pringle

FWIW (and I'm going to be ridiculed for this), I actually think Jones could be as good as or at least a very similar type of player to Dane Swan. I don't think he's a Chapman. If anyone ever watches Dane Swan play, he runs his guts out and gets some looses possessions, he has a strong body and gets stuck into tight situations, grabs the hard ball and then gets the ball out in any way possible. He's not a pretty player. A lot of his 30+ possessions a game are actually just rushed kicks out of packs to push the ball forwards. Jones has been guilty in the past of trying to take too many players on than he should. But he is maturing. He has a strong body, knows how to get the ball, has reasonable skills when he actually has a target to hit and has been developing a good tank to cover the ground needed to get the loose ball. His finishing has steadily improved. He will now hopefully have a better system to work within with Neeld as coach. Swan became a top footballer at about the age of 25. Until then he was middle rung. I absolutely believe that Jones has the time and ability to turn himself into a Swan-esque type of footballer. He just needs to mature. Learn when to get a quick ugly kick off out of congestion, or try to finesse. I think in time he could become a star. Now I await my criticism...

I'll not have you talking like that about my missus thanks!!!

Do 3 game memberships count as members officially? Is that a new category for MFC? I know other clubs have used such memberships to raise their numbers somewhat artificially. I'm considering buying my girlfriend a membership. Sadly her family is a Collingwood family. But bonus for me is that she knows very little about football and cares even less. There's still hope for her yet!!! However, I don't actually want her to come to too many games (I'm better off if she doesn't see me pulling my hair out and losing it at the footy). A 3 game package is 90 bucks. 11 games $195. A big difference for the club I know, but I'm already a trident member and pay plenty for my own ticket. If 3 game memberships don't count as an additional number for the club, it's worth spending the extra money (sponsors are attracted by numbers, hence my interest in making sure she's counted if signed up). If they count as members, then besides a financial donation, I don't really see a point in spending another $100 of my hard earned... Any thoughts? Edit 38,121 (122 if I sign up my girlfriend - but do Collingwood fans count as people... there's another thought to ponder :-P)

Have watched him play a lot a VFL football. In a word... no...

In good time Whispering. Not ready to take on that responsibility yet. We want the best at the Demons and I'm afraid I don't profess to be the best just yet. As for the suggestions by Arthur Dent that Andrew Daff is no major loss to the club, I would have to vehemently disagree. There are not doctors lining up to get these gigs. Certainly not doctors of the experience, quality and calibre of Andrew Daff. Qualified sports physicians are actually in short supply in Melbourne in comparison to the number of professional sporting organizations around. Indeed not all sports physicians have any desire to work with an AFL club. It is a time-consuming, demanding and extremely stressful job. Andrew has been a loyal servant of the MFC for about 20 years and I have personal experience working with him. I can't speak highly enough of him. I also have some knowledge of why he has left but won't comment in addition to what has already been written above. I will, however, say that Kal Fried, our other long-serving and very well-credentialed doctor, has also departed the club for the same reasons which have been generally outlined above. It is a great shame. I have only one comment on the matter, and that is that I REALLY hope Misson is worth it. With respect to the importance of a doctor at an AFL team... Arthur, with all due respect, having been a VFL doctor for the past 3 years, I feel reasonably well credentialed enough to say that your comments need to be re-thought. All advice with respect to whether an injured player trains or plays must come from the doctor/s. Certainly this is done in consultation with the physios etc, but when it comes to the crunch and Mark Neeld asks whether Jack Trengove can play in the 1st final due to so and so injury, the risks and benefits will be outlined by the doctor. When James Frawley needs a jab to get through a big clash on Jack Reiwoldt, trust me, you'll be hoping it's the doctor giving him the jab, not Misson. I can come up with plenty more examples but mate, I don't think I really need to on this one... Misson will have his chance to have an impact on the MFC. Let's hope it's a positive one. So far the jury's still out...

FWIW I have seen Vickery play about 20 VFL games at least I reckon (in his 1st 2 seasons). And I've seen Fitzpatrick in about 4 or 5. At the same stage of development Fitzpatrick is miles ahead of Vickery. And I mean country miles. He moves better, marks better, does just about everything better... except kicking. Having said that, his set shots are not terrible anymore. One of the games I saw early this year was a Casey 2nds game and he absolutely tore the opposition to shreds. Obviously this was Casey 2nds and it was against weaker opponents. But he positioned himself well, clunked every mark, was outstanding overhead and with his use of the body, and was always in front of his opponent on the lead. The boy can certainly beat similar sized opponents at that level and as he matures and gets bigger I believe he will be able to transfer this to AFL level. I am pretty upbeat about his future. Does not need to be another Buddy Franklin to be of value. If I try to think of someone I'd like him to emulate, perhaps could be a Paul Salmon type when he played forward.

Don't post much these days. Don't read much. Haven't folllowed this thread. Haven't been on Demonland for ages. BUT... "His old man works up there as we know..." Give me a bloody break!!!! You know this do you? Are you saying to me that Tom Scully's old man works in Sydney? The same old man that works in Melbourne for my old man? Thanks for that fact. I'll let my dad know that he hasn't been turning up to work. Edit [1] If you were talking about someone else who works there and not Tom Scully's dad then I apologize for my rant but I can't be bothered reading the entire thread as it's very long and I'm tired. Edit [2] It seems you did mean Tom Scully's dad... unbelievable that you just completely made something up... Did you think no-one at all would know?

