Kit Walker

Number of wins: 6 Average losing margin: 37 points Average winning margin: 21 points B&F top 3: 1. Green 2. McLean 3. Bruce Leading goal-kicker: Green (29 goals) All Australian representatives: none Top votes at the Brownlow: Green Best first year player: Jetta Breakthrough year (first-year players do not count): Petterd Disappointment of the year: Missing out on bonus draft picks Biggest area of improvement: Centre clearances Surprise packet of 2009: Newton develops a centre of gravity Headline of the year: Buddy Awful (after Franklin gets dragged without touching the ball to 3/4 time playing the dees) Best win of the year: Rd. 9 vs. Hawthorn Worst loss of the year: Rd 3 vs. Port Adelaide (It's always bad in bloody Adelaide) Final membership numbers: 32,852 And just for fun... Number of times Bailey will use the word 'competitive' in 2009: the counter will break before he finishes Number of games until Rivers and Moloney both break down with injuries: refuse to answer on the grounds of jinx Number of weeks until Sylvia makes headlines for being a tool again: As above Number of weeks suspension served by Spencer for whacking someone on debut: He'll only get a reprimand Number of times Aussie does the 'frog leap' in 2009: 19 Number of "when is Jack Watts going to debut?" threads on Demonland: 17 (He'll eventually start this year)

I assume those are the games shown live on Fox Sports in Victoria. Are you sure that there aren't more games shown FTA in each team's home state?

I think they can, but not all in the same defence, and certainly not at the same time. Which means that if the decision is made for them all to play, that either Garland or Rivers probably needs to play forward. I would have Martin in the side for Hale as he is a player who has the ability to take the game completely away from us, and I'd like to see Rivers tried up forward, but we are a surprisingly tall side at the moment so balance is a serious consideration. Also, anyone who says that Hale is not a power forward is kidding themselves. Anyone over 2m tall, over 100kg, and able to kick 8 on Matthew Scarlett deserves their own plan in the preparation.

Barring injury, I have no doubt that PJ will play. Notwithstanding a couple of good NAB Cup/Challenge games, I don't think he's in any danger of being replaced by a Spencer/Meesen combination. What that means with regard to Spencer and Meesen may very heavily depend on what happens this weekend against a pretty much full-strength top 4 side.

Shadows. I think we are probably getting over the odds coverage from the Age more than being treated roughly by the H-S. Whether that is part of the sponsorship deal, who knows - although there would seem to be a correlation....

Am happy to wait a few more weeks before I start making that sort of call. Very bad luck for Jamar, possibly very good luck for Spencer. Or a real opportunity for Meesen this weekend.

Sad but true at the moment at least.

Other than the minimum 8 weeks where he can't play a match? If the Melbourne coaching staff are going to place him on the LTI list, they should do so now. That said, Nick48 on 'ology has reported that Robbo did basically the whole training session yesterday, so he may be back (at least at VFL level) sooner than expected.

He wasn't average today.

Don't agree at all. The story tomorrow will be about Hawthorn's comeback, not about a poor Melbourne performance. And so it should. Even with their players out, Hawthorn at Launceston were very hot favourites. I don't think we rolled over - more that Hawthorn lifted their work/skillrate to closer to what they are capable of, and right now we are nowhere near being able to match that. And if you think a potential sponsor will reconsider spending millions of dollars based on a NAB Cup match we were expected to lose anyway, I think your demon embossed glasses may be obscuring your vision.....

West Brom in the English Premier League are going through this year without a major sponsor because no-one would meet their valuation. It is a very brave move but one they thought was worthwhile rather than to potentially devalue future deals. It may pay off if they stay up this year (which at the moment is >50%). Not advocating this for MFC, but it's an interesting parallel.

Cox and Sandilands were all-Australian and I think saying Hille was next in line isn't particularly controversial, so yes. And they had a big impact, it's just a pity (for WC, Freo & Essendon) that they had very few mates that played anywhere near as well. Ruckmen are important, but no individual position on the ground is essential. Carlton have a (nearly) hundred goal full forward and couldn't make the eight. Comparing the ruckman with the midfield is a little unfair though, in today's game that is about 8 players! No arguments on the last point - unfortunately we were atrocious.

