Chook

Very succinct. I for one thought he wouldn't make it, but have been proven wrong in the last few weeks. I'm happy to say I'm on the Valenti bandwagon.

Yeah, that was a bit of a farce, eh? Lucky for me I was facing the other way.

The forward line. Anyone with two arms can mark a ball put to advantage. It takes skill to tap a ball to advantage. It takes skill to read where the ball is going to to be tapped to. GET RICH OR DIE TRYING!

He played on Shannon Grant for a while when he was forward, I know that much.

And the week after that . . . God forbid, a night match! And there isn't anything exiting in the world going on that night, so we'll probably scratch around 90 000 at the game, right?

Thanks for that. I like Paul Johnson though, by the way. I was on him even before the Sydney game in '06.

Am I the only one who thinks PJ looks a little like Johnny Depp? Maybe I'm crazy.

Totally agree going on the way he looks. I thought it was only me who thought they looked similar. I really rate Boomer, so I'd be rapt if he got to be anywhere near as good.

http://afl.com.au/tabid/208/Default.aspx?newsid=64199 If worst comes to worst and we have a choice between relocating to Tasmania or folding all together, what would you do? I personally would only keep caring about the game if we kept our jumper and played every Melbourne team at the MCG every year. If this didn't happen, sure I might watch an occasional game, but without having the Red and Blue to care about, I'm sure I'd slowly lose interest.

Certainly seems that way. But the Roos have a habit of lapsing when expected to win. Don't count us out tomorrow.

Totally agree. In fact, I think it's better than On the Couch or, for that matter, any other footy show that actually talks about football.

This harks back to the opinion that I've had for a while - that Melbourne supporters are the only ones who see Brucie as he really is. Everybody else; players, coaches, even the media, really rate him highly. So, given this, I'm not surprised that the coaches voted for him.

What does this mean? Usually anything with the word "audit" in it is bad, right?

First of all, thanks for replying so in-depth. Second, I absolutely agree with your statement that we should specialize in one particular area of the field - as that is, in my opinion the easiest way to a Premiership, since, if you are the best in the league at one aspect of footy, you have a good chance of winning a lot of games via that strength. But it seems we're saying similar things. We just differ in our number one priority. I believe it's better to develop a very strong midfield than anything else because of the way the game's played these days. No forward will profit if the opposing team's midfield constantly wins the ball in the center and runs back into holes when without the ball. Likewise, it's every forward's dream to run onto a lace-out ball delivered with pin-point accuracy from the midfield. Finally, as you mentioned, the impact of the Cox/Judd/Cousins/Kerr/Embley midfield on an otherwise ordinary team was immense. The dramatic fall of the West Coast Eagles with the loss of just two of this group is testament to this. This near two-time Premiership-winning, top-four monty team was reduced, in the space of a little over one year, to a genuine wooden-spoon contender. Compare this to Richmond and Carlton, who for many years had no midfield but did have power forwards who regularly kicked bags of 6 goals, invariably finished at or very near the bottom of the ladder. Only now, with the arrival of Chris Judd (yes, the same one that nearly participated in the back-to-back Premierships of an otherwise wooden-spooner) at Carlton, accompanied by the maturity of the Kreuzer/Murphy/Gibbs midfield, are they beginning to win games, despite the fact that their spearhead and contender for Biggest [censored] In the Universe, Brendan Fevola, is kicking no more goals than he used to. Likewise with Richmond. Perhaps even moreso, as even though Richo is kicking fewer goals, the good form of the Simmonds/Cotchin/Deledio combo is giving great supply to the likes of Mitch (?) Morton and Jack Riewold. So, in conclusion, Obama for President! Er . . . that is to say, I believe that the Warnock (Naitanui)/McLean/Jones/Rich (Prismall)/et al. midfield is the best way to improve both our defensive and offensive pressure and, consequently, give us the best chance of a flag after the dominance of Geelong, Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs. By the way, it's no coincidence that I think that the next wave of Premiership contenders will include Carlton, Richmond and Melbourne (no bias there!). God that's a lot of words.