Was clearly injured or suffering from some sort of niggle or just fatigued. Could still be the result of the Essendon corkie. We have had consecutive 6 day breaks since Collingwood, which was the following match I think. I sat up on the top level and in the 1st qtr particularly was watching him closely. He was trying hard to get up a gallop but just couldn't on many occasions and looked frustrated by it. That is why he played mainly forward all game. I'm not making excuses for him, just telling you what I saw and I was watching very closely.

Casey easy winners in reserves 19.10 to 6.20 (or thereabouts).

Casey 11.6.72 to Coburg 5.19.49 at 3qtr time. Should be quite comfortable for Casey finishing with the wind.

8.5 to 3.11 at half time. Casey lead in the ressies. Still yet to work out if any demons playing.

Good start to Casey against a 5 goal wind. Coburg 3.8.26, Casey 2.1.13. Trust me it's a big advantage kicking with this wind. Expect a Casey lead at half time. Not sure if any melb players are playing. Got no jumper guide.

70,011

Will try to post updates but if anyone else is here they might as well do it instead as I am working. Will still try at the breaks. game is on tv as well on abc so tune in if you're at home. Still plenty of seats left at the ground though...

Very ugly finish to the game for Frankston. They may have well put witches hats out there next week because that's what their players have looked like today. Casey 13 final quarter goals to end up 30.19.199 to Frankston 5.6.36. Fitzpatrick kicked about 7 and set up about 5 more directly with short passes to a team mate. Very good game by the boy. The other demons were all solid but did not stand out.

17.16.118 to 3.5.23. Should really be up by more. Missing easy shots. Matthews slowly getting into it and is a great story. Wearing a helmet too nowadays.

Goal after the half time siren to fitzpatrick from just inside the boundary on the wrong side for a right footer. Casey 12.11.83 to 1.3.9. Fitzy must have 3 or 4 goals and has unselfishly given off 2 or 3 more. Clearly a cut above this level. Matthews starting to get into the game. Davis not seeing it much in the backline. Tom Mac and johnstone doing ok. Johnstone has a nice left boot. Conditions as good as they could possibly be here for clean footy. Sunny, warmish and no wind. Get down here for the main event everyone. Fev looking to make a triumphant return.

Qtr time reserves Casey all over Frankston. 5.7.37 to 1.1.7. Fitzpatrick very impressive but not accurate early on. Matthews laid a nice tackle but yet to get much ball on his return match.

It doesn't really redleg. The nature of many of these conditions is such that the layoff is unpredictable and only known as the natural course of the injury progresses. Eg. Scully sounds like he has patellofemoral pain that occurs due to overload of the patella (kneecap) usually secondary to an external (eg. inappropriate or worn shoes, surface), remote (eg. poor foot posture) or local (eg. weak medial quadriceps, tight ITB) causative factor. The back or undersurface of the patella becomes irritated and inflamed due to patellar maltracking as the player runs. This inflammation needs to settle and the appropriate causative factors assessed and remedied before return to play. Furthermore, return to play needs to be graduated so that a player progresses through steps and milestones prior to playing. Different people resolve more rapidly than other for whatever reasons and the load required to train and play AFL footy is huge (especially one as gung ho with training as Scully is reportedly). Tom probably settled down a bit, tried to play, has flared up the original problem in the process and now his prognosis has been re-assesed. It is hard to suggest that the doctors could have known exactly how Tom would respond 2 or 3 weeks ago. I think if anything, the real thing to be upset about is not the weeks out but the vagueness of the diagnosis given. "Sore knee". never read about that condition in any medical text book. I mean... I know knees get sore, but c'mon... Are we 2 years old? Will it severely hamper our premiership chances if the world knows that Tom Scully has patellofemoral pain? And I would not in any way be blaming the doctors/medical staff for these reports. They have nothing to do with media releases. I'm sure the coach and relevant FD personnel know exactly what the diagnosis is for every injury, but the rest of us get fed vague stories of a "knee" or "groin" or "foot" injury.

If you add Scully and Trengove to the injured list for this week, we compare pretty poorly to most clubs on the injury front to start the year in terms of numbers missing. Obviously some are worse off than us, but we're definitely on the wrong side of the injury curse once again to start the season. Thankfully there's not much in the long-term category.

Interesting. My brother has a similar love for Officeworks. Works around the corner from a branch and LOVES going there, even just to look around. He told me it wasn't strange. Seems he's not alone after all

Very nicely put. I was going to write something similar but you did it perfectly for me. Edit: Add my prediction of 37,242

Via Twitter: 1. Game has faded away here in Tassie. One positive for all you DreamTeamers and SuperCoaches out there - Grimes will be gold for u this year less than 10 seconds ago via web ... translation... The ball is going to be in our back line a lot!!! Haha. Just playing. A bit concerned but happy to wait until the season unfolds before criticizing.

The most concerning thing is the disparity in scoring shots. Could have been much worse.

One of my favourites from the old days. Good luck Sean. Our thoughts are with you.