rpfc

The vulnerable players are: PJ - If Jamar and Martin ruck. Martin - If Jamar and PJ ruck, and there is no match-up in defence (I don't think there is) Jones - Indiscriminate kicking may be grating on the coaching staff. Miller - Has been down all year with a couple of exceptions. Macca - If injured. Bell - Harsh, but that's footy. IMO, Watts and Robertson for Martin and Miller.

If we lose, and he doesn't see much of it... "Watts the big deal?" Sorry, to ruin the love-in. I'll do a positive one... "Watts the story, monday glory" I just threw up a little, I hate headline humour. It's too easy.

In the last month Bate has averaged 5 more kicks than the previous three weeks, 1 more handball, 6 more marks, nearly 2 more goals, 1 more contested possession, nearly 2 more contested marks, and 2 more Inside 50s. The previous three weeks were the time when his critics had a reason to see him dropped, but that ship has sailed. He has responded very well in the last month. I still have hope of him becoming a very damaging HFF.

So you want to drop Bate twice? IN: Jurrah and Watts OUT: Bate and Bate You know, I thought Matty was getting better these last three weeks, but for two people his output just isn't there. Send him back to Casey and tell him to stop trying to be two different people...

Maybe, but I'm fence sitting aren't I... Miller might be in trouble, Bell did little, and Martin is struggling to find a place at the minute. Two of those might make way. Really want to see more of Cheney.

Would be good to debut someone on QB but if they aint ready... This team won't be picked until Sat so extended bench of Cheney, Newton, and Robertson is my guess.

Like Hannabal, I'm in the middle on this: Those that think he would be THE difference to our forward line are kidding themselves (he will play a high HFF/wing in 2009/10). And those that say we should wait until next year to let him play are coddling him. They should play him when they think his form is good enough, when a HFF/mid is injured/out of form, and his fitness will allow him to play for 60 to 70 minutes. In an ideal world his first two games would be R14 (WCE) and R15 (PA), but that is only because his presence would be the difference between us writing a check and breaking even.

For the youngsters it might be fitness but the 21 and over brigade, and we have had teams full of those, it is mental. They do not want to lose the game by leaving their man and trying to win the game so they sit back and lose the game anyway. They seize up, it is understandable but I want Bailey at half time to come in and not talk about the opposition and just tell them to go and get the pill, and work hard to get the footy, and themselves, forward as often as possible. They all expect Aaron to get them going and it's wearing thin with me and, I suspect, with Aaron. He needs help and we need to get it in the corridor, move it quickly, have runners alongside whoever is running through the corridor, and have players blocking or shepparding to aide the movement and we can stop looking at paltry Inside 50 counts (33 against the Saints).

He looked awful and should make way for Robbo if he plays well, but... I hate putting lines through forwards when they only get 33 Inside 50s to score goals from. Bate is becoming more consistent after a down month and now Miller might need some faith. But there might be benefit in playing at Casey and taking some marks, and kicking some goals.

For McLean it might be, but our midfield suffer from a debilitating dread in the Premiership Qtr (the third), where the game is won or lost, that they might be the one to lose it and so they go into their shell and forget what made them competitive in the first place: their run, their ridiculous handballs, their testicular fortitude to take the game, and their opponent on, and with that mindset they give the upper hand to the opposition. It might be youth, but I think it's a lack of belief. They put up a good front, but I reckon if Dr Lightman (off Lie To Me - great show) had a chat to them he would see a group of fellas who don't think they are good enough to win games of footy.

Nah, he'll be there. He needs to do some work, but there is a lot to work with.

We had 14 Inside 50s in the first qtr. And we kicked 4.5. And we kicked well, or the right side of contests. 50 I50s a game is about the average for a decent side - 33 is pathetic. The problem our midfield has had all season long is putting it on someones head instead to the side of the contest that would help their teammate benefit the most. I'm under no illusions, our forward line is a work in progress, but Nick Riewoldt wouldn't have got a kick at goal in our forward line after qtr time. It wasn't delivered well, or often enough.

We had 33 Inside 50s and of those, many were delivered poorly. And yet we are complaining about the forward line? It never got there. The problem in the second half was that the entire team seized up and decided they would much prefer stopping their direct opponent from getting a touch rather than work into space or help Whelan, Grimes, Morton, Frawley, and Bennell get something started off half back. Our midfield works manfully when the other team has it, they fight it out in close and tackle ferociously, but when we have it they expect someone else to run into space, or be a link in a switch of play, or meet the ball forward and kick a goal. Davey has been in AA form for doing these things (except the getting forward and kicking goals part) but the last two weeks has been tagged and the midfield hasn't adjusted. He needs help and right now there isn't many putting their hand up. Always remember that old axiom: It's the midfield, stupid...

See now, this will be a problem for 2010 and, probably, 2011. Fans will expect him to do things his body won't let him do. He will play wing/HFF for an extended period for the Dees, and for Casey. He would get monstered in the forward line and wouldn't get near it. He needs touches to develop. MFC fans - Get used to him on the wing for the foreseeable future is all i'll say...

