DemonDave

A bit late to see these posts but here goes. The biggest weakness last year for the Niners was their receiving corps. Crabtree is not and i dont think will ever be more than a slot receiver, certainly not the #1 target we were after. Josh Morgan took off to the Redskins after showing a bit, and Kyle Williams and ted Ginn Jnr..well..lets not relive the Giants game again..A team cant be relying, as good as they are, on two tight ends in Davis & Walker to make all of their big pass plays. SO they picked up Mario Manningham from the Giants who had a very good year. We were always going to use our #1 pick on a receiver, but had no hope without trading up of getting Blackmon or Floyd. Jenkins was a surprise to many draft pundits, he has speed but his separation after catch isnt great. Time will tell. They also took a gamble on 36 year old Randy Moss, who is apparently in as good as shape as he's been after a year on the sidelines. Who knows if he will make the final squad or not, it didnt cost us anything to do though. We lost our starting nose tackle Snyder, so used our third round pick on a replacement for him which was also understandable. Not sure about our 2nd round pick, another running back, given we have AllPro Frank Gore, soph Kendall Hunter who showed quite a bit in his rookie year as a third down back, and picked up Brandon Jacobs from the Giants also. I guess like any draft it will take a while to determine if it was a 'good' draft for teams or not. Really looking forward to seeing RG3 in particular, he and Cam Newton may well become the prototype upon which future QBs are based. Luck will be more of a traditional pocket passer, and at the same time this type of QB has also flourished the last couple of years with yard records for passing regularly being broken by teams starters.

Positives - Some of our kickouts from fullback were able to find targets out wide, and fully utilise the leg speed of Bail, Nicholson and Blease. We desperately lacked this pace in the first part of the season Defence still holding up relatively well. Even though Betts kicked a handful, Garland beat him numerous times in the 1 on 1's. A lot of his opponents goals were not his fault. Frawley found a bit of form with rebounding, and Rivers was again good.How Hampson got in the best baffles me. McDonald improving with confidence each week. The improvement of Watts, Blease and McDonald. Calls for Watts to be dropped are narrow minded and sensationalist. Plenty of players made mistakes in the heat of battle yesterday. McKenzie on Judd. Did a great job on him, only letting his guard slip, as all the rest did, in the last quarter. Negatives- The continual anonymity of Moloney and Trengove. These are the guys that won our B&F last year and our captain. Robinson. Always plays well against us, and always sucks our players in with his antagonising. Jamars continual decline in influence, 2 kicks for the day, this guy was all Australian 2 years ago. His kicking for goal seems to lack the penetration and accuracy he once had also The last quarter. for obvious reasons. The continued slavish obedience to kicking it backwards across defensive 50 to try and free up the man to run the ball down the wing, when players are flapping their arms on their own in the middle of the ground. A bit of discretion and common sense to deviate from the gameplan is required at times. Jones, Watts, Frawley the chief offenders here. Howe. Only had three touches after quarter time. Simply not good enough. Wasnt helped by dumb play by Tapscott who leapt backwards to spoil what wouldve been a great mark. Aaron Davey. Barely noticed him today, was he even out there? I blame him entirely for this loss. The lack of crowd. Doesnt matter if it was an away game, 28K for two Melbourne teams is awful.

Game 1 is underway in the AT&T Centre, at work so only watching the live scores on the box score. What say we for predictions on here? I'm going 4-2 for my Spurs, their win streak is growing but every time we got to 11 or 12 in the regular season we seemed to have a letdown game. Chalk up two at home before dropping one. All we need is Manu Ginobili to fully find his rhythm. In the East, I'm tipping Miami over Boston 4-1. Its a credit to the creaky Celtics that they've got this far, but James & Wade will be hard to beat for youth and athleticism. They will need Bosh back in a hurry though.

