Deespicable

Agree with comments and think there will be a minimum of two and possibly as many as four delistings to go. Don't understand why anyone would put Clisby on the main list after one year when he can be kept on the rookie list for one more season yet and upgraded to the main list during the season of his form warrants it. At the moment based on eight delistings we have just five draft picks (Hogan and Magner, if not delisted have to come on) and two rookie picks. For a side that finished second last with two ins and percentage of 54% or whatever, that would be massive faith in the list, even for a new coach. Assuming Watts and Sylvia stay as predicted, I think almost everyone agrees that Jetta, Nicho and Magner are under the gun still - although the latter two are renowned quality trainers. I would expect Bail to retire - sadly he's been almost as concussed as Daniel Bell - he would know he's never going to be a star, so why would you risk your long-term life health. My left field omission - and yes I know he's contracted - is that Roosy might move Byrnes on because he will know that he's not part of the future in his latest rejig.

Sorry Hradtack and applogies to the original creater Plug the Magician. Can Plug now combine the two threads magically. Regardless the article became even more pertinent today!

It's not my case - it's his!

If you want a clearer idea on what Paul Roos thinks of his new players, here's a link to an article that Paul Roos wrote in the Herald Sun on August 2 in which he picked his likely team with plenty of blanks. The team is good news for Blease fans and even better news for the vast majority of Dunny-bashers. No room for Terlich or Matt Jones and Grimes is correctly listed as a defender. Watts features but worryingly is placed on a wing! You can probably also figure out why Davey retired. Why Melbourne can turn it around sooner than you think MELBOURNE B: Frawley Garland HB: Grimes McDonald C: Blease? Jones Watts HF:Sylvia Dawes Hogan F: Clark Howe R:J amar? Trengrove Viney I/C: Fitzpatrick?

Not sure I'd want to risk pick No.2 on 27-year-old Daisy who has a serious foot injury. As I said, if we do trade pick No.2, we would want a young Roosy-style running player in the 20-24yo bracket. As for Cross, we would be able to pick him up as a free-agent if we wanted him, which I very much doubt given he is the equivalent stupidity of drafting Rodan - although I accept he might be a better player - but he is 30 and we are a developmental side!

I just wondered if anyone knew who the eight players Roos spoke to last week were and whether they included Jack Watts. I imagine they would primarily have been leadership group - Trenners, Grimes, Jones, Garland, Frawley, Clark and Dawes - but just wondered if anyone knew categorically? Thanks.

Depends on what you call a star? What we have to decide (PP notwithstanding) is whether we can offer a trade that is a WIN/WIN for both clubs. We have pick 2 and if a club wants either Aish or Scharenberg then they get a direct win out of the trade and obviously the two Adelaide clubs would be more interested in that scenario. What do they have that would fit the No.2 value so we get a win out of it. Forget Danger and Boak and Hartlett - they are not negotiable. But Adelaide has Sloane - a tough, hard-running, tackling 23-year-old who fits the Roos-style of midfielder - eg: O'Keefe, McVeigh. Given he was pick 44 Adelaide would feel they would have a win out of obtaining pick 2. And I suspect we'd feel we get a win out of a mature ready-to-go midfielder who we know can play and one who has at least six more years of good footy left in them. The only issue is that he's contracted until 2015 and may actually love Adelaide! Bit to me that's the type of player we need if we don't go down the more predictable route of drafting a kid and hoping they become a star.

Having worked with Damian for best part of 10 years at current bun, I can tell you he may look like a [censored] with his glasses, but he actually is the most professional and ethical journalist that the HS has had in past decade. Unlike many other journos he sources stories and 95% and he doesn't make grandiose statements, unless he has first-hand knowledge. The only bias he ever shows is to North and it's not over the top like some. But back to actual topic. Can somebody tell me why if we got pick 1 as a priority we would take Boyd and not trade this pick for a quality young midfielder? Why do we need Boyd when we already have Clark, Dawes, Hogan, Watts and Howey as tall forwards, not to mention Fitzy as back up? Is the bloke who picked five of them in a forward line with Kent aware that all the sides in the finals have a maximum of three tall forwards (some have just two)? Why do you think that is? And it's not as if pick 1 is a bonus. Do you think Jack Watts is rapt he has had to deal with the No.1 label and ensuing expectation his whole career?

No probs - I was replying when you apologised and so missed it, otherwise wouldn't have mentioned it. Hoping he can tell me who Lloyd Perris and Cameron Giles are - hoping Perris has Nova Peris' speed and Giles is a fighter like Peter.

