old55

How many can we play? I think that list is 29 - surely it's less than that? 26 = 18 + 6 I/C + 2 subs? 24 = 18 + 4 I/C + 2 subs?

I agree with Sid, Nasher. Articles on the AFL site support the AFL position - find an article on there critical of the AFL. We all agree that it's an absolute shitter that Scully is in range of the GWS concessions but we're unintended collateral damage. This situation wasn't anticipated when WE helped draw up the rules. Where's the cut-off age - see the Marc Murphy example? Maybe they should've made the rules the same as the free agency rules, but consistency is not one of the AFL's strong points and the cat is out of the bag now because GCS didn't have those rules. The only way Tom could come out of GWS's scope is if the AFL had a quiet word in their ear and said "lay off" - but reading that article it doesn't seem likely to happen.

There's something wrong with this argument: Fev could make a massive effort to turn his life around and prove that he's a reformed character so that a club might be convinced to pick him up on minimum contract. His AFL career is finished.

I think the forum would really benefit from a Player discussion forum where there's a thread per player. Players develop over time and it's interesting to see the comment as they progress. A continuous Jamar thread would be fascinating and I think a Morton one would be too. Posters opinions vary over time too, this woulld also be a source of interest. The recent Joel Macdonald thread is a good example where it would be great to have continuity in the duscussion over the years forward.

Ricky Nixon shouldn't have been in a hotel room alone with the SKSG - his reputation and career are destroyed by that. From there on it just gets worse for him all the way up to the accusation of criminal behaviour.

Kicking is the reaason we'd like to get Strauss in there.

How many players can we play? How many interchange and subs? Despite a few injuries there's at least 27 or 28 players I'd like to see - some will have to miss out.

I think Matthew Warnock is the logical replacement for James Frawley while he's injured. That makes my back six - Warnock, Bartram, Garland, Rivers, MacDonald, Grimes. Kicking is an issue there.

Our new facilities enable us to stay in player retention hunt with the advent of GC, GWS and Free Agency. If we were still at the Junction we'd be screwed. North have gone "California or bust" by choosing to stay in Melbourne rather than go to GC and having done that they have to be aggressive to make it work. They have done the only thing they could realistically do by going into further debt to renew their facilities and increase spending on their FD - they'd be unable to retain talent if they were still in the burnt out portables. The interest on the debt is a yoke we have removed but they have to carry. The salary cap means North is not in a worse position than us - provided they can continue to pay 100% and the AFL doesn't demand that they cut back as a condition of the extra AFL funding they receive. The AFL needs 18 teams for 9 games to maximise broadcast revenue - North is guaranteed to survive the next 5 years - somewhere.

Daicos played a lot of football in the midfield. Genius player.

Maybe we could all shout out "ADC" every time he posts? Would that help? PS Thanks KW!

Stef Martin to break thru as 2nd ruck.

"Obviously" you're wrong. If we beat Richmond they would've finished last, no-one would've got the PP and the pick order would've been 1-Richmond, 2-Melbourne 3-Fremantle. While there's no certainty who of Scully, Trengove, Martin and Morabito would've been picked and in what order, if the actual picks were repeated we would've got Trengove and therefore Scully is the bonus.

Agree with your extra cap complaint. The AFL explanation is they can have extra players on their list but the vast majority will be first year draftees who themselves have a cap of about $70k/year so even with the standard cap they'd still have plenty of money left over to lure uncontracted players.

Still keen for an explanation how it's fair that GWS can target Marc Murphy 2005 pick 1, 100 games of development and about to hit his prime but it's unfair that they can target Tom Scully.

Yep White + 22 (Troy Longmuir) for 2 (Brad Ottens) + 18 (Mark Alvey) Freo traded 2 to Richmond for Chris Bond!

Yes he was - he was pick 1, priority picks come before the first round, pick 2 was first pick of the first round.

I think Velocity is a smaller agency with fewer clients under management - they probably think it's all good publicity.

Is it more unjust that GWS can target Tom Scully than it is that they can target Marc Murphy? He was pick 1 in 2005 and Carlton have spent 5 years developing him and he should be entering his prime right now. It's a long bow to draw that Carlton have had their value from Murphy.

You must watch a different game. There isn't a better field kick in the AFL than Davey. Davey's role is to pierce the opposition zone, it's a high skill and will sometimes result in turnovers due to the degree of difficulty. We give it to him off half back and through the middle because he's the designated kicker in these situations - others simply cannot do it. The way he plays is different from Travis who often chose the difficult option, Davey often only has the difficult option. Sometimes he's forced to bend the ball to make it work and sometimes it wont come off but most of the time he's deadly. There's only a handful of players in the AFL who can do it. Have another look at the 2 Collingwood games from last season.

Maybe a crackpot idea - I've had a few ... In the tradition of the Val Perovic "WOOF", the Adem Yze "OOOOZE" and the Alan Toovey "TOOOOOV" we could start the Tom Scully "SKULL" every time he kicks the ball to show the football world he's ours.

You gotta get up early - leave the pirate in the sack ...

Yes Warnock, Fitzpatrick and Lawrence, there's 46 on the list

I haven't seen them live and that's the acid test. Many here e.g. DA reckon they look pink live. There's so many ways colour can get shifted from camera to print and computer screen that it's not a reliable medium.

Don't worry they used Rhino's and my money on Newton - your's went on Tom McNamara.