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Played in 4 of the 5 Grand Finals Won 3 flags Lost a champion in Ablett Champion Premiership players retired, Ling etc But yet their hunger continues to win games against a great team like the Hawks Sure they have great skills, but the words DESIRE, LEADERSHIP,WORK for EACH OTHER & CULTURE Lets not forget some 6-8 yrs ago most of their list were not going anywhere, handbags etc Lets get behind Neeld & his team to support him as this will take time as seen with the cats

I'll try to come up with a few suggestions around our biggest mistakes when looking at the current list and why it's so poor. Chiefly, we have extremely little talent and leadership in the 25 and over bracket at our club. While we can debate the merits of some of Prendergast's picks (and yes, missing out on Darling was a catastrophe most were worried about from day one), our current shambles is less about his picks than about what happened between 1999-2006. I'm not going to touch on player development as a 'mistake', but it's clear that has been sorely lacking as well. Some of what I'm going to list aren't Melbourne mistakes, just negative events that happened outside of our control. Where are our leaders and good players aged 25-32? Here goes... 1999: MFC found guilty of salary cap breaches and stripped of its 1999 first round pick (#3) and second and third round picks in 2000 (#32 and #48). For the record, Aaron Fiora was taken at #3 in 1999, but maybe we would have taken Pavlich, who went at #4. Picks 32 and 48 in 2000 were no names, but missing out on the opportunity to pick anyone outside the two best players in 1999 hurts, especially with the calibre of someone like Pav still around. 2001: MFC spends pick 9 in the 2001 superdraft on Luke Molan, and backs it up by picking Aaron Rogers (not of the superstar from Green Bay fame) at 26. Most articles written on the pick at the time expressed surprise that we had picked Molan much higher than he should have been selected, but Melbourne was after the "toughest player in the draft", and got their man. Neither he or A-Rod would play a game for Melbourne. 2001: A flurry of trades were confusing to decipher, but effectively (thanks Demonwiki), Melbourne received Bizzell, Ellis, Vardy, pick 26 (A-Rod), and pick 55 (Brad Miller). Bizzell was the centrepiece of the ins there, and had some (albeit brief) very good years in red and blue. In exchange, Melbourne lost a homesick Jeff Farmer, Brent Grgic, Troy Simmonds, Pick 17 and 41 (Playfair). What hurts is that #17 turned into James Kelly. 2002: A bit of a stretch here, but Steven Armstrong's injury in the Bali bombings certainly didn't have a positive impact on his playing ability, and a promising early career didn't amount to much in red and blue. 2002: MFC trades Shane Woewodin in a salary dump for pick 14, which is used on Daniel Bell, and takes Nick Smith at 15. 2004: Scott Thompson wants to go home to Adelaide due to family reasons. We essentially got Brent Moloney for him in the trade period, but in Scott Thompson, we lost a player who would have been our best over the last 8 seasons, and an easy choice as captain. 2002: MFC trades Darren Jolly for pick 15 in the draft, a defensible move if you can draft well, given Jolly's output. We used the pick on Lynden Dunn however, after taking Bate at 13. Neither are starting 18 players. Not a whole lot of talent was taken after them, but with that being the case, the Jolly trade doesn't make sense. 2004: Troy Broadbridge passes away. 2005: MFC had a trade completed for Brad Sewell for the meagre sum of Ryan Ferguson. Unfortunately, old Ferg refused to go, and instead of having Sewell currently running around in his seventh season of play in a Melbourne guernsey, we have to rack our brains trying to remember how many games Ferguson played for Melbourne after that ill-fated trade. Thanks for the loyalty, but in this case, no thanks. There must be other instances I'm forgetting - I'm not writing a thesis on this or anything. But when we look at our sorry team, our leadership void, and our sickening midfield, oh how things could have been different with Scott Thompson, Brad Sewell and James Kelly running around today, stuffing the ball down Pavlich's throat. Hopefully that brightens your day.

It's not the game plan. We need their heart, determination and sheer will power...

