Leaderboard

You would have to ruin your post by bringing up McKenzie. You don't know his player sponsor, do you ? I agree with your points. I look at most clubs and Hawthorn's lack of star power in the middle is an interesting case study. They're able to usually neutralise or win the stoppages, even without Mitchell, and once the ball gets "outside" you'd back Hawthorn to win and control it more often than not. They get tremendous run from their back half and the ball use is second to none. They also benefit from tremendous class forward of centre. They are a perfect example of how to win big games without a star mid, save for Mitchell, who, as you say, spent more time behind the ball than usual. And when you look at Sydney and Freo, they too don't have greats of the game running around in the midfield. Fyfe, Mundy, Barlow are strong over the footy, but it's not easy to name their 4th banana, although Danyle Pearce joined them in 2013 and was very handy playing every game and averaging 20 disposals. Their strength comes from a solid midfield, great structures, discipline and unity across the ground. Sydney is very much in the mould of Freo, but with perhaps a stronger midfield. O'Keefe, Kennedy, Jack, Hannebery, Mitchell is formidable. It provided them the luxury of McVeigh going to half back. In many ways it's difficult to know why they didn't have a better year. Jetta was nothing like the player of a couple of years ago and Goodes missed half the season. It won't take much to go right for them to be right back at the pointy end. The common denominator for Sydney and Freo being Longmire and Lyon, who both learnt their craft under Roos. Spread, running two ways, strong at the stoppages, and controlling tempo through possession, being the hallmarks of their play. When I look at Pendlebury, Swan and Dayne Beams, together with a power forward such as Cloke, I can't help wonder how good Collingwood would be with a great coach and a better leadership group. Like you, I'm bullish for the future. We need a little luck with injuries, complete buy in, we need to overcome any mental fragility as quickly as possible, and for a few players to take the next step. When that happens we'll gain confidence and momentum. Momentum is one of the most powerful intangibles in sport. That said, a couple of "stars" in the midfield and up forward wouldn't go astray. A few flags would be nice. ; )

Heard PJ on SEN this morning and he said something very interesting in that "when he and PR took their jobs at MFC it was for short term but having been in the role and amongst the AFL industry again u can change your mind" Hopefully that boads well and means both will extend their tenure at the Dees. We can only hope that if the team on and off the field improves it will encourage both to stay on for longer.

Not a big article, but everything PJ says is important and he doesn't waste words. "To be honest if you go back over for the last 15 years and probably in reality the last 50 years ... culture and list management is what has won premierships," Jackson said. Also, I've been really impressed with a lot of what Kochie has to say too: Port Adelaide President David Koch later told SEN that AFL equalisation measures should be labelled "compensation" because 'smaller' clubs do not receive the benefits of marquee games and Friday night telecasts. Forget about Chip, let's get a war chest happening to keep Jackson around. It takes more than money

If we are unable to secure Roos and PJ longer than there current contract terms then an important KPI for each one of them is ensure they have recruited and embedded the best possible successor who is at least as capable and competent. Roos and PJ need to establish the right elements for ongoing success if they choose not to be directly a part of it.

The heading's been changed from the original grammatically incorrect heading and I say that with some positivity.

Heard the Koch interview and his use of the word compensation is spot on. After the initial response to the guy from a lot in the media and football in general (must admit to wondering what he was doing as President of a club) he's proving to be a big asset for the AFL.

Should that be "and"?

I always think these things are done to satisfy the masses and not the really engaged supporters that we are on demonland. We always want more info than the club wants to give. Same goes for the injury updates from Dave Misson.

Roos' answers show how comfortable he is with football speak.

The real new news for me was an article yesterday that revealed that ASADA only had one person left in the Melbourne office. That revealed the under resourcing of the organisation. The fact a retired Judge has been brought in suggests to me that they are getting ready to go and want the Judge to ensure legal compliance with any action or methods they employ. It makes it very clear why this has been a slow process. Obviously the Melbourne office is getting support from elsewhere and that would be slowing down the whole investigation. I don't know what the end result will be, but Essendon and its players should still be very worried. This is not about time but rather accuracy.

He made us the hardest easiest team to play against.

There's something wrong with the poll... I can't find James Magner's name on there.

I don't blame Chip for waiting. Not one bit. We've been excellent on delivering hype and terrible delivering results for the whole time he has been at the club. I'd sure as hell want to see that we aren't just doing the same thing over again before I committed my next couple of years to this club. Quite simply it's up to us as a club to give him a reason to re-sign. If we can't do that in the next 4 or 5 months then we deserve to lose him.

Guys (and sue) I was thinking at late notice those attending tomorrows training could pick 3 or 4 players to focus there eyes on in the intraclub and post observations. That way we get a view of a lot of the list. I'll nominate myself to Strauss, Michie and Hunt. If others can do the same for other players then that would be great.

