Lil_red_fire_engine

I note that there is a train that arrives at Cranbourne at 9:46am on Saturday. Can anyone confirm if there is a connecting bus to the ground and if so the time if known?

Thanks Steve, I have joined as well.

From an article on the AFL site. "Melbourne recruit Liam Jurrah (193cm) was the All-Stars’ next tallest player, behind Griffin, but was forced to withdraw from the squad because of conditioning."

Couldn't see it being a ratings bonanza for the ABC if it was live. Only true footy fanatics will have a passing interest and in most cases would choose to watch Collingwood vs West Coast over that match. Delayed telecast is better than nothing and already have it set in the iQ.

I would think due to their lack of height that Liam would be a good chance for selection

We have no cash and no sponsor. We should be trying to win the thing to spark as much enthusiasm and interest as possible. This should not be to the detriment of risking players returning from rehab but we should not be holding players back for the sake of it.

The players vote the leadership group. They do not choose the captain. I would be against McDonald being captain if he was 28 but at 32 he is the best short term choice whilst our list of potential young leaders develop and become the future leadership group that we need. I see alot of people bagging the decision but not really coming up with a strong argument as to who is the better option. Mclean and to a lesser extent Rivers to me show strong leadership material but they both need to just focus on getting on the park this year.

Rhino I am amazed that you class Hodge as elite but neither Lyon nor to a lesser extent Stynes.

Whelan is good on a true small ie: Milne but struggles against smaller players that play above there head ie: Medhurst, Nathan Brown etc. He also does not have the versatility to play anywhere else. If this team was just for round 1 then I would expect Whelan to play on Lindsay or Campbell as he specifically suits but I prefer the versatility of the other line up when not matching it against a specific side. For mine I did not class Garland as a tall as he can play on players of varying heights. I do not have stats to back it up but my feeling is that Whelans disposal has decreased in quality in the last 2 years. This may be injury related but his disposal definitely has not appeared as good to me in the last two than previous.

M2W I agree with you regarding Newton. Newtons laconic manner, reported immaturity and supporter impatience at not having a key position forward has seen him harshly marked. The only forwards to kick more than 40 goals (the top 21 forwards) in 2008 that were 21 or younger were Franklin, Roughy, McKinley and Cloke. Not many forwards make a mark before 22. Newton should be coming into his own this year and I would expect him to be given every opportunity early in the year to cement his spot in the starting 18.

Yes sorry M2W I put up post before I checked how many games Ricky has played.

B Garland Martin Wheatley HB Rivers Frawley Green C Buckley McLean Morton HF Sylvia Miller Davey F Watts Newton Wonaeamirri Fol Jamar Bruce McDonald Int Johnson Jones Dunn Grimes Emg: Maric, Petterd, Whelan This is the line up I would like to see round 1. Just some clarifications prior to being chastised: I do not rate Bate, Bartram, Bell and Moloney and believe other players should be played in their place if we are to improve our ladder position. Yes they will have good days but their decision making and disposal will let us down more often than not. The same could be said for players such as Buckley or Bruce but the positives with both players outweigh the negatives for mine. I rate Whelan as a footballer but believe he is very limited in his role as a back pocket and would prefer to see more versatile players such as Garland or Wheatley fill that role where required. His body is also a risk and I would prefer to see other players advance ahead of him this season. I doubt Robertson will be available for round 1 and am doubtful he will get even close to his best until mid season if it all. We need to push games into Newton and see if he has the attitude to make it. I am confident that we will play Watts early on as well if he shows anything during the preseason matches. I am sure at least one of the first or second year players will stand out in the NAB matches and obviously this will change once players are seen in match conditions.

