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Hello everyone, Long time lurker, first time poster. I have a theory about the Dees performance woes, gleaned from my background in elite swimming. I wasn't elite but I certainly trained at that level, in a squad with Olympic medalists and under the tutelage of an Australian national coach. None of this will be Earth-shattering, and Roosy touched on it in his press conference. Its just an insight into something I dont think the footy world understands very well. Think about Dom Tyson early 2014. Limited pre-season. Huge start to the year, diminishing returns as it progressed. Now in 2015, despite a full pre-season, his performance aint amazing. Hes not alone: Chris Dawes, JKH, the list goes on. Its a very obvious trend. In swimming, wed train 11 months of the year. The focus was on an annual competition, namely the Australian Championships. Youd spend the entire year preparing for that one week of racing. Other competitions would come up along the way, but your training was focussed on that one comp. The training program would go through phases. The year would start with long, low-intensity swimming. As in, 100 km weeks. That would last perhaps three months. The next phase would be more intense- fewer kilometres but bloody hard. This phase would take up the majority of the year, perhaps 7 months. At this point, swimmers are constantly worn-out and have little in the way of speed. Racing during these periods would always produce poor results, and that was expected. Then, a month out of competition, youd start to taper. And thats what I want to talk about. Tapering is reducing training loads for recovery ahead of the competition. Its also a time when you build up your speed with short-distant sprint training. Tapering is a delicate thing. Its really personal for each individual athlete, depending on their body makeup and the nature of their specialist events (eg. a 100m sprinter should taper differently to a 1500m swimmer). Its really easy for an athlete and his/her coach to bugger up the taper. For instance, nearly everyone would have a month off after Nationals, but there was a semi-serious competition (a trial to get on a state team- so important in that sense) which was (oddly) scheduled about three weeks into that month off. Everyone would compete having not swam at all for three weeks. It was common for people to shatter their best times during that competition, meaning their coach had bungled the taper for Nationals in a major way. Duncan Armstrong once came and spoke at our club, and he detailed his preparation for his 1988 Gold-medal Olympic campaign. The bloke had a preparation for something like two-and-half-years, without taper. Perhaps it was between the 1986 Commonwealth Games and the Olympic trials in 88, so two years. During that preparation, he raced without tapering, and produced results so bad that many people asked him if he was even going to compete in the Olympic trials. Its my belief that the Melbourne Demons are currently stuck at exactly that point. Overtrained, exhausted, and not at all ready to perform. Obviously, swimming training with one important, week-long competition per year is very different to training for a six-month footy season, but the Dees fitness management needs to be looked at seriously. Perhaps, ideally, youd have a list full of AFL-ready players, who could cycle through different stages of taper at different times and be swapped in and out on that basis. And were a long way off having that kind of depth. Perhaps the Melbourne fitness staff know that the payoff for tapering our athletes for peak performance now, wont yield the returns that it will when the young list matures over the next few years, and theyre keeping the players in that Duncan Armstrong taperless period. Or perhaps Australian Rules Football doesnt quite draw the world-class, high-performance managers that the impressive job titles claim they are. Regardless, I think what youre seeing is a lot of over-trained players with no speed and explosiveness, who are performing at their best only after periods of injury-induced rest. On a positive note, when Duncan Armstrong finally did give himself some time to recover and build some speed and explosiveness, he swam a world record despite going into the Olympics ranked number 46 in the world. Maybe thatll be us in a couple of years. Go Dees. Luke

Good news is Kent was back on the track, doing laps, impressive scar and beard. JKH and Salem didn't do much, Dawes was in hands of rehab guys. Oscar Mc and Hunt also seemed to do short session, so did Tyson and Garland, means nothing these days. Jetta and Viney did whole session and then worked with fitness guys on running, Nev said both were being hammered by fitness staff so they could step straight back in. Most of the drills today were about ball movement again, Roos and Goodwin were very very very vocal today. They actually thought Fitzy had broken his neck at the weekend, did have a bit of tingling in limbs, was impressed by the duty of care shown by everybody, had scans, everything is fine, did whole session. Stood right next to Watts and Bail who were having a goal kicking comp for the prize of a coffee, Watts said nearest the middle of the goal and then proceeded to drill it through the middle from 50, Bail put his through as well but slightly to the left. Any questions feel free, have put a few pics on Twitter Demonpk.

