Whispering_Jack

They really miss the maturity and common sense of Mike Sheahan these days, don't they?

We at Demonland have thought long and hard about when is the appropriate time to put an end to the Voldemort threads and have come up with June 24, 2012 to enable us to come to closure with this person and his family. Anything to do with him will be finished, kaput, over after we give GWS a flogging in Round 13 including the thread dedicated to anything but the little creep him. That still leaves us with 122 days to bag the living suitcases out of the Little Lord and co. PS: if I forget, could someone please remind me of the date?

100% right but he was Shane Warne and a major drawcard for the sport at the time.

Wade Lees is not guilty of anything at the moment other than perhaps being careless in not checking out the product he was buying. He doesn't deserve to be tarred with the same brush as drug cheats although his attempt to better himself is going to be costly. He's already had to engage lawyers and would be under a fair bit of emotional stress. Whether or not he is blameless, the VFL or AFL Victoria needs to step up its processes in terms of educating players on drug codes and the like. In the meantime, it would seem unfair on the basis of what I've read if he received a major sanction in a situation where the purchase was quite open and he didn't even receive the banned substance. It wasn't as if the purchase was from an underground operator or his mother as claimed by Shane Warne who was given a 12 month sanction back in 2003. In that case Warne actually tested positive to a banned substance which he claimed he taken to help with weight problems. In this case, the goods weren't received or used and, in the circumstances, it would seem unfair to me that he should be dealt with harshly if indeed, he's found guilty of any breach of the rules of the sport.

Don't take it for granted that Hurley is GWS's key forward target. The Herald Sun is reporting that their real aim is to snare a Magpie - Giant play for Collingwood's Travis Cloke. Another HUN article on the many AFL players who are spurning the big money offers to remain loyal to their clubs [AFL stars turning down big-money moves] states that "Hurley, who knocked back an offer from the Suns, is also tipped to reject a spell-binding offer from GWS to remain at Essendon." While nobody begrudges players the right to earn a fair whack from the sport, it's also refreshing to know that loyalty is still important to some players. With the GWS benefits and free agency operating at the end of the year, it's going to be interesting to see how things pan out.

Many moons ago, my father bought our first tv set and I remember the first interview I saw on World of Sport was of a then raw young Demon recruit Hassa Mann. I could barely understand what the kid from Merbein was saying. He spoke in a real country drawl that would make Chip sound positively articulate. Within a few years, he grew and developed and he was soon a leader at the club and working as an executive in business. Have fun at Frawley for not having a great deal of polish in an interview but I reckon he's a bloke who lets his football do his talking for him. He will develop in how he presents publicly over time.

I'm not sure which competition is more meaningless - the one day series or the NAB Cup? Could someone please tell me how the one dayers finish? Is there a grand final?

Call me paranoid if you like but I thought they showed bias against us throughout the entire intraclub game on Friday. Demetriou has to do something about this or the game'll go to the dogs!!!

I don't know about everyone else but after the first week of the first round of the NAB Cup, I'm feeling underwhelmed. I've watched most of the NAB Cup mini matches, some delayed through Foxtel IQ (although I fell asleep through the Fremantle v Essendon game and missed the end of tonight's tripe header) and so far the only teams that have impressed me have been West Coast who were a class above and Richmond who look early candidates for the big improvers. I get the impression that most clubs might be trying to keep their game plans under wraps (or perhaps they don't have any? ). The lowest point on the weekend came last night when I thought all three clubs were insipid. The Bulldogs appeared to get away with a win against GWS without any system or cohesion and were lucky that Tim Mohr had a hissy fit after a Doggie goal. Collingwood sent its VFL team with a handful of stars to Bleaktown and were pathetic but still good enough to win both games even if not particularly convincingly. The scene's been set in Week 1 but I truly hope we get something better next week. I've actually found an opening to go to the Gold Coast later in the week and take in Saturday's games but I really wonder if it's going to be worthwhile. I know that we're going to go in with quite a few players out because they're not ready but I hope the rest of the boys don't treat the games as a carnival jaunt north. We were insipid enough for large slabs of last year and I truly hope we go north with a bit of a mission even though the competition is looking more and more like a shadow of its former self (and it was never that much to start with).

An interesting article from of the Sunday Age on GWS recruiting and an expected Victorian counterattack Fear not Victoria

Fan, the role of the defender is to negate his opponent and to the extent that Sam Blease was the most outstanding attacking small player on the field and Tynan was opposed to him for a good part of the game then you're right in your assessment of the kid. I have a feeling that we're often going to see that when Blease turns on the afterburners, very few defenders (let alone someone as green as Tynan) catching him. However, I also think you're being way to harsh on Tynan and on DH's assessment of him because they weren't opposed to each other all of the time and, unlike Simon Godfrey whose disposal and decision-making were always questionable at best, Tynan's skills in those areas were quite good. The thing that I liked about Tynan was how well he fitted into the defensive team and went to the aid of others such as in the little cameo where he risked life and limb to effect a great spoil on Mitch Clark. It was something we didn't see enough of in the "bruise-free" parts of last season.

Thanks for that. I wasn't entirely sure that it was Davis but it was one of the best plays of the day IMO because it cut off an almost certain goal. I thought that in general play, he was giving Watts plenty of latitude but was quick enough to get back into position to apply pressure on him when the situation demanded. Davis missed this part of last season last year and didn't really get started at Casey until several rounds into the season. He'll find it hard to break into the side for a while but it's handy to know we have such a good prospect to step in should a vacancy arise or (and I believe this is will become a factor in the coming years) if players are rested from time to time during the season.