I am amazed Hartlett, Dangerfield, Myers and Vespremi do not figure higher in the odds. Dangerfield and Myers would be my early favourites with Hartlett heading the first year players. I would expect Grimes and Watts the most likely Demons to gain nominations this year. I think Watts will play early on this year off a flank/pocket if he performs well enough in the NAB cup/challenge games. I have copied below the odds for all players under 51.00 WATTS, Jack (MELB) 7.50 SIDEBOTTOM, Steele (COLL) 10.00 ZIEBELL, Jack (KANG) 10.00 BALLANTYNE, Hayden (FREO) 13.00 HURLEY, Michael (ESS) 13.00 SELWOOD, Scott (WCE) 13.00 RICH, Daniel (BRIS) 14.00 DAVIS, Phil (ADEL) 15.00 NAITANUI, Nicholas (WCE) 15.00 SUBAN, Nicholas (FREO) 15.00 HARTLETT, Hamish (PORT) 17.00 JOHNSTON, Lewis (SYD) 17.00 CONNORS, Daniel (RICH) 21.00 DANGERFIELD, Patrick (ADEL) 21.00 MASTEN, Chris (WCE) 21.00 VICKERY, Tyrone (RICH) 21.00 LYNCH, Tom (STK) 26.00 TRENGROVE, Jackson (PORT) 29.00 HILL, Stephen (FREO) 31.00 WARD, Callan (WBD) 31.00 YARRAN, Chris (CARL) 31.00 ZAHARAKIS, David (ESS) 31.00 GRIMES, Jack (MELB) 34.00 CORDY, Ayce (WBD) 41.00 MC KERNAN, Shaun, (ADEL) 41.00 STRAUSS, James (MELB) 41.00 SWIFT, Tom (WCE) 41.00 BEAMS, Dayne (COLL) 51.00 BLEASE, Sam (MELB) 51.00 BROADBENT, Matthew (PORT) 51.00 BROWN, Mitchell (WCE) 51.00 HENDERSON, Lachlan (BRIS) 51.00 HEYNE, Nicholas (STK) 51.00 MAGIN, Rhys (ESS) 51.00 MYERS, David (ESS) 51.00 SHUEY, Luke (WCE) 51.00 THORP, Mitchell (HAW) 51.00 VESZPREMI, Patrick (SYD) 51.00

The gentleman you speak of is the same one I referred to as potential father/coach. On second thought I would think he is neither of these but is definitely a mentor/contact of some sort as you mentioned. The coaches appeared happy for him to just wander out into training and mingle with the group at times during the session. In nearly all instances where the group broke into non positional sub groups all of the aboriginal boys appeared to gravitate to the same group.

I understand your point but come on the guy has been here three days. You cant force mateship regardless of who it is it still must be earnt. All the boys seemed to include him where possible. He has already been nicknamed Lj by the boys and was having a ball especially during the tennis ball keepings off excercise. There were three gents standing in front of me discussing his transition one being Rupert Betheras (who identified his talent and got him to the pies) and two other gents (one may have been his father or Palmerston coach maybe). We are obviously wary conscious of the special circumstances with his transition and are trying to put the right things in place.

Rivers appeared to do full training. I would not be concerned with Strauss, Buckley, Mclean, Petterd, Maric, Bate, Moloney, Robertson and Morton not doing full training. Buckley, Strauss, Moloney and Robbo were the only ones to sit out all sessions. The others were rotated through various sessions. I would assume to protect them from specific niggles, manage their workload or to ensure they do not recurr an ailment they are recovering from. McLean completed nearly all sessions (if not all) but agree he was probably not at full pace.

Excellent summary. I was also there but most has been covered above.Whelan was not in attendance. Strauss was on the sidelines for most of the session. Wheatley came off mid way through and was not seen again unsure what the reason was but did not look serious. Mcdonald trained but was in the group on the far side of the ground for most of the session. Frawley, Dunn and Newton have noticeably bulked up and along with Sylvia were the most impressive. There was a strong focus across the session on decision making particularly under pressure as well as alot of team oriented excercises.

I stated he reminded me of the porpoise. That does not mean he will be as good as him or he fits our needs. My thoughts are that we will focus on the best clearance player and project tall forward with our PSD and first rookie pick. If we do take him I will not be disappointed.

Rockliff reminds me of Jason Porplyzia. I dont think we will take him in the PSD or with our first rookie selection and doubt he will be there for our second.

I would say if Shoenmakers or Johnston were there at 17 things would be different but you cant take key forwards just for the sake of it. Obviously a theme of skills and pace. I would get as many of the potential key forwards and rucks down for pre season as possible to look at for PSD and rookie selections.

According to Inside Football 19 y/o 183cm 78kg midfielder/forward with speed. Played senior football this year

The difference between us and the Saints is that we didnt pick Gardiner, Birss, Dempster, Scneider and co in the last 2 years....There is more underlying StKildas decision than "a youth policy". I would tend to agree that he will get more opportunities ar Carltank. I would say that our depth has been better than Calrtons. We also have a alot of players who could play the half back/wingmans role where as Carlton do not.

Our lack of desire to commit to a name would be due to the AFL asking us not to state our intention pre Saturday. What did you really expect to hear............

I dont see why we would have to request the AFLs permission to say who we are taking. And if that person just so happens to be at the event as well what a coincidence. It wont make any difference if we announce early I would think as the top 2 will be the same regardless just in reverse order. I am all for it but in saying that Vlad and his croneys will find some reason to stop us once again.

If true this is fantastic news even if it only is part time. West is highly respected, straight out of the game, one of the best inside players of the last decade and learnt his trade in a similar environment to our own (The Doghouse sure aint no Lexus Centre or Visy Stadium).