. I would agree Garland is a bit of a ways off .. but personally would like to see Juice up the front at the moment. He does at least know how to play the sharp end. Frawley was viewed by some as a near "ready made".. ( but alas..even he's a casualty ) Sometimes cicumstances dictate opportunities.

Again not suggesting all at same time.. but certainly my preference is to try some of them under fire instead of just giving an ol battler another week simply because he's been around longer. I respect the opinion of many that the season is far from over.. but short of the best comeback since Lazurus we really arent in the hunt for top 4 anymore ( if we were at all) ...My simple point is...do we bumble on...or treat this hurdle as an opportunity.

My bet is Neale will bumble on with various cobbled veteran outfits until he's forced to admit the Melbourne juggernaut never was and moreover has been running on its rims for some time. Not something to look forward to. He'll be in conservation mode.