DeeBruce

Can confirm poor Richie Douglas received a knock that ruptured a teste (just ouch).

Lots of swelling and massive pain. Massive. Pain.

I have been wondering how Dunn would go down back for an extended time- now I know - terrible.

But the club has "supposedly" stated that we won't use pick 3 on Viney. If they subsequently buckle at the knees under pressure will they be viewed as a soft touch ?

There is a slight chance of being viewed this way. But I think publicly it can be explained well enough. Privately I suggest the club makes it known we will target their best players with good cash.

Btw Ben - your quote regarding Leigh at the bottom of your posts - did you hear Leigh last night in the post game discussion ( Blues v Hawks) have a little laugh at himself for offering that opinion? Gold.

Threat of delisting may work wonders.

Every time I see Lewis Jetta play I feel sick, thinking how we could have had him as a rookie, after Neville's mum told us about him.

I heard that Lewis shadowed Keiran Jack all pre season - has bought his fitness to elite levels.

I can't help but wonder which of our underperforming players - JB, Morts etc would lift to a surprising level given the same chance.

Loved the way he ran Patton into the ground. Tommy clearly has fantastic endurance and is known as a good trainer. He blew poor Jonno up like a balloon - so much so he needed to be subbed quite early.

Can cartilage be repaired or replaced synthetically? Has he got any hope of playing for the red & blue again?

Hey LD - there is little medicine offers for a degenerative joint. Cartilage can be harvested and grown in the lab but is only good for repairing relatively small holes. In the future this is where stem cell harvesting will really be beneficial - being able to isolate stem cells from the patients own supply and insert them in to the damaged site. This could eventually make joint replacement surgery (the end stage of degenerative joint disease) a thing of the past.

A relatively new treatment is Interleukin 1 Antagonist injections (performed right at the Demons home - Imaging @Olympic Park). This protein is isolated from the patients blood and acts as an anti-inflammatory and stops the progression of the degenerative disease.

I presume the club is all over this treatment for Clint.

It is certainly possible that with this treatment and correctly managed training loads CB can play again. He won't be in for a long career though - especially with a shrinking interchange bench.

In what way? He didn't exactly get a rousing reception here either.

I reckon a thread like the Magner one wouldn't have been deemed worthy of a reply over the road.

Some good posters here (where is Hannibal btw?) but I can't cop a gazillion posts using different words to say the same thing.

There is an interesting view from an ex Lions Assistant Coach - they believe Cale is a gun who hasn't been developed properly.

He hasn't been played to his strengths and tried to be made to be something he isn't.

I think people don't realize the elite endurance Cale has and we know, when he has confidence, he can find the pill.

He has more than these two strengths but they are underestimated.

Rest assured the new coach will basically start again with Cale - play him to his strengths, give him confidence.

I believe it's not too late for him and that with some time he may well flourish.

I watched 'On the couch' last night and heard Roos' comments. I immediately had visions of some of my Demonland brethren jumping over couches and banging into hallways in their rush to get to a keyboard. Needless to say it brought a wry smile.

I may be a tad harsh on Jones. I had such high expectations when we drafted him at pick 12, but the realisation that he'll never be elite (A grade), or even reach B grade status, such as Luke Ball, is disappointing. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, he does have some excellent traits, such as a strong body, immense courage, elite endurance and he's a great trainer. At 22 and with 90 odd games there's still time, but I just don't see the creativity or footy smarts required. Up until this year I had Jobe Watson as a B grader, so perhaps my rating system is harsher than some of you. I rate with premierships in mind. Marc Murphy is a B grader, but some here would argue that Jones is too. If you want a laugh go try telling other supporters that Nathan Jones is as good as Marc Murphy. And if you think that Murphy is an A grader you're premature.

Paul Roos has a great record of turning a sow's ear into a silk purse, so who knows, perhaps he could transform Jones into a B grader. I suspect I've seen more of Jones than Roos. Footy is an opinion business and coaches often get it wrong. Look at the recent recruiting by Voss as an example. In fact the game is littered with terrible trading by clubs where opposition coaches got it wrong. And when I say "got it wrong", it's fair enough that Roos rates Jones, but to use Jones as his example of "one of the games most underrated players" is ludicrous. There was a reason that Jones was dropped late last year only to get a reprieve when there was a late ommission. I doubt Roos even knows that Jones was borderline best 22 as recently as last August. And what has Jones done this year ? One semi decent game. In his first two games he gathered 16 possessions in each. It's just not enough. It's a very underrated skill to find the footy, but it seemingly rarely gets mentioned. Jones has never won enough possessions. I don't overly rate Moloney, but at least he has an ability to get his hands on the footy. People will use games where he's tagged to excuse his low numbers, but plenty of taggers get a lot of the footy.

