old55

Very pleased to hear this - I was worried his ankle injury may have hurt his pace which is one of his key assets. I agree with Fan that his ball winning attributes have been under-exposed and that he will be a very good midfielder, not just stopper for years to come.

We've got a very good leadership group, if as expected Neitz steps aside in 2008 Bruce, McLean and Green have an opportunity to stake their claim in 2007. If Cam Bruce led from the front and polled high or even won the 2007 Brownlow or NSM - then he'd be hard to deny. No-one's a bigger fan of McLean than me. Green would be a very good captain too.

It's no coincidence that rookie and risk both start with r. Sounds like the club and the AFLPA has been doing their best and hopefully Daniel can sort out his issues for his own sake.

Spiritual Leader ... http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/com...5E19742,00.html http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/com...5E19742,00.html

Thanks deetail! Is the devil in you?

I reckon the Hawks would be very well placed to make a play with Lance Franklin and the host of early pick players they have accumulated in the past 3 years. WC are thin in the ruck particularly now that Gardiner is gone. Cox, then Seaby then nothing. Brisbane would be very well placed to get involved in a 3-way with Charman and McDonald established and Cameron Wood and Leuenberger in the mix.

That's partly true, if he insists on going into the PSD or trade him WC must do it. But have you heard of "the market"? Teams will bid for him, there'll be an auction and the winning bidder will have to pay heavily.

You're on the right track there IMO. It would have to be our best players and those with some years left. Those 3 would have to be in the equation and I agree that McLean is the only untouchable on the list. Also needs to be highly paid players to free sufficient salary cap space - it'll take the best part of $1M/yr. West Coast have no choice if Judd says I'll go into the PSD if you don't accept a reasonable offer from one of my preferred club(s). I'm not saying he's worth it and I'm not saying he's not, but this is what you are looking at: Johnstone + Bruce Johnstone/Bruce + Bell/CJ + 1st pick (hopefully in double figures)

Here's a feasible R1 team of currently available players that doesn't include any of them: Whelan Carroll Bell Frawley Rivers Bartram Johnstone McLean Green Bate Dunn C.Johnson Davey Neitz Robertson White Bruce McDonald Jamar Jones Moloney Buckley

It's certainly going to be interesting who of Bizzell, Holland, Miller, Ward, Yze, Brown, Godfrey, Pickett and Ferguson play ...

ND (and I) have explained how using r&c, tempo footy and kicking to free targets can be used efffectively - it's easy to criticise. What are your "ideologies about the game of football"? How are we going to win at AAMI and Subi by following your them? Who else has won there using them? Please note that you have to do it with the current list. I hoping for something more than Pedro's "kick it in long and fast to a leading forward". I'm pretty sure I countered that (and Neil Craig did too) by starting an extra two back.

Teams only need one power forward. Neitz can play CHF-FF like Hall does, they're fairly similar players. Succession plan is a problem but it's not for want of trying. I was keen that we went for KPPs in this year's draft for that reason and we went for them with 1st and 3rd pick. Nick Smith, Luke Molan, Brent Grgic ... Power forwards are hard to come by. Got any trade ideas? Don't think J.Brown, Pavlich or N.Riewoldt will be available.

Absolutely critical player is we are going to win this year's flag. If we make the GF and he plays well and everyone else does what they're supposed to - we win!

You and Pedro seem to believe we are going exclusively "run and carry", every game all the time. That's not the message I'm getting. We need to do something to improve our results at AAMI and Subi. The Crows put 2 extra players back to start the match. ND instructs the team to run and carry so we don't kick to an outnumbered contest. We kick 3 or 4 goals ahead using this tactic, then Neil Craig has to decide whether to persist and hope that we'll tire or release his two extra backmen. If he does the former we can use our increased running capacity specifically built up over summer to complement the plan and play tempo footy at times in the 2nd half if we need to maintain our 3-4 goal break. If he releases his extra backmen then we can kick longer to a less crowded forward line. We've got three options up our sleeve which we can use pro-actively. If we don't kick ahead trying this tactic what have we lost? In previous years all we've been doing is get beaten there - how can it get worse? Here's my position: - ND is coach for 2007 - He's done a good job, 6/9 years in finals, last 3 years in finals, top finishing Vic team last year - He's trying something new to overcome the final hurdle we have against 3 of last year's top 4 - He knows 10 times more about footy, spends 10 times more time working on it and has 10 times more invested in our success than me or you - I'm behind him and the team in 2007 How about you?

