rpfc

Training threads have the life span of a Mayfly. When they get 'derailed' I don't care - it is two days till the next one. The complaints are more annoying than the derailings. Read what happens, read too much into it, ask about players, get an answer, and move on.

It will certainly annoy the joggers running through the park... They will have to remember to carry a gold coin in that tiny pocket in their Skins.

Let's try and show some class when we describe each other on here, hey? As for Toumpas - posters are allowed to not rate him, and not think he is destined to live up to Pick 4. He had an up and down year and I feel for the kid because he was so anxious about his own performance after that first game - he talked about letting people down. The only person being let down is Toumpas, and every kid we have thrown in too early and asked too much of. And that is on the previous FD (and the one before that) and the leaders at the club who have not, to this point, pulled their weight. Don't look at Toumpas for our resurgence in 2014 - look at the experienced players and leaders at the club who no longer have the shelter of a compromised coach to hide behind.

I would love to see how the MFC will do that at Goschs...

Yeah, I agree. The home jumper is sacrosanct and not to be tinkered with, especially with the way they made it. Being inventive with your away strip is completely different than abandoning your home strip that the past identify with (FFC supporters) and the present are very proud of (Lions fans who saw 01, 02, and 03).

Actually, this number hadn't changed in the 4 days from last season. So our numbers are not that far ahead of last year, but they are still well ahead. I would say we are looking at 40k or just above.

I prefer to think it is covering the wage of a certain someone who will remain nameless. It's Paul Roos. Sorry, couldn't help myself, Paul Roos is our coach for some reason.

That quote is from DA... Nasher - do you have all the data from the last 6 years? Need to settle who invented this term... I could swear I did but it is also something DA would think of... Anyway, it's alive and well but remember - just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not after you... 'Melbourne - We Are Terrible At Most Things'

Yes, you're right. The original mistake was after the disappointment of 2007 we got rid of solid pros and didn't replace like-for-like. Throwing kids in the deep end is not something I see strong teams, in any sport, do. Oh, and we are still very young and inexperienced... Clark, Dawes, Vince, Jones, Cross, Frawley, Garland, Jamar, Byrnes, and Dunn, are our most experienced 10. Only a few (5 IMO) can claim they are definitively in our best team (see Clark, Dawes, Vince, Jones, Cross, Frawley, and Garland) and don't have form or injury related question marks over them (see Vince, Jones, Cross, Frawley and Garland). A great deal will be asked of the other players with over 50 games experience - another 5: Trengove, Grimes, Watts, Howe, and McKenzie. Hopefully the above can shoulder the vast load and allow the younger ones to develop.

19/12/2012 - 20,145 18/12/2013 - 23,122

“Misso (Dave Misson) has given more trust to the players and if the boys are a bit sore, he listens to the players about how their bodies are going. It’s been really good and hopefully I can remain on the track for the rest of the pre-season and get ready for a big year.” I have had a coach who used to say 'the player knows their body better than any physio.' Although, he was just trying to pressure blokes to come back too early and reject advice... I take what Frawley is saying as that the players' programs were regimented last year and that this season they are able to end a session, spend it outside of full training, at their own behest. The theory is that all players wish to train hard and be their best and improve on the track and so that desire will not allow them to slack off. I think it makes sense, if your leaders are setting the right example. If not, it all comes apart.

I was being playful. I am not a fan Craig Bradley preferred jumper style either. Has anyone worn the new jumper? Does it hang down under the arm?

Yuk.

Does this 'cut' make Clint Bizkit feel better?

I think we all need to stop. I don't know whether it is Godwin's Law - but comparing me to BH hurts. Especially the poor man part. You both are good to argue/post with - I only have issues with attempts to tie what I post to the problems of the club and personal asides in posts - I do try to refrain from them. I don't think it is necessary to denigrate a poster personally, usually their argument provides enough rope - that is what I thought I was doing with you Billy. If I crossed the line (obviously I crossed that line the Blow post) then I apologise.

You're a lovely person, Billy. Jabberwocky asked for a comparison - I gave it. I also said "whether is matters" is up for you - the Land poster - to decide. I think direct comparisons like that are fraught too. But you go blow a gasket Billy, you go blow.

