classy dees

No it is not a minor issue. It is a MAJOR issue, that is currently endemic within the club

you forgot mooney carrol on mooney, rivers on hawkins, biz on Nathan Ablett we actually need ooze next week to kick some goals. i would include him. i htink the record as much as anything was playing on his mind. we dont need to worry about that no more. holland biz and sylvia are certainties, and the 3 outs you've mentioned are near certainties, but i would as i said make room for ooze. if pickett is fit also he will play

in a 'on the lead' sense. devey would beat him over 30 metres, but bell would match him over the longer distance, hell yesterday franklin tore davey a new one, and it took such an incident to spark davey into one of his chases.

Last night i purposely stayed away from demonland because of the usual reaction from supporters who love this club but were bitterly dissapointed and angry at the way we played. as usual there would be calls about dropping players etc, with player x being labelled the worst XXX ever or player Y being labelled at a standard not worthy of AFL standard. But IMHO the biggest problem we have at the club is an attitude issue. we currently have a 29 y.o 250 game veteran playing in the VFL because he attitude is not good enough, another veteran who has come back overweight after the preseason (albeit there are a few mitigating circumstances as to why he isn't playing currently, but this coming back overweight thing is bullsh*t and not good enough), as well as half a dozen players who have not only put in shockers but made themselves and the club look stupid in the meantime. this attitude issue also extends to discipline, as yesterday 3 needless 50's and at least 3 (that i can think of) dumb/stupid/idiotic free kicks were given away in the hawthorn 50 that directly resulted in goals. how much did we lose by yesterday ... 3 goals. Not being on the inside of the club i have no idea why this is the case. it could be for a multitude of reasons, be it discontent within the player group, coach issues, or simply this group of players have taken their foot of the pedal. not withstanding that i admit that it is very early in the season and just because you are bottom of the ladder after round 2 doesn't mean the season is over, but i see this as a bigger issue. it seems that it is an extension of the "sing when you're winning" or "downhill skiers" attitude that this club has suffered from in the past. But until this is fixed we will not be a significant threat to the premiership. After we lost in the 2002 SF, a pledge was made by ND that we were going to get ruthless. In my mind we've gone backwards with a similar list and the same coach.

Dappa Dan as usual a top post. Can someone please explain to me why bell wasn't given a shot at williams. williams doesn't play as a crumbing forward but rather as a leading player, and bell is arguably the fastest player on our list, and could match him on the lead. completely befuddled me that he wasn't give a shot at all on him

boy do we need him back, after seeing the job that young and committed taggers like sewell and ladson can do, it just shows how little depth we have in this (and many other) areas. fwiw if godfrey EVER again plays as a head to head midfielder i will spew

people have derided yze in the past for bad attitude and poor body language. and if yze deserved a page 3 article at the end of last season about it, then currently aaron davey deserves a front page spread. never before have i seen a player mope around so much. on the byron thing, i dont think byron just lifts him, but the entire team, remember byron last year was unfit as all hell and was next to useless in the first 3 rounds and we subsequently lost. when he got his touch and fitness we were about 14-1 from memory, and when he got injured again he struggled. if he is ready next week then he sould be played, because maybe he can be the one to put a rocket up davey's ass

My thoughts on the first half on what is one of hte most one sided games i've ever seen buckley - this guy will be a player. put him in the back pocket and watch him develop ... fantastic disposal garland - kicked a couple, some nice thing, obviously a while off pickett - looked large. got plenty of the ball, will probably be ready next week PJ - a ruckman in the mould of white, without the ruckman bit. good disposal. Yze - no one can accuse him of not having a go. has got a bit of it, couple of nice things ferg - stock standard, gutsy as hell, holland - hasn't done very much sylvia - HE IS READY, his explosiveness is great, next week he'll be in the red and blue petterd - some nice signs, a few good thing, good pace newton - seemed a bit lazy in his disposal, no problem with getting it.