We have the car, and the caravan... and NT Tourism on board Perhaps Big4 Holiday Parks... :D Round out the experience!!

There were a number of issues bubbling around Collingwood last year relating to culture and discipline and I believe that essentially Bucks and Neeld are of the same cloth in terms of their harsh, demanding natures which doesn't sit well with the modern highly paid footballer. We've seen Heath Shaw and Daisy Thomas go and there has been tension between the coach and some of the more experienced players such as Harry Lumumba, Dane Swan and a couple of others. As the Tiriel Mora character said in The Castle, "it's the Vibe" and I sense there a troubled year coming up for the Pies.

I really don't understand where all this talk of Jetta being slow comes from. Granted, he is not as quick as his cousin but one look at his work on Dahlhaus last year should show he is not slow

Signed up my wife over the weekend as a first time member (AFL with MFC club support) so you can add another one to the list - she barracks for the Cats and doesn't know I've signed her up yet so will be a surprise for her.

These guys have won a flag. They've shown they're prepared for hard work and sacrifice. Buckley still has his 'L' plates on. I don't think he's managed the group at all well.

...as long as Jones N, Cross, Tyson, et al know how to spell "win the clearances' we will be fine........I am positivity astounded that this warranted a thread...........pity you never got the opportunity to read "the Guardian" newspapers in the 70's you would have had a field day

Careful Burgan.. There is a young bloke known as Tas breathing down your neck.

When an individual or organisation have the word "integrity" mentioned in the same sentence no matter the context it usually means it/him/her mostly don't have any. The word is superfluous to persons or organisations of genuine integrity because their integrity does not need questioning.

May have been already covered on previous pages and if so then apologies, but PJ did state at the AGM that we were expecting "another significant partner to join the club". Any ideas?

Why do people get so offended when others point out spelling and grammatical errors? It's just a bit of fun pointing it out. There's no need to add malice to our intentions, Burgan does a great job, I found it odd and funny and related to the Demons. Hence...

I would BBP he is on the rookie list and as yet has not been up graded. IMO if he plays 10 -15 games it means we have had big injury problems or a number of guys on the main list are definitely VFL standard.

I think second coffee is in order

Well, no, not really. Do the other 5 leaders "know" how this year is going to pan out? Roos, who should have the best idea of anybody, is being extremely cautious & trying to stop our expectations getting too high. If "knowing what direction it's going" was a criterion of leadership, who would have put their hands up?

You googled "spellchecker is knackered"?

Would you feel better if, having been offered a leadership position (by Roos, presumably), he then turned it down?? Or should he have declared himself unavailable for any leadership position beforehand?? I get your point, but I think you're making waaaaaaay too much of it.

Jetta is 90 % irrelevant to us going forward. hes just a better pick at the level he was than many around him. Hes a looooong long way to go to break into this side....now

I was told from an ex Cats player that they were very impressed with his leadership attributes since arriving. He is also very well liked there. Not sure where you are getting that information from. Also, we lost a player who was and still would be best 22 and was loved amongst the players group. One of the most damaging things Neeld did in regards to losing the group. No world beater but he was good enough to be wanted by the cats so that says enough.

I'm going to big note myself here. BUT I lay claim to having the youngest ever Demons member in our family. In the history of the club. The club kind of confirmed it too. For many years, I've been signing up the kids of my mates to the MFC. Some vaguely respect it, some hate it - including the father of my goddaughter who sold her membership on eBay for 20 bucks ( ... someone actually bought it too, which we both found a bit weird). So when my wife and I had a kid he was always destined to become a Demon. As many of you know, at the 20 week mark in a pregnancy, you can find out the sex of the fetus. And so we did. A boy. Within the week I had signed up the little fetus to be a fully fledged member of the club. I signed him up in about December 2012, Henry was born on 29 April 2013. When I did, the lady in the membership department quite appropriately asked me the date of birth of the kid. I responded 29 April. She then asked "year?", to which I responded "next year". She then exclaimed, "he's not even born yet!" I said "yep, that's right - but he will be. And we need the members", to which she responded, "yep, you're right there". And so Henry became a member of the Dees. At about minus 5 months old. It also served me well in another respect. My wife and I agreed on the name Henry, but not the middle name. Some months later, when my wife was putting forward various middle name options, I produced the membership card and said "too late. It's Henry Felix". And so it was. Timely thread actually - one of my mates just had a little boy, and I've got to sign him up - the Baby Dees package is an absolute bargain. Hopefully some of these kids will stick with the club over life's journey.

Great idea. Roger should be able to handle cut & paste about 12 players on his own.