Roos also said recently that he rates Brad Miller. He's got that wrong too. If Miller had smashed packs like Hurley does he'd have been of value this year in our forward line, but for a mature body he just didn't hit packs. I suspect Roos is remembering a couple of good games from Miller in defence on Hall.

Roos also stated a couple of weeks back that he rated McLean when they were discussing Carlton's list. Once again I disagree. McLean's lack of pace and average handballing isn't condusive to the game in 2011. I reckon that one of McLean's best ever games was at the SCG against Sydney in early 2005. I vividly remember McLean winning the hard ball in the centre and running straight towards 50 to kick a couple of impressive goals. Like his views on Miller, I reckon Roos has this game in the back of his mind when referencing McLean.

Last week Roos said that we made a mistake getting rid of McDonald and Bruce. Again I disagree. McDonald was 34 and Bruce well past his best. Making finals this year isn't significant to me, but getting games into the kids of our future is.

For Roos to rate Miller, McLean etc - it's just him talking off the top of his head. You are quite right H. He may remember a couple of good games.

But for him to rate Jones enough to put Kirk on him- that's not just Roos' opinion. That would have been decided upon by the whole match committee with specific input from the opposition coach (who would have watched at least the preceding Dees match) and the mids coach.

But I guess it is possible you know more than the 09/10 Sydney Swans Match Committee.

Yes, that is exactly what he suggested and what I meant.

Roos didn't say he was underrated by the Dees - just underrated in general. He rated him as a very good mid fielder - (as said before) so much so they usually put Kirk on him.

That would clearly put him above a C grader and at odds with Hannabal's view.

973143 only has 5 members - better demonlanders than nobodies.

I'm BD's Dees Mono. Cheers.

Look, I don't really mind it, I just don't like the Southern Cross. Maybe there's a reason, maybe it's related to the players/officials we've lost to war as the flame is, but I just don't like it.

It's without doubt better than what we've got at the moment (the square).

Why would I try to find something wrong with it?

The first thing I saw when I looked at it was the Southern Cross. Doesn't make me think 'Melbourne'. The rest does.

Think 'big picture' here people. The club wants to position itself as one of the great sporting clubs of the world- a fantastic aspiration imo. Hopefully one day the MFC itself will become entwined with the actual identity of 'Melbourne the city'. Barcelona FC being one example of this.

Think bigger than 'Melbourne'... we needed an iconic Australian symbol on our emblem.

Is there a better symbol than the Southern Cross? Uluru? Sydney Harbour Bridge or Opera House anyone?

Essendon lost by 71 points tonight.

They'd find it much harder down at Kardinia Park with almost NO Ess supporters, on the long thin ground.

Oh, but I forgot. Ess, Coll and Carlton don't have to play down there.

No Mooney or Hawkins, either. Great effort Bombers.

Scarlett goes ok sometimes too.

Loved watching the supporters getting all excited when they got within a kick.

I like the Coodabeens and I like how precious and uptight Melbourne supporters get when they make snow jokes. By the way I can't wait to get to the snow this year.

I find comedians with original content a bit funnier Clint.

Was actually funny the 1st time I heard it (30 something years ago).

Love the snow too.

So, the coodabeens are banging on about all of us going to the snow etc etc etc

Insulting as usual

As usual, the only answer is to get to the G on Monday.

(after the exams - imagine - exams on QBirthday Monday - at least it's in the a.m.)

Coodabeen pre-production meeting...

Struggling for material (again)? Check.

Demons struggling a bit? Check.

Queen's B'day Round? Check.

Ski season opening? Check.

Dust off jokes from 1976? Check.

Not many Dee fans to offend? Check.

Great thinking guys! Lets go with that brilliant material again.

Do you think our audience will remember that we trotted this out last year? (and the year before...and...)

Nahh! Top job guys.. lets go with it...

His break was a different and less serious break than the nasty one faced by Blease.

With all due respect I don't believe you know the nature of the original injury suffered by Sam. Do you actually know the type of fracture it was?

I talked to Sam myself at the Draft Function and the fracture itself had fully healed at that time, was NOT intra-articular, was 'only' through the fibula and should present no long-term sequelae.

I don't know the nature of his current set-back but my reading says Blease-Superstar knows a fair bit.

Bailey needs to single him out and give him a blast.

Quite right.

