Dante

I'm not against the National Competition and I realise that if we didn't expand we would have eventually disappeared, that said it was a great competition for many years with the inter suburb rivalry. You should be impressed with he GWS, they have done well in the draft and in trading picks to the feeder clubs, like the rest of the competition and they have been, indeed fortunate that they have been able to hand pick the top players they required from the rest of the clubs in the competition. The AFL has poured $millions in to them and given them the biggest leg up ever known, if they couldn't succeed with that start, then you would have to ask the question; would the future of the AFL itself be in doubt. Was the competition becoming just another bigger version of the VFL with the same long term future? Don't you think that we could have done equally as well if the AFL decided to restructure our club and tip in $100m over 5 years and offering up 10 of the top 20 in a few year's drafts in a row? How do you think PJ would feel if he went in every day knowing that money was no object and Roos had so much talent he had to tip some out because he only had to field one side week? Wouldn't it be good to make a $6m mistake and not have to worry about it because there was more where that came from? Just as a matter of interest, where did the AFL get the money for this little adventure; from the traditional clubs, that's where. GWS have had a leg up, well that's a bit of an understatement, don't you think? Let's see how they are travelling in 10 years time when the money has run out, ask Brisbane about that, and they still have a membership under 20,000. GWS are there for the TV rights and that's all, the AFL are clever in doing this but will it all fall apart when the club's like GC, Brisbane and eventually GWS prove to be ratings disasters.

So we need to raise taxes so we can pay for them.

I believe that, to date, Roos has delivered what he said he would and I have no doubt that when he says he will instill a style of play that is sustainable in finals matches, he will do that too. We are impatient, understandably, and want it to happen now but usually quick fixes unravel just as quickly. We've had good teams from time to time but I've never thought we had one good enough to win a flag, there were always flaws and we always lacked personnel, at the moment we are eliminating the flaws and gathering the personnel. We have a young side but very few senior leaders and until we have some of these we will struggle to compete with the best in the finals, we have to wait until our good younger players become leaders before we can hope for a Flag. That may take a few more years yet but when we have Hogan, Petracca, Brayshaw, Weed, Viney, Hunt, Wagner etc. on 50 to 80 games, we will be ready.

Are you saying Muslims in general are ok with homosexuality, and it's only the bad ones who condemn it? Or have I missed your point here?

I haven't read all of this thread so this may have already been mentioned, but I can't understand why there so many journos now putting in their two bob's worth and canning McGuire when they were silent on the issue for days after he said what he said. I don't condone it and I'm not a big fan of his but it seems as if this is, to a certain extent, a chance by some to stick the boots in. Where was the moral outrage on the Tuesday or Wednesday and why are some journos only now writing articles about it? There seems to be a new article every time I go online on the Age site and rather than cooling down, like one poster mentioned above, this seems to be growing to epic proportions. He was wrong and we all know that, he has apologized and we all know that, has Caro accepted his apology, not sure about that. I'm finding it difficult to sort the genuine outrage from the journos just out for a free kick.

I've lost count of the number of times I've seen players from our club and other clubs running behind the ball carrier, unable to catch him. I guess the true test will be if Trenners has the ball and his opponent can't catch him, or if he gets run down.

I haven't seen such panic kicking and handball in a football match, we have no plan and no structure, they are playing like a professional football side and we are playing park football.

You have to wonder if Watt's form will continue to improve, as the criticism from both inside and outside the club subsides. I'm surprised he continued to play after all the crap he copped in his first few years. He's been good this year and whilst some expect more of him, i'd be happy if he continued to play the way he is with a bit of improvement as we go along. He's 26 and probably has another 6 years in him which could bring him up to around 250 games which, if achieved, will be a very good outcome.

Reminds me too much of failure.

Maybe in the second half of the season, as the younger players tire, they might need a mature body or two to take their place as they rest. Good strategy so we don't cook the kids.

I like Jack and I'm glad to see him take the next step to becoming a seriously good player, my only concern is his tackling and it isn't a major concern. If he could tidy this up he could become a more complete player and maybe earn a few more free kicks and goals.

Jack's done well this year and hopefully he'll keep it up, my only criticism is his tackling it is, at times, awful. Sometimes when he has been fully involved in a chase down, he may not have the required energy to bring down an opponent, but sometimes he just flings his arms out as some sort of token. He's playing harder than he has before and if he could tidy up his tackling and bring a few down, making sure they felt it, that would be sensational. Bernie could give him a few lessons.

