Adelaide Demon

2009 - cannot see us winning more than 3 matches. Who knows, could be wrong, but I'd say we're finishing 16th. 2010 - Too early to say but 6 wins or more would be great. If we could finish somewhere between 11 and 14, that would be a positive result I would think. 2011 - Looking to push for double figures in terms of wins, knock off a top-4 side or two in upset wins, be in the hunt for the top 8 most of the season. Finish somewhere between 8 and 11. 2012 - Solid top 8 side, finish between 6-8. Get finals experience. 2013 - Push for top four, make the finals, more finals experience. From there, who knows? Premierships are anything but a formailty.

Some interesting thoughts there rpfc. Definitely agree with Bennell, he is looking really good. Morton is getting better all the time. He is the next Bruce, similar build, similar style. But Morton could be better. (And Bruce is good, so that's a good sign.) Meesen defo looked good, should be given at least 6-8 games in a row even if he starts playing crap. Ruckmen take ages.

A few things I take from today's match: Stefan Martin is really looking like he will mature in to a solid defender in a year or two. I was very unsure of him in his first games last year - he looked awkward and unassured. Now, he shows signs of poise, courage, and a much higher skill-level. Aaron Davey's form continued today and he was by far-and-away our best, again. Very exciting season on the cards from #36. Thought we missed McDonald today. His pressure and work-rate in the midfield were not adequately covered by McLean et al, and Junior would have gone a long way to shutting down Burgoyne. Bruce, Green and Morton performed adequately. Brogan is a piece of shit. Why isn't Jones playing the majority of time in the middle? What do you reckon we could get for Sylvia in the draft? Fourth-round pick? Take it. I don't know what everyone is expecting this season. I am expecting us to finish bottom, without doubt. We win less than four, and get the top two picks in the next draft, or so I have heard. There have been signs of improvement this season, but these signs will not convert in to victories. We will lose 19 or 20 games this season. Look at our best 22. Compare it man-for-man and as a whole with every other list/best 22 in the league and it's not hard to see that we are miles away from winning more than eight games a season. Hopefully that can happen next year. I am excited by the prospect of adding Watts, Grimes and Blease. Some thoughts on our list: Youngsters who should be playing every week (when they are ready): 1 Simon Buckley 2 Nathan Jones 4 Jack Watts 8 James Frawley 10 Cale Morton 16 Jack Grimes 20 Colin Garland 25 Kyle Cheney 26 John Meesen 33 Austin Wonaeamirri 34 Stefan Martin 37 Matthew Warnock 43 Jamie Bennell 46 Sam Blease 48 Liam Jurrah 39 Neville Jetta You look at that and these guys are not going to win many games against experience opposition. Add to that bunch: 36 Aaron Davey 5 Brock McLean 18 Brad Green 23 James McDonald 24 Russell Robertson 27 Jared Rivers 31 Paul Wheatley 32 Cameron Bruce (7 Brad Miller) ... who are our best players and it adds some quality but we can not expect to win many games at all when this is what were are putting on the table to compete with Geelong or the Bulldogs. We've just got to tough it out and get exciting by Bennell and Martin's continued development.

See the thing about Jeff in '07 and '08 that people didn't realise was that when he would get rubbished for not doing the hard-running and just lumbering around the field and not putting in the effort he was actually in a full-blown sprint. He and Neita did the 100m in less than 20 seconds in '08, that's quite brisk.

Krazy Jay, brilliant post, just brilliant! AAMI is a joke, a complete and utter joke. Why oh why would people call us a backwater? When our fkn AFL stadium is a piece of sh|t 15kms out of the city, I can begin to think of one reason. When we have a great venue in Adelaide Oval where Port should take some of their games, but bullsh|t SANFL beurocracy stops either club leaving Footy Park... and when there is widespread opposition to us building a Docklands-like stadium in the city... I can think of a couple more... We are attrocious in Adelaide, have been for as long as I can remember. I go every year, just to see the boys, and it's more an issue of loyalty, solidatiry and committment for me. It proves it to myself as I go along every year, knowing full-well that we are going to get our arses handed to us, that I must have some pretty strong feelings for the red and blue jumper hahaha. No one would go and stand among 18000 Port Adelaide fans at "Football Park" out of choice! And that's generally the only positive thing I take out of watching MFC play in Adelaide. Oh, Sylvia did kick a nice goal after a nice run two or three years ago. But he's sh|t so that doesn't really count does it? On a side note, to anyone who doesn't recognise the sarcasm, the Adelaide crowds are a farce, they are clueless as to the rules of the sport, they are timid and stupid, amongst them sits the odd feral who will yell out random, grammatically-impeccable half-sentences generally directed at the officials or the opposition players keeping warm on the sidelines - or better still, opposition players 150m away; they are fickle, they are feral, they have no real passion, and they support a [censored] team. They won't vadalise your car, they won't abuse you, they won't even talk to you. They are so gutless that the best you can hope for is some veiled half-hearted attempt to belittle your club yelled in the general direction of the field with the intention of garnering a response from you. If you decide to entertain such a discussion, remember that the formula for working out Power supporters generally follows this rule: Number of teeth + years of high school attended = number of premierships won by club.