He's not dead, mate. Just dropped. Your sig, in very large letters, espouses the ease and importance of having a 'good attitude,' and yet the player with the worst attitude in our team on the weekend is the one you are now defending. He'll be back, and his teammates will realise that they should learn from his passion and not his antics. Everybody wins... BTW, as my earlier post this week outlines - I didn't think he should be dropped, but I realise I was giving him latitude I wouldn't give anyone else on the list, and that is pathetic. He's 30, played 200 games, is a MFC star, and he gets to act the way he does? Under Bailey, I guess he doesn't. This Bailey fella will suprise you... Good on him.

Leaks happen. Deegirl offers benign knowledge, the early release of which is hardly damaging to the club. Deegirl isn't equivalent to the 'person' who is leaking at Richmond. I say 'person' because there are a plethora of leakers down at Richmond which is why Hutchison can be so forthright with his announcements - he has many people saying the same things. The lesson isn't: don't tell anyone when you screw up and deal with it quietly and in-house. Something incredibly difficult to do, the very thing that make others complicit in the screw up. The lesson is: try not to screw up, and if you do, setting the record straight is the best course of action. A neutralised journalist is one with no more questions to ask.

You don't like Bell bashers, so you bash Bate?! The facts are this - Bell will find it difficult to get another contract unless he turns around his stagnated career. Good luck to him on Sat night. Oh, and you're right about speed, but certainly not awareness and kicking skills.

This would be the funniest thread I have read on 'Land. Tee hee... Um, let's see if Bell will get another contract, my head says no, but it only matters what he does on Sat night. Jamar would want to stamp his position but Spencer isn't banging down the door just yet. Robbo has to come back from this challenge, his petulance (greasing off teammates who don't kick it to him, looking at the heavens with umpiring decisions etc.) is staggering for someone whose career is hanging by a weak achilles tendon... I think Robbo is going to struggle to get another contract, but again - it is up to him, and the way he comes back from getting dropped. One thing I will bring up with reference to 'DemonDan...' - You think Bailey should step aside because this team should be in the finals... Really? This team? There is some potential there but we are, Richmond included, the worst team in the league, we have won 9 of our last 53 games of AFL! We are less crap than last year but we are coming from a fair way back.

Maybe for Bluey voting age doesn't matter, but why rate anyone if it doesn't affect their place in the side for next week? Age matters, and in our position, it matters more.

Deegirl would probably take offence at that. She is often right about these things, we will see. And I hope they have chosen the team by now... Otherwise, what the hell have they been doing the last few days, thinking about their holiday plans for September?

It's going to come in at some stage, so we may aswell do it with a eye to rewarding clubs that lose players. Restricted after 5 years - salary can be matched by club and player retained. Unrestricted after 7 years - can go anywhere, club has no power to retain. Remember, they also have to be out-of-contract so it won't be Davey/McLean/Morton/Watts possibly leaving every year. In the MLB, those that lose players get compensated with picks determined by a panel similar to the one set-up for the GC17 concessions. The one thing I would say is that if the players want this, the AFL should push for salary transparency and TPP transparency. Aswell as Free Agency, the MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL also have their contracts with players open to the public so that light is shone on where the money goes. I don't think Gale will like it, but if he wants FA he can give us something in return.

I would trust Suzanna and caseyscorp on this, they have been on top of it for ages. Councils can be infuriating but Casey Council seems to get quite a lot done from where I sit. And is turning a 9 letter word into an 8 letter word really worth how awful it looks. 'Something' into 'sumthing'? I mean, why bother? You may as well write the extra letter...

You don't consider a player's age? We are rebuilding, and if Wheatley was playing slightly better football than Grimes/Cheney/McNamara but they were still playing well, would you still choose Wheatley? If you do, I admire your commitment to your ethos, but I wouldn't want you on the selection committee. The underlying problem with Nathan Jones is the lack of time he has to dispose of the footy and the perceived lack of time he has to dispose of the footy. Sometimes the quickness of the game sees him tackled with the ball, sometimes it sees him being rushed to kick it because of actual pressure, and sometimes he kicks it under little pressure or pressure of his own making. They may drop him to work on his kicking skills and to relieve some pressure on a 21 year old, but his deficiency is his in-close decision making and kicking under pressure - neither of which will rectified in the VFL. The standard is lower (of course) and the game slower.

I think the better question is: Is there a 21 yr old playing who doesn't turn it over? We judge him harshly because of his fantastic 2006 (and Bate as well BTW) but he is doing what the older players were doing then and 6 clearances on the weekend is a great return against the Hawks. He will be unstoppable in a few years time when he has more than Davey to give to and run the lines for him. Genuine ball winners are hard to find.

They have different roles, Sylvia relies on someone getting the ball to him. Junior has to get it himself, or stop someone from getting it. Difficult to compare the two. Junior is coming back from a hammy and comes and goes in games but around the stoppages his value rises. We are last, but we don't often get smashed in the clearances or contested possesions, and I dare say that the captain has something to do with that.