Are you for real?! The way some posters here have turned on our reigning BnF, our best clearance player, our best midfielder, and a player highly tipped to have been named captain, is absolutely disgraceful. Say what you want about his abilities, but he has been one of very few players to give 100% of what they have to give every week, don't you think we need that at the moment? To accuse such a player of deceiving their team mates etc is a baseless gutless call and you should have a think about about what you're saying (which may be a first judging by your post). He was rested due to injury, why would MFC play cloak and dagger about it when they dropped Davey etc? Sure, he didn't have a great Round 1, but I really don' think there's many players ahead of him for a midfield spot if you want to talk about "earning" it.

Beware of Fat bastards bearing false sympathy.

McGuire has no interest in the MFC. Anything he says is grandstanding and putting himself and his club in the best light, such as his assertion that Collingwood "let" Melbourne have a home game every QB when it is our fixture requests to which Collingwood simply stays mute. No doubt there will be a conga line of back slapping Collingwood supporters and journos saying "good on ya Ed!" The point is that there is no need for McGuire to announce this publicly. If he could assist and was genuine he would shut-up. Such public announcements are really only going to add further pressure and destabilise the MFC, which IMO would be part of his real motive.

... and shame on all of you for bagging Tom Scully. I thought he did a great job yesterday for a kid straight out of Haileybury College and with the weight of an overbearing father hanging heavily upon him.

Bartell is the best player in the comp IMO. When the game is to be won for the cats have a look who stands up. 9 outta 10 its Bartell.

Needing to rely on Pick 20+'s from the National Draft, any Preseason Draft Picks and Rookie-listed players to be our "stars". In good teams, these types of players can play the odd cameo, and for average players they can be made to look quite good with decent, well developed first round draft picks.

He's not doing anything to help our cause. The need for a new sponsor has already been well publicised by the heavy media focus on the EnergyWatch saga. Eddie hasn't brought attention to something that no one is aware of - he has merely found a way to get his name associated with a situation everyone is already talking about.

Record or no record, the umpires paid what were generally as plain as day. I actually thing the umpiring for the day was pretty accurate, wasn't their fault that our tackling was crap.

You have to have the players that are capable of being developed in to top class footballers, we don't. Do you really think that Morton would be a star at any other club? What about Dunn, Bate, McLean, Bennell hell we might haver seen a Coleman medalist in Juice if he went to Collingwood, not likely. You first have to unearth players with talent then you can develop them in to better players but if they can't play, they can't play. How many picks below 30 have we recruited that are simply no good.

Once again we saw the same theme in the game against West Coast. Stronger harder bodies being brushed aside and beaten in power running. The emotional ranting from personal rage by many demonlanders is too often without thought. Demonland has become simply a forum for emotional exfoliating. I argue that our strength and speed inadequacy is the legacy of the horribly under equipt gym at Junction Oval. Our leaders never fulfilled their potential because they never had the fundamental equipment to transform their natural ability into effective talent. The Eagles have had the equipment and know- how from their beginning. It sets a higher base that new recruits immediately come into. The new era is only just beginning. We now have the facilities. We have the leadership thinkers in the club (Neeld, Craig, Misson) but this will take time to trickle down through the player list. If your can't live with the vision of this new platform we are establishing , you'll continue to rant and rave over the inconsequential. We have a good board who established this new base line, we have a sensational coaching structure - yes it is in its own early days of development, we have a reasonably good list. Instant gratifiers threaten to disrupt the morale of the club. Great clubs stick together through thick and thin.

At the risk of sounding delusional, (given Billy Stretch looks about 8yrs old in the 2010 articles I've seen), we do have a couple of promising father and son mids coming through in Viney this year and Billy Stretch in 2014. The wraps on Billy Stretch out of Adelaide are extremely encouraging ie Chris Judd comparisons. When you think that a number of our young players will have 50 - 90 games under their belts by then, this makes current developments a little easier to take. Stating the obvious, a couple of damaging mids would solve a lot of issues.