I'm not sure why Jumbo is getting so grumpy with you and yes he can still be traded, but that scenario is highly unlikely. The reason is that Col can go to whatever club he wishes. If our club felt he was gone and no point trying to match his offer, then we could try and negotiate with his intended club for a trade. But this club is under no obligation to enact a trade and would in all likelihood, unless they wanted to offload someone for salary cap or not good enough reasons, tell us to get knotted. That would then mean our compensation would fall under the AFL's compensatory pick panel. If the AFL were to give us a priority pick (eg: Pick 3 as you intimated), then I reckon they'd give us virtually nothing for him because every club would have been complaining loud about it - probably end of third round. If the AFL hadn't given us a priority pick or had just given us one at end of first round (ie: Pick 19), then I reckon they might feel OK about giving us a pick after our second round pick (eg: about 21). Hope this helps. In your list of draft kids, do you have a running defender and a pacey small forward as the first four are all true mids on top of Greenwood and Adams.

The good thing about VFL finals is that we have the double chance, so even if we lose to the top side Geelong this week, there's every chance we can still get them back in the GF. Apart from getting back Magner for second week of VFL finals, we will also have Spencer and Fitzy and Jetta available. But having said that i don't think Jimmy Magner will get a game - just listed as emergency to stop us all complaining.

Heat training has never been proven, except as a good venue for losing weight. But what has been proven is that group training - getting away form normal environment and training with others - has a major positive effect - hence why athletics camps have been popular. I'm actually all for us training in Darwin during the winter, especially if it ties in with games in Brissy or Perth. The humidity in Darwin's winter is low and it gives the players who are nursing sore spots a chance to train without having to spend an hour warming up. The other factor with Darwin is that we as a club, are meant to be supporting the concept of playing games there and we receive a package from NT government. If our aim is to just simply take the money and not invest any time in it, then it's a shameful act and why I believe Schwabby was roundly criticised by a couple of our former sponsors.

OK, I thought I'd get this topic going for last time this season. I can't see too many changes under Craigy's watch, but at least an extra three players will initially be named given it's a Sunday game. Obviously Rodan is out and Howey is doubtful, while Col Garland eems to be just trying to get his body through each week. If you go on the most recent VFL game form (somewhat dubious I know given almost every week Magner is listed as best and does not get a look in) then the players to be considered are big Maxy, Jetta and Magner again. Rohan Bail (23rd man last week) is also a monte to play. The other player to consider as an in is Jack Fitzpatrick, who should be over concussion by now. I know there'll be the usual requests for Taggert, Barry or Tynan to be given a chance, but I can't see that happening now and their form last week doesn't warrant it. Then there's the problems of being up against a small Dogs forward line, although more recently big Campbell has impressed for them and they also have Grant (laugh!). There's a chance that Jones will be recalled for this game as well after bagging six in magoos last week. But even assuming they have Campbell, Jones and Grant, they can be all covered by Tom Mc, Frawley and Garland, which means Pedo has no role required - hard to believe they played him last week against the smallest side in comp. The other player under the pump is Tappy, who again failed to impress as a small forward last week - just six touches. You could also make a case for Matt Jones and Howey to be dropped because they have looked more and more tired as the season has gone on, but given they've lasted until now, it would be pretty nasty to ditch them for final game. So my guess, and given that the selectors have been making a habit of doing weird things, it is a major guess is the following. Out: Rodan (inj), Tapscott. In: Bail, Fitzpatrick, Gawn, Jetta, Magner The three who will eventually become emergencies are: Pedersen (no defensive match-up for him unless Garland is a late withdrawal). One of Fitzy or Gawn or Spencer (I'm sure that Craigy's not dumb enough to play all three of them. Minson is in form and had 51 tapouts against Gawny last time, so I reckon Spencer is safe) Magner (Craigy's not about to start worrying about what us Demonlanders think now.)

Apparently we are going to lose our first two picks in the draft. But we get priority picks for the next two years to compensate!

