rpfc

AFL level. Quickness: Rioli Endurance: (something near) Tom McDonald I don't believe he was at the level of either.

To play AFL these days, or even be on an AFL list, you have to be able to do at least one meaningful thing at an AFL level. Whether it be a player being quick, an endurance runner, or excellent skills, or ball winning and hardness, etc. I don't see any trait in Barry meeting that requirement.

There is a certain amount of petty schadenfreude in this for Dees supporters but there is also a dislike for being force-fed BS, and that is what we got with this nonsense about the need for a 'different environment' that through some convoluted reasoning has meant being at a different AFL club over the Westgate. I don't think many of us mean him ill will, we just appreciate people being level with us. And not many of us have seen that with Clark.

*Ainslie The coach rang Stone a few times to make sure they were keeping a close eye (asked the coach myself), the FD did their jobs and voila - a footy player is recruited. Has this happened so sparsely we think we are looking for whispers, man-oracles, and pixie dust? Hawthorn recruits players like this constantly...

Not sure this is helpful to any point, anyone is making, unless that point was to make Dees fans cry...

Yeah, but the person that wrote this is from the widely overrated website known as The Roar where they get wannabe blowhards from all over the country to contribute to their nonsense. Still better than the Hun tho...

Yes, for the following season.

Depends on where you sit...

And Rd 4. Promising CP numbers holding steady. UPs about even to opponents. Still getting beaten badly in the clearances but that is to expected with our midfield.

Forgot to do Rd 3.

I love that this has blown up in Fremantle's face. They thought - 'oh, Melbourne couldn't develop a chia pet, we will make him a star...' Yeah, nah.

He could play better and see the footy less and have less involvement - as any forward - he is reliant on others to be effective. Hogan is not the focus of the test of these next three weeks - his midfielders are.

I think a number are being swayed and will sign up before Sunday's game at the G. Hogan-mania is helping too...

The only thing that will 'stunt' his progress, or make some believe it is stunting, is if we don't get enough footy, quickly enough, to him. I have seen enough - now it is up to the team to feed a forward line that, by the looks of it, has been overhauled in the last couple years and set up for success.

Love to keep him but, positionally speaking, if you are spending 5.5%-6% on a HBF, he better be Hodge-like. I like him as a player but you don't build a list by spending that much of the cap on a HBF - again, the easiest place to play on the field, and the most easily replaceable.

If he never graduates from tackling as much as he finds it (10 possies, 6 tackles he averages) then maybe there is something in that, but if you look at Vanders - he gets to so many contests - that's why he is averaging 5.5 tackles a game and 18 touches.

I read the following as we have played two games in the wet, we have to rebound more as our backs see it more, and Freo tackle less because they have the footy more. Hawthorn laid the least tackles last year IIRC. Sorry to burst the bubble - just wanted to give some peripheral critiques of those numbers...

I will take odds: Mark Robinson 3/1 Brian Taylor 5/1 Nathan Brown 20/1 Tim Lane 500/1 Gerard Whateley 500/1

That legislation is not designed to be applied for this reason. It is relevant to the situations that both Melbourne and Sydney endure when their young people go out and get some hero decides to play enforcer. It's application to this situation is laughable, and detracts from the very real issue that has affected quite a few families all over the country.

If we can get to Freo like the Swans did in the 2nd half - we will be huge chance to knock them off. We are nowhere near this team but if the conditions are right - and they are down...

I wonder if it is to do with when Tyson smashed into the goalpost in the 2nd term? He looked a bit ginger - one of his legs took the brunt. Speculation: corky?

The Tigers looks rushed and scared with our pressure. Now we play the masters of the practice... I hope it isn't a spectacle, because it will mean we are matching their intensity.

The uncontested numbers are down because we have played in the wet last two weeks and played a half of footy the week before that...

I am not a fan of bringing the 'One Punch Brigade' into this. This was not an assault of someone unknowingly, it was harassment and the consequences of harassment if someone reacts poorly. To equate this to someone king hitting a kid from behind at 2am in the morning in the city is below par.

I don't think there are many disagreeing with your last line - the point being made by timD and t_u is that we ignore others that perpetrate the same sins as Watts. That isn't delusion. Don't lump all those that think he cops too much nonsense, with the few who say he shouldn't cop anything.