Chook

Usually I watch almost every second of every game slot (if there are two games on at once, I flip from one to the other), but for about six weeks up until the finals this year I didn't watch a second of footy besides the Melbourne games. In the last two weeks, I didn't even watch our games - that's how sick I was of our performances.

Geelong's fantastic culture is player driven, just as all great cultures are. In fact, the is no such thing as culture unless it refers to what the majority are doing. There are instances of what you call "cults of personality," where strong individuals are able to change the behaviour of large groups of people. But 99% of the time, changes in culture only occur by consensus of the majority. In this case, the players are responsible for the culture of the club, and if it does change it will likely be a player-driven thing. I'm sure you're aware of the concept of a scapegoat. There are no bigger scapegoats in any organization I've ever seen than the senior coaches of football clubs. Even Roos has said that his role will be to oversee a team of coaches. The team is the most important thing, and if Roos has a strength it's that he sees that better than most. And no, Chris Dawes is not a spud. So there's that.

It IS the players' fault. Effort comes from just one place, and it isn't the coach.

By that logic, Kenenisa Bikele isn't much of a runner. He's only the ten thousand metre world record holder, but since he did it running around in circles I guess it doesn't count.

Mystery Men! An underrated film if ever I've seen one.

No it isn't. Our problem is that we can't accrue long chains of uncontested possession; that's why our possession count is so low every week, and our "goals from turnovers" stat is usually in the -60 points range. If we could clean this up, we'd be a ten goal better side.

That would be impossible. It's not in the Jones DNA.

So when you say "Priority Pick News," what you really mean is "I don't know anything, so I thought I'd make a thread about it."

Speaking of ex-players we may or may not want back, that old chestnut facebook has thrown up the possible return of Darren Jolly as a playing coach! He's a hell of a lot better than Mark Jamar, but he's also battled injury a lot too. I'll defer to Roosy on this one, but I can't help but think that if it were Mark Neeld in charge, we'd all be screaming "NO!!!" at this idea.

Anyone watch Breaking Bad? The name Jesse White gives me a bit of a chuckle. I'm just waiting for a Walter Pinkman to get drafted.

We should do everything we can to get Sean Wellman back. Our defence was absolutely unbelievable when he was here.

18 teams did spread the talent pool too thin. Unfortunately one team got all the crap players.

I don't think that's how it works, Jack. I believe punishment is meted out only in the afterlife, and certainly not against whatever sporting team you support. When Judas betrayed Jesus, I'm pretty sure God didn't smite Judas' favourite football side in response.

Which is to say they're driven by emotion rather than facts whenever their opinion differs with yours.

Sociopaths are significantly more charismatic than Neeld. They think long and hard about how others will see what they're doing, and modify their behaviour so as to go unnoticed / get what they want. In this respect, they're a lot like the rest of us. It might surprise you to know that 90% of the sociopaths you've ever met, you didn't know were sociopaths.

Got my hopes up there for a second.

It seems to work okay for them though.

I nominate this for the worst thread title in history. It combines my two most hated qualities in a thread: unfounded optimism and unimaginative cliches.

Look at us. We pick up Paul Roos and Peter Jackson and suddenly we're on top of the world again. Please!

I heard him speak at the best and fairest and he half put me to sleep. Not inspirational at all. Nathan Jones sniffed like a man addicted to cocaine as well. Jack Grimes on the other hand. I'd listen to him all day every day.

Who cares what number he wears? Do you really think it matters that he changed numbers?

I suggest you go rewatch the games he played before injuring his shoulder against Carlton this year. I think you'll find he was in our best every week.

This is different. What's done is done. We've already lost the games, and we lost them (despite what people would have you believe) because of lack of onfield talent. Getting a priority pick will enable us to trade for what we're lacking. Not getting one means we will continue to languish at the bottom of the ladder, never able to remove the stench of losing from our players...until sure enough it latches onto the next generation of young talent and we end up out of the competition forever. Nobody wants to lose games; but since we've already lost them, why lose again? All we can do is bring new people into the club to replace the old, and getting a priority pick will enable us to do that. Nobody's saying it's a desirable position to be in, but we're in it all the same.

I'm hoping Roosy does what I would do: drop Trengove back to vice-captain and just have Jack Grimes as sole captain. I rate his leadership really highly, and I think as a leader he is actually better than Nathan Jones.

If we're "propped up" now, it may mean that in fifty years we'll still be here instead of being constrained to the annals of history. Do you think anyone will give two tosses about a priority pick given half a century ago? This is our last shot to make it work. If we can make it work now, then whatever assistance we're given (and the lack of respect that goes along with it) will pale in significance to the surety we'll gain from whatever "unearned" success we parlay the AFL's assistance into.