old55

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.

Probably for the same reason he would in an MFC 22. If Bennell and Wonna were in the draft at your pick who would you take - I'd take Bennell.

It's AFL expansion that has lead to the current state and that expansion is incomplete. The only reason North and Melbourne exist let alone have an opportunity of winning a flag is because of AFL policies - salary cap, draft, equalisation - even if there was an equal fixture if you took away these AFL rules then we would be unable to compete and probably unable to survive. It's part of the whole package - it's the height of hypocrisy to suggest that the AFL are stealing our opportunity. The AFL is in a special position where there is only one top level league in the world, it means we can retain the best players in our league - similar to NFL. This is not possible with soccer or the fragmented rugby codes - salary cap is impossible in soccer. The AFL wants to consolidate as the national football code, dominant in every state and has the attractive code, funds and determination to do it. AFL has the upper hand, soccer took a massive blow with the WC decision - no further opportunty until 2030 and a guaranteed 2nd or 3rd rate local competition - now's the time for the AFL to put the other codes to the sword. It's a long road that we've embarked on and there'll be some collateral casualties - I'd absolutely hate to lose Tom Scully to GWS but I understand he's only at Melbourne because the AFL made it so.

If Newton made the same degree of improvement in performance that Sylvia has then Newton would be a good player.

Where did I say the AFL is dwindling? It's booming. And it's booming on the back of aggressive expansion into a national competition. This expansion is incomplete.

I don't think anyone at the AFL thinks that it's going to be otherwise. But they have to start somewhere sometime. They need a game every week in NSW and Qld to really become established and build on the footholds of Sydney and Brisbane. It will likely take 50 or 100 years to fully pay off but, like me, the AFL has ultimate faith in Australian Football being far superior to all the other football codes. That RL gets small crowds is not a definitive indicator - relatively it's a ordinary game. Quality alone wont win the hearts and minds - the AFL has to be proactive, aggressive and persistent. I support the expansion and I understand GWS getting a big leg up even if it means a cost to my club.

It's taken Colin Sylvia a similar amount of time to start to deliver on his "potential". Sylvia is a far better player than Newton will ever be but the degree to which he hadn't delivered on his potential is roughly similar and therefore in proportion he cost a lot more while we've been waiting. There is no doubt Newton has potential and he has a very low cost. Like I suggested he's a lottery ticket. That's a more persuasive argument than drafting player 150.