I finally got a chance to watch the replay and can now comment. Big ticks Jimmy T: Sure he made the biggest howler in the middle of the park but he showed he has slick hands and he possesses a Ron Harvey sideshuffle. I suspect he won't be the pacey outside mid that we needed but I'm growing more confident that he'll be a quality player. Lynden Dunn - Yes I know everybody hates him, but he's one of the few players that projects the ball forward on most occasions and gives us a chance of launching a counterattack. Couple of stupid errors but probably our best on the day. Jordie Mc - Had a really hard gig on Danger and whilst beaten, certainly wasn't smashed. Chipper - Looked smooth as always and a class above the rest of our team. David Rodan - Good early until injured and once he went off it became the Scotty Thompson/Brad Crouch show as Jacky Viney and Nathan Jones were down on the day and unable to win much clean possession. Col Sylvia - Fumbled early but got better as game went on and nailed his two goalscoring chances. Other notes: Given that Adelaide has virtually no talls because of injuries, why was it that our bigger forwards (Watts/Howe/Pedersen) kept getting bumped under the ball. Only Dawes had a big body (in Rutten) to contend with. Jack Grimes had a couple of shocking kicks and was unable to shrug off a tackler thus gifting a free kick in front away, but I thought he looked so much more assured down back than he's been in midfield. Please keep him in defence. Trenners is using his smarts to get free well now that Craigy is using him as a wingman. Spencil was beaten by Jacobs and needs a back-up ruckman - ie: Gawn. Pedersen went back to the standard of his first few games this season as a forward/back up ruckman. Then when Col G went off injured in last term he went down back for a short bit and looked right at home. So why did Craigy decide to use him as a forward/ruck in the first place - didn't he watch his first five games at this club? Matt Jones and Howey - sorry but both look tired from long year of losing and will need to have good pre-seasons to justify being played at start of next year. Watts - Thank christ Craigy played him as a forward and he showed glimpses of brilliance which is good from an on-sale point of view. His second goal was all quality and came about because he initially chased hard. As I've said before, if he kept doing that, then everybody would be right off his back. Tappy - sorry but he's not looking like Chappy. Is it time to send him to defence or into midfield because he doesn't have evasive skills to be a forward? Davey and Kent - needed to do more, but when they got it, they looked dangerous because they take the game on.

Go back and watch the replay of the Adelaide game and get off Dunn's back. Yes he made a stupid decision to kick across his body to Nathan Jones when he should have handballed and yes he gave away a dumb free kick with a love tap. But he also kicked about four 60m balls bang on the money and I'd like to see stats on metres gained by players in the past month - I reckon he'd be No.1 at Melbourne. Jimmy T was very good on Sunday but made a huge howler in the middle. Nathan Jones, who was heavily marked again, went sideways 70 per cent of the time and also had no awareness when Danger laid a tackle on him in the middle of the park and the ensuing goal effectively cost us the game. I am not a Dunn fan and long term I don't see him surviving once we have a better options. But at the moment he's one of our few linebreakers because so many of our players go sideways or backwards to retain possession. And because he's actually kicking it forward he'll be more prone to turnovers but his stats in past few weeks have shown his efficiency has been quite high. One of our big problems is that we don't have a pacey running small defender of the Jarrod Harbrow, Heath Shaw, Andrew Walker ilk to run through the lines. Until we do, then we need a linebreaker and I'm afraid Dunny's big boot is one of our few options.

Here's one more for you all to consider. I always thought that the idea of selectors was to consider the strengths of opposition teams and pick side's that minimise their advantage - particularly when you are a team that's down the bottom and should be trying to limit the mismatch. So here's what they've done since Craigy's been involved: Rd 16 v Geelong on a wet day when tackling is important - Out: Rodan (inside mid), In: Blease (oustide mid) - Result: Smashed Rd 17: v Brisbane at NT where pace is all important - we pick a fast side and surprise, surprise we are not belted. Rd 18 v North Melb (who love bullying us and have plenty of physical players) - we keep the same fast side and don't include Jordie, Magner, Spencer or any more big-body types - Result: Smashed Rd 19 v GWS Giants - a light running side - we go three ruckman adding Spencer. Surprise, surprise Gawn is subbed out. Rd 20 v Gold Coast - regarded as the fastest side in the comp - We pick a big side again but are saved from a major imbalance when Pedo and Howe drop out at last minute for the pace Strauss and Nicho - Yes pace v pace. we are competitive. Rd 21 v Freo - Plenty of strengths but with two star ruckman in Clarke and Sandilands - we pick just one ruckman and go small in defence leaving out Pedo - Thankfully Sandilands goes down early after looking super dangerous. But Freo's press kills us as we go the boundary and decide to play an extra man back so that our options on the counter attack are even fewer.. Rd 22 v Adelaide - The Crows are injury prone at moment and have a really small, fast side. They have only two talls up forward and they are hardly monsters in Johnston and Lynch. They only have one ruckman. They have a really small defensive line. We go big and bring back Pedo on top of Dawes and Frawley. Gawn is emergency and given the confidence I have in our selectors at the moment he'll probably be the one to come in as a late inclusion for Garland who is struggling to get up for this game.