Sure. But we have achieved nothing since '64. The sooner people take that on board and do not accept it as not nearly good enough, this club will survive. '88 & 2000 were good years yep. But Grand Final Day(s) in both cases were over in the first Q. Hell in 2001 we didn't even make the finals to at least attempt redemption.

A few weeks ago they had the Scott brothers on AFL360 (I think), and they were talking about their experiences at Brisbane during their flags years with regards to how the players all knew what to do and all lead the way with regards to preparation and setting the standards without too much input from the coach. They then went on to say that it certainly wasn't that way during their spoon years (despite the playing list not actually changing that much) and that it was all basically thanks to Leigh forcing the standards on them initially that lead to them self-enforcing them later. This is what gives me hope that it won't always be this way. If Neeld and his support army are as strong and thorough as they appear, this playing group under the Jacks should eventually start taking responsibility and once that happens it will be a snowballing effect. It won't happen overnight of course, but let's not forget that Brisbane, Collingwood and Geelong were all basket cases before they became powerhouses.

Sure. With Brian Cook and Costa

Just got back from Casey Fields where Casey won by 1 point. It was a bit difficult to make out the Dees players at times but here are my insights for what they are worth. Fitpatrick continues to develop. He puts himself into a good position in almost every contest and is super quick for a big bloke. I am not a fan but he impressed me today. But his kicking is going to restrict his influence at AFL level. Leigh Williams had a shocker. Tried hard and he is coming off illness but his marking and in-close disposal was ordinary. Sam Blease is on shakey ground. He runs well but that is it. He tried to get around every opponent and often couldn't, his kicking long to position often ended up with an opposition mark, but his defensive efforts were absolutely horrible. He only ran when Casey had the ball and his intensity around the packs is absent. I am a fan of this boy but I don't want him doing this in a Dees jumper. Tapscott was OK. Some great stuff but only on 3 - 4 occasions. Seemed to be a bit lost today. Cale Morton was excellent. He put his body on the line on numerous occasions, inlcuding standing beneath pack marking, and was poised and deliberate in his disposal. In the last quarter he held his nerve when the crowd was yelling at him to kick it: he held it for as long as he could and fed it off at the right time. An impressive game. Jai Sheehan had a lot of the ball across half back and is a really good kick, but a lot of his disposlas were under no pressure so it is a bit difficult to gauge. His timing for defensive spoilng was good. Couch was good, and excellent in-close during important moments. Troy Davis. A really good game. Dominated his opponent for most of the game, often left one out and won most of the one-on-one stuff. Good thinking and disposal off half back. The game was a blatant lesson about the importance of the half-forward line. There were a lot of stoppages (which Frankston won really well), and there were a lot of free possessions across half back. But the the half-forwards running into the right place at the right time was a lack for both teams. Frankston got it right in the last quarter and almost stole the game. The only Casey player who played a good game through half forward was Fitzpatrick when he rested there. But he would not excell there at AFL level. There is no strong half forward at Casey whom the Dees could promote, on today's form. If someone could tell me who is no. 14 for Frankston that would be good. Read the game really well, used his body well, was quick for his size and and outstanding kick. Morton, Couch, Davis should be considered for promotion. Fitzpatrick maybe. They may promote Tapscott but it would be on potential not form.

There is a phenomenon whereby a person presented with a negative potential outcome and a positive potential outcome will choose the latter as being more likely. But we as Melbourne supporters have finally wised up enough to buck that trend. We've finally broken through the delusions which have blinded so many of us for so many years. We know how disappointing we'll be, but we're still just as [censored] off as ever about it. We're realists now, but that doesn't stop us from being jaded by our crappiness.

we were in over our heads 5 years ago we are now approaching the bottom of the Mariana Trench

