SaberFang

And JKH is cousins with Patton!?!? I hope this has been brought to Roosy's attention!!! JKH has leadership group written all over him. What a well spoken young man, like him a lot!

If Frawley can't see how much potential and promise our team has with this list, and just wants to buy himself a premiership, he'll live to regret it. Of all the teams in the bottom 8, Melbourne's has by far the most potential. And with the salary cap changes to the veterans allowance beginning in 2015, Hawthorn and Geelong will have some massive problems with retention of their senior list. He'd be very shortsighted indeed.

Really tired of the mind games from someone who was nominated a leader of the club. Setting a terrible example now that we're making such tangible progress under Roos, to constantly say he's waiting to see what progress we make before he recommits. The progress is bloody obvious, so are you part of this or not Chip? What lousy leadership. No one player is bigger than the club but he certainly seems to think so. Crossy is getting paid less and is my idea of a true leader for our young players.

Enough with the Fremantle comeback nonsense please! It's bad enough reading all the posts about players actually on our list going there, let alone retirees.

Seems increasingly clear to me Roos will be doing a top to bottom evaluation of our list and each player at the end of the season (during finals most likely) to determine A. Which players need to be kept and for how long B. How much $ each player deserves based on performance C. Who they're planning to recruit and making sure they have enough money left in the kitty to land a big fish or two Also likely they needed to wait to see the equalization measures (salary cap increase, having to pay 100%), because they all have a large bearing on player payments if they have big recruitment plans in motion. Probably just making it easier on themselves by going through the whole process at the same time, rather than shortsightedly doing it throughout the season and not leaving themselves enough money to recruit whoever they're (likely already) targeting.

Amazing what a solid game plan, good drafting and a renowned coach can do for a club.

Obviously Jesse needs to be under strict instructions to inform the medicos at the first sign of pain though. We can't risk another hiccup because it's well and truly season ending.

Even with two months of running and training, that places him at Casey around round 18, and he could potentially play 2 or 3 games for the MFC at the end of the season. Better than nothing. Would also help him get past a mental barrier he's been dealing with for two years now in finally getting his AFL debut. I think that's an important consideration heading into a 5 month break.

Forcing teams to pay the full cap kind of rewards mediocrity, does it not? Unless teams can devise a "bonus" system for top performers as part of reaching the total cap? Say, best three performers every round, as voted by coaches, get a $10k bonus.

Don't forget Trengove.

He can do some pretty amazing spoils, but his kicking leaves a lot to be desired. Let's just remember how Roos has transformed Pedo in half a season and give him time to transform Grimes. Everyone on the list deserves a chance under his tenure before we turf them aside.

Taylor Walker returning to his best form after only a few weeks. Get Bernie in his ear please!

Elliott is definitely a freakish player but so is Howe. His goalkicking though, unlike Elliott, leaves a little to be desired.

Can't imagine what gives that impression!

Ten are supposedly interested, but they were infamously pulled out of the last rights negotiation by Lachlan Murdoch so a) Foxtel got more exclusivity to games and b) to make a failed bid on the NRL rights. Their share price has spiraled down the toilet ever since. It's possible if the rumors are true about Fox sabotaging Ten to buy them out, they intend to outbid Seven as a combined force and monopolize the entire coverage of the league however they feel like. Hard to explain their bizarre decision making otherwise!

Another moronic decision, what's the point of rewarding players that pulverize an opposition composed entirely of witches hats? Says nothing about a player's actual talent. Comparatively, JKH turned on a blinder against Adelaide in Adelaide, and Salem was superb in a close loss to the impenetrable ladder leaders. Those are the games where genuine talent shines through, when youth stand up and defy the odds against better teams. Constantly nominating players that, surprise surprise, play well against shithouse opponents is like giving someone a Quill Award because their only competition in the category is Damien Barrett. Stupid, pathetic, useless, irrelevant, cursed, pointless award anyway! /rant over

I reckon the emblem could work in unison with a team logo. The current emblem can remain for all corporate or business matters, while a new more Demon-centric logo can be used for the team itself on merchandise and guernseys.

There was an interesting analysis on the Sunday Footy Show where they gushed over Roos' spectacular ability to adjust his gameplan to suit the needs of the opponent. We did what very few other teams could against Port; we restricted their run. It's all about the gameplan and Roos. Very few coaching groups have the level of knowledge that PR's team do, and the way it's being implemented is fairly spectacular. I'm not sure a lot of other teams have the same resources or the depth of knowledge to tinker with their gameplan every week to suit the needs of their opponent. I never thought we'd be in a situation after only ten games where any game for the second half of the year was winnable, even with only 3 wins to our name. But make no mistake, we can pinch any game and knock over any opponent from here on, and the players believe it too.

Frawley definitely goes back to defence if he re-signs.

Having a third key forward to join Dawes & Hogan would be huge because you'd be able to rotate all three on the interchange and keep energy levels high. It's even more fantastic with the emergence of Pederson, development of JKH and the accuracy of Watts rounding out the three KPFs.

Well we almost beat the team on top of the ladder. I don't think anyone thought we'd have the lead with 10 minutes to go, so I'd say we can win any game from here on. After tonight I'd almost pencil in West Coast at Patersons as a certainty. Add that to GWS, Bulldogs, Bombers and Lions and we'll finish the year quite nicely. Realistically could win one of our North games, Geelong if they're still in poor form, and maybe even Hawthorn if they're still injury ravaged. There's definitely potential in there for an upset!

I think the fact our progress is so tangible and promising, while the likes of Geelong and Hawthorn suddenly seem shaky (moreso the former), will get Chip over the line to stay with us (unless he's thinking of moving interstate). Our list, right now, shows more potential than any other Victorian team outside the top 8. Carlton, Richmond, Saints, Bulldogs and Essendon all look thoroughly average or downright awful this year, and all 5 have glaring KPP shortages. Three are starting a rebuild this year or next, one is underperforming, and the Bombers have an uncertain future. As for the successful Victorian teams in the top 8, Geelong and Hawthorn have aging lists, and I don't think he'd go to North or Collingwood. In other positive news, Victorian players in other states trying to get home will be reaching a similar conclusion when weighing up their options; we're the most attractive destination in the bottom 8.

Next year for sure! Hopefully we'll hit that 40,000 once PJ sends out another letter!

Nope, I'd guess he was a close second the week we beat Adelaide, but Langdon played a magnificent game that week as well.

Definitely makes you think about wasted opportunities, but we had to endure a few knocks before settling into the new game plan. Wasn't going to happen overnight. But if we keep improving as we are, and the majority of teams in the league continue to play thoroughly average footy next year, we'll have no issues pushing for finals. There are far less high intensity, highly skilled teams in the league than everyone rated at the start of the year.