Chook

Bail, Rodan and Nicholson all possess characteristics that Blease doesn't. I'll agree that he should be given another crack soon, but those guys have what we need at this stage of our development. Of course it's worth noting that neither Bail nor Rodan will be in the team this week (Bail probably not and Rodan definitely not).

Nicholson, Tapscott and McKenzie were never going to be dropped. All three were (unfortunately) among our better players last week. Nicholson was our worst of that bunch, but he still ran and delivered the ball as well as he can. Rohan Bail is the one that really needs to be dropped, so from the list WJ provided I'd say the ins and outs will be: IN: Jamar, Trengove, Magner, Jetta, Toumpas OUT: Spencer, Viney, Byrnes, Bail, Sylvia I think Toumpas should possibly remain in the VFL, especially against Richmond. They play a physical brand of footy that would absolutely cane Toumpas at this stage of his development. But if its a choice between him and Davis, I'd go with the Toump. It will be interesting to see what he can bring to the table this time around.

No it isn't. Not even close.

Are you kidding? It's not even the worst Melbourne team of the year.

We give him another week to make amends. If he still plays "[censored]", then we bring in someone else.

Chook's ins and outs for this week: OUT: Sylvia, Bail, Spencer. Possibly Burns IN: Jetta, Watts, Jamar. Possibly Magner Sylvia: Suspended, but I haven't rated his performances this year at all. Burns us so often going inside 50. Bail: Atrocious two weeks in a row, and needs a week or two off. His usual run and carry hasn't really been there recently, and I suspect he has some niggling injury. Spencer: He's had his mandatory two weeks in the side, and can now go back to Casey to work on being able to break even in the ruck, because his around the ground stuff is fairly decent Burns: I think he has been one of our top half of performers this year, but his past few weeks have been pretty bad. He needs to go back to Casey and show some better form there. Jetta: I really rate this guy, and was super [censored] that he wasn't brought straight back into the side after his suspension. Watts: Showed some great stuff in the forward 50 last time he played, and I'm hoping he can pick up where he left off (if he isn't still injured). If Watts doesn't come up, I'd consider playing Fitzpatrick or Rodan. Jamar: Like it or not, he's our second-best ruckman. I think he has played quite well this year, and his rucking skills are underrated. When he wins it, he doesn't take as much advantage as he should, but I feel like his losses are less severe than Spencer's. If Jamar doesn't come up, I'd consider playing Pederson or Fitzpatrick. Magner: Can we please just stick this guy in the middle and let him eat turf like he was born to do?

Sellar wasn't the worst, but he wasn't one of the best either. I count at least ten players who played better than him last week.

How does she go in the middle? But seriously, is this game being broadcast on TV? I'd be interested to see what the standard is.

When I read the thread title, I thought he might have said that Richmond would be fielding a less experienced team than us.

From the headline I thought it would be a calming reminder that regardless of our administrative or cultural problems, we simply don't have the talent to compete. That would be a useful article. Instead we get paragraph after paragraph or unreadable dross whose sole purpose is to tell us something we already know - the absolute antithesis of what "news" should be about. Shocking. Wait, no . . . the other thing. Predictable. Yeah, that's it. Utterly predictable.

Provided Neeld is given until the end of the year, what result would be good enough for him to keep his job?

After reading that article, does anyone really need convincing that Dawes was a good choice anymore? The guy has what we need.

We're going for the record.

I hope they make Colin Sylvia do the same.

Of course! It's so obvious! Give that kid a job now!

I've deliberately refrained from even mentioning Jesse Hogan for this exact reason, and the fact that Don McLardy pointed to this young kid as an example of our great forward-thinking mindset made me sick. It was on that day that I soured on McLardy forever.

Now that we've all stopped disagreeing about Neeld, we need to fill that void of conflict by arguing about who soured on him first. That's Demonland for you!

It's no worse than Jettas which got 2 weeks. So...2 weeks is my prediction.

I have heard that after he was sacked by Adelaide, he went back and really worked on some of the things that failed him the last time. I'm not totally against it, although a tiny bit of me just wants to stick with Neeld regardless. I'm so confused right now.

We need to remove as much as possible all at once, so that whatever crazy problem has existed this past 50 years is ripped out through sheer brute force.

Yep. I'm off the Neeld bandwagon for good. His so-called "reality bus" was all a big sham.

Either we back Neeld to the hilt and go through the draft again or we sack him right now and bring in someone else. If we think the players are to blame, then we keep Neeld and get new players. If we think Neeld is to blame, then we sack Neeld and back the players. Either way we need to make our choice now.

Campbell Brown, ladies and gentlemen. The AFL's pre-eminant hard man.

If we don't win this game, my support for Mark Neeld will be completely gone.

No love from any of the commentators today, but that's okay; they're all hacks anyway. PS Max Gawn's had a shave, so I think we're officially fuzz-free across the board. The closest thing to a beard on any of our players is Jeremy Howe's customary 5 o'clock shadow.