I'd prefer Tyson to be out and recovering than in and half-going. Hopefully Michie or Newton can really stand up this week.

Engage him in pseudo-intellectual conversation.

"Poisonous histories". Give it a break.It's amazing the amount of history revision that goes on around here about Cameron Schwab. In the first instance, people who take over dysfunctional organisations are expected to achieve results, not win popularity contests. He might have trod on a few toes at Freo when he took over as CEO of that basket case in 2001 after the club had experienced their worst ever season, sacking their coach mid-year and winning only two games for the year but he immediately * improved club finances substantially and when he left, the club was considerably stronger in that area; * the club made the finals for the first time in 2003 winning 14 and losing 8 games in the home and away season. In 2006, the year before he left they made the preliminary final. It's generally accepted that the period of his tenure laid the groundwork for the power house club that is Fremantle today. After he arrived at Melbourne, he improved its financial base from $5m in the red to substantially in the black but we know it was the team's poor on field performance that brought the club down and whilst we can argue till we're red and blue in the face about who and what was at fault for that - poor recruiting, poor coaching, "tanking" (which incidentally got Hawthorn and Collingwood to premierships), there's no doubt in my mind that, even though he properly accepted responsibility when he stood down, he's still copping a bad rap from the distorters of history and even from those whose toes he trod on early in the piece and who fought so hard to bring him down. We're still feeling the consequences of that power struggle today. Now, if you're going to bag Schwab for his performance at Fremantle, why not compare it to what's happening at Melbourne today. In his third season with the Dockers that club won 14 games and lost 9 (including a final). Peter Jackson is in his third season at Melbourne and his continuing appointment for a further season is being hailed by most but we've only won seven games since he came on board. Our coach Paul Roos has notched up six wins from 29 games to date with the benefit of some excellent recruiting and we're mostly satisfied and prepared to give him more time to lift the club. By contrast, Mark Neeld was expected to recruit off the smell of an oily rag while ditching disaffected players and his record from his first 29 games was five wins (the same record as Dean Bailey who lasted almost four years) and by that time the knives were firmly planted in his back and he was on his way out of the door. I'm not suggesting any sackings or further turmoil but let's not get things out of context when discussing our past history and let's not demean people who worked hard to do their job at the club and remained loyal to the end.

This DH must go. He actually supports drug cheating? Who is this guy and how did he get the CEO job?

Yes BB, it is quite absurd of Roy Masters to suggest there are not enough Australian qualified Arbitrators to participate in the coming case, probably in Switzerland. Of the 300 listed worldwide, there are about twenty Australian, made up of the elite of the Australian legal profession. Admittedly there are some who disqualify themselves because of past participation in the case, and some through the their current positions, but overall this amounts to no more than about half a dozen. More than enough to pick suitable Australian representatives. In my view it would be desirable to have at least one Australian Arbitrator to give it more balance and so they can't complain it is an international conspiracy, but they have to be qualified and objective. Hird's problem is that most of those remaining are affiliated with the Olympic movement and we all know what their attitude is to the Essendon saga. I think the real reason this line is being pushed now, is that Hird can't find amoungst them any one of his lackies, or fanatical Dons supporters. They are, and are seen to be, independent. He is pushing to have another added to the Arbitrator list because he is a mad Essendon supporter AND a former high court judge, never mind the fact he is too old to qualify to be an Arbitrator for CAS. Hird is just up to his old tricks to stack the cards in his favour. He can't be shot for trying I suppose, but this time he won't get away with it. It is lovely to see that pack of self interested swine struggle to be heard, and even better be virtually ignored. Their bluster and carry on will get them no where in the future. In fact, I suggest the more they try to manipulate the facts, the more rigid CAS will be. It is lovely to watch

Because he has at least proven that he has the ability to do those things. It's a question of consistency for Gawn, not ability. Whereas Spencer has never shown that he has the ability to kicks goals, take contested marks around the ground or tap to advantage. (Save yourselves from pointing out he may have done it once or twice during a game).

I rate Gawn, I think he has what it takes to be a good AFL ruckman.

