titan_uranus

So long as they lose it doesn't matter how. But I'd love for them to get a long, long way in front, see Joffa pull out the gold jacket, hear the Collingwood chant go up, then have St Kilda or the Dogs fight back and win.

Of the players they've signed up so far, Rischitelli is the only decent one. Bock's past his best, Brown is an untalented thug who adds nothing but grunt (useful to a point) and Krakouer is pacy but pretty crap all up. Ablett would help enormously, but even then there's not a hell of a lot of mature-aged talent. Some of the kids are good (e.g Swallow) but they won't just turn up to AFL football and win games. With Ablett, maybe one other really good player, and what they've got now I can see them taking a while to get going (a la Richmond this year), but winning some games towards the end of the year. 9-12 would be a good result IMO.

Ling was appalling. Podsiadly was once again exposed as the slow over-rated peddler that he is. Hawkins is terrible, always has been. Milburn's over the hill, Scarlett's getting close. Byrnes is untalented and the only goals he kicks are in the goalsquare. Mooney is the worst triple-premiership player I've ever seen. If Ablett didn't play last night (what an absolute gun) they would have lost by another 6 goals. He was extraordinary.

I would have thought Brad Miller gave his all to the club, was a fantastic club man, a good leader as well. And it's not like Jones is one of our stars.

Bennell. Jetta. Maric. It's not just Wonna. If the basis for drafting someone is that they wouldn't be detrimental then an argument could be made for taking basically anyone. The fact is we don't need a small forward, and Alwyn Davey isn't even that good.

No. Wouldn't even be a priority if Alwyn Davey was a half-decent player.

No the AFL only invites a few from each club. All previous winners (with some exceptions, as I believe Akermanis was not invited) and all captains get invited automatically, so then the AFL picks some of the other 'big-name' or likely high-vote getters from each club to go.

Not good enough. Next.

No. Stanton is terrible. Slower than most, can't kick, doesn't get enough of the ball when it matters (i.e. first half clearances), can't play forward, can't play back, goes missing for long period, doesn't lead. Just a crap player. No. Dempsey is over-rated and just not that good. Pace is nice but isn't enough to make you a decent AFL player. He is totally unaccountable and his disposal is iffy.

Hayes not being selected makes the team border-line redundant. Hayes should be in the centre, and you could mount a case for him being captain. Terrible call. Pavlich also should be there, if not at Franklin's expense then at Jamar's. Yes, Jamar was the second best ruck of the year, that's unquestionable, but to say Jamar's 2010 was AA-standard but Pavlich's wasn't, just because Jamar is a ruckman and Pavlich is not, is wrong IMO. I'd have forgone the second ruckman (maybe Franklin) and had Pavlich there. Steve Johnson was not AA this year. Not even close IMO. I went over his stats in the AA squad thread and to me they just don't stack up, not just when compared to Green but to the other members of the team. I'd have Green in for him too. Well done to Frawley and Jamar for making it though. As I said, Jamar was without a doubt the second best ruck this year, and Frawley was superb all year.

No problems with any of the signings there. Bate didn't have the best year and I'm not convinced he's in our best 22 at the moment, but that's not to say he can't get there, nor that he doesn't deserve a spot on the list.

Alwyn Davey sucks. Nathan Jones isn't exactly a star, but we'd be losing out massively if we got Davey for Jones.

Wow, really? It was low, but I didn't realise that's how bad it was! Prices are definitely too high, but the AFL will just point to the likely 90,000 there this week and say that people show up.

What was wrong with last night's combo? White shorts shouldn't be an automatic thing for the away side. Clearly last night it made a lot more sense to put Geelong in white shorts (on account of their white jumper) and Fremantle in their purple home jumper. Otherwise Geelong would have had blue shorts, and there's no need for them to wear dark colours against Fremantle. Or Fremantle would have worn their white jumper which would have been stupid as Geelong wears white.

I seemed to think this year that the red was really close to being a pink, rather than a true red. I never noticed that in any other year. I have no idea if anything changed or if I'm just losing it, but I hope next year if we do have a change of apparel sponsor that maybe the colour can change.

You can, depending on what your definition of 'work rate' is. I take it to include things like second efforts and chasing. Those were severely lacking in Bate's game when he wasn't playing well this year (which was most of his games). So I thus question it. I'm with you BRFE. Not so much that he has more potential than Strauss, as Strauss has potential too, but I reckon McNamara might make it more than I think Strauss will. Plus Strauss plays HBF/wing, positions that aren't of a great need for us at the moment, whereas McNamara can play forward or back.

Touche. If you're big signings are Bock (past it), Krakouer (average at best) and Brown (a thug with little skill) you're not doing great. Of course they'll probably add Rischitelli, Brennan and maybe Ablett to that which adds a whole lot of class but they're not exactly swooping on the cream of the AFL crop at the moment.

So does Cheney, but there aren't many who think he's a best 22 player. Face it, people. Jones is just average. Losing him would be far from the end of the world.

I'm sure Pavlich wants to leave Fremantle now. After spending 10 years with them, the majority of those in the bottom 8 with a crap team around him, now leading them as captain with a talented young list that is into a semi final. Yep, that sounds to me like a club you just don't want to be at.

Might wait another two weeks so that they can get Harbrow at the same presser.

Jones is as far from 'required' as can be. He is a run-of-the-mill midfielder. He is slow. He isn't the best disposal of the ball. He doesn't offer anything as a forward and less as a defender. He's not that good a tagger either. And we have similar players in Moloney and McKenzie who are better than he is. It's unfortunate when you consider the amount of work he put in through 2008-9 when we were rubbish and we relied on him to do a lot of brute force work in the middle when he was still young, but truth be told, we have a lot of talent on our list and you can't fit everyone into the side. Jones is a fair chance to be squeezed out the edges as the more skilled players come through.

Gee, that's not an exaggeration, is it? Less time from Geelong to the G than South Yarra to Carlton? Rubbish. Last night's crowd was 64,000 or so. Involving Collingwood. That's a pretty poor crowd, a worse figure than the Friday night game given Collingwood was involved, but it again underlines the effect the weather has on attendances, especially in finals where the ticket prices are a lot higher. Really heavy rain was forecast and was the talk of the town all day. People just don't like going when the weather is inclement, and to expect Geelong, the least-supported Victorian club in Melbourne, and St Kilda to pull a massive crowd in the wet is a big ask.

Because it worked the way they did it. I don't think Geelong, or their supporters, care much about the colour of their shorts. Certainly not like some MFC supporters...

Much prefer his idea of 4 nominations per month, rather than 1 per week. 4 per month allows for much greater flexability, rewards consistency (e.g. McKenzie) vs one good game (e.g. Gysberts). Would be a much better system.

Agreed. There's nothing wrong with the current system. The McIntyre system doesn't reward good home and away form in that the teams who finish 3rd and 4th can theoretically be eliminated in the first week of the finals. In our system you get that second chance as a reward for putting in the effort in the home and away season.