Our midfield is terrible, just terrible. In 2014 we will have Cross and Vince as known quantities to improve our fortunes, but that is somewhat offset by the loss of Sylvia. Tyson, Trengove, Watts, and Toumpas may improve and may make us better, but it is far from a guarantee that they will - or that their improvement will be significant enough to put us on a par with lower-middling sides. What did last year show us about forward depth? That if you can't compete in the midfield it doesn't matter that you have forward depth. As I said above, our recruits in the last off-season help but it is far from the end of it. I expect us to target midfielders again next year and I am willing to part with luxury items to get a premium midfielder.

4th Years in the system: Fitz (2013) averages: 10 disp, 4.2 marks, 1.4 goals. Dawes (2010) averages: 12 disp, 5.6 marks, 1.5 goals. I will let the readers decide who had the more impressive year, how much it matters, and whether the fact Dawes played in a flag that year is a plus or a minus in this discussion.

2016 will come and go without any significant change to the current situation, even if we continue to struggle. I guess the future will reveal whether that statement is right.

I hope he is as good as you think he is and we can trade him (or some other tall forward) for a midfielder. Depth players is a luxury we should not be concerning ourselves with. It's no good having a 1st world forward line with a couple playing at Casey when your midfield is bereft of talent.

lol Secret, behind-the-scenes machinations? Then why would they go and get us Jackson? The AFL wants us to suceed. I even think YOU think that - and yet, you throw out this possibility of nefariousness plans in the works? Yes, it is a solid income stream. So why tap it if it is already tapped? Of course, GC and GWS are going to have it tough but the converts that the Lions have won and lost ten times over have led to the SE Qld market to be tapped - bringing in new revenues. The same applies for the tough times ahead for GC and GWS. If a Tasmania team brings in negligible new revenues - why are the AFL going to go ahead with it? Paul Little and James Hird beg to differ... And precedent is tough to find for this in the AFL but when the NRL kicked out South Sydney at the end of 1999 after the Super League dramas; they were forced by the Federal Court to reinstate the club. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnKw_iLfngY&noredirect=1 I am more convinced after finding that video above that it would be a long drawn out and expensive matter to merge. It cost a few million just to fail to merge in 1996. There was a reason NM were offered the Gold Coast and not forced up there. If you had a merged NM/MFC and a Tassie team in lieu of the MFC and the NMFC you are just swapping struggling clubs for struggling clubs. People will stop supporting the merged teams in droves and, again, the numbers on Tassie being able to house a team are spotty at best. They would need to bleed every corporate and hope the state govt support them in perpetuity. Remember, Tassie is not growing: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-27/tasmanian-population-exodus-continues/4984372 The next few years are important, as all 'next three years' are important, but you are wrong when it comes to the possibility and benefits of Tasmania getting a team and of the chances of the AFL wanting to merge clubs and lower their number of games in order to do so. The clubs will continue to push back against equalisation because they are consumed by self-interest, but the AFL knows that getting all clubs in a position to compete for a flag on a stable footing is the mark of a good and profitable league.

We will see. I agree with what they did, but history will, once again, judge us. I hope it is kind.

Yeah, but they should be allowed to watch the footy too.

I thought I was being conservative about how difficult it would be - and how long it would take - to dissolve two clubs into one, create a new team, and reneg on a contract with a team who recieves $3m+ from the Tas govt. You make it sound as simple as the idea itself. And lol at the bolded - cost isn't important now? Cost is why, in the hyperthetical (intended mispelling), you have dissolved MFC and NMFC. The rest: - scaling back money to MFC and NMFC - how does the AFL do that? Give a lower base payment than other clubs? That's headed for the courts... - Hawthorn is irrelevant, and the GC have turned football people - Well, this touches on something you are glossing over: the ROI. Tasmania is not the Gold Coast, they already watch footy in Tassie, converts increase revenues. AFL supporters who change allegiances do not. and the govt will have to pour the money into a Tassie team, and will get a far better return than on the the current Hawthorn deal. They will want out.

If a past champion of a club had an adopted son - it would be a PR nightmare for the AFL (who are driven by such things) to refuse it. 'Biological relationship?' Please. Do they do DNA testing? What an invasion into people's lives that would be. lol What if a son failed the biolocal relationship DNA testing that was not supposed to fail... Er...awkward...