deanox

as i said, 59 is above average across the country. yes i know hayliebury have a great record academically, but they also have a good record on the sporting field and as far as im aware provide scholarships based on sporting performance also. why kick a kid who performed slightly above average academically and also happens to be one of the best young footballers in the country? not everyone can excel at everything can they? you'll be one of those moron parents who expect their kids to get 90's and simply doesnt understand what that means.

perhaps you never knew the system well at all? 59 means he is in the top 41% of all students completing the VCE this year. It places him in the slightly above average category for academic results, which is a pretty decent result for a young bloke who was also deemed the best under 18 footballer in the country in the same year. Only 5% of all students get 95 as an ENTER score...

at the time i actually hoped he would go. that sounds horrible, i loved having robbo around, and loved watching him play, but it was pretty obvious we weren't going to win a flag and i thought that we had held onto white and yze both far too long. it was a chance for us to get some really good draft picks which we didnt take, for good or worse. i am not disappointed we didnt trade him; he is melbourne through and through, and i am happy it ended that way, but if he was at the dogs, hall might not be, it might be a very different football world. for a terrible hypothetical hindsight exercise, does anyone know exactly which year it was and who the doggies drafted with what picks?

hopefully a few less mfc injuries this year will mean that they have a full complement to select from.

wait a sec... jackovich kicked 208 goals in 54 games, an average of 3.85 goals per game. robbo kicked nearly exactly double the ammount of goals (417) in 223 games. Im not taking anything away from robbo here, he did it consistently over the course of 223 games not just a few seasons ala jacko, but jackos output was on average, double that of robbos on the scoreboard. also, this is a perfect example of the 'player of a bygone era' discussion of above. in 1991/92 not many forwards applied defensive pressure. the game was about attack across the ground. in 2009/10 it is a requirement of all players to attack and defend. it is a requirement that players put in the 1%'s to keep the ball up forward, to chase their man etc. 18 years on it is a different game.

spot on nasher, and even worse is that im embarrassed to be embarrassed by him. considering where he sits on our all time goals/games lists etc and the long service he has given the club, it is sad that right up til the end he couldnt get that 5% out of himself that would have made the difference. if only he had of found a way to play a bit more for the team in the past couple of years he would've got to go round again imo. its a pity because i think back to those years where he held down CHF as an undersized player kicking lots of goals. If we had another KP forward and he was left to roam the flanks and do the spectacular he may have been even more decorated/dangerous.

long sleeves or short sleeves anyday. tshirt? what a joke. im for the long sleeves myself...

very strange situation to have, given that clubs some clubs passed in the later rouns of the ND meaning they passed up the opportunity to pick up a few of the players. perhaps they decide they want to do more research?

out of interest, how can players who didnt get picked up in the ND get picked in the PSD ie dylan grimes? i thought PSD was only for players who had already been afl lsited?

fantastic! and yes 6cm is a massive height advantage. would you want a 192cm defender to be playing on a 198cm ruckman/forward when it came to one on one marking or would you want someone taller? if you've ever tried marking over head against some 6cm taller than yourself you would realise it is a significant advantage, unless you have exceptionally long arm reach yourself...

thats pretty good for mine. i like the strauss idea on bate. it would be an interesting way to play on bate, because he roams around, giving hima big advantage over most tall backs, and the rebounding would hurt bate a bit if he tires out, a lot of his good work comes from running hard in offence. if we ever had a match up like that on bate however, i would love to see bate pushed deep where his body size and strength should absolutely dominate. i realise he isnt a big overhead pack mark, but he has good hands out front and very good body strength and would give strauss a bath if stationary.

free marketing can come in many ways. if we wanted to pay a player 100K less to fit them in the cap we could always knock 100k off a sponsorship deal they were already offering. the numbers are not great enough to attract suspicion, not when sponsorships are 7 figure sums. similarly, if the company is owned/operating by a club supporter ie visy and prat, the club doesnt care about the exposure as it is happy to write it off on tax as sponsorship and consider it a donation. the rich will get their players, trust me. nothing good can come from it, except for the players pay packets. we might be better off watching the vfl.

i wonder why we dont need permission for newton and messen given that they have been delisted? even if they are contracted.

http://www.afl.com.au/tabid/208/default.aspx?newsid=87451 burgos phatom draft has him at 24, but at pick 17 he says "...Eastern Ranges' Jordan Gysberts and Geelong Falcon Callum Bartlett have also been strongly touted at this pick." this phantom draft http://theanimalenclosure.com/forums/showthread.php?p=664138 has gysberts at 25, but indicates he could go anywhere from 10 to 30. he also suggests that melbourne pick talls with pick 11 which we stated we don't rate. therefore perhaps we simply picked best available? Pick 25 - North Melbourne - Jordan Gysberts – 189cm – 81kgs – Eastern Rangers (VM) Gysberts is a modern day midfielder, a good height and loves to kick a goal. Gysberts is a AIS graduate which always helps. North Melbourne doesn’t have any major needs, which makes me think they will go best available for the majority of the draft. Gysberts could go anywhere from pick 10 to pick 30, and should be ready to play round 1. Gysberts is also very consistent, and you will always get a solid effort from him. Why? You can never have enough classy mids and Gysberts is best available. Others: Sam Reid, Callum Bartlett and Allen Christensen on this sportal thread: http://forum.sportal.com.au/yaf_postst6464...ntom-Draft.aspx 2 supporters put him at pick 12 and pick 15 respectively. perhaps you only read one or two phantom drafts, and forgot about players after the top 10 or so? perhaps you were focused on talls, so didnt consider the chance we'd pick a genuine mid at pick 11 so subconsciously didnt study them as much? who knows, but he was around, rated highly and they have followed him for a while. despite what you have said.