And if he had converted the set shots from dead in front or close to, he'd already have that total ticked off.

Give it a rest mate its getting old and stale FMD

Jack Fitzpatrick. He has had an average year as a "test case" backman. He played 10 minutes last week, got a headknock and went off for the rest of the game. AND NOW HE GETS PROMOTED. WHAT THE $#/@!

Yep. Nothing to bash Watts for this week, so we'll just make stuff up. And people wonder why other people reckon some are prejudiced. Edit to add: If anyone ever finds themselves wondering why people tend to "lay off" Watts, avoid being overly critical or even defend him when he's had a poor game, look no further than the accusation of dropping himself due to being scared of Hawthorn. He comes under attack for such ridiculous and often fictional things with such monotonous regularity, some of us don't think it would be fair, just or useful to criticise him any more than he already is. It does not mean we're any less disappointed with how he's going.

Three weeks ago the talk was finals. Now it's priority picks. Both are ridiculous.

Good to see some passion from the players. Sam Frost ‏@lefrost48 4h4 hours ago IF a player ever dropped themselves to avoid playing a particular team THEN I'll eat my hat. What an absurd thing to suggest. christian petracca @cpetracca7 · 3h 3 hours ago christian petracca retweeted AFL Be quiet https://twitter.com/afl/status/601570460778790912 … christian petracca added, AFL @AFL If Jack Watts dropped himself because the Dees faced the Hawks last week, then… @barrettdamian's Sliding Doors: http://afl.to/1Hy6Vs5 47 retweets 120 favorites

I like the new system. As highlighted in the articles, if clubs have two highly rated f/s or academy players they will either have to trade for additional picks or have a points deficit in the next draft. eg. This year (2015) Sydney have Callum Mills (rated top 5) as an academy prospect and Josh Dunkley (possible top 10) as a father son. Based on current ladder position if Melbourne were to bid pick 4 for Mills Sydney would have to pay 1,627 points (pick 4 worth 2,034, less 20% discount). Sydney's pick 16 is worth 1,067 points, their pick 34 is worth 542, which leaves 18 points to be subtracted off their next pick, bumping their pick 52 back to pick 53. Sydney's pick 16 is upgraded to pick 4 and they take Mills, Sydney's pick 34 is downgraded to the last pick in the draft and pick 52 is downgraded to pick 53. Essentially they traded pick 16, 34 and 52 for pick 4 (Mills) and 53. Melbourne then get to pick again with pick 5 and choose Dunkley. If Sydney decide to match it they would have to pay 1,502 (pick 5 worth 1,878, less 20% discount). Sydney now only have pick 53 worth 228 points and pick 70 worth 39 points. Pick 74 and after do not have any points assigned to them, which would leave Sydney with a points deficit of 1,235 at the end of the draft, this deficit is then transferred to the next draft. 1,235 points is the equivalent of pick 12. Essentially they would have traded pick 12 (in the next draft), 53 and 70 for pick 5. In the 2016 draft Sydney would then start with -1,235 to be subtracted from their picks (in order of first to last): If Sydney finish 13th their pick 6 (1,751 points) would be downgraded to pick 36 (516 points). If Sydney finish 7th their pick 12 (1,268 points) would be downgraded to pick 71 (33 points). If Sydney finish 2nd their pick 17 (1,025 points) is downgraded to the last pick in the draft and their pick 35 (522 points) is downgraded to pick 48 (312 points). Alternatively, if Sydney do not want to take a deficit in to the next draft they will need to trade in additional picks. This is where it gets tricky for recruiters and list management as the trade period happens before the draft, meaning they need to know where they rate the academy + f/s prospects ahead of the draft. They would then have to trade for picks worth more than where they rate the player, in case another team rates that player higher. Under this system you can't get an advantage like we did with Viney - port bid pick 7 (they also bid pick 7 on Daniher and ironically, they ended up picking Wines with it) for Viney, worth 1,644 and we got him with our 2nd round pick 26, worth 729 points, resulting in us being 570 points ahead under the new system ((1,644*0.8)-729=570). Under the new system that means we would have to have paid pick 26 and the equivalent of pick 32 for Viney. One potential benefit is through the 20% discount when your f/s pick is rated highly (eg top 5). If your f/s is rated at pick 2 (as Heeney was), the discount applied (20% of 2,517 points = 503 points) is the equivalent of being given pick 36 for free. IMO that's not a huge benefit.

