deanox

cheers for the reply. you can be sure there will be hankook tyres all round at my place as they get replaced over the next 3 years. thanks again.

much better than many other antivirus programs i have used. runs quietly in the background, you dont even notice it most of the time. doesnt take much in the way of system resources to load either, when compared with other software out there.

its not a negative attitude, its a realistic attitude. while it WOULD have been a good idea, if it was followed up prior to the signing, no company in there right mind would decided to fork out extra money for a sponsorship that already exists, that they are getting advertising from, just because they benefit. its like asking nike to pay you to wear their shoes after you purchased a new pair.

in the current climate, and given that we already have hankook on our jumpers or website or whatever, i cant imagine other companies forking out money for exposure that they are getting regardless. hankook1, can you recommend the best way for us to support L.D. wholesale tyres, rather than the hankook brand only?

if anyone is having any problems with getting an update, hit control-f5 and it will do a hard refresh.

Think Jamaican upbeats with a brass section. Originally started off not too much faster than that, has now morphed into ska-punk with distorted guitars playing on the up beat, brass sections doing most of the lead, and normally very fast tempo. download 'all my best friends are metalheads' by 'less than jake' if you want a perfect example of skapunk. or anything by strange tenants if you want some older school stuff. you might have to buy those records though. if you want some good stuff, also try the aquabats, they are lots of fun.

Dappa I think you're right. Bell is not going to be of our top 15 players. but he is going to be in and around our 16-30th for the next few years. Given that it is rare for you to have your best 22 on the park it is likely that he will play 10-15 games every year and probably finish his career as a servicable 150 game player. much like ward, or walsh before him, he will be a second string pocket/flanker who has some strengths, some flaws (that clearly stop im from being in the best), will play some great games, while other times his weaknesses will be exposed and we will feel like he caused us to lose. He is our depth. But at the moment he plays while the kids are developing. While everyone knows he does have some flaws (some major) he does have some upside, and if he ever manages to overcome his lack of awareness (not likely) he will be a much better player. As for his decision making, I feel sorry for him, because many players are much maligned for grabbing the ball and bombing it long to no one. Bell seems to fall victim of getting the ball, running then realising that no one up ahead is either actually in the forward line, or moving for him, and he takes to long to find an option. Would like to see him kick long to contests occasionally if nothing presents straight away.

while it would be great if joe gutnick was able to support the club financially, i hope we do not ask. he has already contributed more personally than anyone else. if he decides to dig in again i hope we suggest he does it a bit different: -gets his company to sponsor the club, rather than just donating. -uses his contacts to help organise a large sponsorship from another company -if he insists on putting his own money in, we should ask him to become a player sponsor or join one of the coterie groups, rather than just donate money.

so just the usual then jaded?

addressing this question for key position forwards is different than considering the whole forward line. imo robertson is on his last legs if he makes it back from injury. he is getting on, and he is never going to be a genuine CHF or FF. Watts may take one of those roles in the future if he comes on as expected. meanwhile: bate - not a key forward. good player who will kick goals and be damaging around the forward line but is a 3rd tall, and is not the most damaging player below his knees, especially in slippery conditions. newton - i dont rate him to become the next afl anything. however. i dont thing he does a bad job, just doesn't dominate. tries what i think is his best, but doesn't necessarily position himself for the right lead or mark. his problem or coaching problem? i am still not convinced either way. is newton going to be the answer? no. could newton become a solid forward target for 10 years? i believe so with persistence, coaching and guidance (provided that he is following some path set by the caching staff). miller - marks to far from goal to be effective, but that seems to be coaching instructions. - thought he couldn't kick. still think he cant kick., but he proved me wrong for one game last year where he dobbed a few from outside 50. if he can learn to kick 50 meters, plus learn how to kick goals from there (even if its run around ala franklin), miller could be damaging. otherwise his marking play up the ground is just ok. do we have any other real options for tall forward?

pretty fair, except i though that bell and morton got a bit of it. typical from each in someways, in that bell still struggled with awareness issues, but looked good in other situations. bate will never play well in those conditions because he is poor below his knees. moloney went in hard a few times too.

i agree aj about the weather, it turned terrible, there was only one side that could win the game, the way it was blowing in the last. i am actually surprised they scored that much because of how wet it was, but i suppose it was pretty easy to get down there. some of my observations (missed 15-20 minutes of the first quarter, and left half way into the last): -dogs got a great run from the umps early. -dogs had better hands (marking and below feet) than us in the 2nd quarter, we did adapt quickly though. -we struggle a bit up forward with our talls, however it wasnt a day for tall footballers. -newton, to me, looked to harrass and chase where he could, however lack of agility sometimes makes his efforts look poor. gave a couple of, and i saw him kick at least one, which was strange. he got the ball straight in front 30 metres out and instead of kicking a drop punt turned sideways and snapped it... he needs to learn more about when and where to lead to, and i wonder if he is under instructions to play as the 'home' forward' while bate and miller 'roam' a bit? -it appeared to me that dunn played taller today than usual. ie he was often hitting up and leading and marking rather than chasing and tagging a player. wasn't a good day for it, and im not sure who he was playing on (so i might be wrong) but slightly different style of game that what i am used to from him. -petterd was again injured due to courage, he threw himself inbetween the ball and a dogs player and got a corky, i am surprised he got up that quick to be honest. -neither messen or spencer impressed me today, i was watching but didnt see either standout. neither did the dogs ruckmen and i am assuming this was largely because of the weather. i did notice messen throw his body around a couple of times in the forward pocket to good effect.