Actually Hoody it's fare worse than this. Apart from Jimmy T, Jack Fitzpatrick, Cam Pedersen, Luke Tapscott and Rohan Bail all needed just one more game to qualify for VFL finals with six games. Jordie and Dean Kent also needed one more but they were never in contention to play in VFL this week after strong games last week. One of Bail or Jetta will be the travelling 23rd backup to Adelaide tomorrow and I'm betting it will be Bail. The reason is because Melbourne don't give a s.t about Casey and developing players via VFL finals - they think they have a great development program in October and therefore want palyers back from their break early - you can tell how good it is by the results it has achieved the past few years!

No Magner. So Rodan's our future is he?

Agree with your logic and think there are quite a few options in tagging department. I personally like the idea of Jordie tagging Crouch because he has been influential in past few weeks and being so young he has probably never had a decent tag before so he might really struggle. Sloane usually plays outside mid on a wing. Trenners did well out wide last week but I'm not sure if he'll have pace to go with Sloane and nor does Toumpas if he comes in, so it probably gets down to a choice between Nicho or Bail on a wing. If Jordie did go to Crouch, then it would allow Jack Viney and Nathan Jones to go head to head in middle with Danger trying to win the ball out and then as you suggest, Col picks him up when he rests forward. Either way I'm sure selectors will [censored] it up and we'll end up with no Magner, no tagger for Sloane and Jack Watts playing down back again as a sweeper.

The difference is that we did not draft Jack Viney - he was father-son, so we did not have to choose him against other players. If he hadn't been father-son, he would have probably gone to GWS with pick 2 or 3. Not sure if you are aware but we had to do a deal with GWS and Suns to make sure they didn't nominate him, thereby forcing us to use pick 4 on him. Jack Viney is the closest thing to Joel Selwood we could get - the only way he can fail to be a star is if someone tries to change his style of play.

A few good issues this week at selection table. Craigy hates making changes - has made only 12 in total in eight selection nights - that's 1.5 a game despite the fact that we've been belted in at least four games under his watch. But he has to make a minimum of three changes for injury - Blease, Strauss and Byrnes. He also has to get rid of Davis or risk further ridicule at AAMI Stadium - poor fella has had 12 disposals in two games (that's 6 per game) and kicked one goal from a handball over the top to him. It's not his fault, he's a defender after all. Tapscott, Howey and Fitzy all were quiet again last week but I'd expect all to survive again because Craig will have go apopleptic if he makes that many changes and has to tell them they are dropped. Apart from Frawley and Dawes returning, he also has to decide if he can upset Pedersen, who was 23rd man last week, and did well, by his standards, in game against Suns. Then he has to decide if the two who dominated in the magoos for the second week in a row - Gawn and Magner - get a call up. I'm sure we will go bigger than last week when we were saved by Sandilands injury, but we won't go three ruckmen and Dawes, especially as Crows usually only have one ruck - Jacobs. And if Frawley plays, then there's no room for Pedo down back anyway. Grimes hopefully will go back to defence where he made his name and replace Strauss, which will free up a spot in midfield rotation for Magner. The last spot has to go to a midfielder and IMO will get down to a battle of three - Nicholson (yes I know he does howlers, but who else has the speed to tag Dangerfield), Toumpas (which would mean he can't play for Casey in finals) and Taggert (who kicked five in VFL and deserves a shot just as much as Jimmy T). If they go Jimmy T, then Jordie will have to play on Danger which is a big ask, especially when Sloane and Crouch are other good options for him. So, Out: Blease, Strauss, Byrnes (all inj), Davis. In: Frawley, Dawes, Magner, Nicholson. Personally I'd like to see both Gawn and Taggert play this week ahead of Fitzy and Tappy, who have both now had plenty of chances, but I don't reckon it will happen for reasons stated above.

Viney has been clearly our best player in Rd 1 and Rd 21. Can any other first year player actually beat that. Terlich and Matt Jones will get more votes than him in B&F, but we all know who is the best first-year player at this club.

Fantastic and based on a true story!

If you read the link above, it would seem this time Melbourne did the right thing by a veteran player - so there's no need for others to try and turn this into some James McDonald type situation. Interesting to hear that he also had knee issues - he kept that fairly quiet, but while like every player I'm sure he wanted to play on, realistically he probably knew his body couldn't cope with AFL level anymore - hence his suggestion he may still play games up in NT with his brothers. The good thing is that our fans and the media have always treated him like a star since he arrived on the scene in 2005 and after his B&F he was given a really highly-paid contract - most reports say he was on close to $550,000 a year. He was a revelation back in his early days and unfortunately the game is now more suited to bigger bodies as tackling is no longer just about running someone down - it's a way of life for much of the game. He can still thread the needle, as he did when he came on last Sunday with a couple of ripper passes, but he just can't do it as much as he used to.