I'm not worried as much as I am deeply frustrated. As a club, things have improved dramatically in recent years. We now have a really good coaching team and football department. I think we have a good CEO, and I think our board is sound. We've had a few incredibly bad hits this year, but some of them could ultimately turn out to be positives. Our on-field start to the season is the real concern though, particularly given we're hunting for a major sponsor at the moment. I am very confident Neeld will turn it around though, but it's going to take a long time - and that's simply a gut wrenching realisation, given what we've had to endure since 2006. What really frustrates me though is that we've not seized the opportunity that we had over the past 4 or 5 years to recruit some genuine red hot talent. It was almost like some nerd designing video game algorithms was selecting our players. Reality went out the window, and unrealistic, clever dick strategies kicked in. How we thought consistently picking under age, skinny players with our top picks was a smart thing to do has always troubled me. The reasoning in not picking Darling over Cook really troubles me. The fact that a dedicated recruitment team failed to even interview Dustin Martin, the much publicised likely third draft pick, when we had picks one and two in that draft troubles me. It shows the process was amateur and lazy and possibly arrogant. That sacking Junior on a flight to Adelaide prior to the Port game, a widely respected leader and club stalwart and former AA player who was still clearly in our best 22 and who still had a big role to play in developing this list, even occurred troubles me. Again, completely amateur stuff. And wholly lacking in proper judgement too. None of this is hindsight. I thought all of this at the time. Some conveniently come back at me with EVERY OTHER club would've picked Scully. And EVERY OTHER club overlooked Darling. My response. Not EVERY OTHER club was in our situation. Not EVERY OTHER club had our needs and our deficiencies. And not EVERY OTHER club has such an ordinary list now, so perhaps not every other club would actually have done what we did, because (1) their lists are much better than ours; and (2) their lists are much better than ours despite us having better draft picks than them over a long period of time. The thing that also troubles me is that this should not have been that hard. I look at North - they seem not to get too clever - they make practical selections, and I reckon it will pay off for them sooner than it will for us. And yep Rhino Richards - I reckon I would've done a better job than our recruiters over the past few years. Hard not too to be honest. I would've just telephoned Kevin Sheehan and said, "these are our needs, and these are our draft picks - who the hell should we pick?". I reckon we'd now have a better list had I been in control and we done that, and it would've saved us a lot of dough. I wouldn't have charged the club a cent for my services - all just for the love of the club.

1) Inventing the sport

I think the development of our young players is held up by the lack of genuine A-graders on our list. A kid who gets drafted by Geelong or Collingwood is going to develop quicker and be a better player in most cases as they have Chappy, Bartel, Selwood or Swan, Pendlebury, Thomas to train with and setting the example for them to follow. Who do we have?

I say development and impatience. I don't think there's anything wrong with the choices we've made, but they haven't been developed well, and in the main supporter's expectations have been unrealistic about how long it should take for this development. There's nothing that makes our choices inferior to others, bar the usual later choices that turn into guns from nowhere. Longmire discussed in the papers how the image of Fyfe in a swans jumper haunts him, since they planned to select him with their next pick after Rohan and Jetta. They were sure he'd still be there, but the Dockers snatched him at 20. The Swans ended up using their next pick on Sam Reid at 38. There have also been articles where Mark Harvey has expressed absolute shock at how quickly and how well Fyfe had come on. So, as much as "we should have picked him", no one else seemed to know he'd be such a gun, even those teams that clearly rated him. Also a question has to be asked about what we are trying to achieve with our choices? Wins now? or a premiership team in a couple of years? I know these 2 things aren't mutually exclusive, but they're not mutually inclusive either. Anyway, I've been surprised by some of the insight from Cameron Mooney at times when on the radio, and this morning I heard him discussing Melbourne's list briefly. He said from playing against us for the last few years, his opinion is that we have kids who clearly have talent, but either they haven't been developed well, or they've been developed in the wrong way, and told to focus on the wrong things. Neeld will rectify this, but it will take time.

