DemonDave

Drop Ben Holland? Sounds like a plan. We may as well drop Robbo too, I saw him drop a mark last night, and David Neitz missed an easy goal in that last quarter too. Drop him for Michael Newton who at least knows how to kick goals. For that matter, Travis Johnstone got thrashed by Baker, give him a run in the VFL to get some form too.

Why on earth would Holland be omitted? So CJ or Ward can play on Kosi? Ridiculous. Dutchy takes him, or the resting ruckman, and Carroll takes Gehrig. The Saints Team reads as: St Kilda Team Backs: Steven Baker, Sam Fisher,Brendan Goodard Halfbacks: Jason Gram, Matt Maguire, Leigh Fisher Centreline: Andrew Thompson, Luke Ball, Leigh Montagna Halfforwards: Robert Harvey, Justin Koschitzke, Jason Blake Forwards: Xavier Clarke, Fraser Gehrig, Stephen Milne Followers: Matthew Clarke, Lenny Hayes, Nick Dal Santo Interchange: Jayden Attard, Aaron Fiora, Andrew McQualter, Michael Rix EmergencyL Shane Birss, Barry Brooks, Brett Voss They've got two talls, and a possible resting ruckman in Blake (they have selected 3 ruckmen). The other forwards are crumbers or resting onballers. The teams are in, the excitements building, bring on the game!!

I'd doubt they'd use an opinion piece by some AFL hack as their motivation for tomorrow night! Maybe under the auspices of Grant 'Cornflakes' Thomas they would, but I think Ross Lyon has slightly more intelligence than Grant. I'd say the video of last years Final would have had a fair play in the clubrooms this week as motivation instead...

Great news, it means he'll be captain when he next comes out of contract...

West Coast has suspended former captain Ben Cousins indefinitely. The Brownlow Medallist has been suspended for breaking team rules after missing a weights session on Sunday morning, chairman Dalton Gooding confirmed today. "Ben has a number of very personal and private drug issues which the club is helping him to work through," Gooding said. Gooding said the length of the suspension was not set, but could be as long as the entire season. Throughout the suspension, Cousins will not be able to train at the club. This is a similar punishment to that handed out to Michael Gardiner last year before he was sacked by the club. Cousins will not be playing for his WAFL club, East Perth, this weekend.

You could go straight to the source and ask him if he has one, apparently he's coaching St Bede's at the moment, contact details are on this page: http://www.stbedesmentonetigers.com.au/Mai...%20Contacts.asp

The thing that pleases me most about this squad is Brent Moloneys name again being listed, suggesting his revival is gathering a nice pace. He seemed to get through the 2 1/2 quarters he played last week rather well, having a growing influence as the game went on. If we can get 20 games out of him this year, we'll be travelling very nicely.

Most points have already been covered, but a couple of observations: - Robertson was thrashed by Gaspar - Carroll was also soundly beaten on the lead several times by Pettifer and Schulze - Deledio kicked what was clearly a goal early in the 1st quarter, and it was given a point to everyones amazement. - Polak tried to line up and take out Fergs just before 3/4 time, hardly seemed to connect, and his reward for a cowardly act was injuring his shoulder and sitting out the rest of the game. Quality stuff from the new Tigers recruit. - The form of our 3 marking forwards after Neitz: Miller, Robbo and Dunne, is a big worry right now.

Let me do a bit of crystal balling and guess what some peoples match reviews will say: "Yze hardly got a kick, looked disinterested and soft, should be dropped for Round 1" "Brad Miller, WTF?" "Godders was Godders" "Nathan Jones carved them up, but only for a half" "Chris Johnson looked comfortable at this level" "Mark Jamar hardly touched the ball around the ground, and Paul Johnson was hopeless in the hitouts" Seems like I hardly need to go therefore, but probably will anyway. PS. By the way, dont get me wrong I really appreciate the match reports people do, hopefully no offence is taken

Exactly how many games would the average MFC/MCC supporter want to attend down at Skilled Stadium this year? None! My AFL Club-Support membership does not even get me into that dung-hill of a ground, I have to fork out more hard earned for the right to stand amongst the ferals, or even more exorbitant dollars if I want a seat. I think this is a great initiative, as it will give a more accurate indication of exactly how many members melbourne could have if MCC Melbourne supporters were included...

Any relation to ex-Zebra Heath Tregear I wonder? Anyone know if there are any major injuries or anyone in the long-term rehab group down at TBO over the summer?

AFL Club Support gets us in... [From the AFL Members email received at 2PM] AFL Members can scan their card at any gate for entry to the matches listed below: Carlton v Essendon, Telstra Dome, Saturday 24th February (N), 18.10 LOCAL 18.10 AEST* St Kilda v Brisbane Lions, Cazaly Stadium, Saturday 24th February (N), 19.40 LOCAL 20.40 AEST* Geelong v Richmond, Skilled Stadium, Sunday 25th February, 15.40 LOCAL 15.40 AEST* Melbourne v Hawthorn, Telstra Dome, Sunday 25th February (N), 18.10 LOCAL 18.10 AEST* Can't wait!!!

I can't see any more from all the bright flashing ads...seriously can they fit anymore onto what was already a busy page??

Both David Neitz and Neale Daniher stated emphatically that our skipper would be playing on Sunday at the Family Day. I think we can put to rest any doubts over his starting status....

I was at Family Day, and the guernsey presentations skipped from Number 8 straight through to Number 11 (With Neita being presented last as Captain). No surprise really that he was a no-show, but no mention was made of his absence disappointingly...

