Half forward flank

If I hear one word about how profesional football players are this year I will spe.

Collingwood Members Bar 1977. a female bar attendant who worked in the Lounge Bar walked into the men Only public bar. She was universally called a s..., [censored], and every name under the sun. Seems not much has changed.

I think it is because prior to our run of success in the fifties and sixties we were an MCC club of elitists. during our period of success we picked up many averagesuburban kids as supporters in the schoolyards. However the waft of cigar smoke from the members still sticks around.

Nor do I sadly, but yes, we will enjoy it. I told a pack of Hawks supporters at the end of the 77 prelim that we would get revenge. They laughed at my now very hollow words.

Do you really think people who patronised us over six decades will give a damm if you give them a finger? Most will be pleased an incompetent and dsysfunctunal club found success. However I do not see a premiership side assembled yet and the recruiting of an injured Brown puts us back a step again.

Kangas were very glad to see the back of BB.

Sir, i knew nothing about his previous knee concerns, what makes you think it is ok if it is the injury from last season?

Difficult to point a direct finger, however clearly did not establish a healthy policy and lasting culture in his time there. Nev is gold for us and must be kept at the Dees to leave a lasting legacy as a welcoming and safe environment for indigenous and other ethnic groups with our male and female teams. Walk the walk Dees. We will be repayed many times over if we fully commit to the task.

lets hope it works out.

I think the cats may have dodged a bullet.

My main take was Choco and Yze taking training.That an enormous improvement on past assistant coaches and bodes well for development

it is not the footage I saw at the time but go and have a look at youtube Jack Watts 2008 AFl Under 18 Championship. Neat player, yes, dominant key forward,no. One overhead mark against a slow undersized defender.

Nice to see you take such an intertest in my thoughts 5/8. Stand by what I said about Watts at the time. He was not so much an unfulfilled talent as someone who never had the full package from the start. That was as evident then as it was in his early and late career. Do you think he ever carried himself like the 195 cm dominating key forward Sheahan predicted ?

Well said Hemingway. agree on all points. I have even softened on the Jimmy thing. Handshake, or give you my word conversations mean nothing in the AFL. It is signatures on paper that counts. No one knows exactly what was said or how it was said. All said and done I think Jimmy would have given the kid a break and not held a grudge for too long.

Yes, I remember the talk well too. It was like a boys club where no one was prepared to speak their own mind. I do not want to sound a know all but I was also massively underwhelmed when I saw Sheahans footage on Jack watts at Brighton on his Future stars program. All I saw was a kid taller than his opponent lead out, mark and kick from 35 to 40 with no pressure on. I felt we were looking for players who were clones of the type of players we needed regardless of their real attributes or desire.

I remember being in the company of some officials of another Club. They were raving about Scully but couldnt say what his attributes were beyond a show in for No 1 pick. it was dicussed in terms of universal agreement and I have never followed that path.

Luke Jackson is easily in our best 22. Likely half a season off being in out best dozen. It is just a matter of correct development and using his flexibility to achieve team balance.

May be the reason Jordan is being included training with the mids, waiting in the wings.

Vineys bash and crash has disguised a selfish style, AT times.

I would follow the Calton model where they have a small cafe, not sure if it licenced. It is alwaus busy with staff and visitor meetings, people coming and going from the merchandise shop, general public and supporters. Worth a look if anyone is in the Princes park precinct. I sometimes stop there, have a walk around, there is usually someone training on the oval, which is always good to watch.

Yes, all good Pates, it is just that I know Vic park well and it is a wonderful community facility now. My take is it is not a feasability study to find a location. I could have sworn Barlett previously said it was down to two MCG prcinct locations. Maybe the Govt involvement is just testing the water with stakeholders to see if it could get through at community level before giving it Govt support. I also think we will need to have a very significant womens component to the plan. The issue with a social club is you need a very large area to celebrate wins or share the misery of loss, and then that area lays dormant at other times. I would prefer a Cafe/ Bar type set up with some function space.

Pates, I am afraid you are out of the loop a bit with Pies to Vic park. Vic park is a community recreation area now days. Why would the Pies go back to a place they wiswly left 20 odd years ago because it did not suit their needs. But yes, there will be push back if it is at Goschs paddock too. And what a horrible location that would be anyway.

Mmmm. difficult one, some players are better with initiative than others. we have seen Selwood and other great captains show initiative to win games at crucial moments. I think as example, Petracca could be allowed to show initiative to drift towards goals as games are on the line. Accountable, we have a core of senior players who have no excuses bar injury or occasional poor form to not perform to a very high standard. Most other things other than a training base seem to be covered.

Sounds very interesting and relevant to us when a side gets a run on or a game is at the death. All that matters then is the next bounce, thhe next contest the next shepherd, kick or goal. i know this may be of no interest to others and certainly not saying I was a good footballer, but recently I remembered a game from my youth. I had been dropped for the first time ever and the following week I was selected at fullback after failing playing forward. A lively full forward kicked two on me in the opening minutes. Somehow I held him kickless for the remainder of the game and reading your post I now realise I just concentrated fully on my man and my positioning, holding and punching the ball every time the ball came down. its something used a lot in basketball as well. Massive concentration on the ball, rather than the player doing fancy moves.

It mightbe horses for courses with Harmes play as run with according to opposition, overall tactics.