Heard Gil on 3aw this morning he is still barracking for the players and by default the EFC. Says he cannot understand why wada wants it out of Aus. Arr they want an unbiased no AFL dominated stage Gil Or has that escaped you.

we could always start a new thread on the away jumper

On this, almost every game Gawn has played has been with Jamar as No.1 ruck that i can recall (or Gawn and Spencer), so he has never? rucked an entire match as the No.1 Ruck alone. I would love Gawn to get a solid 10 game stint as the only ruckman in the team.. Similar to what Spencer got at the start of last year (or year b4), before he got injured & got that contract extension. I'm not saying Gawn will be amazing, but i think he has the talent to be better than all the ruckman on our list, and like a new high draft pick who was recruited for talent, i'd like him to get games so we can see this. Just give him a chance Roos please! Go Dees

Tapering isn't applicable in sports like football, where you need to perform on a weekly basis over a 6 month (or longer period). It's not just AFL, same for football everywhere. There are/have been tapers focusing on major tournaments, but they're built around competitions like a World Cup, where players can be loaded and then unloaded over a period of a month or more beforehand. Also, it's not necessarily true that producing high level performances after your peak event is a result of messing up a taper, as it's possible (sometimes even necessary) to hold peak condition over a number of weeks. There's an element of "overshoot" as a result of tapering. As you pointed out, tapering functions differently for different sports (type and amount of loading, and then type and length of tapering), so what's applicable for swimming isn't applicable for, say, cycling, or long-distance running - or football. re the Dees, in spite of your post or what we've been seeing, I don't know that too many of the Melbourne players are tired as a result of training issues. Certainly, it's been a difficult 3 weeks against older, more solid, and more experienced opponents, which has no doubt taken its toll, both physically and mentally. Perhaps its having a more visible impact on the younger players, but I don't know that it's more than that. For example, a few people commented on Brayshaw, but turns out he was off-colour during the week. It's no accident that players start to look tired when they're losing, or that you don't notice the soreness as much after a win. You mention over-training. That's very different to loading/unloading as part of a structured build using a build/taper. Over-training is a specific condition that's straighforward to detect through monitoring of performance, output and loads. Given the amount of data that's collected on the players, I'm sure that Misson and co. know exactly what's going on with each and every one of them - as would fitness departments in any sports at elite level (or even a sub-elite level) across the world. It's not for nothing that in all those training reports we hear that player X is only running laps because they're due for a reduced load. Nothing specific to do with your post, but with the salaries and funds available to fitness and sports science departments in the AFL, hard to see that they wouldn't attract the very best. Neil Craig had a nice little earner with Cycling Australia - but bet he had a better one when he moved across to Adelaide. Of course being a cog in a wheel in the fitness department at a footy club isn't for everyone either.

A random stat - if Jeff Garlett kicks 5 goals this weekend he will, after Round 8, equal last years MFC leading goal kicker.

I'd prefer the Demons to be doing a bit better before going overboard getting stuck into Carlton.

One of the most ridiculous comments I've read on here, and that's including the off season training threads.