Fantastic win for the 76ers today, wow! They were upto 18 behind at times in this game. Certainly lights the spark on this series, will be a fascinating one. We almost saw another big incident between Metta World "Peace" and Westbrook there, I agree with the commentators a double technical in this situation is a bit of a copout. If this game hadve been in Oklahoma the crowd would be absolutely giving it to MWP right now. Spurs are nicely placed in their series against Clippers, the balanced offense really does make it hard to match up on, double team Parker and you open up Ginobli and Neale and the like. Even Boris Diaw is having an impact... D Wades blowup with the coach really didnt look good, in line with his terrible game. On Mike and Mike on ESPN last night they floated the theory that Wade and LeBron are too similar, and that maybe they should try and trade DWade to somehow get Howard. Interesting hypothetical!

Besides the wins against us and Port Adelaide, the Tigers have beaten the Swans at the MCG, which even we managed to do two years ago. They are still lowly to me until they beat a credible side...

The glaring, glaring hole in the Sydney side is their ruck division, and lack of height in general. Really if Jamar cannot dominate this game against a different code convert who struggles to get 5 or 6 disposals a game, and a backup (probably) in LRT, then he can quite happily seek a new free agency home next year. With no Goodes (or Kirk or O Loughlin anymore of course) and a first gamer picked at Centre Half foward, in conjunction with us naming just about our best side on paper, I think we are a real chance. Of course, they have one of the most inform midfielders in the comp in Kennedy. Since losing Goodes theyve lost to Adelaide, and were thumped by the lowly Tigers.

The new examination date is 2 days after our game in Darwin, coincidentally. The new hearing date means he has to appear in person. so one would assume if he is fit enough he will play on the Saturday night and front up on the Monday in court.

Can you guess which corporate spin (aka a media release) is for which team? A) Kaspersky Lab is delighted to secure this partnership with the ? Football Club and we look forward to becoming part of the great community and tradition of the ?. B) We are looking forward to building our relationship with the ? team and its wider corporate networks. “Being Melbourne based, the local Kaspersky team are all strong AFL supporters and are passionate about backing clubs that match our values.”

The AFL in conjuction with the Melbourne Football Club has announced the Jim Stynes Community Leadership Award. To be awarded on Brownlow Night who shows commitment to his community. Full story at MFC http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/7415/newsid/135967/default.aspx Great idea and a suitable way to honour the Great Man.

Press release from the "Melbourne Football Club" The club today would like to acknowledge that senior player Stefan Martin was witnessed to smile and laugh at training yesterday. Chief Executive Cameron Schwab today announced "We take these indiscretions very seriously, and can announce that player Martin has been stood down from the non-leadership group indefinitely, and will be required to undertake 34 hours of community service manning a gate at Parliament Station, considered the bench-mark for people who show no joy in their work". Martin said in a prepared statement "I understand my actions were wrong, and if I had my time again would do things differently. I today humbly apologise to my teammates, coaching staff, family members and most importantly the fans. My attempts to show a glimpse of enjoyment from this season were insensitive and may have offended many people" Schwab added "At the Melbourne Football Club, we are striving for a professional environment at all times, and we are extremely disappointed in Stefans actions. We will not tolerate such actions, and have made our stance on this quite clear in past. Last offseason player Addam Maric, who had previously had an exemplary record of discipline in not showing emotion, suffered a rare lapse, smiled, and we could no longer continue to ignore his disruptive influence. Addam unfortunately as a result is no longer at our football club." In other news, the club also today announced the termination of its dental sponsor, The Smile Clinic, due to a conflict in core values. We thank the company for their previous valued support as a Bronze Sponsor.