Bater is someone who needs to be completely matchfit... can't seem to work himself into a game.

Will be heaps better within the next 2 weeks.

Best to half time in my eyes: Petterd, Trengove, McKenzie, Grimes. Bit of a theme there.

Besides the miss at goal, loving Jamar's pantsing of Jols.

If you trade for him, you would have to come to an agreement with him first over terms.

If you draft him in the National or Pre-season drafts, he can nominate his terms and by drafting him, you agree to them.

A question for somebody...

What would stop Warnock pricing himself out of a contract with us to get to go to Carlton (his so-called preferred club)

then after a year or so there renegotiating a 'reduced' contract?

For example he thinks he is worth $350k a year which we can afford.

He nominates $450k a year to scare off everyone except Carlton then after a year drops to an amount secretly

negotiated with them. He gets his $1.4m over 4 years... just a lot more in his first year.

Peoples love affair with Cam Bruce is amazing, IMO he had little impact on the game last night and his disposals can be summed up by looking at one passage of play. he had the ball in the 3rd qtr no pressure forward of centre Aussie has 5-10 break running to goal about 30m away from bruce, all he had to do was put it in front of Aussie and a goal was ours, the kick was a Bruce helecoptor and missed Aussie to the Boundary side by about 20m.

What an absolute joke to single out one disposal error in an ok game for Cam in an otherwise disasterous night

for the whole team.

No mention of his 5 effective clearances, 25 mostly effective disposals on a slippery night, all the while beating

Stevie J.

Best for Melbourne in the Age this morning.

I know hes no star but equally he cops it way too much from supporters that lack objectivity like you.

Interestngly he was rated 2nd BOG last week by both coaches. I probably rate their opinion above others here.

I think we've met, but I'd just like to say hi and remind you all that I am still the teams most important player by a country mile.

..................................

Hope he never gets injured again.

Amen to that Jared. Welcome back. Im feeling the love.

I will honestly cry if we lose Frawley or Pettard. Judd is not worth the loss of either of these players. We have a very ordinary backline and have had one for years. In my opinion its the 3rd worst defence in the leigue. Frawley looks the goods. As for pettard, well he knows how to get the ball and i believe hes the X factor in our team. Judd is not worth it. Seriously Moloney, sylvia and now Judd will all be OP players on our list.

I have been reading 'land for a few years and thought occo that you knew a little bit.

You cannot be serious.. Surely we dont need to talk about how good Judd is and what he could bring to the club.

Of course we will have to give up someone and probably someone we dont want to.

He will be worth it. I think he may bring his own X factor... just a hunch...

Dont disagree about our defence. But Rivers and Bartrum back, and Belly improving, will be good. Our midfield improvement will improve our defence too. More pressure on delivery, getting numbers back etc.

You may be right about BT and Eddie, but more interesting is your second point. Judd may have some club preferences in mind when he leaves WC, but he is simply not going to hold them to ransom. We pretty much knew that from day 1, that he was not the Nick Stevens kind of person who would stick it up his old mob in the forlorn hope of getting what he wanted. Particularly when they had given a fair bit to him.

Hannabal may have been right, and Collingwood may have been the early choice. I have read several (admittedly unproven) things to the contrary, but in any case, following our interview, where, according to reports, we blew him away, we firmed significantly. It is entirely possible and indeed almost certain (remember Greg Denham's article in the Australian) suggesting we were already discussing deals with WC... no doubt the filth were as well.

Now, at this stage, you can bet your boots Judd has been in contact with WC. It's quite possible that they have given him the (horribly sad and just totally devastating ) news that the filth won't come to the party. So Juddy has seen us as the best alternative for both himself and WC.

Ultimately, as Jaded has said, there is some serious smoke going around, and there is a fire somewhere. The fact that the World's Number 1 newshound, Craig "airport sniffer dog" Hutchison, has suggested, similar to BT, that a deal is almost done, makes us a massive chance.

Great point Diablo...

Juddy would definitely have been in contact with WC. Say for instance he nominated Collingw&%$ but later it was announced a deal couldnt be done. It doesnt sound right to me. He would know beforehand if it could be accomplished.

Having said that I could imagine the filth just saying leave the wheeling an dealing to us then taking it right to the death in trade week and holding WC to ransom... Ughh!

I know from the horses mouth that he wishes to captain the MFC one day.

Saves the club from paying Bomber out... fantastic!

I have heard that Matthews rated very highly O'Donnell as an assistant.. maybe thought he wasnt tough enough to make the hard decisions as a senior coach (reminds me of an ex demon coach we all know..).