titan_uranus

Wouldn't that be something? Then at the bottom you'd have Richmond and Adelaide winless, West Coast with 1 win, one of Hawthorn and Essendon with just 1 win and the other with 2 and North with 2. So there'd be a fair gap developing already.

So I guess Brad Scott feels that because we share a similar name, that we are natural rivals then. As much as I like North, our rivals are the older clubs (Collingwood, Carlton, Geelong). North's rivals are more likely to be the 'newer' ones (St Kilda, Bulldogs, Gold Coast (get it...)). Should be interesting to see how many show up. If this was a Melbourne home game at the G, there'd be over 40,000 there (based on the Brisbane crowd). I'm tipping this week the crowd won't get to 30,000 and that will be mainly the fault of North Melbourne supporters. But I'd be happily proved wrong, it would be great to see two of the perenially low-drawing clubs get a big crowd once in a while (though that will probably come next week when I reckon a massive crowd will come to our game vs the Dogs).

You gotta love the fact that usually a thread like this is buzzing with complaints or congratulations at the selection committee as people see that we've made 3 or 4 changes. When we name an unchanged line-up it's just not the same.

... That's one of the few times I've read a post and burst out laughing. Well played my friend. (PS: enjoying Lost?)

Well yes, true. But Harris would then be in the same boat. To be honest, Johnson's the least-proven performer at T20 level. I'd be inclinced to not play him in T20s and get him to focus on Test cricket. Either way, I still think Bollinger should be in the squad.

Melbourne Team Backs: McDonald, Warnock, Frawley Half backs: Bruce, Garland, Bartram Centreline: Trengove, Davey, Jones Half forwards: Green, Petterd, Dunn Forwards: Sylvia, Bate, Martin Followers: Jamar, Grimes, Moloney I/C: MacDonald, McKenzie, Scully, Bennell Emergencies: Rivers, Bail, Spencer Unchanged.

Can someone please explain to me how Doug Bollinger has missed out on selection for the T20 World Cup? Ryan Harris, who was bordlerine useless for the Deccan Chargers this season, gets Lee's spot (a spot that Lee should never have had; time to retire Brett), whereas Bollinger starred for the ultimately successful team, and made the All-Star side. Ridiculous decision. Shows how little our selection panel knows about T20 cricket (which, let's be honest, is not exactly important when compared to Test cricket).

I agree, and suspect he'll poll 3 Brownlow votes for his performance. I thought he was finished as a player. Showed me up.

Agree. I wonder if this is Scott West's influence now becoming more visible.

Oh the irony...

No no, I fully appreciate that I got owned. I have no problems admitting that. (I may be bitter about other things, but I have no problem conceding defeat here). And are you being serious saying that you'd give YM credit for foresight and conviction? Talk about a hypothetical...

There's no doubt we're executing skills better, but I still firmly believe there has been a change in both our forward structure and the movements of our forwards. I see more leads towards the ball-carrier than previously, in part due to our forwards not pushing up all the way to half back, more to half forward. They still leave room behind for the lead back towards the goal, but the aren't too far up.

Trade - who are we going to have to let go to get him? Not worth it PSD - we'll end up picking after at least 3 teams this year, doubt he'll make it to us that way ND - similar problem It's just Scott Thompson, he's not that good.

Lol this was rpfc at his best. He then descended into that 'unreadable compromise' crap.

Needed to toot your own horn, did you rpfc?

Dunn. Just because I'm anti-Dunn... No seriously, his best is worse than Morton's average output, and is worse than probably the rest of our players' best. Bruce isn't playing well now, but as we all seem to have worked out he's going nowhere. Dunn, on the other hand, is just warming the seat IMO. Bartram's the other seat-warmer. But I think Morton and Dunn are more easily swappable than Morton and Bartram, if that makes sense.

Gee you're pathetic sometimes HT. I find it difficult to respect what comes out of your mouth/keyboard as half of the time it's just pandering to someone else. In this instance rpfc. As it is, our forwards are still 'pushing up the ground', something I have never liked. The difference is it's not as far, it's not as many of them, and it's clear now that they are prepared to lead towards the ball carrier if need be. None of that was present last year or in Round 1, hence my posts on the subject. I'm sure it's hilarious to you though.

Like Frawley's going to walk away from a potential dynasty to join a heartless, souless, nameless piece of junk. Please.

There's no comparison, other than they're both ruckmen. Jamar always showed talent in the ruck, it was just his efforts around the ground and general ball-skills were crap. Obviously he's improved those, but his dominance is still drawn mainly from his ruckwork. Don't say people are wrong because they disagree with you. I'll be proved wrong if and when PJ turns out to be a decent AFL player. FWIW I think he'll be delisted this year, as keeping him means someone else (younger and untried) will have to make way.

1) This is rumour, so maybe the title should be 'Scott Thompson might be coming back' 2) Do we need a player like him? 3) If this is true, and we did want him, how would we go about signing him? Free agency isn't around this year is it?

It just seems to be that Beamer is one of the big voices round the club. If you had to pick someone who truly 'bled red and blue' you'd pick Moloney. He just seems to love this club at a level no one else does (not that no one else loves this club, just that he seems to more). I wouldn't be averse to him being captain, he's a great role model and leader on-field. I don't know much about his off-field work though, like whether he'd be good in the media, but we've seen McDonald do fantastically with the captaincy without being in the media a lot (unlike Nick Maxwell, who seems to be on TV at least twice a week). And as for his football, this year has been a cut above any other. Hard running and tackling plus some decent kicking. Maybe he's only now really over his OP.

Yes please. Damn I hate Harvey.

I dare you to think that maybe some people can have differing opinions to you. I don't think PJ is that good. Sorry. And I would tell him to his face if I ever met him. I'm sure he would really care. Agree. Things like that didn't go unnoticed (at least not from us!). I really was impressed by some of his second efforts.

Warnock will take Hale I think. Frawley will get Aaron Edwards (and should smash him if recent form is anything to go by). Dunn may well get asked to run with Harvey, which would be a mistake as he's never once done that job well. Maybe McKenzie or McDonald will go to him. Bartram likely to go with Wells, who is finally showing some consistent form. North's forward line is average, save for Hale, who can at least use his height and take contested grabs, and their ruckman can occasionally damage up forward. I reckon our defence should have them covered.

We may be more likely than not to experience injuries this year, but just because Jamar had a bad one last year does not automatically mean he will be injured some time this year too. Whether or not PJ takes his spot in that situation is still no certainty. And I highly doubt he would impress if given a chance.