DemonDave

So Morton is not even named as a sub, we have a grand total of 41 games on our emergency list!

You'd think Jordie would struggle to play out the full game given he's been out for so long and played 6 quarters of VFL football all year, so he'd be a leading candidate to be the sub or subee. But its great to see him back!

John Butcher says hi....

I'm sure Brad Green had plenty of belief in the club when he joined in 2000, playing in a couple of finals in his first exciting year. Same with Bruce, Wheatley and Whelan. It doesnt mean that will equate to success.

Wouldnt the GWS talent spotters be derelict in their duties not to attend half a dozen or more VFL games, as well as SANFL and WAFL leagues, to flush out potential 'depth' recruits. I cant see the harm in them picking up half a dozen James Wall types from around these leagues to go with the half dozen or so senior AFL players they'll nab, and the 74 highly rated and drafted kids.

I was close to the bench as well Joeboy. From what I saw after he came back from the rooms he ran up and back a couple of times fairly gingerly. He then shook his head as if to say 'no its not right'. Half a minute later he was given a footy, went for a bounce, came back and gave the nod. So not sure you can blame either the fitness staff or the player for that one. For the query earlier about the Long Term Injury list, if you get placed on it you are not able to be selected in the seniors for 8 weeks. So it will be touch and go whether Fitzpatrick would be out for long enough, or indeed if there is a third player worthy of upgrading (assuming Grimes & Spencers spots get taken) .

Lucky Robert Flower was not starting out nowadays. "Too skinny, will only ever make it as an outside receiver" the cry would be. Morton played almost every game possible over his first two seasons, and teams cant be made up entirely of Moloney/Jones type players. Given our lack of depth in midfielders with (somewhat) experience, you'd think he'd come in for a crack this week.

From the @demonsHQ twitter some player stat counts: DemonsHQ: Possessions Morton 28, Mckenzie 24, McGough 22, Evans 22, Bate 20

Spoke to Rivers after the game he's definitely right for this week. And from what Ive heard from people at the Casey game today (not on here): Out: Garland, Bail (inj), Dunn (susp/omitt), Bennell, Jetta In: Rivers, Gawn, Bate, McKenzie, Evans/Blease Jetta was horrible yesterday, he seems to think he's Chris Judd when trying to work his way through traffic. He got caught for holding the ball at least three times yesterday that all lead to goals. I dont care if he has heaps of tackles, if hes turning over the ball when he has it with such monotonous regularity he cant be carried. Plenty of others on thin ice, Gysberts turned it over far too much but lack of competition will save him. It should not matter if youve only played 10 games, that is not an excuse for poor form and make you undroppable. Aussie was the same playing weight last week wasnt he? Seems when we're winning he's back, when we get whalloped hes too fat. Needs to get more than a handful of posessions and kick the goals when opportunities arise.

North Melbourne have done it the last two years. Its worked wonders for them so far....

Out: Jamar, Grimes, Trengove. In: No, Worthy, Replacements. Good god, we're either going to have to throw in a Leigh Brown sized guy in Martin, or someone whos played barely half a dozen VFL games of note in Gawn to ruck. Please no Jetta, I'd prefer we try Evans or Nicholson. Probably by default Joel Mac comes in for Frank, but his pre season form was abominable.

Have a look at the double page spread in todays Hun with the match review. THe two bigger pictures they guernseys look to have a pinkish hue. But the photo at the bottom of Watts and Garland tackling a hapless crow they look a nice dark red as does the fantastic photo on the back page of Greeny clasping his badge. So to me its as confusing as ever

Trengoves attack on the ball with an opponent coming in hard, to setup a goal on our attacking 50 metre line in that last quarter was inspirational. He had a ripping game yesterday!

I thought Clint Bartram was in our best half dozen today for his tagging job on Thompson, we didnt get many chances to boo him thankfully! It did seem strange seeing Barts win centre clearances and even kick a goal, the first time in a long time I can remember him having an 'onball' tag for a couple of years...

It seems so long ago when the great man was strutting his stuff, but then you see him beating Dustin Fletcher and realise just how long that geezer has been going...

Of course the problem for Green at the moment is he isnt showing great form or leadership on the ground, I might add.

Does it matter if a captain 'does good tv' or not? How many times have you seen Glass, Cassisi, McVeigh, Boyd etc on TV. I'd rather they lead by example on and off field, not necessarily on camera. Junior was obviously quite media shy and not a 'personality', didnt stop him being a great leader.

The important thing was they were out there fronting the media, pushing our barrow to get more members. Does it really matter if they were asked entirely predictable answers and gave corresponding answers? Some people complain we dont get enough airtime on the various footy shows around, and yet when we do people complain they dont tell us anything we dont already know! Its probably the first time Watts has been on and fronted up to a TV programme since the hulllabaloo after he was drafted died down, so its good to see the club is not hiding him away.

In reality (given McKenzie and Campbell are both named for Casey 2s) it should read: Scully (knee) - 4 weeks Blease (Concussion) - 1 week Strauss (kidney) - 2 weeks Thats the way I read it, any others? Either way its an impressively small list. Scully is the only one of our Best 22 not playing in any grade this weekend.

And yet McKenzie is named in the Casey reserves side....

Sack them all!

If the Tigers list is more balanced and experienced than our own, then who are their best 3 players over 23 years of age? And how do they compare with our best 3? Put simply their kids are playing better at an earlier age than ours. And yet they still find room in their side every week for Edwards, King and Brad Miller.

Wow! Cameron Wood, Chris Mayne, Ben Warren, Lachie Hansen, Easton Wood, Josh Hill. There's a team of future Brownlow medallists on their wishlist you could build a team around! These sort of 'non mainstream' sports sites will fill their pages with any kind of drivel that they consider 'an exclusive'

I read the above and immediately thought of Craig Bellamy. This intangible is what has made the Storm such a success over the last 6 years, and why Bellamy is considered one of the elite handful of coaches in that League. He takes washed up or out of favour veterans, and gives them a specific role to perform in the Storms structure. They invariably blossom and shine, and some take the opportunity to move onto different clubs to get a big final payday. But anyone who played under Bellamy and left always recommends other players to move to the club to get the chance to play under him. Needless to say the coach is universally loved and respected. Same goes for Roos.

I've only ever been there for AGMs when they used to be held there, and an hour after the meetings finished it was a bit like a ghost town in there. Zero atmosphere.