Gotta be Neitz or White, 2008 vintage.

Our very own #32 Mr Bruce and the gun in red and white Mr R. O'Keefe were both fourth-round picks in 1999. Gee there was some real quality lower down in that draft. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_AFL_Draft Watt type of player will Whats be? Is he a Neitz, a Pavlich/Reiwoldt, a Carey, a Modra, an Ablett Snr.??

I don't know if I'm alone in thinking this but Davey was sensational last week. By far-and-away our best player. Here's hoping his 100th is just as good! Certainly one of the most exciting players in the league when on top form and in full flight. A joy to watch. Personally I think he has the potential to be one of the best players in the league. He sort of plateau-ed a little bit in '07 and '08 I thought but he can still improve and we know how good his best is already. He's still only 25. Eight good seasons to come! My Davey highlight (so far): One of our matches in June/July 2006, when the World Cup was on the Socceroos were the talk of the town, Davey kicked a goal from 40 metres out, directly out of the air. Goooaaaaallll!

Well I would like to see Nathan Jones have a strong season this year and get his name in to the mix. He has that hard edge in the middle of the park that can really inspire and lift. He needs to go to the next level though, and hopefully he can do that this season. Subjectively, I would love to see Cam Bruce as captain one day but this is most probably no longer realistic as he will be 30 in September. McLean has been the name thrown around since 2006 but he has a lot to prove this year. If he has a great season, he could well be getting the C next to his name next year or in 2011. Greeny has only just turned 28 so he still has to be very much in the mix. And whoever said Paul Johnson, whatever you are on must be pretty strong stuff. Beyond 2010-2011 it is too early to say. We have received a whole new batch of potential long-term first-team players in the last two years and it is too early to judge someone's suitability to leadership at age 17, 18 or 19. Any number of our current crop of youngsters could step up after their first 30 or 40 games, or someone like Watts or Grimes could come in and have an immediate impact, but it is too early to say. Watts turned 18 a couple of weeks ago. 18!!

Crows and Power to finish bottom four for the next 36 seasons. Fifteen clubs forfeit their draft picks for 5 years because of salary cap breaches.

Dead set, Miller is punching above his weight there, she is ridiculous! Well played young Bradley, well played indeed.

Tough one. Green maybe? McLean? Not sure. The candidates for mine would be Green, Brock, Junior, Cam and depending on the next two months, Miller and Davey.

Yeah they only played together in '98, White didn't come over in '97 - he was still playing for the Purple Haze in that year. Jeff did play in a GF, but he also was our B&F in 2004, which you didn't mention. Both have now played almost exactly the same number of matches, Jimmy 264 and Jeff is now at 265 I believe.

#1 - Daniel Bell. #2 - Robbo, for sure. Surprised Jeff White hasn't been mentioned more, he's a great kick. One of the best kicks of any ruckman in the league. He'd be there or there-abouts when the pressure was on. Robbo, Belly, White, Brad Green IF it was 45° on the right, Wonnaemirri looks the goods but distance could be a problem... (Bell was a joke )

Most people are saying Brock is #1, but for my money, he's taken a while to get going. His last month or so has been brilliant, but Greeny was the stand-out player in the early rounds. I think it'd be fairly even between then in terms of BOGs, probably two to Green and either two or three to Brock, but that is only off the top of my head, haven't looked at the games in detail. These two are clearly the top two for mine, while Brucey has had some pretty good matches, and picked up a lot of touches in a few matches (not that this really means anything). Wheatley has been good but has missed some matches, didn't he miss a few?, I forget now but I know he hasn't played them all. Davey has been serviceable interspersed with moments of brilliance, but he is capable of more. Nathan Jones continues to show something, certainly one that we should build around for the next half-decade, but again, is capable of more. So my top 5 is: 1. Brad Green 2. Brock McLean 3. Cam Bruce 4. Paul Wheatley 5. Nathan Jones then Aaron Davey, Brad Miller, Austin Wonnaemirri. And the remarks about Dunn, I agree he has done well in some matches, but I don't think he's been in our top 5 players to be fair... although he did a great job on the weekend.

Both great, great players. Unfortunately I'm a little too young (22) to remember Stynes' entire career, but from what I did see, he was brilliant. I have to say that in my opinion, he is under-rated among the modern-day legends. His name isn't mentioned nearly as often as it should be. He was a leader and trail-blazer, and not only with the Irish connection. As has been mentioned, he approached being a ruckman in a different light, and modern-day players like Cox and dare I say it even White play in a way that Jimmy helped revolutionise in contemporary Aussie Rules. With Jeffrey, I am fortunate enough to have been able to see most of his senior career, and fondly remember his past half-a-dozen season when he became my equal favourite player (and this season, probably my favourite. I can hear you all already. I think I'm a sucker for the veterans, just love 'em.) with Brucey. Objectively he probably hasn't had the impact that Stynes had, but obviously there are other factors involved there, but all in all White is a champion for my money, don't care what the concensus is!

