DemonDave

That is definitely Thommos twitter account, not a fake.

What do people think of this twitter in the last hour from Grant Thomas?: thomo_ninemsn Grant Thomas I'm hearing Burns is going to coach Melbourne and Neil Craig is Director of Coaching. Eade Director of coaching at Crows. Cards are falling. 28 minutes ago

PM Sent...

I wonder which pages graphics they had to change to remove T** S*****'s image from? No doubt this booklet wouldve been on hold till the decision was made.

Jordan Russell is a spud. Its all good and well to say he had a high B&F finish at his club a couple of years ago, but so did Matthew Bate. The fact that he cant get a game at the moment in front an ungainly Irishman (Tuohy) and an equally spud-like Marcus Davies tells me his time at Carlton is coming to an end. No Thanks. Interesting the irony of supposed links between Goddard and Carlton, given that before AFL sanctions removing their picks 1&2 in the draft he, along with Daniel Wells, would've ended up Blues players.

He was actually delisted earlier that week! A good response from him nonetheless. Terribly disappointing way to finish the season, but all of your reports through the year are greatly appreciated KC!

Wheres Rhino when you need him? Seriously people, no more 'junk' for potential trade suggestions

That spyandsource twitter account is about as successful at predictions as the Village Idiot in the Friday Age. Take anything said on there with a large handful of salt. Check the history if you're not convinced. As for Clarke, I agree he'd be too similar to Martin, albeit a bit more polished. Why not go for more of an out and out forward from somewhere else rather than an inbetweener?

I would hope the decision that is made on a coach does not have any relevance in Garrys mind with announcing it on the footy show. Hopefully he is smart enough to be able to differentiate the two different hats that he wears. I dont care when its announced, as long as the board are happy they believe it is the right person for the job (and not a shallow feelgood PR exercise).

Lets hope the interchange is: Davis Fitzpatrick Lawrence Panozza. Surely Panozza wouldnt get overlooked after his good game last week? I feel Juice has played his last game for Casey as an MFC rookie given the amount of talls already in our forward line. The side does lack balance without a small forward of note, Nicholls merely a resting onballer, so youd think Lawrence would be tailor made for that spot. Robbie Campbells return is warmly welcomed he was missed last week.

Thanks KC, I dont normally mean to tag a guy as 'hopeless', and dont see every game. But the last senior game I saw in person was the Geelong massacre, and Waite had one appaling decision go against him in the second quarter, and spent the best part of 40 minutes of the game complaining to the umpires about it. It is good to see younger players such as Petropoulos and Purdy impress at times this year, while frustrating seeing somewhat more seasoned players such as Matt Fieldsend running around in the twos as he was this week. If Waite was selected as the big bodied hard-working half forward type, could this job not have been left to Lynden Dunne and or Newton when resting from the ruck, and thus clearing the forward 50 out for Fev (which they did do quite well). Any news if big Robbie Campbell will be back this week, and why James Wall wore his number on the weekend? Looking further forward, next years Scorps defence will be severly depleted with Warnock chasing games eleswhere and Tim Mohr a certainty for mine to be rookied somewhere..

So would you be happy next year if we were more consistent but still won 8 1/2 games? I dont look at the 1975 or 1992 ladder, see our win-loss record and think "If only we'd kicked 2 more goals against Fitzroy in '75 and St Kilda in '93 we wouldve had two more wins and moved up two spots". I look at our end of year win-loss record. Its win-loss ratios that coaches are judged on, and what perceptions on playing lists mental fragilities and leadership deficiencies are assesed. If we hadve won those two games, Id still be disappointed in our season as a whole, and expected us to win more games the year after.

If by 'a bit' you mean about five or ten minutes of each game they play do they look up to league standard, then yes they showed 'a bit'. Apart from the Darwin game last year I'd love to know what our win/loss ratio is with these two in the team compared to our normal w/l ratio. They offer very little to our side, and I'd dare suggest neither have improved much from when they started, given they've been in the system three years now. I'm afraid I have misplaced my rose coloured glasses, think I left them on the ledge of the premiership window that I was gazing out of after Neale gave one of those powerpoint presentations. By all measures, I think our season has been an unmitigated disaster. Our 8 1/2 wins have consisted of five wins against teams below us, two wins against the next two teams above us (one an interstate team at the G), and a draw and a win against teams in the finals (again, one against an interstate team at the G, and another in the middle of a form slump). All this from what was supposed to be a 'dream draw'. Heaven help us if we draw a few more of the top 5-6 twice next year. Given that we got eighteen games or more out of these players: Moloney, Watts, Jones, Frawley, Martin, Green, Rivers, Trengove, Sylvia, Garland & Jurrah we can hardly use injuries as an excuse either. We'd need to win 10+ games next year to be seen to be progressing

Maybe Max was at AAMI Stadium on Sunday rather than at the Adelaide Oval. That could be why he figures we'd be deelighted at that result?

Interesting to note with the reserves game, the scores were level when the siren should have gone but there are special rules for when the ABC is telecasting games in finals, meaning the game effectively goes till a golden point. This is why as soon as that point went through, the siren went. I was with the Port media communications manager just after it occurred and I certainly wasn't previously aware of the rule. The last Casey game I went to was the Geelong massacre, and now today. Think I might stay away from now on! I thought Gawn was great around the ground, but we were smashed in the middle and he broke even at best against Fanning and Skipper. Stockdale was just about our best, kept cool under pressure when others didn't. McNamara and McDonald were excellent in the middle in the first quarter, but faded after that. Shane Valenti absolutely tore us apart at the stoppages as did a host of other Burra mids. Dunn was very ordinary today, had no impact whatsoever on the contest, for a guy of his AFL experience, he should find the going much easier at this level but he barely had a dozen touches. It doesn't make his job easy that the ball is kicked to Fev inside fifty nine times out of ten, but he needs to learn to get his share of the footy. Worst on ground for mine was Ben Waite, how does this guy continually get selected? Mystifying.

