Rosso

Did anyone actually read the full post, especially the part at the end where I said this was tongue in cheek and that I did not want us to tank??? I thought only Collingwood supporters couldn't read... Sigh...

What a grim position our club has reached. Yet all is not lost. If we embrace a season long strategy of losing every game (we are well under way!), untold riches await. Consider this scenario. If we finish bottom, our draft picks in the (bumper) upcoming national draft would be as follows. Pick #1 Pick # 2 (compensation pick for Tom $cully) Pick #15 (compensation for Tom $cully, GWS have an extra rd 1 pick and assuming Dogs finish lower than 9th) Also, once the bidding for Jack Viney occurs, our 1st round pick is protected as it would be no1. As far as I know we can't be made to use our compo picks on him, so we would then use our first pick in round 2 Pick which would be about #25, given that Brisbane have an end of rd 1 pick. The alternative is to battle through the season finish around 12th and have: Pick 8 (probably have to use on Viney) Pick 9 ($cully) Pick 15 ($cully) Pick 30 NB.... Before everyone jumps down my throat and labels me a disgrace, this is firmly tongue in cheek, I will probably drive to the West Gate Bridge and jump off if we don't win a game this year. However, leading into the last round a win or loss may be very important as to where we are forced to take Jack Viney.

I'm (currently) one of the lapsed members from last year. I fully intend to re-sign before the season starts but just haven't got around to it. I received my renewal notice in November last year, and reckon I have received it at that time each year for the last 8-9 years. Very surprised to hear the suggestion that the club hasn't contacted the lapsed members.

Both Kelvin (Richmond) and Andrew (Port) Moore were avid Dees fans growing up.

Perhaps we could roll out the cheque book and poach Phil Scully from GWS (They seem to rate him highly). To seal the deal I suggest an innovative tactic... We'll pay one of his family members way above what they're worth to play for us!

I had my first pre-season soccer training session last night. At the soccer club I was widely ridiculed at the start of last year for saying I would rather lose Tom Scully to GW$ than Jack Watts. Since then my steadfast defense of Jack Watts as a future superstar has become something of a running joke at the club. The boys love nothing better than winding me up about Jack. Anyway, one of the boys at the club was involved in running the Cadbury super team promotion in blacktown last week, where 20 AFL stars ran a clinic for youngsters. Jack Watts was up there, as was Tom Scully. My mate is an avid North Melbourne fan and said he went there expecting Jack Watts to be a tool, but said Jack was an absolute ripping bloke and readily interacted with all the staff organizing the event. Tom on the other hand was aloof and barely spoke to any of the staff and came across as an arrogant nob, kept to himself and didnt really even interact much with the other players up there.

I also made the trek down to casey fields this morn. A few observations. During the short kicking drills the boys did after their initial sprints they were paired up and kicked 20m stab passes. Due to the windy conditions it was noticeable that those with controlled ball drops ie Jurrah, Cook, even Bartram stood out, whereas those with higher ball drops really struggled. Cale Morton was kicking to Jurrah and probably hit him only 60% of the time over 20m it was a bit embarrassing for him, especially as coming back the other way Jurrah was riding them perfectly left to right on the wind and Morts didn't even have to move.... mind you I'm convinced Jurrah is playing a different game to most of our lads.... just oozes class. Also during the short kicking to a man on the lead drill which followed this one, Max Gawn was really impressive, hitting the target often in the wind. During the drill where the lads had to handball into a net, I was watching the group on the grandstand side of the ground. As mentioned by someone else Sylvia was a standout, as was Bennell. Watts had one lovely piece of play where he sold Beamer some serious candy baulking him 3 times in a row. It was poetry in motion... suffice to say Beamer was not impressed, the look on his face was priceless. Also while I'm talking about Watts, he was really vocal today in terms of banter with the other lads, at one point he and Sculls were getting their team really revved up before drill. Watts also seems to have taken Cook under his wing, as during the forwards drill he spent some time discussing technicalities of where to lead with Cook. Scully looks a million dollars at the moment. The other bloke who I really liked the look of was Kelvin Lawrence. He had purple boots on and reminded me a lot of Lewis Jetta the way he glides over the turf... he also kicked the ball really well. After the main session Dunn and Newton spent 10 mins doing set shots from 40-50m out. Josh Mahoney was standing behind the goals and was chatting with myself and a mate. He had a few interesting things to say, and was quite happy answering questions. Of note..... He said Jamar gets really sore feet this time of year because of the hard grounds, so nothing more than precautionary him not being out there, said it has been this way for last couple of years. Said Max Gawn has had a setback with his good knee, and so probably won't be game ready til mid year. Jeremy Howe is almost definitely going to play NAB cup, Mahoney commented that they are really impressed with him, and said that he looks as though he has been playing at this level for years. We also discussed Jack Watts progress, and the feeling is that they are more than happy with where he is at, this far into his career. I took some photos which I'll try and post tomorrow when I have more time. Nothing brilliant but a few nice shots.

I was having beers with a mate the other night. This bloke's father pays a ridiculous amount of cash for a premium Hawthorn membership, where one of the perks is that Chris Pelchen ( Hawthorn general manager of player personnel and strategy), sat down with the group of premium members and talked them through their recruiting strategy prior to the draft. Apparently during this talk, Chris Pelchen mentioned that Cam Bruce had had a big falling out with Chris Connolly, and that was why he was looking to leave the Dees, despite Hawthorn offering less $$$ than the Dees did.

