two sheds jackson

You basing this on a source, or a hunch?

QueenC You accused everyone bar two people of blindly "following the leader" and bashing Miller because its popular. I wasnt. I just dont think he's our best bet at CHF. I would argue that its the most difficult position on the ground to play, and if you look at the successful CHF's they all share qualities that Miller just doesnt have. It's extremely important for a CHF to be versatile and to be able to look at how the games unfolding and adapt accordingly; Miller is a one-trick ponie; he just leads up the middle of the ground outside the forward 50 and dishes it off to a running midfielder. His performance at CHF lives and dies on that, and opponents know it and know how to counter it. He is useless inside 50, unlike Dunn and Bate who are dangerous inside 50, and who arent as one-dimensional as Miller. If we have better options at CHF then why keep him there. As I said, I would keep him on the list unless we can get a very good trade for him (and Im skeptical as to whether we can get Buchanon for him and a 2nd round pick, it just sounds too good to be true). I think he could be great value as a negating tall defender in the same vein as Holland; he is tall, athletic, and he's qucker and younger than Dutchy. I think he could surprise alot of people and turn into a very handy player if we put him in that role and give him time to settle into it, but he's not a CHF, and to keep him there would be detrimental to the developement of the list when we have better options.

If we can use him as part of a deal to land Buchanon we'd obviously be mad not to do it, but I think we'd be pretty stupid to swap him for a draft pick in the 30s. He's obviously a very limited footballer, but he's not absolutely useless as alot of people here seem to think. Half his problem is he still gets shifted from the fowardline to the backline without really being able to settle. If he gets a full preseason to hone his craft as a tall negating defender he might still be a reasonable player, and god knows we need another tall in the backline. He's not a forward though, and I'd rather see him traded for peanuts than perservered with at CHF.

How the f ck did Davey make the top 5? He was very dissapointing this year, in fact Im not sure he even played 11 good games, let alone 22. Bell's very stiff to miss out on a top five spot. I'd say he was probably ahead of Bate and definately head and shoulders above Davey. I know not many of our players had a great year, but off the top of my head I can think of a few who deserve to be there ahead of Davey; Carrol, Sylvia, White, Neitz (despite having a forgettable year), none of them set the world on fire but they contributed more than Davey. I know Im not going to be popular for saying this, but I'd almost say Godfrey was more useful than Davey this year. Im a bit surprised Jones didnt win it, but I'm not confused or bothered by it; if they hadnt given it to him I would have thought JMac was a close second, and I can see why some people might put him first. But Davey making the top five has me absolutely stumped.

Yeah, I think its probably a good time for a new logo(150th yr and all), and they've obviously tried to do something more minimalistic and traditional like the Carlton or Geelong ones, which is fine, but that... that just screams "NOTHING".

Not official, YM, but Im not sure it was pure speculation, either. The segment lasted for a couple of minutes, if that. They went over the proposed trade, as described above. They didnt say anything about where the heads up had come from- but they did describe Trapper as a "willing participant" (or something along those lines) in the trade, so for them to know that, I guess, is a fair indication its come from someone at MFC or Sydney. Hopefully. Maybe. I'm probably clutching at straws.

I love Jones, absolutely love him, but why does everyone seem to have him ahead of McLean? He's obviously had a better year, but he also hasnt had a serious injury or copped the same attention from taggers that McLean has. They're obviously similair players and pretty evenly matched, although I think McLean's got slightly better disposal (not that theres much in it, admittedly). Id have both of them in the top five players I'd most hate to see traded (along with Rivers, Newton and Bate) and would struggle to seperate them, so its not like I strongly disagree with anyone putting Jones ahead of Brock, Im just a bit surprised that so many people seem to.

You're probably right- I think he's just about invaluable in his current role, but I'd obviously be thrilled (but not surprised) if he eventually developes into a quality CHB, especially considering we really have no other options. I was more just saying that neither Frawley, Whelan or anyone else on our list could remotely take over Rivers' current role in the team if he's part of a Judd trade. To lose him would have a devastating effect on an already shaky defense. It sounds like you basically agree anyway, but I just figured I'd clarify that Im not trying to sell Rivers short by saying he's "only" a zoning defender.

dee3po A ) Whelan and Frawley are very different players to Rivers (Whelans a small defender, Frawley a prospective KPP, while Rivers is a smart zoning defender). We dont have anyone capable of filling the gap left by Rivers. The issue isnt just that he's an excellent backman, its also the fact that we dont have any other players in his mold. B ) Whelan has been injury prone for the last two seasons and might well be on his last legs- I hope he can stay fit next year and regain some form, but even if he does, as a best case scenario he only has two or three good years left in him. Frawley has the opposite problem- realistically it'll probably be another two or three years before we see him at his best. I'd be concerned if this is true. We'd have a phenomenal midfield, but probably a disasterous backline, and we couldnt even begin to try and address it until the 2008 draft. Nobodies untouchable, but Rivers is literally the last player I would want to see traded.

Sorry, what was actually said on Before The Game? Was it a guest, someone halfway reliable who came on and specifically said they thought it was a done deal? Or was it basically just Mahery or Sam Lane saying "well, apparently its been doing the rounds today that he might go to Melbourne"?

I've two outstanding assignments; one worth 35%, the other worth 40%. One is 1500 words, the other 2000 words. One is overdue by two and a half weeks, the other is overdue by one. In the past two days Ive done nothing. Ive come here occasionally for the last year, mostly to read what other people think of players performances after a game. I never really thought of getting an account and posting, until now, because for the last two days Ive been completely glued to 'ology and 'land, refreshing threads every 10 minutes in case something new has come up. People keep posting about things they've heard on foxtel or SEN, and I have to refrain from screaming at the computer telling them to give a more detailed account. Im going absolutely batsiht. Bugger it. Tomorrow Im going to uni, getting a special consideration form, stapling a photo of the man to the front of it and handing it in. Surely they'll understand.