Surprisingly, I don't think we're too far apart in this. Meesen needs to show something, Spencer is very raw still, and those two factors will probably mean that Meesen gets a shot in the AFL pre-season first. The only other point I'd make is that even the best ruckmen only average something like 20-25% hitouts to advantage so they need more strings to their bow. The best ruckmen last year were Cox, Hille & Sandilands and all of them had an impact on the stats sheet.

Even with the good reviews, I'm not sure Spencer ever hit double figures in terms of possessions which indicates that (outside his actual ruckwork), he has a very long way to go. Clearly Meesen does as well, although he was named in the best in a game late season, but he is also a member of the senior list with a further two years of his contract to go. I think they'll want to see how he's progressing against AFL opposition more than Spencer at the moment.

Particularly given we are to play Hawthorn in Rd 1 of pre-season, I would expect that we would go pretty close to playing full strength minus those who are injured. That probably rules out Robertson, Rivers and McLean(?). Expanded bench so Watts, Strauss, Blease and Bail are the most likely to get a run of the new players. Spencer may be a chance but I still suspect it will be Jamar and Johnson initially with Meesen as the third choice if one is injured. Spencer more likely to play NAB Challenge or VFL pre-season at this stage.

I doubt that drafting Cousins would likely have any salary cap implications simply because of the lack of suitors. He can either play AFL on not-much money (for an AFL player) or probably take more to play in the WAFL. If the issue is prejudicing the rookie draft, allow Richmond to have a pick after that is completed. No other club loses a position in terms of any draft and the tigers get a player who has been overlooked around 130-odd times. I see it as an equivalent scenario to that which Essendon and Melbourne faced, primarily because they have a player who is won't (or at least is extremely unlikely) to play the following season because of a non-football related incident.

The Broadbridge exemption set a precedent for allowing a player to be replaced outside of the normal list lodgement deadlines. As for the comments in the preceding paragraph of yours, the AFL would be rightly condemned if they were to refuse Richmond's application on the basis of some allegation of moral culpability of Polak in suffering his injury, which you have clearly inferred.

On balance, I think Richmond should be allowed to do this because Polak's situation is quite exceptional. I think it does come within the range of the precedent set by the Ramanauskas and Broadbridge decisions so as a matter of fairness I don't believe they should be penalised for looking after a player who is every chance of not playing in 2009. That said, there are reasonable suspicions regarding the timing irrespective of whether they are intending to pick us Cousins or not. Especially given the link Still Rocking posted on 'ology. If it were my decision, I would allow it, but only to pick either a player over 23 (ie. ineligible for the rookie draft), or to take the pick after the conclusion of the rookie draft. That way other clubs aren't penalised and Richmond can still maintain a full list in reasonable circumstances.

If Yze were to be picked up (which seems very unlikely), I would think Brisbane are the more likely fit. Voss reportedly is after an experienced goal-kicking half forward/forward pocket and has (again reportedly) gone cold on Nick Davis. From an age perspective, I would say that a 31 year old Yze probably has as much left in the tank as a 28 year old Davis simply due to his professionalism. And he demonstrated that with his attitude (as described by Andy Lovell) when he was with Sandringham.

Not sure if Perry Mason ever had a verdict against him either.......

I very much doubt there is any - players out of contract simply are at their own risk. That's certainly the way it works in most professional sports (soccer and basketball definitely). As for the injury issue, my understanding is that the AFL player contract year goes to October 31. So there really is nothing to lose for Melbourne letting him train until at least that point given he has a contract for 2009 anyway.

Other than what Rhino said, the main value is the extra couple of weeks to make judgements on who to take with the last selection or two. Can make a significant difference rather than the lottery of pick 70, 80, or later. I doubt too many demon supporters would be begrudging the extra fortnight that ended up seeing us take Stef Martin rather than Ashley Sampi last year......

Given that the match is scheduled for 1pm and the grand prix doesn't start til 5, it's not too much of a stretch to make both if you're a motor racing fan. Albert Park's not that far......

Nick Maxwell will be 26 next year. Matthew Lloyd is Essendon's captain and David Hille will be 28 in June 2009 anyway. Judd is a superstar of the game, and Carlton had a dearth of leadership. That said, I wouldn't have a problem with McLean being named captain. Wouldn't have a problem with Bruce or Miller either. Green doesn't seem (on the available evidence) to be rated enough of a leader by the rest of the players to get the job though.

From the article, it sounds like he may be up for grabs. A possibility for pick 35?