dieter

And he charged me $80. Think I got dudded?

I sympathize with him as well. In the same way that I sympathize with Dawes, McKenzie, Mat Jones, Garland, Tapscott, Strauss, Couch, Magnar, Blease, Michie, Bate, Bennell and all the others who weren't quite good enough. But, there comes a time when Melbourne needs players to be more than second rate stop gaps. Or, list fillers, or, just simply spuds...

Demon-lite my fat foot.It is possible to express an opinion. I watched him dither and dally at Melbourne, I watched him get lost and confused at Box Hill. A spud, ladies and gentlemen, is a spud.

My physio is a trainer at Box Hill. I saw him recently, about a month ago, I said, Poor Fitzy is a spud. He said, Fitzy is a spud.

I wish the best to each of them. I still recall the passion showed by Dawes in the last VFl game against Box Hill where he more or less coached the team from the boundary. He is a quality humanoid. I really respect Michie. I recall how [censored] off he was when sitting on the outer during the 24th man vacuum. The man can play. I would have liked him to be retained. Newton's time with us was beset by injuries. I wish himm well. The man can play.

His disposal looks - well, from the highlights package - elite. I like the look of this lad.

nor to mention that way too long post 1964 descent

Pray Tell, what is 'the other rumour' I'm desperately awaiting enlightenment, almost as much as I crave winning a lottery or a date with Sophia Loren.

17 days, minutes or hours....

Fair enough. But, when the opposition has the ascendancy it usually comes from the midfield. To repulse and play coordinated football when your opposition is making mince meat of you - as happened when we played St Kilda, Bulldogs, and Sydney - it's hard to blame two outside, running forwards...

Most forwards do when the ball is at the other fricking end of the ground.

Isn't NHL a town on the way to and from Adelaide?

I heard a nasty rumor that Ron Barassi is going to the Blues. Woe is we...

isn't that a virus?

What we need is to be able to replace the injured and the non-performers with guys who perform and take ownership. I spoke to a Bulldog man early in the year telling him how impressive I found the style of play of his team. He shook his head and said, Too many injuries, we're like a pigeon, flucked. Well, there you go. The Demon problem for years is that every time we needed to make a change, in came M.Jones, Mckenzie,Grimes, post-injuryTrengove, Michie, Maxwell Newton, Spencer Street, etc etc, or, another dude from the merry go round of duds.

The 'fat' Flying Dutchaman... I am the fat arthritically crippled member of the master race. Played as a 6 ft ruckman for Sunshine Under 16's. Slaughtered Aaron Sandilands in a Final once. In my dreams. But did kick 2 Majors...

I watched him at Box Hill in the last Casey home and away: he was sensational. Casey might have won the flag had he not been surgeonized.... I'm glad he's been retained. He isn't a great player but he gives 100%, all of the time. Go Pedders

It was too cold for the western suburbs boys today in Ballaraty. This would not have happened under Clarkson. For a while I was going to suggest that we chase Beveridge to coach us back to glory, well, he is a long lost Northey trooper but after this DISGRACEFUL EFFORT I think we're better sticking with the reffos from Essendon. Anyway, no self respecting humanoid should ever go near Ballaratty anyway and now that the by-pass is active there's no need whatsoever. All of this is Teddy Written in jest, and reminds me that the great man himself once delivered a Budgie to my house in Albion after I'd correctly guessed the correct landing time of a flight from Sydney. That Budgie is the last thing I've ever won.

This is a very (un)interesting topic, I read about the need for depth, etc etc. The bottom line is that this year time and time again the Bulldogs were decimated by injuries. Yet time and time again they replaced the injured players and kept on winning playing what has turned out to be a Premiership brand of AFL football. What most intelligent coaches from the other 17 clubs should be working on is how they can replicate the formula ex-Demon Beveridge has brought to coaching. What the formula is I don't know because I ain't an AFL Coach. What I do know is that you can't keep replacing team failures and breakdowns with the same rusty time-proven failures like our club has. In other words, we get thrashed, we make changes and bring back Grimes, Tengrove, Mat Jones, McKenzie, Newton, Michie etc and expect that things will change. Somehow Beveridge has been able to replace lost 'Guns' with players who perform. That's the crux of our issue. Also, please note that the Bullies are not that tall a side, in other words, they are able to negate the so-called Gun Forwards yet still giving away pounds of flesh and inches. Beveridge has changed the landscape. We need to adapt... To end, go figure, Freemantle thrashed them in the last round....

My sentiments as well. Bunch of doomed gloombags.

Their disposal has been spot on till last night. Just the sheer pressure of the game, not to mention the unmitigated thuggery of GWS. Their inaccuracy could have cost them as well...

It was Trevor Johnson...

I used to belt Les all over the park. That was after having a piece of toast while he completed his run-up - Les was a spritely Under 16 lad- when I opened the batting for Sunshine against Sunshine United.

I hate the way GWS have 'Thugged' their way. It reeks of old school Sheedy thuggery and concomitant atrocities and I'm proud that the Dogs withstood it and won. Get Thugged, Mumford and co, you are a bunch of troglodyte morons.

I love the Swannies too but I'll be barracking for the Dogs next week, something I never thought I'd do after being persecuted in Sunshine for following the Demons from the 1958 Grand Final loss instead of the Bulldogs.