Not sure I agree there, if you were a regular fullback, Buckley would be too quick and clever for you (yes, even though he will have lost pace, a slowing midfielder is better than a behemoth full-forward for sustained pace not just over 10 meters.), If you put a flanker on him, he may be able to out-muscle them. Not that I'm a member of the Nathan Buckley fan club, I can't stand the arrogant sod. However as someone else has pointed out, he'll now play a Riciuto-type role probably for the rest of his career. I went and watched Collingwood play the Lions at the MCG (don't asky why!), and he got moved to Full-Forward and single handedly won the game for them. Not saying this will happen every week but he will be a handful for teams at times... Nothing i'm sure Riv or Fergs or Belly couldn't handle though!

Aah now you're taking me back! Standing in dirt in the outer, right near the ludicrously hard-to-get-into coaches box perched high on the Doug Hawkins wing. Standing on tip-toes to see everything, wondering what happened to Dollars after he got stretchered off. The roar when news came through on all the Panasonic transistors. THe sheer pandemonium and celebrations when the siren went. Probably also keeping track of 'G vs H' and "J vs K" score updates on the Western Oval scoreboard for completists sake too... Happy Days!

Hehe, he sure was! Me and a few mates are having a DVD night this Friday to relive that match in its entirety now its available on DVD from the club. To think that was 20 years ago is staggering, I remember it like it was yesterday! I think it was called the Panasonic Cup by that stage...

Danny Hughes and Jace Bode both played 15-20 games each for Sandringham, so surely you can form an opinion on the evidence presented in these games more constructively than you can one Escort Cup game. Remember, Andre Gianfagna also looked like a 'superstar' in that game, and he barely played a Sandringham senior game after that. Hughes reminds me somewhat of a more skilled and slightly bigger bodied Cam Hunter, he looks good for Sandringham, but would get slaughtered because of his body shape in the AFL. He'd have to have an absolutely stunning season for them to be promoted onto our senior list.

Agreed. Compared to most of the other aboriginal boys, he looked stupendously overweight. But most of those boys however are stick-thin. His impact on the game was minimal, but glimpses of the '06 model Pickett were definitely evident. He's not overweight, and yet he doesn't look trim and terrific either.

I watched the game last night too, and for the first quarter at least it did appear as if Davey and Krakouer were playing as the leading 'traditional' forwards. The sight of Davey leaping up on a lead, it going over his head and being smashed away by Mal Michael and/or Dustin Fletcher was laughable. His goal from deep on the bounadry line was a gem though. As for Pickett, he didnt seem to start on the ground, but the times that he was on he looked his usual swooping, menacing self. There's no question this game means a lot to the indigenous players, Jeff Farmer was unavailable because of injury, but paid his own way just to be there. The game was scrappy and fairly uninspiring, but it was the first competitive game of the year so I wasnt gonna miss it!

Do all you people work for Foxtel or something? Firstly, you'll need to stump up $100 or so for installation. At some times, Foxtel offer this installation for free, so essentially the fee would normally be pure profit for Foxtel anyway. Secondly, yes you could sign up for Foxtel, but you have to sign up for a minimum 24 months. Thats 2 years x $36.95, their minimum package. Almost $1000 which is a fair whack of money. If you want to stop Foxtel after the footy finishes in September, you'll need to stump up $290 or $380 as a cancellation fee, depending on which plan you're on. Thirdly, if you are giving up your weekly $13 movie ticket to get Foxtel instead, you wont be able to watch movies as part of that $36.95 a month. You'll need to cough up an additional $13 or so to watch movies. Call me cynical, but I think Foxtel's business model is fatally flawed, the lack of flexibility and choice for consumers is whats stopping them getting a bigger subscriber base. Me? I'll go down to my local to watch the games that are on Foxtel again this year, happily not giving the Murdochs and Packers of this world anymore of my hard earned than we are already forced to shell out. And I will continue to go see current movies at my local cinema house. /rant off. Dave

And a further round of applause for the Lions for digging in and ridiculing Eddie McChins and the rest of the Collingwood heirarchy's pig-headed and arrogant attitude to their alternate strip.

1. Melbourne - contenders or pretenders? Not yet, pretenders again. 2. (a) Where will the Demons finish after 22 rounds? 5th ( Where will the Demons finish after the finals? 5th 3. What will our season highlight be? David Neitz's 300th Game. 4. Will the Demons beat the Eagles at Subiaco? No. I expect a similar game to this year, we'll be in the game for 3 quarters and run out of legs. 5. Who is our best Brownlow chance? Cameron Bruce 6. After a loss do you take (a) a Bex Powder or ( a Panadol? Double the alcohol. 7. Your back page headline prediction. Best since '64 says Ridley after Round 11. 8. Will the Demons re-sign Neale Daniher? Yes 9. Who will be the first AFL coach to be sacked? Dean Laidley 10. Which Demons will make All Australian? Nathan Carroll, Cameron Bruce, Brock McLean 11. Would you be happy if we won the NAB Cup? Yes 12. Our biggest victory and against who? 72 points against hapless Kangaroos. Neitz kicks 8, Dunne Kicks 4, Davey 3. 13. Will Carlton go the Trifecta? No 14. Our win loss ratio? 14-8. 15. Will Mark Jamar have a stellar season? No, too much competition from Johnson and Neaves, and he's too injury prone 16. Will Sandringham make it a 4peat? No, too many good Melbourne listed players have gone that would otherwise play. Expect them to make the Prelim though. 17. Will Eddie discard the Versace and defect to Peter Jackson? Will Grant Thomas make a surprise return to the Saints? No to Both. Will Eddie continually pump the tyres of his underperforming Pies? Yes. 18. Who will be the MFC's first debutant for 2007? Michael Newton, ROund 7. 19. First MFC player reported and suspended? Moloney on Both. 20. Goal prediction tally - (a) Neita 62 ( Robbo 33 © Flash 36

They're not working? I was able to use the controls and the message appeared to send OK. No error messages or such. Can you confirm Mark if you got my PM??