mo64

You've obviously never seen Valenti play. On what basis does he compare with Godfrey? As for Grimes, how do you "work hard" to get him back? Given his history of injuries, why not rest him for the full season, and allow him to make a slow recovery. As you say, he comes with big wraps on him, so why put the pressure on him to make a speedy recovery.

Do Sandy consult Melbourne prior to recruiting senior players to your list? Due to poor list management by Melbourne, there seemed to be an over-abundance of talls during the finals. Warnock, Bizzell, Ferguson and Garland were all playing in defence, yet Biddlecombe was the pick of the backline.

After a disappointing year, Neitz, White and Yze will all play their farewell games in round 22.

If he did have a legitimate excuse which was unavoidable, then you'd call the football manager, and the whole issue wouldn't be reported. He has obviously transgressed.

What absolute garbage. There are NO excuses for turning up over an hour late for any engagement. Any professional person would make allowances for any potential mishaps. As previously said, the guy is a peanut, who doesn't know the meaning of the word professionalism. mousey, do you reckon he misjudged the convey of cars making their way down to Casey Fields to watch the game?

Those of you in your early 20's, witnessed us playing in finals since birth. Some of us have endured decades without making the finals, let alone a premiership. If we believe that some happenings at the club, whether they be on-field or off-field, will lead us back into those barren lands, we are entitled to voice our concerns. Acceptance of mediocrity is a far greater crime, than voicing one's concerns.

I totally agree with what DB says about "speed of legs", but your ability to successfully implement a "speed of ball" game plan is dependent on the amount of pressure the opposition applies. Hence, you need players who are evasive enough to get out of trouble when pressure is applied. As seen in the Grand Final, it can go horribly wrong, because if you turn the ball over, your teammates are caught out of position.

The run and carry plan will only work if you have players with the evasiveness to get out of trouble, and the skill to deliver the ball under pressure. Port Adelaide have the likes of the Burgoynes, Pearce, Chad Cornes, Salopek and Boak. We have Davey. Prior to the last draft, we kept recruiting hard bodied, in and under mids. Now we've gone to a game style that doesn't suit our list. Go figure.

If that's the case, then the same applies to our opposition. In all our preseason games to date, the opposition have played in a more cohesive fashion, hence we've been belted. Don't use injuries as an excuse, because our performance against Geelong with a bunch of kids was no worse than our performance against North, with close to a full strength team. As for fitness levels, we've been in training for a month longer than Geelong and North Melbourne. I don't expect to turn things around come the season proper, but I won't be critical of DB. He's got alot of work to do.

Ah, so Nick Smith got the nickname 426 because they were the hours he was seen leaving the nightclubs!

Not just Newton and Frawley. Throw in Carroll, Miller, and Robertson (who plays tall) and a waning Neitz. Rivers aside, our talls don't instill me with any great confidence. Even if he's missing a leg through amputation, I'd still play Rivers in the side as a loose man in the backline. Franklin is our biggest danger, but he doesn't play a traditional key forward role. I'd start Bell on him, so naturally the Hawks would try to isolate Bell one-on-one deep in their forward line. This is why I'd have Rivers playing as a loose man deep in our backline.

Leoncelli? Please elaborate.

WTF. The bloke is a well paid footballer, not a socialite! If he's got a history of OP, you'd imagine that his ability to train hard is restricted. Going out on the squirt doesn't improve his fitness levels. A Steve Johnson penalty is in order. If he doesn't change his ways, show him the door at the end of the season. Otherwise he becomes a cancer at the club.

In order to beat the Hawks, we need to dominate the midfield, and stop the their run from defence. We won't stop their forwards. The first move is to put Grimes on the long term injury list, and promote Valenti. Your team is stacked with talls of average ability. Having said that, alot of our small and mids are lacking match practice. So injury concerns aside, here we go: Bartram Carroll Rivers Petterd Miller Bell Buckley Wheatley McLean Morton Bruce Robertson Davey Green Neitz White McDonald Jones P.Johnson, Moloney, Dunn, Valenti 7 man backline. Bell takes Franklin, with Rivers double-teaming. Miller takes Boyle. Carroll takes Roughhead. 5 man forwardline. Losing Bate and Sylvia really hurts. Robertson needs to lift his workrate. Move him out of the full-forwardline where he bludges.

I'm definitely not pro-AFL, but after our recent record of CEO appointments, maybe the AFL is trying to protect us from ourselves. I don't mind the AFL's input into the appointment. Whether you like it or not, the AFL is a successfully run organisation. We are not!

Didn't Daniher allow Clint Bizzell to start preseason late one year because he was taking acting classes in LA?

As grazman stated, it's a cultural problem at the club. How much respect do the players have for the leadership group, when 5 minutes after an edict is brought in, it's broken? If I was DB and CC, I wouldn't just give Sylvia a bake, I'd give the whole playing group a dressing down. They are obviously incapable of self management. The comments by Neitz are soft. Why is he disappointed for Colin?

I must confess Bobby that i've never watched a replay of that game, and from where I was sitting in the nosebleed seats behind the goals where Buckenara kicked that goal, the siren didn't register until after Stynes ran through the mark. Before that I was screaming for someone to pick up Dipper, which is what Stynes was trying to do. BTW, I still think Buckenara would have kicked it from 50m. He did finish with 5 for the day.

And I thought he had stress fractures to his back last year. It must be spreading.

It makes you laugh when 3 media outlets come out with different takes on the same story: The Australian - Down to 4 candidates, with McNamee the favourite. The Age - Down to 3 candidates. Footy Classified - Down to 2 candidates, with Stuart Fox the favourite. So much for the media having reliable sources.

Probably the best feeling I've had at a football game was the roar when we ran onto the ground in the elimination final against North Melbourne. The crowd was about 75k, and it seemed like 70k were barracking for us. Then we played 120 minutes of inspired football.

No use quibbling over the 15m penalty. It was legitimate. There was only a split second between when the siren went and Stynes running through the mark. And if there was anyone i'd want kicking for goal from 50m, it was Buckenara. We had 4 players miss from within 30 metres in the last quarter. That's where it was lost.

As Einstein had one of the great football brains, I'll take your word for it.

Balanced line-up with Miller, Robertson, Neitz and Newton in the forward line? We'll get slaughtered on the rebound.

Are we talking about AFL football here? Are you trying to tell me that someone who braces themselves before being bumped or tackled, is more susceptable to injury than someone who's relaxed or unsuspecting of the contact? As for the mindset, I think it's horses for courses. Some players need to be wound up to play at their best, whilst others need to be relaxed. You can't say that playing on adrenaline is detrimental to a players performance.