old55

His kicking and decision making have improved off a low base. For the type of player he is he barely wins enough contested possessions (av < 10) and he doesn't win enough clearances, lay and stick enough tackles or deliver enough 1%s. He plays like an outside finisher and may your deity of choice help us if that's his role.

Agree

Me too! Best Ever! Forecast pain arrives on schedule.

Hard to see how sending injured players to a low oxygen environment is going to help them heal - Flagstaff at > 2000m. Usually they get in a high oxygen environment - see Riewoldt and the Saints got a hyperbaric chamber last year. Also as noted 2 x 15 hour flights at low oxygen (2400m) is not going to help either - even if they're in a proper bed at the pointy end of the plane. Wonder if Lance Armstrong is coming to visit them to provide inspiration?

By extension then it makes no difference to our performance whether supporters turn up to games.

I'm putting it back out there - we need to show him he's wanted when he runs onto the ground this week.

The first person I heard use the term "bruise-free" in relation to MFC (and in general) was Dermott on SEN on Friday morning. Not sure if this was the origin and Carlton picked it up from there.

Mark Williams is a lock to take over from Sheedy at GWS. Ratten and Clarkson should stay. Other clubs likely to be looking for a new coach: Dogs, Adelaide.

I get something out of the reviews as they are and am pleased to have them.

Roos reckons Nathan Jones is one of the most under-rated players in the AFL and criticises Colin Sylvia for playing one-way football ... OK.

You really need to read between the lines.

Trengove is an automatic in and I'd play Scully as sub if his knee came up OK. Bartram is an automatic in too if he's fit - not sure about the nature of his hip injury. I'm unconvinced by Dunn, he might need a good week a Casey. Three more first gamers in genuine contention: Gawn, McDonald and Howe - read well in the Casey review. Looking at the MFC review Jetta, Jurrah, Maric, Newton, Petterd and Warnock are on shaky ground. And if we have a few debutants maybe Evans might be cycled back to Casey. Jurrah might get another chance. Some sub-set of: In: Trengove, Scully, Bartram, Gawn, McDonald, Howe Out: Jetta, Maric, Evans, Newton, Warnock, Petterd

If he pulled up OK at Casey he should be the sub.

Are you sure Sylvia was instructed to play a negative role or was Bailey just going head-to-head with Judd with our best player?

"Call for you Tom, it's Sheeds"

It's hard to tell whether Bailey is leading us in the right direction, but as I've posted before that right direction isn't following the herd. I'm very wary of knee jerk reactions - in this thread we've had experienced posters saying that we're not defensive enough and others saying that we're too defensve - some bemoaning that we're too similar to Matthew Knights, others lamenting that we're not enough like him. I guess North were just unlucky to get the dumb Scott brother while Geelong got the smart one, or maybe there's another explanation ...

Wow 1297, that's getting down there. Wonder what the record low is and what our record low is? Anyone got access to that data?

good marker for those keen to see Gawn at AFL level - against Hudson (if he doesn't play for the Dogs). Campbell is missing from the teams and the injury list AFAIK. Evans and Nicholson appear to have overtaken Strauss and Blease at this stage. Only going to get tougher with Scully and Trengove coming back which is good. 4 of those Dogs need to come out for the seniors bench (from Djerrkura, Hill, Hudson, Markovic, Moles, Reid, Sherman) so the Willi side is not as strong as it looks. is there a suitable flight to Avalon? this could be good to see - look fwd to reports.

I have a reasonable level of knowledge and interest in the club and Tom Scully's status but no inside information. There simply is not enough evidence either way to know what is going to happen and it's quite likely that Tom hasn't decided yet (and I don't have a problem with that). Anyone without specific inside knowledge who has a firm opinion is speculating.

Wrong - he's the nominated rookie because we've only got 1 vet. ABCDEFG ... It depends on the player's contract status - delisting contracted players is more difficult. Information on this is available on the various forums and it's reasonably accurate as far as I can tell - a few errors here and there.

FFS! He got 3 Brownlow votes in BOTH games against Collingwood last year - and they were 2 of the best 3 games by the club. He is currently at a low but don't rewrite history.

Of course he will, Williamstown care about winning and will want to negate Casey's best player.

Someonme has to ruck with Martin, the only possible replacement for Newton is Gawn. It's Petterd or Bate who are replaceable by Howe. I don't think Friday night is the right time to play too many debutants.

I'd play Macdonald in a defensive mid or fwd role like he started last week, we can't have Warnock, Rivers, Macdonald and Bartram all in the backline. I've posted this before - I think we should try Wonna in the backline - his kicking skills would be very useful. I think Davey should be dropped and subject to Wonna's fitness he should play back in that role. Strauss needs to come in for Tapscott - it's his chance. Back 6 if they're all fit: Frawley, Warnock, Rivers, Bartram, Strauss, Wonna - it's 2 changes which will be unsettling, but I think it's necessary.