THE DEVIL IN THE DETAIL by Whispering Jack Tonight I'll be fronting up as usual to the Devil's Advocates Dinner for members of the legal fraternity who support the Melbourne Football Club. They include judges and their associates, solicitors, barristers, paralegal people and their staff all with that one thing in common - the fact that red and blue blood courses through their veins. That, and the fact that they have suffered greatly through the sport over time (except of course, for those who managed to get a professional involvement in the Essendon drug saga) It's almost becoming a tradition that on the weekend before this function, Melbourne suffers a hiding of gigantic proportions meaning that the mood of the evening is usually sombre if not funereal. As a reminder of how poorly the Demons performed in their game against the Hawks, I give you this report from Footy Almanac. As a result, I pity for instance, Phil Kingston, the auctioneer who has to flog various Demon related products during the course of the evening, like an afternoon in the coaches box, when the enthusiasm among the crowd leaves a lot to be desired. I might even be tempted to put in a bid for the coaches box gig but only on a non match day. Still, I always look forward to the event and trust that there will be some special revelation that might reveal a light at the end of that very long tunnel that seems to extend itself whenever we get a third of the way into a season. THE GAME Melbourne v Western Bulldogs at The MCG Sunday 24 May 2015 at 3.20pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall: Melbourne 84 Western Bulldogs 74 wins wins 1 draw At MCG: Melbourne 44 wins Western Bulldogs 27 wins Last Five Meetings: Melbourne 1 win Western Bulldogs 4 wins The Coaches: Roos 0 wins Beveridge 0 wins MEDIA TV - Fox Sports Channel 3 Radio - SEN ABC ABC Grandstand THE BETTING Melbourne $3.05 to win Western Bulldogs $1.38 to win LAST TIME THEY MET Western Bulldogs 14.7.91 defeated Melbourne 13.7.85 at Etihad Stadium in Round 15, 2014. The Demons had a slow start but recovered from way back to lead late in the game until a few defensive mistakes and some brilliance from Marcus Bontempelli saw the Dogs home by a goal. TEAMS MELBOURNE B: Colin Garland, Tom McDonald, Jack Grimes HB: Jeremy Howe, Lynden Dunn, Heritier Lumumba C: Daniel Cross, Aaron vandenBerg, Matt Jones HF: Angus Brayshaw, Cameron Pedersen, Jack Watts F: Jeff Garlett, Jesse Hogan, Jack Fitzpatrick FOLL: Jake Spencer, Nathan Jones, Bernie Vince I/C: Rohan Bail, Ben Newton, Aidan Riley, Jimmy Toumpas EMG: Max Gawn, Viv Michie, Billy Stretch IN: Jack Fitzpatrick, Jesse Hogan, Ben Newton, Aidan Riley, Jack Watts OUT: Chris Dawes (calf), Viv Michie, Christian Salem (hamstring), Billy Stretch, Dom Tyson (knee) WESTERN BULLDOGS B: Matthew Boyd, Jordan Roughead, Easton Wood HB: Robert Murphy, Fletcher Roberts, Jason Johannisen C: Tory Dickson, Liam Picken, Koby Stevens HF: Bailey Dale, Jake Stringer, Mitch Wallis F: Stewart Crameri, Tom Boyd, Luke Dahlhaus FOLL: Ayce Cordy, Lin Jong, Marcus Bontempelli I/C: Shane Biggs, Brett Goodes, Lachie Hunter, Michael Talia EMG: Jarrad Grant Nathan Hrovath Jack Macrae IN:Shane Biggs OUT: Mitch Honeychurch (general soreness) NEW: Shane Biggs I sat opposite Heritier Lumumba for part of the Devil's Advocates function (they rotate the club guests during the evening) and found him to be a revelation in terms of his ability to articulate his views on life and football with such intelligence, passion and humour. He is a major asset to the club not only as a player but as a mentor for our young team. When asked by compere Doctor Turf what his initial thoughts were of the three way trade involving Mitch Clark (to Geelong), Travis Varcoe (to Collingwood) and him to Melbourne, it was that the Demons had won. Perhaps he was jesting but I think he might be right. He also added that he felt at home at this function because his stepfather was a Solicitor which meant he understood why so many there were wearing mismatched ties. His story of how his parents were both dancers who met in Brazil (his father was from the undemocratic Republic of Congo). This probably explains the graceful way he moves around the field at times and he was the big hit of the night from my perspective. Josh Mahoney spoke of his experiences as a twice rejected AFL player (Collingwood and Bulldogs) who spent three seasons in the VFL before getting a chance to be a premiership player at Port Adelaide. Josh has had a role change at Melbourne, moving from the coaching to the business side of football which he says suits him just fine. He did mention that Neville Jetta and Jack Viney would miss another week before returning but that Jesse Hogan was good to go this week. The final speaker was Simon Goodwin who spoke of his experiences as coach in waiting and how he was enjoying the learning experience under Paul Roos and how he is being mentored as a future coach by Neale Daniher. It was something that most of the audience knew little about and there a great deal of interest in Neales experiences as he fights his debilitating illness. Goodwin remains very confident that the club is on the right trajectory despite the difficult three week period it has just experienced against three of the competitions strongest sides. He expects us to be a finals prospect within the next two to three years. Congratulations to Devils Advocates convener Ralph Glezer with who I first went with to the footy in our university days which started not long after our golden era ended. There were many times in the barren years of the 70s and 80s that our only joy was the sight of Robbie Flower running on the wings of the MCG and the suburban football grounds of Melbourne. Kudos to Ralph for bringing in poet and Demon fan Greg Shalless to open the night by delivering his tribute to Robbie - https://soundcloud.com/sen1116/ode-to-robbie-flower/ Phil Kingston of Garry Peer & Associates estate agents was brilliant as the auctioneer of various bits and pieces of Melbourne related goodies. Dr. Turf was the compere and ran the show well with his wit and wisdom. He brought the house down with his story about how Prime Minister Bob Hawke gave him his private telephone number so that he could deliver his horse racing tips on a Saturday morning. Turfie asked the PM what would happen if the phone was engaged, to which Hawke answered, then were all f---ed because the only person who has the number is George Bush and if hes on the line it means hes gotten us involved in another bloody war!" I'm wondering if he has the phone number for Paul Roos because I would dearly like to know what hes thinking as Melbourne takes on the Western Bulldogs with a side that it somewhat depleted from the games of early in the season when the team showed significant advances over last year. Despite the fact that the Western Bulldogs have dominated recent meetings between the teams (they have won nine of 10 matches since 2008), the games have been reasonably close affairs with the Demons in the contests until close to the end. The past four contests have been decided by an average margin of 11 points and on most such occasions, it was the overall experience of the Doggies that made the difference but this time around, things promise to be different. The Western Bulldogs jettisoned a fair bit of experience at the end of 2014 and many of the pundits expected them to struggle with the extra reliance upon youth but instead, their youngsters have risen to the occasion and given their fans some joy after the gloom and doom of the off season. Whilst Melbourne has some promising young players on its list, some of the best of its youth have been sidelined with injury lately and therefore, team selection has become something of a mish mash with several not quite right players getting games and a number of selections going against the flow of logic for an outsider. The end result is that I don't have the same feeling of confidence in the team's short to medium term prospects that I held a month ago. Western Bulldogs by 27 points