I hope everyone understands who is being insulted in that last cartoon.

Don't use the Peter Principle to promote people out of their skills. PJ is a top-rate CEO and Roos is a top-line coach. Let them stay at what gives us the best value and if PJ leaves lets's get another top-shelf CEO [not Roos].

What I enjoyed hearing PJ say at the AGM was about the supporters and the members who havent rejoined and saying I understand why and we lost your trust and he didnt put any crap on it and knows its up to the club to get members back. If that was Schwab talkin he would have spoken about us being the oldest club and would have mentioned past players and gone on about the mcg being our home. Then he would have spoken about the blazers that were his brilliant idea. Its good that PJ isnt wasnt connected to our club before hand. He just tells it like it is.

Let's not go *too* over the top...

My polemic is directed to the supporters of our opponents. Adelaide - its nbot saying much that you consider yourselves socially superior to the Port Adelaide supporters - what a rubbish theme song - you aint the marines Brisbane - the Paddle pop lion is not a credible mascot and Brendon Fevola to lose Riscitelli Brennan et al - what were you thinking? Carlton - still a long way off winning a flag and the window is closing - a capricossa please Collingwood - how is that ambition to become the Australian Man U going hey? - some of the most able corporate bullsh#ite artists going around - name your next theme round Essendon - your coach is overusing hair care products Fremantle - that theme song (Volga boatman?) why for fu#k sake didnt you go with a rework of "What do you do with a drunken sailor" - it worked for the Peninsula Pirates (except they havent won a senior premiership either) - if they ever win one (Freo I mean) what a fun time it will be hearing that funeral dirge for 4 days! Geelong - tough to match up on - supporter base of Western District cockies and Lara, Dysdale trailer trash Gold Coast - come back in a few decades when you have some history until then you are a confection - try meter maids as cheerleaders I would pay to see that GWS - see Gold Coast - take off the mocassins Hawthorn - so youve had a bit of a lucky streak lately (80's, and 70's as well) it cant last....can it? North Melbourne - a lower membership tally than Melbourne - some achievement. Port Adelaide - you make Adelaide and Collingwood supporters look classy Richmond - dont kid yourself you have peaked - this is as good as it gets St Kilda - lets face it (allegedly) a culture of drugs, drunkeness and misogyny (allegedly) the move from Fitzroy St to Moorabbin was only a physical not a cultural move - when St Kilda supporters and players say they need to score we know what they are on about Sydney - the combination of Sydney corporate types and Lakeside battlers of old is hard to match up on - Im out - nothing to say here - we have one of your coaches - good luck when Buddy breaks down West Coast - what a silly jumper Western Bulldogs - I just dont care enough about you to feel sorry - based in the new heroin capital of Melbourne - cant be good

Yeah, good idea. Give Tom McDonald time to develop as a CHB without decent support, and simultaneously stunt Hogan's development by putting Frawley in his spot, or push out other accomplished forwards in Clark and Dawes. There is not one good thing about this idea.

And another point to this ludicrous topic - this is the new PJ era as CEO, football is our core business not promotional videos and articles because no matter how well they are written and produced they wont sell as many memberships or get people to games like wins will. I'd love us to have the biggest and best media and communications team in the AFL but first we need the best coaches and fitness staff.

reminds me of the krudster's better moments LOL

Dear lord, a spelling mistake?! Fire everybody!

Hiccups can be quite debilitating.

Adelaide would have to feel pretty silly wouldn't they? We put him on the LTI list meaning we place him on the back burner until he is back to full fitness and proves he is ready to be promoted back to the main list. How is this different to being rookie listed? This is something Adelaide could have done and avoided exposure to the risk of losing him. Trying to be too clever and get another live pick in the ND I think.

Jetta wiil be promoted 100% I reckon Roos will love him as a player and I still think he will make it I would taker him any day over Tapscott, Nicholson, Strauss and Blease (and others)

U can tell its the off season when u r looking forward to a training report! Geez it's been a long off season. Looking forward to the real stuff and hoping like hell we improve and maybe even win.

