DemonDave

Hmm, so no Sylvia, Whelan or Wheatley all who may have been expected back? (Rivers and Carroll hopefully the week ater)...

Dr Turf, aka John Rothfield, is someone who has an opinion on everything. He was fired from 3AW about 18 months ago for being too opinionated. His brother, Mark, has been on the Melbourne board for some time, I'm not sure if he still is though. So they are undoubtedly passionate Melbourne fans, and its good that Turf is continually putting us in the spotlight whenever he has a mike thrust in front of him. However most of the time it's in the negative tense. Maybe he could invest some of the $32 Million he received for selling a CBD car park block he owned 2 years ago back into the club? Still, apart from Garry Lyon, which other 'Melbourne' media people are keeping us in the public eye nowadays, I say keep it up Doctor.

Seen him heaps at Sandy, and so know how he played there. Thought his defensive pressure was great, but off the ball struggled somewhat with keeping up with his opponents when they were rebounding up the ground, as the Crows do in numbers so quickly. This was my perspective from being at the game, so not just what you see on TV. Having said that, seemed to run out all 4 quarters reasonably well so looks like his motor will be big enough for AFL standard...

I spoke to Sean Wellman at the aftermatch function, and he said it was a knock on the hip, and he'd be out 'for a couple', and also that Carroll had a bit of a hamstring niggle and would miss next week most likely too...

Thaks Barry, I was in Brisbane at the time of the Bendigo game, surprisingly it wasnt on TV up there, so didnt see the Bendigo game. Sad to hear he doesnt play Jazz with a name like that! I thought McNamara showed a fair bit in the pre-season game against Geelong, despite his young age and small frame, surprised he hasnt pushed sooner for a Sandy seniors game. Finally, do you know how Gallagher and Hughes are progressing in their long-term injury recuperation?

Is that Fats Waller on the Half-Forward flank? Can any of the Sandy regulars tell us who this is? And how far away do you think McNamara and Zomer are from getting games? Still no Weetra I see ...

Who exactly are the number 1 and 2 qualifiers decided from? NT/Tas/Qld/NSW? Maybe a good chance to see some young guns before the Dawks game...

Haha, Condemned84 did you wear your 'Trotters' kit to the game, I saw someone wearing one anyway! Lucky for you my Spurs put Reading down into the drop zone...

Well Garland and Bell were the replacements for Sylvia and Whelan in the selected side who withdrew because of injury/illness, so if he is to come back into the side it would be at the expense of one of those two you would say... Gut feeling is he'd get one game at Sandy to ensure he has full confidence in his hamstring before returning...

Sylvia got injured at the end of training on Friday evening, a hamstring strain, not sure of the severity of it in terms of games he will miss, but bad timing for Col just as he was establishing himself in the side...

Then go find the tape of Round 3 this year against the Cats. Brock was BOG up to half time, forcing Geelong to place Ling on him in a tagging role.

Agreed, that was a big thing for us. These 3 would probably considered the 'weakest' of the 22 that lined up yesterday. Jamar made a huge difference in the middle with his body size against Sandilands, who was just too strong and tall for White to counter, every time he wasnt taking bounces in the centre, we were getting smashed in clearances. Warnock continues to improve bit by bit each week he's in, he showed signs against Brisbane and continued that. He looks too similar to Bruce/Junior/Morton and so I didnt realise how much he had of it till I saw the replay and realised it was him and not one of that trio. And Garland, that misguided punch that lead to Farmers goal in the last aside, easily played his 2nd best game for us (his debut against Swans being the benchmark), he actually showed some of that ability that he shows at Sandy where he looks quite classy, if he can gain confidence at this level he may yet turn into a handy AFL player

Yep I was with you unstable_punt, the absolute sitter that he dropped in front of the faithful, was inexcusable as it was the umpteenth easy mark he'd dropped, and then to top if off by getting run down and pinged for holding the ball by Aaron Sandilands of all players, was the final straw. He rightfully got dragged for that calamitous clanger, only to return to the field a minute or so later to my chagrin. My, what a difference a halfs worth of football makes, Bater was simply awesome in the second half, he just seems to run to the right spot in the clinches, and while he still gets tackled taking guys on far too often, he is only going to get better...