thankyou for that insight. it is interesting because i was under the impression he was a bit of a loner (not a loser just someone who wasnt the popular laughing joking kind). on the field he doesn't seem to have that camaraderie with the other players...

im not trying to say newton is a fantastic footballer. i just dont think you should pay him out for 'commitment to training' based on his muscle definition. cheers nasher for pointing that out. if anyone does have info RE newtons track or gym efforts i'd be interested to hear it. is he training with the group atm?

jeff white played afl footy for over a decade but never got any upper body definition... im not sure how much definition james mcdonald or aaron davey have, though i realise these players are shorter that doesnt mean they cannot get muscle definition based on height. some people do not develop physically no matter what they do. all i am saying is please comment on what you know. if you know for a fact he doesnt put in on the training track or in the gym, tell us how you know that, but citing his physical appearance doesnt cover it.

interesting comment too because when i heard them call gysberts my thoughts were that they were trying to pick a player who would be a loack to get the 100 games up. there were a couple of players who perhaps were more flashy or looked to do the nice stuff and thus caught the eye and you think 'this player has something special' but then there was gysberts who you think will do a good solid job week in week out, always above par always on the money without being the superstar of the comp. maybe they feel that he was more likely to be a long term player than some of the others, even if some of the others have a better upside if they come off? sometimes the sure bet is the winning bet. but fwiw there doesnt seem to be anything wrong with his form or stats or performances except that people didnt really talk about him that much around here...

unfortunately the AFLPA realistically looks after one thing only, and that is making the most money, and best conditions for its players. there is only so much legitimate money around (salary cap), and even though the salary cap increases, the clubs dont seem to have any extra money to spend (ie a lot of clubs seem to be struggling). if free agency comes in, we will see 5-10 'visy' deals each year not just the occasional one. clubs wont ask for massive amounts of cash for major sponsorhips, they will ask companies to put a star on their payrole as a marketing officer. maybe a young melbourne player interested in a post footy career in IT gets a nice gig with Kaspersky? i am sure they will find lots of ways around it. If free agency comes into play, players will need to agree not to accept money from outside sources unless its signed off by the afl. and for the afl to sign it off it will have to be media related, or non-sponsor related marketing. unfortunately there is will be no other way to control the market. the salary cap will not work.

very surprised to see how optimistic some of us are. not that its a bad thing, i suppose i expect us to win 6-9 games as well...

im not sure if you are on the mfc coaching staff, but have you ever seen him at a gym session? and i raise you all of those things and ask who on the melbourne list can: Take a grab in a pack, unless on top of one. Beat an opponent one-on-one. ??? i dont think he actually has a bad marking ability. but i cannot remember very many occasions in the handful of games he has played for the mfc when the ball has been delivered out in front, or to his advantage, ie on his side of the contest. most of the time the ball is above his head, and not many players take marks like that with a defender punching. im not saying he is great. im not even saying he will make the grade as afl standard. but i think you are being overly harsh on a player who has improved, and imo has shown that he does have some level of ability and could be a handy player. that being said, if he is delisted i will not be annoyed, but i don't think he deserves a trash talking, or a bagging etc like he gets on here. in 21 games he has kicked 29 goals 24. average of 4.4 marks and 2.3 tackles. not a fantastic return, but it could be far worse. he might not be the player who kicks 5-6 a game, but he may be a competitive tall forward option who kicks 2 a game with good delivery. either way, but no need to pay him out.

facial recognition technology is fantastic. the cameras that feed into the security office can get clear photos of anyone in the ground. so they can do it that way if they want, but it is probably expensive to utilise for something minor. that being said, if he is banned from attending afl games at any of those venues and is caught there he could be arrested and fined for trespassing on private property. similarly if there is a court order saying as part of his sentence he cannot go to the footy then if caught he is in violation of a court order and can be fined/jailed. there are more ways to enforce it than to actively police it, however if someone in this situation is caught the consequences can be tough, if the courts so desire.

but you don't think its worth punting on?

so keyser your saying that the odds are not in favour of schwartz becoming a coach at the dees?

the reason why cale has been given those jobs was very obvious. he played a very naturally attacking game early and ran forward at every opportunity looking to hurt the opposition. his natural instinct was to attack (fantastic) but the defensive side of his game needed some work. Cale was given 'jobs' because the coaching staff wanted to develop within him a responsibility going the other way. He needed to learn a bit more about accountability. In the future this will not be at expense to his natural game, but will complement it, giving him a better set of skills. Hopefully next year we will see him given more freedom on a wing to attack, knowing that he will also be accountable the other way.