Forest Demon

As for the question of what has gone wrong with him. He has always struck me as someone who just does it on his terms. His game is strongly based around defensive pressure in the forward line, but it must be non-negotiable each week. But Ricky seems to have a blinder one week and lay a truck load of tackles and then go missing for the next few.

Jordie Tackles - You are referring to Round 2 2010, where we lost by a point to Collingwood and he kicked 4 I think it was and shut Heath Shaw out of the game in the process. His VFL form wasn't crash hot, so I reckon the last couple of weeks have been Neeld having one last look at him and he would be suitably unimpressed. Expect him to be gone at the end of the season, and I also think he will get picked up by Gold Coast or someone else.

My guess would be Adelaide may well be making a play, but to say he is unhappy at Melbourne is most likely a beat up.

Yep, the suprise was that we took him relatively early (2nd round), perhaps knowing others were circling. I really hope this is [censored]. Howe has been good this year in a rubbish side in only his second year. And I know he has the yips in front of goals, but I don't think he is actually a bad kick and it will turn around for him with confidence and time.

Those that want to toss him to the scrap heap because of injury will need to look at half our list before going down that path. The bloke didn't miss a beat in his first nearly two seasons, and has hit hurdles late last year and this year. But players have come back from far more serious injuries than his.

Still have my theory that he had all but decided to go north before the day he was even drafted to the MFC. Scully was the standout in his draft year, which given the standard 2 year deals meant that this was the draft crop that would be coming out of contract when GWS entered the comp. And I think GWS wanted to stockpile as much young talent from that age bracket as they could, hence the recruiting of Davis, Palmer, Ward, and Scully, when compared to Ablett, Rischitelli, Brennan, Brown etc, so they would have had their eyes on his draft crop to try and cherry pick the best player and throw a big chunk of their abundant cap space at him. Trengove and Tapscott sign deals for an extra year, but Tom knocks back the deal, deciding to stick with the standard 2 year deal. This happened very soon after he was drafted, leaving the door open to move at the end of the 2011 season to GWS.

For mine, he is re-signed and stays on the primary list. And if he is found guilty and has to serve time or something similar we cross that bridge when and if we get to it. I would actually be suprised if we don't see him play a couple of games toward the end of the season.

Belzebub wanted the thread locked a few pages back, and now that it has gone to trial, which it always was going to, he is swinging from the cheap seats.

We recruited Liam knowing the came from a world nothing like the one we live in. And while they wouldn't have imagined this situation would unfold, they can't toss him to the curve now until this has run its course. This was always going to trial, but from the witnesses I have heard from, Liam doesn't sound like the machete wielding maniac many on here and in the media want to paint him as. If they were to delist him it would be a big admission from the club they bit of more than they could chew by recruiting someone with such a different background, and I for one would be calling for answers as to why. He may well be found guilty and if so, the club are free to cut him loose, but nothing has changed this afternoon from where we were before this committal hearing started, being sent to trial is far from a guilty verdict.

I think it is good to have somewhere to stay updated on the trial. But couldn't blame moderators if they get sick of trawling through the thread and removing all the shite.

Please, post more often.

Please let this season end.

Port Adelaide were absolutely putrid tonight.

That is a pretty disrespectful way of putting it C&B. There is a difference between not putting in the effort and simply not being good enough. From what I have heard, Bater works very hard at his game but it looks like he is simply just not good enough. As it seems you are so keen to point the finger and place blame, I would suggest better places to look are at those who drafted him so high, those that couldn't develop his game, those who kept picking him and those who kept giving him contracts. Do you expect him to say 'no coach, don't think I'll play this week. Don't think I'm really up to it'.

Hopefully the Bulldogs are still keen to give him a go. My problems with Bate have always been his speed and agility, and also his handling below his knees. It all made him a little one-dimensional when a player his size needs to be a little more. Has given his best, but for whatever reason himself and the club was unable to fix these obvious flaws in his game.

Ummmmmmm, isn't Jetta from WA?

That is an interesting observation. He always used to do the thing when he wanted to take the ball over the boundary, he would run and kick but go over the line in the process of kicking, clearly faking it. But the umpires latched on after one or two times and started pinging him for it. And I hate to bring this up, but I can't stand when he's (as in he is) and his are used interchangeably. Must annoy me more than others, but it ruins the sentence and I see it multiple times every day.

Put our duds on the table. Most likely nobody bites. We delist them. That is most likely what is going to happen. It is the usual scenario where everyone talks about trade week for months and all the permutations, but then not a hell of a lot happens. Don't think Neeld is going to be too interested in trading guys who have already been in the system a few years and have shown a bit such as Tapscott and Blease for a pick in the lottery that leads to another skinny 18 year old that he has to wait years for, especially when we already hold a very strong hand pick wise in the draft.

I thought Port were decent early in the year but they have started to drop away pretty badly, while we were completely terrible at the start of the year but look more competitive now. I still think Port will win up in Darwin, but I wouldn't be suprised if we beat them. And then with GC and GWS to go we are every chance of going past them imo.

I would have to see it again but I'm pretty sure there was nothing sinister from McPharlin. Just landed really awkwardly and sort of rolled his ankle which must have put a bit of pressure on his knee. Hope he gets over it and is ready to go for pre-season.

Tough effort when you are a man down for over a half of football. Eventually they just ran over us. Second quarter was disappointing and we were lucky to almost break even from it, but overall it was a good honest effort.

Can understand these commentators getting stuck into us, but blooding enough youth would seem a very odd path to go on.

Have I missed something?

Going to try hard not be seduced by Ricky Petterd if he comes out and kicks 2 or 3 and lays a bunch of tackles this week. He is effectively playing for his career so I want to see him string a strong end to the season together, not just one good game to get us all talking on here about how much he brings to the team before going missing for the next 4 weeks.

Hope he stays. Like a couple of others, he definitely gets a bit of rough treatment by many on here.