titan_uranus

Oh good. I just read True Believer's response on another thread, and got stuck into that for bascially dismissing the option of a red jumper. Great point. Maybe someone should point that out to the AFL/Melbourne

Weak response. I'm guessing this is the stock standard that we'll all get in response to any email about the jumper. I now believe that it is the club that wants the white strip. The statement 'Unfortunately, the AFL will not allow Red to be the predominant colour' is incorrect, as has been mentioned numerous times. I'm sure people have sent the club comparisons between a red alternative strip and all these jumpers. There is no clash. I think our pleas are falling on deaf ears.

Yeah I dunno if Essendon's fitness managers are of the highest quality. I notice too that Bohdan Babijzcuk (am I close?) has been moved into a part-time role. I wonder whether that's his choice or the club's. I have to say, given what seemed to be a lot of hype around him when we first got him to the club, I can't say I notice any significant improvement in our fitness.

Knowing how the game works doesn't immediately mean a person will become a decent coach. On game day, Voss may find he doesn't have enough experience to know how to deal with in-game issues. I'm not saying he's definitely the wrong choice. I'm just saying I think they've rushed into what might not be the best choice.

I don't know if this will work. Voss probably needed to spend some time as an assistant first. But I don't really care.

Interesting stuff Wise Monkey, but surely the last 2 years have influenced these figures somewhat. Looking at Robbo's figures for example, he's missed a lot of the past 2 years, where we most likely would have lost regardless of him playing or missing. So, whilst it looks as though he's crucial to the team's success, I don't really think it would have mattered. Maybe what's more important would be to look at the same figures over the period 2004-2006, and see if any players stand out during the time when we were winning more than we were losing.

We must take Watts. We need someone in the side capable of kicking more than 26 goals.

1. Melbourne 2. West Coast 3. Fremantle 4. Port 5. Essendon 6. Carlton 7. Brisbane 8. Richmond 9. ??? 10. ??? 11. ??? 12. ??? 13. ??? 14. ??? 15. ??? 16. ??? I can't decide whether to I want Collingwood to lose this week, or go deep into September but not win the flag (so that their first pick is later in the draft).

I think Gehrig has said he will retire (not sure though). Maybe add Leigh Matthews as well...

Petterd isn't close to being a serious problem. There are plenty of worse players on our list. When he gets fit he'll be great. I'm starting to think Sylvia might be an example.

A valid point RR. As has been the case for many years, there are no A grade players at Melbourne. But I would at least like to see what resembles a winning game plan being played out by our team. Of course they'd stuff it up plenty, but it would be better than what we tried to do this year.

Whoa whoa, wait a moment. Leigh Mathews resigned, as in quit? And Brown re-signed, as in signed a new contract? I was thinking it would be the other way around...

For a lot of this year I couldn't bring myself to blame the coaches. In hindsight, this may have been me trying to defend Bailey in his first year. However, as the year progressed, I became increasingly aware that, regardless of whether Bailey is asking the players to play a ridiculous handball game, he isn't doing what he should be doing, which is stopping it from happening. My feeling is that the players are unable to play how Bailey is instructing them, leading to the over-possesive gamestyle we have so often shown this year. I doubt this is Bailey's plan, but what worries me is that he has done nothing of notice to fix this problem in 22 rounds of footy.

I'd like to see us have a similar year to Fremantle this year: not good enough to make finals, but good enough to be somewhat competitive most weeks. But I expect we'll finish bottom 4 once more.

How did no-one have Bartram in their 6? I thought he was one of maybe 5 players who did not stop trying all day, and actually had an influence at some stoppages. Not that it matters, but I would have voted: 6 - Sylvia 5 - Warnock 4 - Bartram 3 - Buckley 2 - Garland 1 - Whelan

I hope you're right bub: maybe this was an exercise to see how many people care about the jumper and whether the demon is worth bringing back. Let's hope it ends up being red...

I like it. We should keep pick 1. And shouldn't this be in the Trading/Drafting board?

That was when they still had finals aspirations. Now, knowing finals are gone, they mightn't play with as much vigour.

Either this is the case, or the journalist is an idiot.

.... Stupid North...

Well, with 6 hours and 15 minutes of voting to go there have been 2810 votes, split 50-50 between the two.

Not good for attendance.

We're not going to win a premiership in the next 4 years. So we don't need an immediate impact from whoever we draft. I don't know too much about who's available in this draft, but from what I can glean from past drafts, a KPP is much harder to find after the first round. Midfielders seem to be draftable from later in the draft. So if it was up to me, we'd take Watts, then use the next couple of picks on midfielders. But I have to agree with Brereton, where he says that we should consult Neitz, Lyon and Schwarz first.

I don't think any of them will go. Moloney puts so much into every match, and I think he and Bailey get along well.

Even if Port wanted to win they wouldn't. They are a long way behind the teams above them on the ladder. North is clearly the 4th best team in the comp, maybe 3rd over the Dogs. Choco should send Mark Harvey a nice gift as thanks for Naitanui.