I wouldn't get too carried away over what happens in a NAB Cup fixture in the third week in February. This time last year, the Suns won both of their opening half games (albeit one of them was against GWS). They did beat the Sydney Swans in a close fought match but it didn't prevent them from losing their opening AFL game by 119 points when they played Carlton in Brisbane in round 2. It's already obvious that coaches are using these games for experimentation in terms of styles, player positions, rotations and a raft of other things. Most aren't overly concerned at what's happening on the scoreboard because, at this stage, they have a different focus. In those circumstances, you can expect young enthusiastic teams like GWS to give good accounts of themselves. Scully looked clearly rusty to me - like a player who's spent a fair amount of his pre season in rehab and possibly not prepared to test his knee too hard in this sort of game. He played like the Scully of 2011 rather than the 2010 version but that doesn't mean he won't improve. There were reports that Scully was subjected to some abuse from the small number of opposition fans on hand and it appears that he's going to have to get used to this, at least in his initial season and especially in round 13. I know it's Sydney and they don't get big crowds to games like this but I wonder if the AFL was happy with the crowd of a little over 7k given that two traditional AFL clubs including the game's biggest drawcards were competing.

He was also on two tough customers in Watts and Clark and lowered his colours to the latter but did well on Jack. The lack of numbers on jumpers was a problem but I think he was the one who smothered a shot for goal by Watts early in the piece. It was a nice piece of play from whoever effected that smother because otherwise, it was a certain goal.

They've also announced their mascot - G-Man and he's a Ranga! http://www.gwsgiants.com.au/

Judging by the look of the Hawthorn jumper last night, if I was a sponsor, I wouldn't want my logo on it!

I stand corrected. Thanks for that! Luke's the name of the brother who plays for the Casey Scorpions.

I'm surprised that nobody here has seen fit to comment about the fact that yesterday will become known as the day the music died again - the day they released the GWS club song. Actually, they didn't release it - it just escaped. I heard it while driving to Casey Fields for yesterday's practice match and I nearly ran the car off the South Gippy Highway. For some reason, I was expecting the GWS song to resonate with the sounds normally associated with belly dancers and cheap felafel joints but a disco version of a Cossack dance from the steppes of Russia? Far out!!!! What's more is that it got even better when I saw vision of players lip synching their new song on video, Milli Vanilli style. How appropriate for a fake football club to evoke images of that group of frauds with the release of their club song? For all that, while this catastrophic piece has undoubtedly set the song writing for new franchises industry back some decades, I still reckon that, as bad as the song is, it's the best thing to ever emanate from the black hole we know as Greater Western Sydney. Those bastards deserve it - and more!!!

The best way to get him back here is for the club to come out and produce the brand of football that will show him that the club is going to be a force in years to come so that when he is in his prime he's going to be associated with a successful football club. If we want to get him, we should follow the lead of Carlton who got in early with Judd and had people in his ear before he knew he wanted to leave WA. Of course, showering him with money and offering the Eagles both our compensatory picks, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Tom Scully's jock strap might be needed to seal the deal. You know the footy's here when people are already discussing trades for next October. I love this!!!

I'm with you there ... it would have been a nice touch going with that tune done by duelling banjoes and having the cast of Deliverance stomping their feet in time with the musicians. Very emblematic of the western suburbs of Sydney and some of the players Sheedy and co have managed to get together at Breakfast Point. Can I buy the CD anywhere?

Just got home and I still haven't been able to work out what I made of this hybrid between a training run, circle work and a practice match. No scoreboard, player lists or numbers on the players' backs made it a little confusing but I managed to work out that the club is going to benefit from having a target up forward in Mitch Clark and we can expect big strides from Sam Blease, Jeremy Howe, Tom McDonald and Dan Nicholson. Without numbers it was hard to work out who the new blokes were so I guess we have to wait until the half real stuff starts with the NAB Cup next week.

Great mark on the 4/8 siren by Mitch Clark followed by a pressure goal. The guy can play.

A few years ago a well known former Melbourne supporter who wore #3 for West Coast walked out of the Eagles and was duly snapped up by Carlton. Now comes the news that history might repeat itself. Is Gaff really homesick? Would he take the money and run to Carlton or Essendon? Would old allegiances and our two compensatory picks give us an edge if he wanted to come home? Eagles move to grab Gaff

Breakfast.

The first question asked of Neil Craig was about James Sellar who played under him at Adelaide after being drafted as a first round pick. Sellar had been a top junior but when he entered the AFL system he struggled with the mentality of elite performance as well as with injuries. He was just starting to get things right in his final year but was delisted anyway at the end of 2011. He became one of a very few to get a second chance when drafted by Melbourne. Sellar was picked because of his flexibility - he can play forward, back and in the ruck. At this stage he obviously lacks team security and still needs to earn his place in the side. Jade Rawlings was asked to elaborate on a comment about needing to fill gaps. Where did he see those gaps? He said that there is adequate depth in the forwards, the club could always use more midfielders as well as a small back. We can always use genuine ballwinners. There are a few there at the club but more will be obtained at the trades and drafts and through the compensatory pick options available through Tom Scully's departure. Another question was asked of Neil Craig about the Interchange rules. Neeld was quick to point out that coaches are not the keepers of the game. Their duty is to win, not produce a good game i.e that would be a conflict of interest. The AFL is interested in slowing the game down to reduce injuries. Therefore there have been been interchanges which means less rest. Asked what he saw when he first came to the MFC, Craig said he loved what he saw. He said he regarded Adelaide as a serious football club and senses that with the MFC the club is seeking to establish high standards, positive conflict, high values and people with the road map to get there.