Quite possibly one of the greatest nights of sporting theatre, nerves, adrenalin and astonishment I've ever sat through. Like 45HG I was watching the Spurs game, witnessing the roller coaster of emotions of the crowd as West Brom fell behind and then snatched the lead. The rumour going around White Hart Lane that West Brom has scored a third (witness crowd members holding up three fingers in hope) got my heart racing. Alas once the equaliser came there was only ever going to be one winner sadly. The deflation the crowd when the Gunners scored was palpable. After 80 minutes I abandonded our hopes for third and was madly flicking between the two Manc games and the West Brom-Arsenal game. That last five or ten minutes were a blur. I also had the espn twitter feeds going on my PC to see what the other games were doing. Unbelievable scenes when Citys third went in, an even better sight was Ferguson getting the news of it, and ushering his confused players off the pitch. There were so many mad things going on. Tim Cahill red carded after the final whistle as the Toffees smash Newcastle and finish above their Merseyside rivals for the first time in a long time. Joey Bartons red mist moment. This mindless thug deserves 20+ weeks for all his repeated indiscretions. Cisse from QPR hugging one of the Man City players in jubilation after the whistle as the players ran off to avoid the catatonic fans. Truly a memorable night.

But how is we could have picked Gibbs, Deledio, Murphy and Kreuzer? Your argument is flawed that we havent picked the same calibre of players with picks 15 lower down the draft order. The fact is our two number one draft picks who would be somehow comparable (despite not having had many years to develop) are $cully and Watts. One is gone, the other still figuring out where he is as a footballer. And yes, right now we dont have a 'star' player.

Anyone know why Couch didnt play?

Murphy Gibbs and Kruezer were all #1 picks. Deledio was Pick 1, Cotchin 2 and Martin 3. How can you compare them to guys picked later in the draft in the second and third rounds?

In a day that hasnt been particularly conducive for big men, Cook and Sheahan have been awful. Fieldsend clearly the best of the VFL boys.

Also Stef Martin as the game is going on is looking more and more like the Martin of old, I hardly noticed him in the first quarter. Hes getting that run and confidence back into his game which is good to see, While Spencer has probably been beaten on the day by MaCauley, its good to see him throwing his weight around.. Took great delight in seeing that pest Chance Bateman taken out of the game by a crunching Spencil bump.

Who is responsible for our improvement though? Neeld? Craig? Misson? The players?

The commentators are obsessed by Watts, its highly annoying. They keep saying he isnt doing enough, but he's leading the stats count on the ground. Jurrah looks just about ready, his class and composure with the footy has been a highlight, straight back in at the SCG next week for mine. First time apart from last week Ive had a good look at Taggert, he certainly is very clean with his skills, and doesnt mind the contest. Can definitely see him getting a game at some stage this year. Green had some great touches early but definitely looks short of a gallop

What sort of 'impact' were you expecting from our Director of Sports performance in the five months he's been in the job?

Wouldnt that list also include our Captain from last year? Surely he will come back into the seniors in a couple of weeks time. I know its not fashionable to be liking senior experienced players around here, but I for one hope Greeny gets back into form and can still offer us something as a leading forward.

A couple of big ins as far as Melbourne listed players in Green and Martin. They've obviously lost Gysberts, VIney and Lees to injury and Bennell, Fitzpatrick and Petterd promoted to the MFC.

I joined the group, but it didnt take long for me to get the gist of the level of intelligence on display there. I now avoid it like the plague. Nothing to be learnt from those sorts of public forums. May as well read bigfooty and take it seriously!

Careful! There are plenty of females on here that make rounded valuable contributions (Jaded et al). Facebook public groups do tend to attract plenty of grandstanders from the shallower end of the gene pool. Very happy with this team, with Jurrah, Watts and Green likely to return in the next couple of weeks. Bennell looked chock full of confidence for Casey last week, lets hope he can carry that over. Im excited by seeing Fitzpatrick, as I mentioned elsewhere on here this week, his improvement has come on in huge bounds from what I saw last year. Lets hope he can handle the step up in standard and contribute.

I saw one of those three senior players, the one in the video above, at the pub after Jimmys funeral. Was so tempted to go up to him and say something, but time and place of the circumstances of him being there dissuaded me.

Going to be a ripping last day of action in the EPL on Sunday. Two teams can still win the League. 3rd spot and automatic CL qualification is up for grabs, and even the last relegation spot is still a chance to be avoided. What will Foxsports run their five viewers choice games with, given there are so many crucial games?