grazman

Jack I don't have the answers for you , but according to the preseason guide Newton is 87 kgs and 193cm Which for me is still too light to play a KPP. By way of comparison James Gwilt for the Saints who has had a very good season so far and is fairly pacey, is 93kgs and 188cm tall. I'm not saying that the Saints have got their preparation right, nor am I infering that we have necessarily got it wrong, but if Newton is only 87 kgs I think that's too light. If he is only 80 they must be trying to turn him into a wingman.

I'm of a similar mind loons. I think he is most valuable forward. His move to the midfield has added more strings to his bow, but unless we have our best midfield playing his usefulness is markedly decreased , he can still move back there, but I'd like to see more flexibility in our forward setup.

Jones -4kgs Bruce -3kgs Green -3kgs Jonstone no change McDonald +1kg Dunn -3 kgs Bell + 1 kg Bate + 1kg This isn't my area of expertise at all, but obviously there have been far more players trimming down than adding weight. Of course looking good in the mirror and getting the ball aren't associated - look at Ricky. But I think KD's points still has merit in relation to the clear direction the footy department took and how this impacted on the physical conditioning of the players. Of course some players like Judd have both size and endurance.

Excellent post KD! It raises a very good point about Danners and his approach. Obviously he's looked at the list and the game plan and made the call that we needed to change something to be a true premiership threat. Many of us may disagree with his assessment, but he's also in a much better position to judge these things. In hindsight it has failed spectacularly, but as you point out injuries haven't helped. It maybe, however the season we needed to have. I believe the core strength in our list is still there, but the weaknesses that have been there for a while have been badly exposed. Kudos to Danners - he could have simply continued to do what we had always done and we could have papered over some of the cracks, but he chose to try something new and in the end may have wittingly or unknowingly addressed those cracks.

Now which other former Melbourne Full Forward (with back problems) does that remind you of. I don't think Juice has the strut yet?

How can he not have it and then be able to tease us with NAB cup performances - surely it must be there. I don't think its fair to quote stats at a bloke that spends more than half the game on the bench. I can live with him being dropped - he needs to come back mentally tougher.

Rogue you've got my vote, BTW He was selected in the U16 Aus side as a CHF. He won't be delisted.

I've always liked CJ, he moves well, reads the play and has great skills, he had a great preseason and I though this would be the year he would come of age. I see him very much as a wingman. Danner's doesn't seem to like him though. Since the preseason he hasn't really demanded selection with his performances, but then the coaches lack of confidence in him is also apparent. I hope he gets [censored] off enough to get out on the park and demand selection.

I would have thought this would be right up your alley Chilli. Both out of contract at the EOY and whispers of both being dissatisfied. I think the thread was alluding to hte possibility that if they did both want to decamp then who would people favour? I'm not sure about the second question though - seems a little redundant to me.

Either is a tantalising prospect. I went for Judd, I think he is simply the best footballer around at the minute and is a proven big match performer- but that's no reflection on Pav, just Freo - but it was very, very tight.

That shouldn't even come into it - Hutchy was stuck on 98 games and he really did bleed for the club.

Dan, many are predicting Kreuzer will go as first Pick. In which case he will go to Richmond, whose ruck situation is similar to ours. No one really knows, because so much of the draft is based around the national championships. That said it really doesn't matter whether you have pick 3 or 6 if you get to select the bloke you had pencilled in for your first pick, it matters a whole lot to the fabric of the team and player's attitudes if you give them any other message than being completely professional in their approach (which means winning). That would be all well and good if you knew that was happening in advance, you can plan for the future based on history, predictablility and the available intelligence. You can't plan for the future based on What if's.... Judd may come home, and Martians may land on the MCG as well. Its more prudent to plan around the knowns than the unknowns.

The Neitz, White and Yze era is fast closing. It's now a year by year proposition with those guys. We didn't win a premiership with Robbie, Garry, Jimmy, Todd, Stinga etc. Fev may never play in a premiership at Carlton. If Neita goes, we may not have a dominant full forward to replace him, but hopefully we'll have a top shelf inside midfield, a rock solid defence and lots of drive from the wings and multiple targets up forward. I'll be sad to see the skipper hang up his boots, but at 32 I don't know how much more of the burden we can ask him to shoulder.

Errrr - we haven't won one with him - so yeah I think so. (I'm not trying to be a smartarse - just pointing out that it will come down to more than just one player )

Neita gets fired up, but he's not usually that vocal, he was not a happy camper!

Yep same incident. I should have said resulted in a free to the bulldogs. The vision afterwards of Neita on the bench showed him speaking to the coach and doing all the talking (when you get dragged you usually do the listening - but Neita was clearly unhappy about something)

It annoyed me today when Rocket said on the interview after the game that we were pretty much back to full strength. He would've known who was missing.

I haven't been convinced on Sylvia - I was actually advocating playing him off Half Back to get him into the game and attack the footy. He still drops some marks that he has the ability to take and goals he should kick (maybe a concentration thing), but his mark in the last quarter was absolutely top shelf. You don't see too many better contested marks in any given week of footy.

That's two good weeks in a row by Godders. I'd almost given up on him as a tagger, but now we are playing one on one footy, he has come back into it. I shouldn't have been surprised, one thing we know about Godders is he won't throw in the towel and gives it everything he's got. BTW the commentary made specific mention of the incident and said it would be reviewed. There was also an incident with Neita and Harris where he gave away the free and was then dragged. Apparently Neita told the umpires he should be reported for it and they said "OK". Make of that what you will.

Don't get me started....

Well the wing would be another option. But I've got CJ and Moloney there in the grazman team.

Just saying is all..... It's what I want to see, but what I wants and what I gets are two seperate things. I can't claim Sylvia off the HBF as an original idea, but I'm definately in favour of it. He went back against there against the Swans and I thought he played the best footy I've seen him play for us. I think he hunts opponents rather than the ball through the middle and he is just too hungry to play up forward as more than a one man forward line. Playing off half back he can still run at the ball and his fierceness and competitive edge are an asset. I accept it would leave the back line short on experience, but geez we're 0 and 6 and have just brought Danny Ward back in.... besides I think that some of the discipline Belly has developed as a defender may rub off on Col . I'll accept that some people believe Col has the X factor, I haven't seen it yet, in fact I haven't even got him pencilled in to our best starting 18.

I'd rather see Bell in the midfield and Col off the HBF.

I think it's something the AFL should seriously look at. The unfortunate reality of modern footy is that if you aren't going to make the finals then cold hard logic dictates that you will receive more benefits by winning less games (apart from maybe the negative impact of supporters and sponsors). Do teams tank games? I don't think we will ever get a definitive answer, but purely from a pragmatic point of view (as opposed to the footy purist) they'd be stupid not to - particularly if it means they can get a greater slice of pie at the end of the season with a concessionary pick.

Timely advice Finks. Maybe some people need to go back and read the conditions they've agreed to abide by. This forum gives us all the opportunity to express our views, mostly in a civilised way - if you have to resort to abuse and personal denigration I would suggest its because either you lack the capacity to express your opinions coherently and succinctly or its because you are frustrated that others don't accept your arguments - which in turn may very well be a direct result of the previous cause. Personally I have no problem with people expressing opinions that I don't agree with so long as they do so with courtesy and respect. Saying "player X is a disgrace" or "X doesn't deserve to play for the club" is not being courteous or respectful. Players try their best and I seriously doubt that someone like me is in a position to pass judgement on such things as the courage or commitment required to play at the highest level.