If that [censored] happens I'm done. I'll cop a loss but if we get a flogging im done. Ill never pay my $500 plus membership again.. I repeat never again! If we get done by over 60 points I'm finished on dland .. GET THAT FINISHED. Honestly I'm sick of being [censored] over as a melbourne supporter.. There are lots of other [censored] I enjoy. Repeat 60+ I'm done forever!!

Was going to write this post word for word. Great minds think a like. At least you and I can have that opinion. Can't imagine they'd leave Howe in the backline and play Fitz in the forward line after he's spent the whole pre season and the Casey games till now being trained to play in the backline. I figured there could be a future role for him there playing on the 200+cm forwards in the league. Perfect test against Boyd. That then releases Howe to play forward where against the Doggies he could play havoc with their shorter backs. It does have the look of the Casey team at the moment. 8 players in it that were at Casey in round 1 and a few who should be in Casey this week. Was looking forward to this game when I looked at the fixture at the beginning of the year. Not looking forward to it now. I've had that feeling a few times the past couple of years and seen some great wins, so hope springs eternal.

The reality is that we cannot make big trades for players.Particularly the numbers you are talking about there. Aside from the fact very few want to come here, there are very few available in any given year. You can't trade your way out of this mess in 1 year.

Yes i agree, they train until stuffed then freshen up. Good point, well made.