Brock is a bit of an enigma, in that when he's running in the general field of play, he looks like he's running in quicksand. And yet he's been our leading posession winner for the year, and easily along with Jones our most effective midfielder over that time. And his passes to leading forwards are exceptional, have a look at the replay again and just enjoy those hits to Green, Robbo et al. A joy to watch. Now that Trav has departed, I'd say he's our best player at hitting the leading forward on the chest.

Just make sure you're wearing several sets of thermals, and it probably wouldnt hurt to take a sherpa. One of the coldest grounds you'll ever goto!

Garry Buckenara and Jim Stynes also re-create the famous running over the mark and shot for goal after the siren during this telecast as well, there was a photo of it in the paper the other day from the housing estate that Waverley Park now is...

As an aside to this debate, I was at the Gabba on Sunday, and one incident I particularly took notice of with Sylvia. The ball was quickly switched out of defence by the Lions, and there were 2 Brisbane players in the clear, and Col. Sylvia, instead of going to the man, summed up the situation, and instead ran away from the player who'd gathered, following him inbound, the Lions player (I think it was Rischitelli, not 100%) then strolled in, and from 45 metres out completely unguarded kicked the easiest of goals. All Sylvia had to do was make a contest, and force the two Lions players to commit to a give'n'go scenario. Eventually Bartram ran back to place to man up on the Lions player who'd kicked the goal, and Sylvia jogged upto him and gave him a fierce tongue-lashing that lasted for a good 20 seconds, which was a somewhat puzzling and petulant display given Sylvias decision making in the contest. Is this sort of display seen as leadership or petulance?

I thought this thread was going to be something about him always drinking some fancy kind of cocktail as he likes them so much...oh well....

Also worth mentioning the total disorganisation whereby the function didnt even have a PA system in place, so Monaghan had to yell to introduce PJ, who in turn had to yell etc. It was pretty poor of some of the supporters having a crack at PJ while he was mingling, whoever they were they should be ashamed, here's a guy whos given up his time, answered questions honestly and forthrightly and signed as many autographs and had photos taken with virtually everyone in the room, and they took cheap potshots at him from their seats. Poor form. Lets hope the Pineapple is rocking this Sunday, I cant wait to sing the song there! *ahem*

Yep you could see the raw emotion of the big fella just under the surface, especially when he confirmed this was his last year..Well done to the Skipper for sticking it to the MCC too...

I was very pleased with Frawleys game, he attacked the ball well, ran straight and thought a bit about where his posession was going to go. Despite that ungainly style, his kicking was pretty effective. I also thought it was a good move to put him on Fevola in the last quarter to give him a bit of taste of what its like to play on one of the competitions elite that is in fine form. Really felt for him where he attached the footy in front of Fev, did everything right but got a cruel bounce and Fev somehow soccered it through from beneath Chips legs. Great goal, but Frawley was desperately unlucky there. Frawley seemed to ignore the game plan of stop and look sideways to handball to a guy standing still, instead he put the head down and ran, and made a lot of the more experienced defenders look stupid. Well done, now lets play him for a good stretch of games to give him some confidence at AFL level.

And just look at that faux-blonde's coaching record in the WAFL so far this year, a very Melbourne like 0-4. Well done to Daniel Bell, he's overcome some serious injuries (that finger injury), and some serious personal traumas (losing his mate Troy) as well as an early battle with believing in his ability to make it, thus he thoroughly deserves his moment in the sun this weekend. And yeah lets hope we can win for him!

I believe he even played for the Sandy 2nds last week. Quite a swift fall from grace!

Hey! We're still contending for the finals this year! Cameron Bruce told us so

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