Welcome to another wonderful season... I will do as I did, for those that don't like stats - they don't tell the whole story, but they are a decent comparison to other teams and I would like to use it to chart progress over time. The previous thread illustrated starkly the decline under Bailey and was useful in pointing out how far back we had travelled in contested possessions and clearances. As is my want I have changed this year's KPI slightly - I have removed the clanger differential in favour of a disposal efficiency total and differential (this will be in percentage terms), and have included a Marks inside 50 differential. Neither is definitive but the former will allow a slight insight into how we are keeping the footy compared to the opposition (something supposedly important to Neeld from reports) and the latter providing a comparison of how we deliver the ball forward compared to our opponents. I have added an analysis header so I can add my two cents and shape your thinking... rpfc KPI Contested Possession Differential 2010 > -1.2 2011 > -5.5 2012 > 2 BL: 2 Inside 50 Differential 2010 > -7.2 2011 > -6.2 2012 > -8 BL: -8 Clearance Differential 2010 > -2 2011 > -2.8 2012 > -12 BL: -12 Disposal Efficiency (%) & Differential (%) 2011 > ??? 2012 > 65 (-8) BL: 65 (-8) Marks Inside 50 Average & Differential 2011 > ??? 2012 > 5 (-10) BL: 5 (-10) Scores Against average 2010 > 89.6 2011 > 105 2012 > 119 BL: 119 Percentage 2010 > 94.5 2011 > 85.3 2012 > 65.5 Analysis And haven't we started well? Smashed in the clearances, I50s, Marks I50, and disposal efficiency. It was haphazard and meek at times. The only stat to bely that fact were the contested possessions being even.

Have you put your name up for a board spot? Or are you just comfortable sitting at your desk banging every person at the club who is working hard. If you don't like it, chalenge and put yourself up.And please use paras as it hurts my eyes reading your long drawn out crap.

KPI Contested Possession Differential 2010 > -1.2 2011 > -5.5 2012 > -14.5 BL: 2; WCE: -31 Inside 50 Differential 2010 > -7.2 2011 > -6.2 2012 > -26.5 BL: -8; WCE: -45 Clearance Differential 2010 > -2 2011 > -2.8 2012 > -8.5 BL: -12; WCE: -5 Disposal Efficiency (%) & Differential (%) 2011 > ??? 2012 > 68 (-7) BL: 65 (-8); WCE: 71 (-6) Marks Inside 50 Average & Differential 2011 > ??? 2012 > 4 (-9.5) BL: 5 (-10); WCE: 3 (-9) Scores Against average 2010 > 89.6 2011 > 105 2012 > 142.5 BL: 119; WCE: 166 Percentage 2010 > 94.5 2011 > 85.3 2012 > 47.7 Analysis Clark, Jones, and Magner. Everything else was pretty bad - contested possies and inside 50s especially 'noteworthy'...

I watched Eddy talking about Melbourne being "down on its luck". I squirmed through the whole affair. What a patronising snot he is.

Don't want eddies help but I really think the AFL should cover Energy Watch installments till we find a replacement. The club certainly took a hit to maintain the club and the AFLs integrity.

There's nothing wrong with talking about end of year changes after round two - it's not like you can't change your mind as the year plays out. I think comparing early season thoughts to the final result makes it interesting, personally. I'll turn 30. If life begins at 40 I'll still have another 10 to wait!

He might think its his divan right to get promoted.

That's sofa from being funny

Eddie does nothing that doesn't in the long term help CFC. Be absolutely wary of his gifts with strings attached with or without the AFL's nod of approval ie Queens Birthday gift of gate takings - all smoke and mirrors.

Aaron stayed on the track for around 45 minutes after the squad finished at training in Perth on Friday and was given an interval running session. He looked fairly knackered at the end of it.

Some of you dreamers on here don't watch too many sports shows or just simply keep watching the cartoons. Ch 7 today (BT & his mate Darcy) spoke of the deal re EW and the fact that Footscray were smart enough to avoid them. Schwabb has had a year of epic fails, so you smoothsayers just want to ignore this fact and remain in reverse for another year. Get a grip on reality boys, easy to say keyboard warriors do this and do that, but where has it all got us with CS. Energy watch were not checked properly by us or Victory or the Rebels. We all made the same blunder...............fact. Footscray did not...............fact. Polis and his previous business efforts were just plain thin ice stuff, it was all there for anyone to check on!! Hello Schwabb. Does the truth hurt or are you just oblivious to the obvious. You need stronger facts, petals! This is the sort of stuff big wages are paid to senior management to ensure due diligence is always adhered to. Jeez we are rank amateurs in this regard.