Exactly Port Adelaide: Byron Pickett and Damien Hardwick ... Brisbane: Martin Pike and Mal Michael ... It'a amatter of getting the balance right. ND's approach has assured us of a long period in the top half of the ladder but will we have the edge to win a flag. This is the more conservative approach. Roos has delivered one at Sydney but has said he'll quit when his current veterans retire and IMO the bottom will drop out for Sydney. This is the high risk approach, but great if it delivers a flag - not if it fails - ask Peter Schwab and Dean Laidley.

No-one except you said "always" handball - kick long when there's a free target. No-one said ND invented run and carry, he's just adapting it as a tool. Yes it's tiring and that's why we've been working on our running with Babba - and why Nathan Jones, for example, changed his body shape. We're going to use run and carry as a tactic at the appropriate time. We're going to kick it at the appropriate time. We're used to kicking it but we're not used to run and carry so we're practicising that now when it's safe to do so.. What is your problem?

Seen the SEN Ad on the back cover of the last week's Issue No.1179 21-27 Feb Inside Football? That's almost more beautiful than Jennifer Hawkins in the buff.

Yes kick it long is good sometimes, yes run and carry is good sometimes. Apparently you've just agreed that "run and carry is good sometimes" Apparently that's what you've said all along. But you don't actually want us to do it. Huh?!? That must be some version of "common sense" that I am unfamiliar with. Yes it will be a key tactic in the H&A season and you have described a situation where it is useful. The implementation against Adelaide in R22 was poor but there's nothing wrong with the idea. It was flawed to try to implement it cold but now we have practised it over summer. Yes I would. I'd take possession in your 32 man forward 50, run and carry because I outnumber you thru the midfield, kick to my FF one-out in the 50 if your defenders come to meet me or run to 50 and kick over their heads at goal if they don't - just as you described.

Yes I think they're both high.

I'd move another two back on you and make it 10-8 and very, extremely, awfully crowded down there. The more you move forward, the more I'll move back. I'll be happy if we have 17-15 in your forward 50 and my FF against your 3 defenders in mine. I have absolutely no problem with that and it is a re-phrasing of my argument above in favour of run and carry. Yes kick it long is good sometimes, yes run and carry is good sometimes. We've been a kicking team, now we're trying to introduce some run and carry into our armoury and overdoing it in some meaningless NAB Cup and pre-season practice games and you Chicken-littles are wailing - about what I am not sure?

Very hard match up - very handy!

But you don't want us to try any variations in the game plan, just kick it long. You've just given him a massive bake but you're right behind him - trying to push him off a cliff.

Keen to know what your solution is when the opposition STARTS two extra players behind the ball in our forward line on the narrower grounds like Subi, Telstra Dome, AAMI and Kardinia Park? Your trade-mark kick it fast and long into the forward line will just end up with 3 against one or 4 against 2 contest every time. A backman can cover 10-20 metres to a contest in the time a long ball travels through the air and the ground gets thinner the closer to goal you get and therefore easier to cover space. Please tell me how kicking long to a narrow forward line with 6 forwards and 8 backs is going to work? Kicking long is right some of the time but it's not right ALL the time and with particular set-ups as described above it is very, very wrong. We need to have variations - that's what run and carry is about. If the opposition starts with extra men back or floods extra men back then we may outnumber them in the midfield and can run and handball the ball to break the lines. If that draws their extra backs to the ball then we are no longer out-numbered in defence and can kick to space on the lead or to a more even contest. If they don't come to meet the ball we can keep running and shoot long on goal not to a contest.

I'm happy with that article. Neale Daniher was a great choice as coach in 98. He's been great for MFC. Of course I really hope we win the flag, but even moreso for Neale too.

It's a pity we're not playing at Subi - maybe next week.