As at 4:30 today Pies 31595 Haw 26934 Dees 17541 Stk 15218 WB 14065 Rich 13652 Carl 10511 NM 9474 Gold Coast 5136 Geel 4662 3rd out of Vic clubs isn't bad...... although Ess aren't declaring their figures, but since you can't even buy a membership on their website, presumably they are less than us! And what's going on at Geelong, less members than Gold coast......

Picture 4 says, " Liam Jurrah shows off his leap"...... that's not the only thing he's showing off! Matt Shirvington would be envious!

Will be surplus to requirements at Whitten oval, as they look to get more games into Roughead, and Cordy. For mine he is sorely lacking in footy smarts, despite apparently being quite cluey off the field. Far too often he seems more intersted in hurting someone in a tackle than winning a free kick..... PASS

no friggin way. that dude is the biggest sook with a bad attitude. Not the sort of bloke you would want at our club.

The problem with the current system is that 1st plays 4th first week of finals, and 2nd plays 3rd. So if all games are won by the higher ranked team, then the team that wins the minor premiership has to beat the side that finished 3rd in the prelim, whilst the team that finished 2nd gets an easier prelim playing 4th.

I was speaking to my mate who is in Yuendumu last night (and happened to be eating Lasagne with LJ while we were speaking), and he said that Liam was joking that to get his full value for the years supply of petrol he was going to drive to Yuendumu and back each week!!

A very sad story, this one. I have a friend who lives in the Yuendumu community and is a friend of Liam's, he has told me that Liam has played a really positive role as peacemaker.

B: Fletcher Scarlett Archer HB: McLeod C. Cornes Hodge C: Cousins Voss Buckley HF: Hird Brown Ricciuto F: B.Johnson Lloyd Riweoldt R:Cox Ablett Judd I: Goodes Black Akermanis Pavlich Capt Voss Coach Roos I Felt bad for leaving out : Chapman, Kouta, Tredrea, Richo, Swan, Lappin, and Goddard who are all at about the same level as those i picked.

Paul would be a great pick up in my opinion. Before taking up the North role, he was running his personal training business out of the gym I went to in Boronia. A few friends and I had some personal training sessions with him and I cand say that he is a very good communicator, and looks a million bucks himself. Also the north boys seem to have very solid bodies, so I'm quite surprised they've let him go........ Jump in I say.

good insight, although I couldn't help but feel that all those stats kind of fed in to one another..... nevertheless good to see some progress being made. One other observation.... Jack Watts and Jordie McKenzie were missing from the list of young players who would be getting games under their belt?????, and Nathan Jones was missing from the list of experienced players that Bails said would be at the club next year, yet he clearly made reference to Cam Bruce being at the club next year.. hmmmmmmm

1. People who slam Cale Morton, for his year. Remember Adam Goodes the year he did his PCL... he was only servicable. Had a full pre-season the next year and came back a superstar. Give Cale a full pre-season and he'll become elite. 2. Players being allowed to throw or drop the ball provided it was an attempted disposal..... the holding the ball rule is a joke. 3. Our first quarters

Let's get behind LJ and ensure he gets the car.... vote now! http://www.afl.com.au/competitions/mark/mark.aspx Also regarding the respective heights LJ and Goddard achieved, one way of looking at it is that LJ jumped on Jack Watts (196cm) shoulders, whilst BJ rode Sam Fisher's (191cm). Jurrah was therefore 5cm higher, rode longer and just looked more stylish. Breathtaking.

So opposition supporters are moaning about us tanking after a thrashing of the swans, imagine if we'd had Moloney, Junior, Bate (in form), Grimes, Petterd and Trengove available! Unfortunately we're going to have to get used to the tanking gibe, which is fair enough cos realistically the sides picked last year and tactics employed did not set us up for winning. Over the next 5 years we will really reap the benefits of that, and so if that means putting up with tanking gibes, so be it.

I'm no fan of trumpet man, and to play our theme song before the game has finished reeks of arrogance. Acts like that will make us hated by other teams, and give them extra motivation to stick it to us next time they play us, I say boot the trumpet man back from whence he came.

I'm feeling lots of love for the big fella... almost teared up at the end of the interview. The boys watching will come out breathing fire! Can't wait for Sunday....... Go Dees!

Hi guys, I was at the game yesterday. I just thought I'd mention that Wonna's injury came about cos he ran 15m at full tilt to lay a massive shepherd for LJ who was streaking down the wing. Fantastic courage from Wonna but he picked a bloke who was about twice his size, and came off second best from the bump. He was in hands of trainers for a bit, and then left the field. It didn't look that bad, ie he wasn't cradling his arm like they do when they've done an AC joint. Hopefully he'll be back next week. For what it's worth, Jurrah was excellent yesterday especially in the 2nd Q, and made Marty Pask look like a second rate player. Silvia was a class above, and the other bloke I was really impressed with was Wall, who is a great reader of the play, a good size (197cm) and from the Scorps games I've seen this year, is definitely capable of cutting it at AFL level. I would love it if we rookied him next year.

A bit of perspective..... After 9 AFL games Nick Riewoldt had had 63 kicks, 23 Handballs, 41 Marks and had kicked 3.4. After 9 AFL games Jonathan Brown had had 41 Kicks, 20 Handballs, 26 Marks and had kicked 2.0 After 9 AFL games Jack Watts has had 51 Kicks, 43 Handballs, 29 Marks and has kicked 6.3 Give him a break people... I say offer him a decent upgrade, with strong incentives around key performance indicators