It seems a bit odd to me that we would go hell for leather after under-performing players but would be so precious and concerned about unfair or ill-considered comments regarding the management. Surely if we're demanding that the players toughen up, we would expect the execs to set a good example??

Well then they are ruining the idea of a forum made for football club supporters wanting to share their views. Aren't they RP?

It's clear that there still needs to be a lot of work done to get somewhere decent. With the draft meant to be so good this year and the importance of it to us, we need to get someone in who knows how to spot talent. We need to fill our Head recruiting role. I say, stuff McGuire and go after their #2 man, he's got no chance of taking our sponsors now. I don't think Rendell would be interested, given he wanted to get out of recruiting anyway, but stayed on because of the quality on hand in the 2012 draft. The 2012 draft is a massive one it seems, for the MFC. We better not [censored] it up.

I will give you some positives: we have a big 24 year old forward who can kick a bag, we have a hardworking grunt to applaud (with another on the way), Jones continues his slow and steady progress, and there is a chance for the rest to redeem themselves next week.

I think everyone understands the full reality of our situation... But FFS this is the only thread which is trying to be optimistic and I don't think posts like this belong here. Sure I'm expecting someone to say something like I'm delusional or I'm sticking my head in the sand but seriously I'm sick of logging on with the world is coming to an end, or I'm going to burn my membership in every thread We all watched the game, we all watched the past week but let's just keep the pessimistic comments to a minimum here please

Boo. Bad post. Nobody should wish death on another Club.

No. I would have preferred North to be 8 goals down. But they just won't die. So sad.

I think the disappointment is not so much the loss but the fact we have come to expect it and we seem incapable of doing anything to stop it. We have gone backwards even over last year, I think West Coast doubled their winning margin against us, and are in danger of slipping in to the abyss that we all predicted the Giants would fall in to. The fact that the loss to you was less cutting is even more worrying, we are now just oblivious to it and are in danger of losing our passion; if we continue to go to games knowing we are going to get flogged, only the diehards will continue to support the club.

I cannot disagree any more.... From watching both rounds its apparent what we are lacking is basic teamwork and skills. Kicks should have been sent to the chest but were too high, handballs were weak, desperate and sent often over to worse situations, and all the rare kicks to our forwards were either planted on top or to the wrong side. Also the lazyness was unbelievable. No one was leading, supporting or even tagging. The worst thing we could do ATM is more individual and non skill orientated work such as weights. We need more cardio, skills training and FFS almost a lock in. Send the players off somewhere as a team and work on skills, cardio, and teamwork.

I completely agree - our defensive 6 or so has the inertia of an entire team to contend with. Of course it's not going to hold up. Our defense isn't perfect and at the moment there's a couple of players in there that I don't rate, but it's by far the most workable area on the ground for us. We've seen what Frawley and Garland in particular look like when things come together.

The next person who compares us to West Coast is going to get a personal visit from me and my chainsaw. FFS. West Coast is totally different. In the year they won the spoon, the fell apart at the seams, had injuries to all their senior players, and then blatantly tanked. One of the main reasons they climbed up to the top 4 in the next year is because they had Cox, Kerr, Glass, Embley and Lynch all fit and playing at their capacity (which, in the case of all of them except Lynch, is as an A grader). We don't have anyone on our list resembling that group. We don't have that core group of stars who can lead and lift us. So stop suggesting we might just magically find them and then rise from the depths of the ladder to the top 4. West Coast was the exception, not the norm. Agreed. Our midfield is terrible, and it comes from having one-dimensional players. Swan, Pendlebury, Thomas, Judd, Murphy, Hodge, Mitchell, Sewell, Priddis, Kerr, Shuey, Selwood, Bartel, Kelly - they are all able of both getting their own ball and then using it with skill. At Melbourne, you are either capable of doing one, or the other. Not good enough, and part of that has to come down to bad coaching. That we've been unable to teach Jones how to kick in 6 years, or to teach Bennell how to win a contested possession, has to come, in some part, from bad coaches. What do you want our defenders to do when the West Coast midfielders are streaming towards the 50 under no pressure? With their amount of time and lack of pressure, they are able to do whatever they want, and no defence in the league can stop that kind of dominance.

