Wiseblood

Never seen so much 'woe is our team selection' for a NAB Cup game in this history of this board. Rather than be pleased to see Hogan, Fitzy and Watts back we are too busy being negative about who isn't playing. We looked darn good last week, the least we can do is be pleased that we have added more talent to the team and that hopefully we can back it up as best we can.

No, he is playing for St. Mary's in the Geelong Football League.

Depends on how both teams approach it. It's not an 'official' NAB Challenge game so both sides might rest a few of their bigger names and give some of the fringe players some time to impress in their last game before the season begins. If we were to get rolled rather easily in such a game I don't think Roos will allow it to have any adverse effect on the playing group.

Spot on. While it would be fantastic to see him out there for the first game, I'd much rather the club look after the talls and make sure they are not only right for other games in the NAB Cup, but ready to go for the season proper when it really matters. If we don't have a forward line for Friday night then we concentrate on the midfield and the game plan as a whole and see how it's implemented. There will be plenty of positives, even if we don't really have anyone to kick the ball too once we get forward of the center!

I'm stating the obvious but it's a big year for Mitch. If Dawes and Hogan are right to go for Rd. 1 with Howe down there as well then I think we can let Clark take his time and get back when he is ready. I just think the club is being VERY cautious, as we clearly brought him back too early last year.

He may not have used those exact words but I've seen him give those sentiments in interviews over and over again.

So the fact that Neeld put the senior players off side early on by telling they had little to offer, changing expectations continually through the year (and particularly the pre-season) and implementing a game plan that doesn't work is not something you are willing to subscribe to? And I agree, it's time to just do, but Roos can't ignore questions and interviews for the rest of the year. "Sorry guys, jumbo from Demonland thinks we should just do now so, if you don't mind, I won't be answering any questions or giving any interviews again until November because, you know... it's time to just do and nothing else...."

The only comparison he made between Watts and Goodes is his running capacity. Didn't say he was Adam Goodes, plays football like Adam Goodes or will be a brownlow medallist like Adam Goodes. All he said was that Goodes and Watts had similar tanks, which would allow Watts to have the ability to run both ways. Nothing wrong, or hypocritical, with that.

Well said. I'm in the 'sick of the spin' group and I found the article refreshing. There was no spin, no BS and no 'this player will be the great white hope' stuff. He was honest, candid and spot on with his comments. Bailey did some things wrong, no doubt about it, but clearly Neeld and his 'team' left us an absolute rabble that will take us some time to back up from. I don't argue that the players still hold some blame, but I feel as though many of those have moved on over the years like Moloney and Rivers. His comment that 10 players would have walked out on the club had they been out of contract was the one that hit home the most. It will take time to heal the scars and improve the confidence but, under Roos, I'm quietly confident that we are headed in the right direction.

Nah the real initials are BS with brown stuff dribbling down the chin...

They aren't that flash for talls though outside of Cloke and Reid at both ends. Midfield will be awesome though.

True but they had no option - Shaw was still contracted so they had to do a trade of some sort. They either let Adams go for nothing as there didn't seem to be any late moves for him, or they trade him for the bloke they want. They were always going to be losers out of the trade, but at least this way they minimise the damage.

Not what I said at all. I'm specifically talking about this trade period, which is just two days shy of finishing up. What I'm saying is that this off season has been very good for the club. You might say terrific. Outside of adding Tyson, Vince, Michie and Pick 9 to our midfield, we add Hogan to the mix and Clark looks to be over his foot injuries. Add Roos on top of all this and it's the first time in a long time we've looked good coming out of one of these periods. And I think it's all we need to do for this off season. Now we look to the 2014 season and improving our on field fortunes and off field stability. Then we look to be aggressive again in the 2014 trade period and even the 2015 one by adding more talent through free agency/trading and adding the extra pieces we need to become a flag contender. I know we need to improve it more, and if another deal came up in this trade period that was too good to refuse then we jump all over it. But if it doesn't then we need to content with the efforts we have made over the last 3 weeks and look to winning some games of football in 2014.

Not sure what the word means? Seriously though, stellar contribution. All I'm saying is that I think we've done very well and there is no need to push through anything else unless it's a deal that's too good to refuse. We've added the right pieces to start the climb back up the ladder and we can build on that in the coming years when more players are open to the idea of playing for us.

I think for this off season we have done enough trading. We have added some very good pieces to go with some, hopefully, good draft selections. We can start to improve and consolidate our list while also starting to regain some respect. Come the end of 2014 we can hopefully entice a few more players (and get Billy Stretch via F/S) who are now more willing to play for our club now that they see the improvements we have made. I think we've done extremely well to not only cut some fat from our list but also add some legitimately good pieces along the way. No need to get greedy now.

The name Mackay should be synonymous with the fact that he was the guy who rejected us last year. Not necessarily just a crack at you, just seems as though the PSD is the cure for every player no matter how big their contract is on this board.

How can he go to the PSD when he signed a contract last year after we offered him big bucks? The total dis-regard for logic in this thread is unbelievable sometimes.

Unless he were to fall through to the PSD I don't think the club has any interest in him at all. Mahoney stated after the Tyson trade that we wouldn't be doing anything else with GWS. Frankly I don't want a bloke who doesn't really want to play for us. It's the last thing we need.

Haven't seen that mentioned anywhere.

Existing Swans style? The same one that Roos created and Longmire built upon? Tappy will flourish under Roos. Just the king of long kicking, hard nut style player he likes. No need to give him away. Plus Lamb has all but re-signed with the Swans.

Going by Mahoney's comments today the club were keen to stay inside the top 10, which says to me they won't be doing anything but using that pick in the draft. Mahoney actually commented on SEN that we wouldn't be doing anymore business with GWS. Doesn't mean we wouldn't do anything if something pretty special came up, but I think Pick 9 is a 99% chance of staying with us.

I'm as pumped as anyone about today. Small minds are those that can't spell the names of their own players correctly. It isn't hard but this isn't the time or the thread for it, so because you seem upset, I'll move on.

Or getting through it without someone spelling his name incorrectly. Toumpas. Is it so hard?

Where did you pull Cross from? Far from signed, sealed and delivered to the club. Agree with your sentiments though.

Good and fair trade IMO. Vince fills a need and it's a fair price to pay for that as well. Vince, Tyson, Michie and still Pick 9 to come as well. Has been a very good off season so far!