mo64

What a pathetic response by TSFA. You throw something out there that has no veracity, clearly worded to denigrate the woman involved, and purport it as "extra information". Apart from Stuie, the other posters are merely commenting on your conjecture.

"The female involved did far more to provoke the situation then the media reported, much more." The problem with your post is that it's all chinese whispers and not a direct quote from anyone present. Where the owners present, or did they get a version of events from staff? The statement above reeks of the owners/staff trying apportion the blame, when they were actually part of the problem.

I really don't see the point of this post. For starters it's 4th hand info, and the only version that's contrary to what's been reported, which hasn't been refuted by Martin. The fact that the woman works in the media and told Martin that she would be calling the club is irrelevant. Your terminology of "sprouted" suggests that she instigated the episode. The only thing the owners should be concerend about is their liquor license rather than trying to character assassinate the woman who had the guts to speak up to an obnoxious drunk. The bar management were clearly gutless for continuing to serve Martin.

Geelong and Collingwood to rise. Crows and Dogs to fall. Cats - The acquisition of Dangerfield and Zac Smith will be huge. Collingwood - A full season of Darcy Moore to complement Cloke, plus Treloar, and the Pies will be more competitive against better teams. Crows - Loss of Dangerfield is massive. They don't have the midfield depth to cover his departure. Dogs - Like Port the previous year, caught a lot of teams by surprise. Have great young talent, but with greater scrutiny, I expect a hiccup this year.

Aside from the regular hosted weekday programs, a lot of their air time is filled with Croc Media productions, and quite often repeated. As part of the reshuffle, SEN will focus more on entertainment, and not solely sport.

As Billy said, the win/loss column at the end of the season is all that matters. The preseason hype of our draftees, based on brief highlights packages, is over the top.

What's the money like for ex AFL players? A bloke I know is playing a few games for Nightcliffe by invitation (flying in and out). The arrangement seems pretty casual. He said that the intensity levels of the games are pretty low, which probably explains why a lot of ex-AFL players go up there to have a kick.

Agree with everything bar your first comment. Andy Maher's diction for radio is awful. He sounds like he's yelling at times. And he'll asks questions that could be phrased in a quarter of the words, and has long winded intros for guests he's about to interview. Then they have to cut to the news, and the interviewee hardly gets to speak or is cut-off. I've stopped listening to the morning program since Tim Watson became a part-time host. Andrew Gaze is ok with any other host than Andy Maher. But he's too lightweight for morning radio. Looking forward to Francis Leach, who has a broad knowledge of topics, and a good voice for morning radio.

He wrote an autobiography, or was that after his 3rd year?

Heard an interview with his manager, who didn't dismiss the claim. Just stated that Watts was a contracted player and wanted to stay at Melbourne. Clubs aren't stupid enough to openly say that they're shopping a player around. Their response is along the lines of "we'll be looking to improve our list, yadda, yadda, yadda." 18th in the B&F despite playing 20 games suggests that the coaching panel didn't rate his performance this season.

I've questioned our trading and drafting, but by your summation, it's an absolute bust. The fact that no other club had any interest in Watts may have been a factor as to why we didn't trade him.

I like the look of Weideman also, but the type of player he is with a serious injury history, means that he'll physically take quite a while to develop into an AFL player. The only way we would have missed out on Parish or Oliver was if GC took one of them at 3. Clearly they didn't see either as a "must have" and traded the pick. I saw Brayshaw as the total package. The knock I have on Oliver is that his body of work at a high level is very brief. Taylor said that he didn't have him in the top 30 at the start of the year. He's been drafted at 4 due to his "upside", and I'm always cynical about those type of players. You have to question why he allowed himself to get into the physical shape he was, if being an AFL player was his goal.

I was really optimistic after the last 2 trade and draft periods, and totally understood the rationale. By and large, they've proven to be successful. This year, the players we traded for are unlikely to be game changers, and left me underwhelmed. The trading/upgrading of picks hasn't made a lot of sense. We've given up quite a bit, which most people choose to ignore. The only credible source of info we've had on the site was from the poster who told us about the Wagner pick before the event. He also said that we hadn't decided on Oliver or Parish until very late. That made the upgrading of picks seem superfluous. Trading next years pick in a supposedly strong draft or for a potential target in Prestia seems strange. Oliver and Weideman may well be great players, but both have knocks on them. The rest of the draftees are speculative at best.

It's a highlights package. Do you think that they'll show his turnovers? There's nothing in his highlights package that suggests he has any X factor. They show him as a neat player. I'll be happy to be proven wrong, and hope he has a long and distinguished career for us, but the hype for every player we draft in is ridiculous.

Ok, we've got another Luke Hodge on our hands. What a steal!!!

So why do clubs have players run a 3km time trial at the start of preseason training? Just for the fun of it I guess. Nothing like a nice stroll in the park. BTW, 10.45 is NOT a very quick time for a sportsman that requires elite endurance.

The scrapping of the sub rule and fewer interchanges will help Michie. He's an accumulator of possessions who needs time on the ground. He's well down the pecking order as an inside mid, but is one player that I'd class as legitimate depth. Love to see him dominate at Casey, and when given a chance in the seniors, play some good football. I prefer him to a few other depth players on our list.

All the kicks were neat dinky 15-30 metre short passes. Didn't see any running of the lines and long penetrating kicks, nor did I see any strong contested marks for a player of his size. He looks like a neat player, without any obvious standout qualities, hence the reason he's been selected as a rookie. Comparisons to Hodge were laughable.

Reminds me of Shannon Byrnes.

That's a massive gap, and probably ranked him in the bottom quarter. You don't develop AFL level endurance overnight or in one preseason.

And if Colin Sylvia has a good preseason under his belt, he'll also be part of our resurgence.

Without an engine, Weideman would definitely start at FF, and Hogan CHF. I doubt that he plays more than 5 games next year, given his injury history. Saints eased McCartin in this year, and I think we'll do the same.

I'd be happy if he kicked 25 goals, and 20 of them were from joe the goose handballs. Newton kicked 11 goals in 11 games from limited opportunities. Might be a better option in the forward line than Watts.

I was hoping to pick up Hardwick who went 2 picks earlier.

No, and I have no interest in comparing them. I'm not knocking Oliver, because in time I think he'll be a decent player. I did see one of the VFL games he played for Richmond, and thought he was impressive without doing a lot. Red hair aside, he reminded me of Gary Rohan. People have made a big deal of Oliver being a mid/forward based on his 20 goals in 14 games. He kicked 6 in the last game in an 80 point win, and all were shown in his highlights reel. In all seriousness, a C Grade amateur player could have kicked 6 against that opposition. Oliver has all the traits to be a good AFL player, but I think he needs time.