i was quite impressed with mcdonalds bowling actually. i thought he contributed to us getting wickets by keeping the pressure so tight at one end (ie about 25 overs for 30 odd runs). he kept things tight and on the spot, wobbled them around just a little to make him hard to play which built the pressure nicely. i am not saying he will be the first choice for that 4th bowling spot normally, but i imagine that if we had a spinner playing today he would have leaked runs like a sieve (ie kreja or hauritz). maybe mcgain is different, but he seems to be a 'wicket taker' not a tight bowler. thats where warne was different in that he could do both. including the spinner could increase our wicket taking ability, but it could also diminish our ability to tie down the batsmen, releasing some of the pressure on them.

i think the simply option is that players cannot work for an extra curricular company while on an afl list. there should be approved exemptions ie working for the media, completing an apprenticeship etc perhaps the players images etc should be transfered to the clubs while they are on a list, and any requests for use of image, promotion etc must go through the afl which will determine a fair amount for the contract based on who the player is etc? wont work but if someone wants to get real there are other options.

I think that if they do a two division or conference style set up in the future, then the conferences should be redivided by random chance each season before the draw. draw 10 names out of a hat for one div and the left over teams in the other, make a fixture, then next year do it all over again.

i'll be there...

i disagree with any suggestion the demon needs a white outline. while it may look good in a computer generated image, or 'up close' in a photo, i think it will just blur the lines when the jumper is worn at full motion.

my mistake, wondering why its not stickied alongside the Ballarat demons?

the colours (whether clash or otherwise) should be dark blue and blood red. and i'd even like to see our normal strip return to the smaller red yolk (with more red on the back) rather than the current large 'v'. obviously that would be tough against carlton, but we have to wear the clash against carlton anyway. and more blue on the front and red on the back would limit the clash with essendon, st kilda and freo to some extent.

i heard it has a great personality...

in some ways its not even the belting that is a problem, its when the players seem to give up and don't try. no matter what the score says, no matter where you are on the ladder, i expect all players to run as hard as they can, tackle as hard as they can and always try their best. no one should ever take a short step, and no one should ever shirk a contest. poor skills, poor gameplan, poor what ever is not as big a problem as lack of heart and guts. given that we seem to be assembling a team of talented players with good kicking skills etc the thing i want to see most is effort and commitment to their team mates. the skills will be honed with experience and the smarts with maturity. but if you dont play for the jumper and for each toher now, you wont suddenly start to do it in 5 years when your skills are good enough.

i like the idea of allowing a charity such as the red cross to utilise our sponsorship space on the jumpers up until the point where we come to terms with a suitable sponsor. as long as it doesnt cost us anything.

is valenti not still on the rookie list?

sorry about the no show guys, g/fs bday so are heading away for the w/e. and rollo, i'm sure its not the wobbly punts that the carlton boys would be scared of, but at least i make them earn it when its on the ground fwiw i've got myself a sherrin and have been having the odd kick, slowly getting better, so if there is another game any time soon i'll be there with bells on if i've got the time off.

that might be an indicator but it is certainly not definitive nor is it the only criteria. out of the names you listed i agree with you that they are all the next step down (or lower), neitz comes close but almost due to quantity not quality, but that sounds like a terrible thing to say about him. he was a fine footballer, a supurb CHB, and later a solid forward. but he never reached the absolute elite level heights as a forward, and did not stay back long enough. robertson isnt up there for me. good serviceable footballer. can be exciting, can kick a bag, but the difference between his best and worst has been too much, and he rarely (imo) has been the player to change a match. white could've been but for three reasons. the centre circle rule cruelled him and limited his effectiveness. he was never damaging enough when drifting up forward or effective enough when drifting back (perhaps because of his lack of physicality). and thirdly because imo ruckmen just aren't that important. however it should be noted that our good years also coincided with his good years. yze; i'm not sure if we need to again discuss why he isnt at those heights. for a period he was close to elite. his kicking off the half back was sublime, but he never handballed, even if it was a better option. mcdonald falls into a similar category as neitz imo. woewodin. well he won a brownloe and i wont take that away from him. but one swallow doesnt make a summer. solid career with a standout season being fed by a dominant ruckman. doesn't put him in robbie flowers category. johnstone. need we say more? davey is imo no where near elite. he does some nice things. he can run really fast and kick a goal occasionally. that doesnt make him elite, no matter how exciting he is to watch. bruce. is definitely the closest we have now. imo the last couple of years have been a let down for him because he has shown he can do it but has let himself down with disposal. had his kicking been at the same standard the last 3 years as it had been previously he would almost be in that category. that being said, there are definitely some players who i believe dont deserve to be called elite even though they have made AA teams. and similarly there are probably some who dont make the cut.