I FACE YOUR DEMONS REFUSE TO GIVE UP, AND WILL STILL MAKE THE 600 ODD KM ROUND TRIP DOWN TO WATCH MY BELOVED MELBOURNE PLAY. Please note. The statements listed immediately above are the sole opinion of the noted writer of the above document.The information should be construed as an open opinion and information contained in this document represents facts to the best of the writers knowledge and should not be viewed as permanent certified fact but that as the way the information is interpreted by the opinion of the author

Arguing over who should be in or out at Melbourne is a bit like arguing over a preference for the electric chair or lethal injection. Young players need the senior group to lead the way. Without any exaggeration our senior group, and I don't mean leadership group, is the worst I've seen in my time following footy. Our 25+ age group has no-one that inspires confidence, or impacts games. Green, Davey, Sylvia, Moloney, Rivers, Jamar, Joel MacDonald and Stefan Martin are the only players over the age of 25 on our list. Green has had a fine career, but he's finished and the rest are disappointing and certainly miles off the upper echelon of the AFL. Those group of 8 players are the reason we're crud. The fact we only have 8 players over the age of 25 is also one of the reasons we're crud. Hawthorn have 19. Carlton and Collingwood have 14. But more importantly some of their senior players are bona fide stars of the game, which is a far cry from our miserable 8. Even the Crows and Port have 13. There is talent on the list, but we can't expect young players with less than 50 games experience to dominate games of footy. Col Garland feels like he's been around forever, but he's still 23 (nearly 24) and has only 60 games to his name. His best footy is ahead of him. And for these reasons I'm not slitting my wrist and can still glimpse the future. To all and sundry, even the experts, it looks like our list is crap, and the dearth of quality senior players ensures we're in for a tough year, but I like plenty of our young players. It's really disappointing that due to injury concerns we haven't seen enough of Strauss, Tapscott, and Gysberts, but if you put many of our developing players in the West Coast side they too would look terrific and be lauded by the football world. How would Andrew Gaff have looked if he was running around for Melbourne yesterday ? You'd see his talent, but he wouldn't have had half the game he did. Unfortunately, there's going to be more pain until we get strength and preseasons into the younger players. When their time does come - and it will - I'm expecting a pretty steely resolve. These tough years will be etched into their psyche. Akermanis, Simon Black, Bradshaw, the Scott Bros, Keating, Leppitsch, Power, Chris Johnson and McCrae all played in 98 when the Lions won the spoon. They'd all played less than 100 games. Obviously it's drawing a ridiculously long bow to suggest we'll win one flag, let alone three, but there would have been times through that season when Lions' supporters doubted their talent. When some would have been questioning whether their kids were good enough ? Needless to say, in 1998 not one Brisbane player made All Australian. In 2001 they had 4 and by 2002 they had 6. All of those players were on the list in 98. That said, we're no Lions of 99 who rebounded back up the ladder with a new coach. They had Lappin, Voss, Alistair Lynch, Ashcroft and a couple of other senior players showing the way, which gets back to the heart of our problem. We're in for some more hurt, but I'm certain we do have some very good young players on our list and while that's the case I know things aren't as bad as they seem.

When are Schwab and Connolly going to to get the sack? I am starting to believe these guys are responsible for the ongoing mutiny at the club?

Can we stop the Nic Nat thing? He wanted to stay in Perth . Jack Watts is good . If you hate yourself for being a Demon either take lots of drugs like I do or quit and barrack for GWS. FFS cut out the "I give up" stuff.