3AW released a breaking story that Bartram was carried off at training today with a knee injury. he was carried off on a stretcher. they did not state the nature or the extent. very limited story. just mentioned that yze may still play on monday. but given that none of bate, brown, bizz, wheatley, godfrey and CJ are playing this looks highly unlikely. lets just hope for the best. the kid a real good one, and has already suffered a horrendous injury in his short career

may still play given bartrams injury which was mentioned on 3AW 5 mins ago. that injury to the kid (poor guy) completely throws a spanner in the works

Bartram out of monday. 1) means godfrey will definately play as a tagger you would think 2) yze may still play ... godfrey, ward, brown etc would be too many turnover merchants still not cut and dried you would think

Streak over according to MMM. will line up for sandy today. be interesting to see how things pan out from here.

he was in the best 3 in our win against the saints in the EF last year. and to me the change in brad green's game was typified by his effort in that game in the last qtr on the souther stand punt road HFF, he put his body on the line when he needed to, and won/nullified the ball. Congratulations Brad, often you dont get the credits you deserve around here, but still to play 150 games for the club is a fantastic effort. Good luck on monday and hope the boys put in a big one for you.

F*** not much else to say really. hope to see some silver lining this weekend. not sure who'll provide it

i saw this and i didn't like but having said that, i in all honesty think that Dappa Dan is on the money (as usual) with his assessment of bate. there is huge upside to bate, and friday was probably in the bottom two of the 10-15 games he's played. he will be a very good player if not better

i would hate to risk him but if he is OK to go, use him at a permanent forward. he can be a great target. just think back to the game at the gabba last year where he was basically a pseudo CHF. he would have been very useful on friday, because one on one he'll win most times.

Whelan - was dearly missed Carroll - supply killed him Holland - loose, but OK Ward - actually kicked it Bruce - no more tagging Bell - lacks footy smarts Johnstone - another baker victim Davey - awful hothead display Green - largely invisible Yze - gold brown blue Miller - no presence provided Moloney - good first game McDonald - lacked midfield support Bate - not impressive * Neitz - made critical errors Robertson - no forward support McLean - injury free please! Jamar - f****** get invovled Johnson - not pre-season form Jones - nothing particularly special White - not our worst Bartram - match fitness gained * is it just me or did anyone else see bate 'hear footsteps' in about hte 3rd qtr on the members wing.

the tribunal have categorically said that gia's bump on kossi last year where they clashed heads would result in a suspension ... draw from that what you will FWIW i agree with you, but looking at it objectively, it doesn't look good

my bad champ i meant to say jamar

Good point WJ. it seemed somewhat over the top for so many rotations, with so many midfielders playing last night, there was a lot of fingerp pointing and the like going on with the huge number of rotations.

somewhat agree with these, only thing is that with PJ and jamar in the team we will be way too top heavy. why people are advocating bartram to be dropped i dont know, use him in a hard tag or down back on the small forward in the event that wheels doesn't play. for me: out mclean, wheels, yze in, rivers, bizzell, pickett our depth aint great currently.

very very good point. i couldn't understand for the life of me why that was the case. whelan is GONE. early in the season, damage to the head, time for a tribunal statement .. minimum 2.

Great post fan. in the EF last year, brock would have got 3 brownlow's, but bruce would have got 2 and probably green 1. if we get a few games again this year where this happens, we will be pushing it come the end of september.

my first thoughts exactly. good player and would like him at the dees, but not the 24th best in the league.

Brock will captain the MFC at one stage. That is a given. The question is when. IF brock plays 22 (+ finals) games this year to his capacity, he will be captain next year. IF he doesn't play more than 15 or so, irrespective of performance, Bruce may get it. People often forget that whilst Brock was sensational last year against st kilda in the EF, bruce was also very very good. This is a call that cannot be made now, but rather at the end of the season, with the added knowledge of the two player '07 performance. If i had to pick now, I would very marginally choose Brock simply because of what he did in the last qtr against the saints. that was a very special performance from a 20 yr old. I would like bruce to captain the club at one stage, but it just depends on this year's performances