Dawes plays like a midfielder when the ball hits the ground and his second and third efforts keep the ball in our forward line. Dawes is very ordinary in the ruck and Pedo has him covered there but, unfortunately, Pedo goes missing for periods during the game and Dawes stays involved longer. Pedo is a much better mark and would probably kick more goals, but Dawes would probably do more of the little things that help others kick goals. I hope they both get a bit of time on ground this year, but I get the feeling Roosy would prefer Dawes over Pedo with Jack continuing to be relief rick.

And then there was BT's comment when Collingwood kicked the first goal of the last quarter, I can feel something special going on here, when the lead is under 30 points anything can happen, well it did, we kicked a few more goals and won easily.

Wonder if he will get on with the new coach as well as he did with Buckley? I guess the Buckley promise of playing in the forward line won't be on the table anymore. The only thing I'll say about Howe was, he was the the only source of enjoyment on some of the bleak days when were getting destroyed.

Perhaps the reason for the surprise is his slight build and child like looks when he was recruited. First glance and you'd have to wonder what the recruiters were on when he was drafted, but now he's filled out and has the size to match the speed. I'm not sure if he would be any better in the middle, he gets the chance to break lines coming off half back but it's a bit more restricted in the middle. Great pick up and congrats to the recruiters, I think we got the smart one of the Collingwood recruiting team, our selections have been great and theirs have been ordinary.

He only had 65% time on ground today so they are working him back in to the game and not pushing him too hard.

I didn't watch the game but the conditions were the same for both sides and we seem to have been unable to handle them, it is after all, a winter sport.

No, but I understand that the outlaws motorcycle gangs will provide you with all the ice you need, unfortunately, not the type you can ski on.

Who would have thought at the start of the year, we might see the two ex captains playing together again. All we need now is for Brayshaw and Petracca to appear on the ground together.

BenKen played a few good games and then he dropped off a bit, he was subsequently dropped and it appears, played a blinder in the two's, good enough by all accounts, to be elevated up to the firsts again. It will be interesting to see if Roos does play him in the firsts this week because of two things, Roos has insisted that players perform consistently in the two's before they get elevated and has being dropped given him a kick up the ass after getting too comfortable in the senior side. If he was getting comfortable Roos may leave him at Casey for a few more weeks so he doesn't do that again, all the players must realise they need to perform at their best every week not just when they feel threatened.

Stats only tell you a small part of the story, the rest is actually watching the game and seeing what a player does with the ball when he disposes of it and why he stuffs up when, seemingly, under no pressure. Kicking the ball to a contest when there are other options, is not a clanger stat but it is a mistake none the less. I don't base my criticism on what others say or think, I base me criticism on what I see and I see most games in Melbourne live and the rest on TV. Don't get me wrong, I like Tom and have a high regard for him as a player, but I'd like to see him eliminate the obvious mistakes from his game and if he did he could be one of the best in the competition. I'd also like to see him play down forward where his mistakes wouldn't cost us goals against. I was at the game on Saturday and behind me was a former champion Melbourne CHB, he spent quite a lot of the time saying, "Tommy" and it wasn't when he'd done something special it was when he'd made a mistake, he wasn't openly critical but you could tell by the tone of his voice that her was disappointed. There are many things that don't show up in the stats columns, either for or against a player and if there was a wrong option column, Tommy would feature heavily. I like Jack Grimes, but I know he makes bad decisions at times and I know that he will, at least once a game, kick the ball out on the full when he is under no pressure. I know that Tommy will fall over in a contest at least once a match and that will usually result in the opposition marking unopposed and goaling, I know that he gets out-bodied by the forwards quite regularly, but that doesn't show up as a stat either. I know he will regularly kick the ball out to a contest and it will bounce back quite often and result in a goal against us. If Tommy wants the big bucks and wants to be one of the best, he needs to work on his faults.

Do you get to many games? If you do I'm sure that you've seen him try to take on his opponent and get caught, with the resultant free usually resulting in a goal. I'm sure that if you speak to anyone that's watched a few games they will agree with that. It has happened enough times to be noticeable.

If we dropped every player when they had a bad day we'd make 4 or 5 changes a week, that's unsustainable. Jeffy is a confidence player and a few words from the coach might be more beneficial than a spell at Casey.

My problem is that he doesn't seem strong enough to hold even the second or third defender out. Tom has a lot of good attributes, he can take a great intercept mark, he can come from behind and spoil well, he's fast enough and get's the ball a bit, unfortunately when he gets the ball you wonder what he's going to do with it, when he takes off for a run he quite often gets caught because he doesn't have the strength to break tackles. I love players that take the game on but you have to know your limitations and after getting caught with the ball so many times, you'd think that Tommy would realise that that's one of his.