Bay Riffin

this kid can play no doubt. get him fully fit again and he will be an important cog in our midfield. people forget he also is very good overhead, great tackler and level headed, also a very nice kick on the run. if we can get our top 5 in the B and F to actually continue their form this year and get improvement out of Garland and Grimes who were that standard the year before, then add in a fit Trengove, Hogan we may actually move up the ladder.

Another who looked a million bucks when he came onto the scene. was super confident, courageous with a strong kick. I thought gee we got one here. but he got injured and never seem to develop. Yes he lacked pace, but so does Neville Jetta. Don't know why he couldn't become a role player. Unlike Blease and Strauss, he loved the physical side but yet another who never made it.

he is a shining example of a player playing his role week in week out. has the attributes required to play pressure football. stands up in tackles, strong, calmly delivers the ball. not a long kick but effective. we just need about 10 more Jettas who can play their role, along with some elite talent to compliment them.

Its disheartening when you watch the top teams fight out the prelims and we keep arguing whether Jack Watts is a decent player or not.

everyone just bags our new players unless they are starring. how many new players at the Cats, Hawks, Swans don't come through straight away? plenty. Go see what Will Langford did on Saturday to look at what faith in players can do. Would any of you taken Langford 2 years ago? This kid has shown good signs he is coachable and can do a role. Hawthorn are in a grand final and you could name 6 'average' players if you look at them individually, but they perform a role for the team.

Would it doing any harm to relieve him of the captaincy? just get back to playing good football. I have no doubt he has the ability. Would rather a very good player than an average co-captain.

good hard working ethic and an extra $800K COLA - a good recipe.

Showed enough in his first year, also went back and played some good games for Casey after Queens birthday, so that's a good sign. The Adelaide game showed how exciting he can be when he is on. a natural footballer, who seems to know when to choose the right option, and tackles !! My gut feel is we got one right here. just needs some maturity and consistency.

What the ? is this serious, the senior coach takes a holiday in the most important week once the season finishes? surely he can sun himself in early pre-season, when a senior assistant can run training.

One word - confidence. Go look at the hawks team and how they play - puopolo, Langford, smith, gunston all playing out of their skin, but comparatively average footballers until recently. Confidence can make all the difference. Port lost it, and all of a sudden are wreaking havoc. I think the best coaches support their players but also raise the standards. Pederson should get a long list of apologies from demonland posters.

Huge tick from me. Always seems to do the right thing. Doesn't panic, makes the most of his abilities. Also can someone explain how he can come back from a fractured leg after 5 rounds? Great role model.

if he isn't rated by most and say our recruiters as a top 20 pick, why would we take him with out second rounder which would be pick 20 or 21? I'm reading he is one of the more outside players in the draft, and will take a 2 or 3 years to get a game. he is skinny and still under developed. If someone nominates him, chances are there will be slider around pick 20 who might be better ?

To me he actually got more of the ball than say Salem, but was not preferred. I think Roos would be expecting him to provide more in his third year. Surely one of these high draft picks needs to come through?!?!. but right now I cant predict where he will be. would he be thriving if we were a winning team? not sure. my gut feel is he can play but he needs to build his strength. what do people predict for him ?

anyone remember the 1994 final against and Carlton when we shocked everyone and won. from memory Brett played on Greg Williams in the centre and was BOG. very skilful footballer by hand and foot. often played on bigger guys down back as he was so good one on one.

not a bad looking forward line if we can get them all up and running. Reckon JKH showed some good signs by going back to Casey and putting in a couple of top games there. signs of a good attitude. most are pretty good kicks as well.

Love it !!

Lumumba has so much more going for him then Watts except maybe age. A premiership player who is attacking, usually puts his body on the line and a genuine line breaker, versus a possession collector who is worse on our list in 1 on 1s, a weak tackler and zero ferocity for the contest. Sorry but watts does not even come close.

same goes for Hawks though who they play in the Qualifying. They got Lake from another feeder club in the doggies. to me Lake playing on Hawkins is the critical difference to stop the cats beating them on Friday. any doubts and go back to their first game this year when Hawkins obliterated them. The AFL are all for equalisation and unbelievably introduce this free agency, which everyone could see would create a greater divide. it is truly sickening. Watching Geelong, Hawthorn and Sydney top up like gorging fat Italian Opera singers, picking pieces of pie to add to their main course, is enough to make me puke into my mouth.

an inside source (outside of their football dept) at Geelong has provided the following (we will see if its true). Rivers body is almost gone. Whilst they are pleased with some terrific form of late, he is struggling with his body. Best case scenario is a 12 month contract extension otherwise its retirement. He believes one of the key factors in smoothing the contract negotiations is the acquisition of his good mate Frawley onto their list. Their is likely to be a list purging and some aggressive recruiting this off season into the cattery. expect some big names to be arriving over the summer (that may also have swayed Frawley). All roads seem to be pointing Frawley to the cats. My thoughts are - Lets hope its a big contract but it probably won't be in the Daisy Thomas first rounder compensation. I'm a little disappointed he isn't leaving for money. it just re-emphasises how crap we are.

I have respect for Bail but geez how are we going to win with his disposal around the ground and entering forward 50. deserved another shot above others but a little sad. he is just not good enough. Terlich is combative but lacks skills. Riley looks promising, shows a bit more that just grunt so he is the one Im interested if nothing more than I know the limits of the other two.

Barrassi actually took us off the bottom and although he did not take us to finals. It was around the period when he fought with Zantuck at Waverley (if you can remember Zantuck finger pointing to Barassi as his opponent from Essendon a young Mark Harvey rans rings around him) that we started to win a few games ( I think we won 5 in a row) only to be brought down to earth by Essendon. He was teaching young players coming through like Gerard and Greg Healy, Russell Richards, Gaddy Lyon and brought in Moore and Templeton. There was genuine excitement but it didn't quite work out. Then Northey came in and remarkably we were able to secure interstaters in Spalding, Stretch and Viney who were able to make an immediate impact all at the same time. Under Northey they were so united. Mathews at Collingwood said we were the kings of the one percenters, taps on etc. Yet we also had 'battling' types in Dean Chiron, Bailey, Eishold who were able to eek out a few games and do a job, but really weren't going to compete with elite midfields at Carlton and Hawthorn. I also remember we were a long kicking side under Northey, That was one of our keys. Danny Hughes, Spalding, Warren Dean, Stretch, Newport even Gaddy and Flower could all roost the ball !! oh to get that excitement back.

WHy did we want someone who wasn't fully committed ? He said he had doubts he had the desire to do all the work. Go for one that does!!

Had this discussion with a mate recently, Jetta would be a stand out for aboriginal players as a pure stopping type defensive player. That's a pretty rare breed. I can name a few aboriginal defenders but most are the attacking Yarrans or Leon Davis types, who although in the back half of the ground are real line breakers. Can anyone name other real 'defenders' who were aboriginal? Wirripunda was one of the best both attacking and defensively. anyone else?

Yes well deserved. great story. He is a great example of someone playing his role and not trying to be someone else. tough strong and reliable. We always complain there are few positions on the ground where you can pencil in each week for a player to do their job, but he is one. If we can get a few more each year to fulfil 'roles' rather than looking for champions we will start winning more games and avoiding blowouts.

Darren Bennett from 15 metres out was a 50/50 bet. Earl spalding was hopeless in front of goal. Jake spencer dropped the ball walking into goal. Steve odwyer was a 50/50 chance to find his boot. People have short memories.