My knowledge of the draft is not extensive, but would we get anything for Petterd or Yze? Yze, surely not, with all due respect, what club would want him on their list now? And don't trade Bruce.

Johnson looks like he could have value as a non-key-position forward. As a ruck, not so much. Give him a run up forward and see how he goes.

Excellent post. A couple of points - yeah you're right, I have only been to two matches this season in the flesh, obviously it's a bit difficult being 800ks away but you're correct, a true analysis of a player is difficuly if not impossible from the TV. Also, I didn't say he'd been 'quite good' in most games, only a few (two or three), but anyway that's probably beside the point. On your points on Paul Johnson, well his skill level is obviously not as awful as I thought it was after seeing him impart some confidence into himself and his ability to use his skills recently. Prior to the last few weeks he seemed so unsure whether he'd be able to hit his target, he rarely kicked, and when he did it often missed the target - presumably from a lack of confidence and belief. It's good to see him back himself. Still, his right foot is abysmal. I like the idea of leaving him in the forward 50 for the rest of the season, or the next 4-5 at least, to see how he goes. He showed more in one match against Sydney than he has for the past two years. Back to White, your points about his strength are valid, and I certainly agree that he is brushed aside far too easily in physical, one-on-one wrestling, which most often occurs at boundary throw-ins. Jolly man-handled him several times on Sunday, and I was thinking 'Whitey, what's going on, he's no bigger than you'. I guess I would like to see White and Johnson play the rest of the season, and probably Jamar as well. Jamar as second ruck, and Johnson as a forward, who only rucks from throw-ins in the attacking 50. Then we re-assess after round 22. That comment that White would like to go to Qld with his family; I guess it's a pity for him (and us potentially) that the Gold Coast side weren't coming in next year, otherwise he'd go and we could've got a pick for him.

You're right Moose, but the role of the coach comes in to play here - if he is instructed clearly as to his role and positional play in all scenarios (i.e. in attack coming out of defence, direct man-marking, transitional phases, stoppages) by the coaching staff and he is still lost, then he does not have the footy brain required for AFL level. If, however, he's not being instructed on these things and is just going on his instincts, then it raises two points - 1. He has only played a handful of AFL games and his decision-making at this level will take time to develop (if it ever does) on its own, if he is not being soundly instructed, and 2. If he's not being instructed on these things, then our coaching staff are inadequate and not being thorough enough in their preparation. I hope it's the former, because that has consequences for just one junior player - if it's the latter, the club is in the sh*t. By the way, I'm sure some of you know this already, but his name is pronounced "Bo-dee", not "Boad", like all the commentators say it.

I have to say that I disagree with the majority of you who are advocating that White is now rubbish and that he should retire. We must be watching different matches because for my money, he's been quite good in a few games and ok in most of the rest. He's had 1 or 2 poor games, that's it. I think he should stay, play the rest of this year and next, and next year he can help mould our new ruck(s) that we pick up in the draft. His experience here will be invaluable. On the other hand, I reckon Jamar and Johnson are both pretty awful. Johnson's game on the weekend was the best I've seen him play. He actually has some confidence in his skills these last two weeks and did well on saturday, but one game isn't going to change my opinion - his skill level is awful, he is neither a ruckman nor a CHF or CHB, at best he is a forward pocket but with his skills and mobility I think he should be moved on or delisted. He can't ruck. Jamar, as a direct opposite, can ruck. But his skills are also attrocious, and his decision making - as has been mentioned - is at times baffling, and generally poor. Not the future. (And while the valid counter to this is that neither is White, Jeff can at the least still play a crucial role with the youngsters and young rucks. And Jeff's skills and mobility is better than Jamar's or Johnson's anyway.) If we had a Kruezer-type that White could mentor for a season, that'd be perfect, and White would be of great value to the club both next season and in the long-term if a situation like this were to occur. My opinion is to keep White as #1 ruck for the rest of the year, see who we pick up in the draft, and keep him next season as well. His mobility and skills give him another season for my money. The fact that he's my favourite player doesn't have anything to do with that either. Whitey's only got about 35 more games to get to 300, and only about 65 more to get to 300 for us, come on, let's give him a 5-year deal!

Hey, I know this is an old thread, but anyway. Andrew had a brain tumour a few years back which knocked him about a bit but he's fully recovered now. He lives in Adelaide with his wife, former Hockeyroo Juliet Haslam, with their two kids, Jed and Mitchell. He coached an SAAFL (Amateur League) Div 2 side this year from memory, I think it was Port District - they won the division. All-round top bloke I have to say.