I agree with you Dappa, in that we should pick a player who helps shore up a weakness. But it seems to me that our greatest two weaknesses are Clearances and Inside 50s, both of which can be helped by a strong midfield - or at the very least a good ruck division. When we get the ball inside 50, we score fairly regularly, so we don't - in my opinion, need to bolster our forward line as much as the midfield. For those reasons - and the fact that, more than ever, the game is won in the midfield - I'd pick Rich, with Warnock with our third round pick/#1PSD and Prismall with whichever one's free. If we happen to finish above the Eagles and they take Rich (as seems likely), I'd consider picking Watts if we could still get Warnock for cheap.

Thanks, Dappa. By the way, how [censored] off did Glenn Archer look at at that guy Nixon? I reckon if he wasn't on TV, he would've absolutely slugged him one.

I think it's fair to say Hutchy might own a Hummer.

Wow. I expected to be absolutely shouted down. Well there you go.

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I'm watching Footy Classified right now and - as usual - Demon Gazza and "Who Ate All the Pies" Crag Huchison are laying into Caroline Wilson and I've begun to realize something strange. Carro is my hero. Yep, in the footy world, where intelligent people are about as rare as a drug-free West Coast Eagles player, Mrs. Wilson is a shining light. A woman in a male-dominated, yobbo business, Carro comes under fire for almost everything she does or stands for, yet more often than not comes out the other end of an hour of [censored]-slinging smelling like a rose. A true credit to her gender, her profession, the game, and herself. I love you Caroline Wilson. There, I said it.

But Aaron Davey's not a sprinter. He is a fast footballer who's being asked to sacrifice his strengths in order to make him into something he's not.

Wow. Talt about a Lazarus thread. Or is it Methuselah?

There may be a thread on this a few pages back, but I'll answer anyway. Brad Miller I always thought he was a great leader whose talents and confidence were being destroyed by playing him way to far from goals. In my perfect Melbourne side, I'd make him Captain and plunk him at full forward. Not like a Fraser Gehrig, but pretty much as a center-half-forward who, when he takes marks, is actually some 35 meters closer to goal because of his closer starting point.

Absolutely. I think Fremantle are in the worst position out of any club. They're a chance of winning 5 games this year, missing out on the priority pick this year and thus missing out on the first round priority pick next year because of that. On top of all that, they're going to have a thin draft to work with and very very few top line senior players after about six of them retire this year. West Coast and Melbourne are a mile closer to a flag than Fremantle because of this. Indeed, depending on the quality of the blokes in this year's draft, we, Carlton and Richmond are best placed to take advantage of the lull that will occur at the top of the table in a few years time, when Geelong, Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs (who I don't really rate) all succumb to their inevitable falls. That's only if the two new Clubs aren't gifted Premierships - which I'm sure the AFL would never let happen!

Good work Deanox. You've just reinforced what we already know and, in light of those stats, I don't really think we could have expected anything other than what happened yesterday.

Well, he's getting on for a small forward who relies on his pace. A lot of people forget that he's 25. While that's usually the peak of a normal footy player's career, I've always thought that he'd only be really good while his pace and determination lasted. And unfortunately, it hasn't lasted nearly as long as I think we'd hoped. Forcing him to play in the midfield and sacrifice some of his pace for endurance hasn't helped much, either. I love the guy, but don't think he'll age anywhere near as well as even Jeff Farmer, although I think his positive work ethic and smaller ego might help him avoid some of the pitfalls that have befallen the Wiz. Having said that, I still believe, as - I think - would any Melbourne supporter, that he'd be one of the first picked each week. I just think that, because we so often struggle in getting the ball inside 50 enough, we need to have Aaron planted there so he can help keep the ball in with his sometimes astounding forward pressure and creativity.