deanox

haha while your having a chat to mrs watts, see if young miss watts wants to come along to the games more often...

hey guys its a bit far out for me to confirm just let, but please pencil my name it, i had a ball last time and will do my best to make it again. i'll let you know a bit closer in, in case im away. cheers

hahaha that post made my day.

RE metal studs. In my days as a rugby player and AFL umpire I have come across both metal and plastic studs alot. In my experience, rugby players frown on plastic stops, which is very interesting considering you are more likely to be stepped on or rucked in rugby than in footy. I actually think the plastic stops are more likely to cause injury as they tend to 'burr' when players run along concrete etc getting sharp edges which slice other players if they step or slide across them. With metal stops, the stops stay blunt at all times, i have never seen metal stops get sharp, as they are rounded off and smoothed. I also cant understand why people would think that you would get worse bruises from metal stops than plastic stops. If someone steps on you with either you will get bruises. FWIW I wore moulded sole touch footy boots on Sunday not my metal stopped rugby boots, mostly because I didn't want to scare anyone with my stops!

i'd add a few and change a couple. first up the mfc. off-field present- a major sponsor on field- injury free preseason (everything else should follow, and that is the only thing out of our control) Green - a right foot (or simply his old left foot back) Robbo - better balance, although he might ask simply for a full recovery. Davey - his spark back. Jones - more space. or a super slick handpass. i think i'd prefer the later. Jared - a season. Cale - weight.

Fantastic effort from everyone in the team. The midfield dominated all day, and every demon went in harder than their opponent - thats what won it for us.

i would just like to confirm that i do not expect to contribute much at all, but will run around for a bit of fun haha

i thought that was the case, but was changed for next season?

instead of having blank space we should have a little 'your ad here' logo to get people thinking about potential exposure. maybe it would look tacky, but it could get the message across...

the reason why they havnt been named is because these tests were positive out of competition, and thus, according to both the afl and the wada policy, were not tests which should result in suspension or ban. the reason ben cousins was deregistered was as much to do with drugs as it was to do with bringing the game into disrepute. his involvement with certain people, with the law and his notorious public profile combined with his actions in the US etc resulted in the afl saying 'you cant play until you can get yourself right'.

excuse my ignorance, but does that mean they will give whatever odds you want for the dees?

RE match day use, these drugs are illegal on match day, always have been and any player who tested positive on match day would have been suspended. the 3 strikes policy only applies to these drugs when testing positive out of competition, as they are not prescribed illegal when out of competition by WADA (although they are according to australian law). i think the issue re drug use is that, if used only on match days as a psych up, aggressive increasing drug it would be an issue. but abuse drugs like speed, amphets or ice on a regular basis (ie an addiction) would not increase an athletes performance. one example is it would prevent sleep, disabling recovery. it prevents normal people to function, let alone people to function as elite sportsmen. habitual use out of competition would only hamper training, preparation and recovery. i am not saying that i condone this behaviour but thought that needed to be said.

hopefully west will teach both moloney and jones the art of the quick handball. it could really take jones' game to another level, because atm he is always looking to personally carry the ball out of the contest. it would also allow moloney to play inside to greater effect, rather than just crash and bash and try and kick long.

thats a very long list of players. thats almost 3 rounds of draft picks hoping for a second chance.

it doesnt look to me like watts is the type to line players up and clean em up. if thats what you mean by physical or tought then maybe he doesnt have those things. but it doesnt look like he will shirk a contest, he can use his pace and agility to evade instead of needing to crunch and has shown he is more than happy, and able, to take big marks in physically contested situations like packs. why clean someone up if you can pick the ball up and step around them?

RIP Tiger. Thoughts are with your family.

let me start by saying that i havnt played a game of footy since the under 9's and aren't exactly at peak fitness lol rollo pencil me in somewhere and i will confirm that date as soon as possible but i think im sitting at around 80% at the moment.

RE picking up new support in the casey area. realistically if we are there for 5 years, the increase in support in that area will be very limited. if we are there for 30 years, going to schools, local footy clubs etc we will be able to forge strong links with the area. you need to work on 2-3 generations so that the impact is felt over a large cross section, then you will see the increase in support. turning up to a school once, might persuade a mind for a few weeks, or even a year, but not for long term. once we get those people interested, and get their short term support, it will be repeat visits and clinics etc that strengthen that bond. fwiw when i was young (6-10) footy players would come to schools or footy clinics etc, and most of the time i would be dissapointed that none of the players were mfc players (only ever 2-3 players at a time). but that didnt make me want to change to the other teams.

why couldnt it be tom harley? geelong took a pretty hard stand with steven johnson and the drinking.

fantastic. i thought it has been going that way for a while, it is good to hear something a bit more specific, if not concrete.

wait a sec. are you indicating that tom actually takes notice of what goes on on a footy forum? do you know with who? or do you know who the possibles are?

the reason i don't favour green or brue, is because other than maybe captaining next year, i wouldnt want them to be captaining afterwards. and i dont believe in making someone a captain for one year, then taking it off them. if you make green captain, he is captain til retirement or til he voluntarily gives it up (ie injuries etc). thats why i think mcdonald is the better choice, as it allows us to hand it on to the young brigade (read mclean) at the end of next year).

re clarkes fitness, i understand the concern, how krejza was bowling well, and there was probably no need for him to bowl. i am surprised white didnt get another go either, i thought he bowled alright day one, but probably for the same reason clarke didnt. am wondering if clarke in slip could have been as much about getting hayden a rest from concentrating as it was for clarkes injury, but probably not. RE white, i think his selection could well help us win this because we bat down to 8. we really need to score as close to 600 as possible (300-350 today would put us around 500, but i think we want to bat into day 4 if we can and post a lead of about 150-200) so that we can then try and bowl them out without having to worry about needing 3 sessions to make the runs on the last day. we don't want to have to bat a second time, unless we are only chasing 50 or so, and even then we probably dont want to be doing that because time will be an issue.

personally i see only 2 options. junior (for one year) or mclean. i think junior only has one year left, and that is one of the reasons he is a more preferable option to bruce/green, because i think the club will want to get a young bloke to captain the side asap. both mclean and junior lead by example on and off the field, so i think both are good choices.

if he doesnt barrack for melbourne, i cant imagine he would be keen to come to us. he is a 17 year old for godsake and would have his team. however, as a good quality player, he would realise he has no choice in where he goes, his coaches, and hopefully his family would be telling him that as well. he will be happy to play for whoever drafts him. at this stage, he just wants to play afl.