Forwards We need another forward as depth doesn't have to be a big namer as Hoges will continue to develop in leaps and bounds.If Dawes could stay fit and provide forward pressure with tackling and providing a strong contest to bring every entry to ground as a minimum it would be okay with Hogan and possibly Frost as our other tall options. Midfield/Ruck Still our biggest deficiency with midfield depth which has been exposed due to the following No obvious replacement for Jamar being groomed for god knows how many years Viney, Kent, Salem injuries hitting us hard with 3 rotation options being eliminated Vandenburg & Brayshaw showing signs of tiring and injury list resulting in neither of these players being given a week off to freshen up Vince having the bare minimum pre season which was always going to catch up with him Jones and Tyson carrying niggles which has impacted on their two way running Our midfield is serviceable and wont get annihilated when we are all fit but we fall away very quickly as has been shown Defence This is our absolute strong point and has been for the last couple of years and whilst not a lot of work is required we can't standstill as other teams will improve. Jetta has become a very good small defender but his concussion issues are a worry and we need to find another go to option if he misses any more time. Salem is composed, brave and great by foot but without Jimmy Toumpas coming on we lack another decent ball user from our backline. Strategy I like others think we need a couple of guns but Hogan is going to need to be tied up with a lucrative contract or he will be lost to us. Taking this into mind we need to be smart and draft good quality AFL players and keep some coin aside to land a gun or two Forwards Henderson will not come cheap and really wouldn't pay overs for him. I don't think we are to bad here when you take our inside 50 count into the argument. Hogan will be a gun and despite my reservations earlier in the season Kent was applying himself and proving himself to be a good defensive forward and the pace to worry defences going the other way. Garlett will be better when we get more of the ball in the forward 50 and my focus would be more towards the midfield ruck stocks with players like Kent, Brayshaw, Petracca, Viney, Vince, Vandenburg doing plenty of rotations through in the same style as the Swans, while having Hogan, Frost & Dawes/Pedersen as your 3 talls. Aaron Black Sam Reid Midfield/Ruck Luenberger has been a good ruckman but has been past by Martin, he is young enough to have a decent price tag so I wouldn't go all out for him unless he is a free agent my trade currency would be targeted toward 1 or 2 gun mids. I have seen a lot of Jon Griffen in the WAFL and he is still a decent ruckman and IMO better than what we have. He wants game time and is always going to struggle to get in ahead of Sandilands. Shiel he is an absolute gun and will take our first pick and then some, you can also guarantee Pies, Tigers and Blues will be throwing a lot of cash his way. So he will be a hard get as will Treloar and any one of these will be an A grade addition to which ever team gets them. Josh Kelly is another who will be a target but not sure how serious the talk of him moving is. Hannebery does he want to come home or not another great target but I don't see him moving. Aish showed a lot early and his head isn't in the right space currently but he can play and a new environment would help but definitely buyer beware with him. Dangerfield is in the same boat as Treloar and Shiel although he is going to command more money and for this reason I would target the other two over him. Brad Crouch is another who's contract I have no idea about but the kid has all the tools and is very underrated when being compared to the others in the Crows midfield. Targets in order A grade targets Shiel, Treloar, Hannebery & Danger B grade but rising Crouch & Kelly Out of favor or just short term pick ups Griffen, Luenberger, Aish Defence A back up for Jetta and if we could somehow find that good ball used from the backline, Suckling is a free agent but will want big quids and I wouldn't pay it as his deficiencies would be amplified in our side. Really struggling to think of any obvious defensive targets who are out there Best available option or draft one for the future

This is the perfect role for Mercedes Corby. May also wean her off bludging from her sisters misery.

Paul Little has to be played by Gollum...

Yes he signed himself up to DL as "SanityPrevails" two or three weeks ago, and gave me a huge serve after I posted my very long post summarising the current situation just before the WADA appeal was announced. WJ advised me he is a well known "troll" and was subsequently banished from here, but not before he made a complete dick of himself. All I can say is that the postings on Demonland have been a hell of a lot more accurate about what is happening to Essendon than anything on the myriad of Bomber sites. If they want to read what really is going on they should be looking to Demonlanders. I wouldn't hold my breath though!

Gold Class Seat for all this! WADA/CAS are going to rip these cheats to pieces. My one antagonistic Drugendon mate has gone silent this week. Dead silent. After the AFL Tribunal decision he was gunning me as hard as Yosemite Sam. I just kept replying WADA the whole time