I have been going to preseason training at least twice a month if not more, for the last 7 years.....as Roos has said in his press conferences, it is just training, even he doesn't know what it will look like on game day........we have a lot of scars left over from the last few years........I like what i am seeing at training, but then again I liked what I saw in Bailey and Neeld's first year......I will wait till the end of the game against St Kilda before I begin to think everything has changed

With thanks to tasmanlvr over at BigFooty... TGIF! A morning at Gosch's to start somewhat of a lukewarm morning which should get better. Are we already at the end of January? Two weeks until NAB Challenge, guys! Imagining that James Frawley's contract talk will dominate discussion at Gosch's this morning. Inb4 nine year, $10 million deal which is also heavily backended. Overheard: so I learned that it's Alex Georgiou's birthday tomorrow, and it was mentioned, to which he responds 'Is it tomorrow?' Classic Georgiou. Jesse Hogan and Jack Fitzpatrick rejoin the main group! Brilliant news! Rehab: Viney, Riley, Clark and Terlich, who had a huuuuuuuge knee strap on Wednesday. Dean Kent also doing little despite wearing training jumper. Stretches and runthroughs to start with. Solid crowd building up at Gosch's. Short kicks following the stretches. Bit of grappling and upper body drills. Jack Trengove getting a bit of attention to his hip. A bit precautionary I expect. More wrestling exercises. One of the most impressive things you notice is you hear the contact that the players make 50m away. King, Spencer, Jamar and Gawn isolated to work with new ruck coach Greg Stafford. He's a big boy! Stoppage drills, boys split into two. One team wearing bibs, defending, while the other has the footy. In one group Chippa breaks the lines and make everyone look like they are moving in slow motion! #pleasestaychip There's also a forward group. Dawes/Hogan/Fitz. Brett Allison barking out instructions nearest to where I am. Chippa looks motivated ... Mitch Clark leaves training early. Not ideal. Hopefully he comes back. Variation of the drill now, one forward at each end, Fitz and Hogan. Cam Pedo looking alright, takes a nice mark. Hopefully we see more of that and less of him squibbing it this year (coughcoughroundone) Pickles Evans is also working hard, laying tackles at will. Will be interesting to see where he fits as he was best 22 before copping that toe injury last year. Extension of the drill but situated inside 50. Ball movement is QUICK. Boys look like they are following the three-second rule. Get the ball, find an option, use it. I like it. Switch/down the lone/handball/kick inside 50 drill now. Nathan Jones basically hitting every target, Dom Tyson to Fitzy is something I want to see in round one if Clark isn't playing. There's something about Salem that looks different ... he looks a bit more built than when he was drafted. Looking good. New drill now. Starts on the wing and involves handballs before delivery inside 50. Dawes/Hogan at one end and Gawn/Fitz at the other end. Gee Toump looks good. Delivering some really sharp kicks. Dom Tyson needs to work on his goalkicking, missing a few bread and butter 25m shots on the run. Interesting hearing Paul Roos yell out 'HALF TIME!' it's now obvious. Training is being treated like a game. On resumption its basically a similar drill but involves a player in the middle marking, swinging sround and delivering to a forward. Refreshing to see Jonesy get louder and louder on the track. No doubt the captaincy has got him going. Full grounder drill now. You beauty. Match sim!!! It's great to see two ruckmen at contests with Gawn fighting with Spencer. Dawesy getting in front of Tom McDonald and marking everything. I could watch that all year. Ball use out of defense has been excellent!!! Alright, an alternate drill now ... out of defense, through the middle, kick up forward. Nice. I love seeing blokes sprint THE ENTIRE LENGTH OF THE GROUND in this drill just to get the footy. I love it! And I haven't seen it for ages, if ever. Especially not under the "talent manager". I see the white training jumper for the first time in person. And I'm 110% done. It's just so beautiful. :') PROPER MATCH SIM. ALMOST AN INTRACLUB!!! Jack Watts first centre clearance of this mini-intraclub. Mini-intraclub is pretty much equal teams. I like it. Clisby with kickout duties. Interesting. Ball use is good. Toumpas is getting the ball a bit which is what I like to see. Jack Watts with two clearances (albeit from a free kick). It's good to see that hardly an inch is being given defensively, but that decision making is also good from the team with the footy. Just saw Hunt blow away Roh Bail getting the footy. He is QUICK. Dom Barry getting a bit of the footy. Good signs. JKH tackles a bloke and sets up a goal with his defensive pressure. It's déja vu from Wednesday. Same occurrence at the same end no less. Dom Tyson turning blokes inside out. BREAKING ANKLES OUT THERE DOM. I LIKE IT A LOT. Jones bumps Grimes after he gets rid of the footy. I swear Jones just wants the captaincy on his own, still not satisfied with co-captaincy. Thing that frustrates me with Watts, gets the ball a fair bit but not really following up. Staying behind the ball. Haha Roosy: 'NEXT SCORE WINS! NEXT SCORE WINS!!!' Cross is getting plenty of it, as is Kent. Tyson's getting it too. Exciting! I think the game plan is more defined now - there's still a lot of switch play but the build up is more patient, concise and decision making is far better. It looks like they are finishing up. Few are staying out to improve their skills a bit.

Need to add some Apricots DF My tree is just starting to give ripe fruit. If you have not eaten them straight from the tree you have not lived Beautiful!