Who according to the AFL teams page is a new Hawthorn player recruited from West Coast!

The same Paul Johnson that got upgraded to Hawthorns main list and is selected to play against the Suns on Saturday?

Does this mean we should let a Victorian, say on a rotating basis, be our captain at the MCG every week? Sorry rubbish idea, I dont have a problem for milestone games but not 'home state' players..

I assume this was as a direct result of the coaches telling him to act a little less selfishly. The Hawthorn game Rnd 2 was the nadir for this, Liam flew needlessly to try in vain to take mark of the week every time the ball went near him. It didnt, the ball was moved down the other end and we got flogged. I think he should still be given the freedom to go for his hangers, just balance it with plenty of team orientated 1%ers as well.

It worked very well yesterday, Freo have successfully employed the same tactic at times this year too, kicking long up the centre to Sandilands and a bunch of spreaders. But as has been pointed out the ability of the younger gold coast players to structure up at this stage of their careers may have somewhat flattered us. I'm sure coaches would've learned much more the week before, where Richmond very effectively used a second backman close to the man on the mark to impede Frawleys kickouts, as he almost without fail will chip it to himself and run out to the right. The second man close in effectively coralled Frawley into kicking it to the opposition more often than not due to the pressure he was placed under...

The thing that I was very impressed by with Blease yesterday was his ability to hit targets with both his left and right foot. I think I even called it Leon Cameron-esque. He's only going to get better, you only have to look at how important a role Leon Davis has had in the Pies backline this year, to the extent that Freo started their best tagger on him Friday night, to know that Blease's hopefully continued developement will be an important factor next year. Tapscott on the other hand was completely lost in yesterdays game. Seems his thinking had been hard wired to that of a backman this year, and he simply didnt understand the strucures enough up forward to know when and where to lead into. He's had a pretty ordinary last month, when he's been in the side, so will no doubt enjoy the end of the season for a hard earned break. My biggest concern is his lack of pace.

I mentioned this in the Bank of Melbourne sponsorship thread, its pretty clear that in NSW every single person that used the service was told to switch to AGL. I have no problems if it was clearly a sponsorship for AGL itself, but these quasi 'advisory companies' are shamtastic. Nevertheless their money is welcome!

Pretty much agree with you word for word here RR, Ricky had a couple of fantastic 'break out' games where he lead the way with his defensive presence that had been hitherto unseen. I genuinely believe he has improved in a number of areas, showed he could push up the ground and win ball in the middle, but now all he needs to do is work on his consistency. He's one of the best one on one marks in the team, but doesnt have the body size to make it a prolonged threat deep forward. So yes, if he was put up for trade would definitely have currency, but I dont know that a team in our position should be trading out best or bordeline best 22 players at this stage of their developement, especially as he's just notched up 50 games which for us is relatively experienced. What we are crying out for is a Kane Cornes type, that is hard and can win his own ball in the middle, too often our smaller bodies are getting smashed in the clearances, I think its our biggest structural weakness at the moment.

And now for a stab at the final bench. I/C (from): Cale Morton, Jordie McKenzie, Joel Macdonald, Tom McNamara, Jeremy Howe, Daniel Nicholson, Jack Fitzpatrick You'd think with Petterd out injured, there's no way they would not select Howe. MacDonald has been as good as he has been bad the last few weeks, but unlike not many others he attacks the ball ferociously and doesnt deserve to be dropped. McKenzie similarly is a workhorse whose workrate cannot be questioned, albeit he lacks polish. He doesnt deserve to be dropped. Morton comes off his best game for quite some time so is safe also,despite his many detractors on here (and yes, i was screaming at him to attack the contest in vain last week too). Fitzpatrick, McNamara, Nicholson the subs for mine, although they may be tempted to utiilise Nicholsons pace given Davey and Sylvia are out who quite often provide run (well Davey used to). A case can be made that McNamara will also be selected, as usually when players are elevated they get the call up that week, although I've seen enough of him both as a defender and midfielder to not get very excited.

Tom McDonald to debut, congratulations Tom thorougly deserved! And Fitpatrick on the bench 'froms' to also potentially debut: B: Colin Garland, James Frawley, Clint Bartram HB: Luke Tapscott, Jared Rivers, Tom McDonald C: Sam Blease, Brent Moloney, Jack Trengove HF: Tom Scully, Stef Martin, Brad Green F: Liam Jurrah, Jack Watts, Jamie Bennell FOLL: Mark Jamar, Neville Jetta, Nathan Jones I/C (from): Cale Morton, Jordie McKenzie, Joel Macdonald, Tom McNamara, Jeremy Howe, Daniel Nicholson, Jack Fitzpatrick IN: Tom McNamara, Luke Tapscott, Jack Fitzpatrick, Neville Jetta, Tom McDonald, Daniel Nicholson OUT: Aaron Davey (suspension), Colin Sylvia (suspension), Ricky Petterd (quadriceps) NEW: Tom McDonald, Jack Fitzpatrick