titan_uranus

I still think Martin's best football is in defence, but I guess if he learns how to ruck he couldn't be worse than PJ or Jamar, could he?

14. Western Bulldogs 29,991 Sad for them. They deserve more. But at least it looks like they'll pass 30,000.

I don't think Martin is capable of being a ruckman. I think he's much more suited to a key defensive role, or maybe a forward position. But when he was tried as a ruckman it didn't seem to work.

37,551 Less than 10,000 MFC supporters. I beg to differ. The Dome is a pathetic excuse for a stadium. It's dirty, it has no identity and the seating is crappy.

The next 32 hours or so cannot pass quick enough. I have never been as excited about a debutant at Melbourne as I am for Liam Jurrah. What a story.

Ryder > Laycock. In fact... PJ > Laycock. Ryder is a very good chance to dominate tomorrow night.

That's not what you said. You said we weren't trying to win (or at least that's how your post reads). I don't agree with that.

As always, a great post two sheds. Fact - none of the above are facts. White, Neitz, Yze, Robertson and McDonald are old and are now beyond their best football. That doesn't mean they aren't good leaders. Playing well and being a leader are not requisite traits. You don't win a best and fairest playing the worst football of your career. Regardless of his numerous flaws, Bruce is definitely trying. Bate was struggling, but is now playing much better football. McLean and Jones can't be faulted for effort. Whelan is like Robertson and McDonald. I'll give you Miller. And as for a consistent player in the past 18 months: Green. Consistently one of our best last year, and when he's played this year, he's played well. I don't look at the team and think to myself, 'they're not trying'. If I did, then I'd question their relationship with the coach. But I see effort this year.

Yes we are. Currently we suck. But I defy anyone who thinks we went out there on QB with the intention of not playing to win. It doesn't matter if we choose to tank or not. If we aimed to win the last 11 games we still wouldn't win more than 3 of them. We just aren't very good. This year's drafting order will depend mainly on whether West Coast gets past the 4.5 win mark, because you can lock in Melbourne to finish 16th with 3 or 4 wins.

If he hasn't signed a contract yet it's probably because he's trying to get something he hasn't got yet (change in length, more money etc.). Not because he wants to leave. If he did enter the PSD, I wouldn't be unhappy if Melbourne picked him up.

Delist: Bell, Dunn, Buckley Retire (or delist if they don't retire first): Whelan, Wheatley, McDonald, Robertson Need to see more of: McNamara (it would be unfair to delist him without first playing him, and I think he might surprise a few when he does get his chance) Rookies: Elevate Spencer, keep McKenzie, the rest are delistable Trade: None (who on our list worth trading would get us a high enough pick?) Must keep Rivers. His kicking aside, he's not playing as badly as people are saying. We wouldn't get a decent pick (i.e. 30 or better) for him if we offered him up for trade anyway.

West Coast were abysmal in the first quarter vs Richmond. Absolutely shocking. Terrible disposal, no second efforts and weak physical presence. They improved as the game went on, but overall they can play as poorly as we do. Next weekend will be a good gauge of West Coast's mentality. Hawthorn is the most beatable now as they have been over the last 18 months. If West Coast gets a pasting then there's not much of a chance of them getting past the 5 win mark.

If we win 5 games then it won't be pick 2 we'll be missing out on, it will be pick 1, because West Coast are a very good chance to finish the year with less than 5 wins. But we will win 4 games this year only. West Coast at the G, Fremantle at the G and one of Port and North. We'll lose the rest, including Richmond.

It's not about winning. It's about not being disgraced. A goal in the first quarter would be a good start.

It seems as though it's more of a 'Laidley resigned' rather than 'Laidley was sacked' issue here. I think Laidley's thinking about next year. He wants to start building up his resume, talking to clubs, putting himself on the market. For the club, they get to start looking at new coaches. It's win-win for both.

Not anymore Cards. Not with what's transpired at Arden Street this morning.

Worsfold is about to get a 2-3 year contract extension. He's not going anywhere. Neither is Roos. They love him in Sydney. Williams will not be at Port Adelaide in 2010. If Fremantle don't win more than 5 games Harvey's no certainty to be there next year either. Laidley is good enough to coach at AFL level. He was just hampered by a shockingly bad list.

This will create problems too. Such as Fremantle in 2006, who were 10th in Round 13, yet won every match for the rest of the year to finish top 4 and make the preliminary finals. The draft system would work better without the priority pick. If there wasn't the chance of us getting picks 1 and 2 this year, would we all be happy with less than 5 wins?

Whoa. Did not see that coming at all. BREAKING NEWS: KANGAROOS coach Dean Laidley has coached his last game for North Melbourne. Asked this morning if he had offered to step aside, Laidley told Herald Sun online: "What you're saying is correct. We've come to an agreement."

I quite like Good Call/Bad Call. And she's absolutely right. Provided we keep drawing crowds (and the general consensus is that the 60,000 odd that we got last week was a good crowd) to this fixture it should remain regardless of the result on the day. Otherwise Collingwood should have been shunted from it after we beat them 4 times in a row.

The problem isn't the draft, it's the priority pick. The PP acts as an incentive, rather than as a consolation. Rarely do we see a marked drop in talent between pick 1 and pick 4. The difference is between having pick 1 and having pick 1 and pick 2 at the same draft. So the PP must go.

Correct. The AFL is soft when it comes to alternate jumpers. Essendon and Collingwood (read the richer clubs) refuse to create alternate jumpers where every other team (bar Sydney, who clash with no one) does. As a consequence, Melbourne and North Melbourne (read the poorer clubs) get screwed around in this area. I much prefer the red to the white (the white looks too similar to the Bulldog's alternate strip), but it would be nice if we could have a home match against Essendon and let them have the dilemma.

I doubt that. I think Bailey sees Newton as just not good enough. He's sent him back to Casey to work on what is required of an AFL standard forward, and until he consistently shows that he's making progess in those areas, he won't be getting another game. It's not a matter of not being ready. It's a matter of not being good enough.

What's this got to do with Newton? I'd have thought Newton's in a different category to Strauss and Jurrah. A good article though. I had no idea Taylor Walker was on their list last year. I think Neil Craig has made some very accurate appraisals of where his young talent is at.

Plenty of Richmond's players are playing for their careers over the next 10 weeks. Rawlings is trying to build a decent resume for the senior job next year. They have 6 consecutive matches at the MCG, and only 2 interstate matches left. And they have a lot of members who will be absolutely filthy if the team finishes bottom 4, considering where they were predicted to finish this year. As for West Coast, I think Worsfold is smart enough to realise he'll get his contract extension regardless of where they finish, and the best outcome for the club is bottom 2 with less than 5 wins. They play some terrible football at times. Absolutely no certainty to win 2 more matches this year.