Fair point, particularly on Tyson. He does look proppy doesn't he. Perhaps training is flattening him and playing doesn't cause too much extra drama and they hope he'll come good through a freshen up, which if my (uneducated) theory is correct has commenced and will continue for a few weeks (taking in the bye). Not having a shot at track watchers like Saty (honestly) but i thought it interesting that a commentator (not sure which one, or even radio or TV) raised in their call the 14km run. It is likely they got mail from an opposition track watcher (all clubs training is monitored to some extent by opposition clubs). It was this comment that Roos was asked about in his post game presser. Roos was evasive on the 14km run (mentioned maybe it was 7) but acknowledged it had been a big week(s?) on the track and said they were learning and perhaps had gone too hard. He also said they would have a light week this week, which is apparently what has happened. Now as posters have noted training is calibrated to the nth degree, a clear plan would be followed and little would be left to chance in terms of loads, intensity etc. Given that, it is very unlikely that they had accidentally trained them too hard or that they would suddenly change plans mid stream and have a light week. No it is much more likely the hard training followed by a freshen up was part of a clear plan to i suspect maximise the chance of winning the next 3 games. Perhaps they did something similar at the beginning of the year, which if so was successful with the team looking fitter and faster (injuries notwithstanding) and snagging a couple of crucial wins (we could easily be win less now). They would be be aware of the importance of wins and also of how badly they tired in the second half of last year. I'm assuming this all goes into their planning for training loads.

Geez alot of people are in love with the dogs list. I wish they would look at our list with similar objectivity. We are better set at either end of the ground. They have a better midfield fleet but are more suited to a speedy track at Etihad. I am thankful Watts is in as he at least is creative with ball and hits a target. Michie obviously does not follow team rules to be consistently out every time he plays a game. Being that Howe swans around the ground doing not much I would love to know what those team rules are. A Hogan, Pederson, Watts, Garlett forward line will be dangerous IF we can actually get the ball in there with any frequency.Hoping Riley plays to gives us a bit more hardness around the ball as it has lacked the last 3 weeks.

Disappointing to see Michie dropped again. He has hardly had the chance to prove himself with limited opportunities . Also had to play against the top teams in the comp. Would have kept him in at the expense of young Stretch. I hope he gets another chance.

I posted early in the week that I thought it possible we are training super hard now (during a run of games against the top 3 teams in the league) and will taper to best prepare for a run of more winnable games. No coincedence they had a very light week. I suspect in footy they have two taper periods if finals ate realistic. Port are an interesting case study. They are now running out of gas in last quarters where last year that was their strength

I don't understand why Bernie is now earmarked as a "run with" player. Is it all because he effectively got in Dangerfield's face? His tackle count might be up but his average disposals have gone from 24 last season to 19 this season. He is an important part of our offense. That needs to be his first priority.

Wouldnt surprise me if we were being overtrained with a view to future years

The most solid 7 possession game of all time? He goes in, he tackles, he seems to have a touch of class, he looks good, he kicked a goal with his first kick. He still ain't ready.

This thread needs a priority pick.

One Ruckman: Griffen, Leuenberger, Smith or Dixon One A-grade Midfielder: Danger, Sloane, Shiel or Treloar One of any of the following second-tier mids: Douglas, Selwood, Moore, De Boer, Coniglio, Yarran or Ellis-Yolmen One of the following youngsters: Lennon or Lonergan And I wouldn't even mind if we got another veteran FA in to take over from Cross and to allow for further development for our younger mids. One of: Thompson, Bartel, Kelly or Goodes. (Very unlikely of course). We have to have at least three more mids come from other clubs. We need to land a star player and it doesn't bother me how much we pay them. The second two definite starting 22 players with who possess both skill and fierce competitiveness.

I have heard from other clubs that this is a misunderstood area of the game. Clubs go through large training blocks and their performances dip temporarily. Admittedly, this is usually mid/late season gearing up for finals. At the end of the day, we had two disappointing, but not totally unexpected, performances against 2 of the top 3 teams, and 1 horrible performance against the other. We have injuries within a squad with no depth and players simply out of form. I'm giving them this week to improve.

Yep, pretty much. I mean with our injuries we weren't a realistic chance anyway. I reckon they looked at and figured they'd make the best of it. To me the logical game to peak for is the Queens birthday game. Eddy's annoying but he's right about it being our grand final

BP's still there - lol

The problem is what do you do when you need to drop under performing players from the seniors but have no one pushing for selection in the 2's?

So... that thread about Christian re-signing.

Prestia is just 22, has 74 games under his belt and averages high 20s in disposals. He's A grade. No brainer for mine.

Fmd. Like we've been any better? Load of bs.