titan_uranus

First of all, Dean Cox is West Coast's best player, and Travis Cloke is Collingwood's best player. And I'd argue the point that Scott Thomson has gone past Andrew McLeod too. But that doesn't really matter.

Unlike Jordan Lewis, Daniel Kerr is a match winner on the field.

On what do you base this High Tower? His form this year has been nothing short of rubbish. He cannot deal with heavy tags; his best performances were those of 2005-2007 when 1) West Coast were winning games and 2) There were Chris Judd and Ben Cousins working with him.

If Kerr wants out of West Coast, it's because he wants to go somewhere with a decent midfield where he can go back to doing what he does best: being the team's 2nd or 3rd midfielder. Not only will he not want to come to Melbourne, but we don't want him. He won't add anything to the team.

Hawkins may well be the most over-rated player in the competition. Wouldn't give Geelong pick 40 for him.

Bell's faults would be magnified in the midfield.

Better off trying him up forward IMO, considering he played as a forward when a junior.

I'd agree, but I don't think we really need a player of his type in the forward line while we already have Wonna, and to a lesser extent, Robbo. But I reckon if he was to play anywhere it'd be forward.

You would've hated the trains 20 years ago when games were played at MCG, Vic Park, Windy Hill, Princes Park and Whitten Oval on the one day!!

Ha, yeah. And what with the crowd at our match being 15000-20000 and at the Dome it'll be 25000-30000 I guess it could be worse.

It's a sad that even if we win on our merits there will be a perception around that WC have tanked and not put in their best side.

Since it makes no difference to us at this stage I hope we thrash them and put the heat right on them, probably very, very wishful thinking <_<

I think the best we can do is go out there and play a decent brand of football that hopefully gives the players some confidence. The worst thing would be if we didn't really show anything against a tanking opponent.

Aww, I just realised that our game is on at the same time as Essendon vs Adelaide at the Dome, so the trains on the way home will be pretty full. I hate it when the AFL does this.

And just for the record:

West Coast Eagles

B: Mark Nicoski, Darren Glass, Eric Mackenzie

HB: Adam Selwood, Beau Wilkes, Andrew Embley

C: Michael Bruan, Matt Priddis, Matt Spangher

HF: Jamie McNamara, Quinten Lynch, Brad Ebert

F: Mark LeCras, Ben McKinley, Mark Seaby

Foll: Dean Cox, Chad Fletcher, Tyson Stenglein

I/C: Steven Armstrong, Ryan Davis, Tony Notte, Scott Selwood

EMG: Tim Houlihan, Will Schofield, James Thomson

In: Ebert, Notte

Out: Ashley Hansen (ankle), David Wirrpanda (hamstring)

New: Tony Notte (Swan Districts)

Hansen and Wirrpanda are the latest Eagles to go in for season ending surgery.

My understanding is that there's a cutoff point during the year for promoting rookies, so Spencer's out, and Meesen... well, less said the better at this point.

I guess the answer is Jamar rucks on his own.

Hmm. I don't like the sound of Jamar rucking on his own. Maybe Holland to get a recall for the sole purpose of being the 2nd ruckman?

What about the underdog mate??

Yeah it's always good to see the underdog win, but when there's an absolute star of the sport most of the time I barrack for them.

So what happens next week if White's still injured and PJ goes in for surgery? Spencer? Meesen?

Not bad. Miller and Newton in at least provide us with forward targets.

We didnt get smashed we lost by about 4 or 5 goals. It was a comfortable win at best. Geelongs 116 point win last friday - that was an absolute smashing.

Yeah I didn't realise the margin was as low as it was (15 points). And as I've just found, there were 35,653 people there that day.

Lost by about 12 or 13 goals, but amazingly TJ got 1 brownlow vote and Sylvia played a classy cameo with 3 goals.

Thanks BBP. I have absolutely no recollection of this one whatsoever. Now I know why...

I want Geelong to win. If it can't be Melbourne, I always find myself barracking for the best team. That's not just in footy, I always like seeing Federer, Woods and Phelps win.

Richmond is going nowhere fast. As evidenced on the weekend, they are not even close to matching it with the better teams, and against teams around them on the ladder they can't string 4 quarters together (their 3rd quarter against Brisbane would have cost them the game had the Lions kicked straight). Their skills are at times as bad as ours can be. Yes, they've won 5 games more than last year but they've beaten crap teams. And when they lose, they lose big (average losing margin of 41.8 points).

Unless Richmond shoots up the ladder next year (i.e. makes the finals), Wallace won't be there after 2009. If they start the season really poorly (such as we did this year), he won't see the season out.

There's more to Sylvia's problems than fitness, but if he can at least get a pre-season completed, then I'm betting on improvements. The real question is whether those improvements happen at the MFC or at another club.

Wow, it's been a long time. Obviously we lost, but does anyone remember by how much?

We are favourites!

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl...1-19742,00.html

Could change between now and Saturday but who really cares because I don't think at any stage in any week this year have we had better odds than our opponents.

i think i would trade 18 or 19 for prismal. if we got him and warnock in the draft, and had players on the park next year we would be a much different unit than this year.

we're not going to win the GF next year, but if we get mclean, moloney, davey back in the current midfield and add prismal (that is your 4 main mids for the club. add another ruckman. add a tall forward. add the experience the kids gained this year, and the skills and strength they gain over summer. we will be a bit more competitive.

I agree with you deanox. You would assume that Geelong would jump at that deal considering their position on the ladder (barring another club offerring their first-round pick which I don't think will happen), and Prismall looks like a genuinely talented and hardworking midfielder.

Carroll is contracted for '09 and stunningly, Meesen is contracted for '09 and '10.

Really? Well that sucks. I assume that means both of them stay next year.

If you were going to get rid of Bell, surely you'd look to a trade rather than a delisting wouldn't you?

22 year old with 60 gams of experience who has shown in patches he could be a good player.

I agree. He's gotta be worth something. And I guess anything is better than nothing.

- Jamar fit

- Miller likely

- Davey maybe

- Garland possibility

- Bell possibility

Well all of them bar Bell would be brought back into the team this week if fit, so there could be up to 4 changes.

I remember back in 2005 when we played them at the MCG on a Saturday afternoon, it was 1st v 2nd and we pulled about 34,000.

And we got smashed. Embley ran riot that day. I think that was the start of our 7 game losing streak which sent us from 2nd to 11th. I had high hopes for that game.

I'll be there. Let's just hope there's decent weather. With some rain we could be in for an absolute disaster. Although West Coast beating Essendon yesterday might mean a few more Eagles supporters.

Bad luck to PJ if in fact he has no choice, but my guess is they've chosen to ensure his shoulder's right for the upcoming pre-season.

I never thought I'd say this, but I hope Jamar is fit so we can bring him back in.

You said we didn't have a single forward target, but that we should bomb it to the top of the square.... Umm?

I don't by any means support the style of chipping it around, especially in the wet, but when you've got absolutely no targets, what's the alternative? The kick by Bruce to a team mate flanked by the opposition was a poor option and he should rightfully be grilled for it, but I don't see how it's any worse an option than bombing it to nobody in the goalsquare.

I'd love to watch the replay again and count how many times a Geelong backman took an uncontested mark in the square btw. It was more than a few.

I agree Nasher, but it's not the players' fault that there isn't a tall forward to kick to. It's the coaching panel's fault. We need someone in the forward line to take a mark. Anyone. And both Newton and Holland aren't playing. There wasn't anyone to kick to becuase the coaches didn't select one.

And for mine, Bruce should have kicked it long, because I believe, if you're going to turn it over, you might as well turn it over as far away from the opposition's goals as possible.