Damo

It really degrades the pick when weighing up the player. Good for WA clubs in particular with the tyranny of their 4 hour trip each way. It must make it harder to go home for a weekend if the club physios and doctors tell them they dont want them on a plane for 8 hours.

Are there stats on how many top liners do return home to WA?

I am very keen to hear if Aaron vandenBerg and KK fronts up. My expectation is that long term injured who have recovered come back today even if they are in the older group. Any news?

i cant help but get excited thinking how much a fit Bennell would go nuts in our forward line. Just to see a couple of those flick ups to team mates by foot would make my day. On the other hand I will be ready to hit the Ignore button for a couple of weeks when, if we dont get him, the "Typical Melbourne" Deelander whiners start their "We'll all be runed Said Hanrahan" jive.

Owen was the gun of unknown proportions and we got him at 20 years old. He started for St Kilda at 16, kicked record bags of goals from a HFF and it seemed we hit a vein of gold. But he had issues. Burnt out young. I remember how good he looked.

If it is Young and Jackson, I bag Display name Chloe. But seriously no turf is more Melbourne than the Flinders St Station precinct. it is the city end.

Im really trying to forget the Pre-season when we got Rocket Rod Owen.

Joel says “I’m going to be training back at the club next week, just a few times a week, and when all the first five-year boys come back, the plan is to do some training with them,” I can't find when exactly pre-season starts. I'm guessing 4th November the Monday before Cup Day, but it may be a week later. I have a few questions: Who should we see in the 1st 2 weeks when normally it is only the 1-5 year players? Will we see Aaron VDB and Kade K ready to go? Will Langdon and Tomlinson have new numbers? Who is recovering from surgery and we shouldn't expect to see? Is Lever and Tom Mac finally 100%? Didn't mean to hijack thread but it is looming as a very important session and my researching skills are letting me down.

I believe it is worth taking a stand with Green and Martin. If you look at what it costs, I dont believe it is as high as the message it sends to other clubs. It is also worth considering which players would you make such a big play for? Green and Martin will be probably very very good. For me the benefits easily outweigh the risks.

Leigh Matthews takes some beating

Adam Goodes used an interpretive dance to get a message across. Thought it worked well.

At what point in the next month or so do we hear if he and KK are ready to go?

I hope it is a real big fish. Cameron, Whitfield, Finlayson.... Otherwise, if you know how to hold em, the shuffling and dealing goes on until the draft.

Josh Mahony says we are not done yet. GWS must be worried. If they really want Green but just cant justify the points needed if Melbourne pick him, as it would cost them so much, what then do they do? I wonder if there is anything they could legitimately offer GCS to NOT pick Anderson with pick 2? Dees get Anderson, Green to GWS. It is the only scenario I can think of, to not pick Green if our coaches are quietly playing hardball.

Miss Green was my grade 2 teacher in 1963 at St Scholastica's East Burwood. She was Michael Greens sister and a goddess to us little tackers. I would be so happy if this came to pass.

Whoo. I was worried there for a bit.

Neil Balme was interesting talking about players salaries yesterday. He spoke about how different players have different packages. Using Paddy Ryder's supposed new offer he said although it may seem high, it could also seem low depending how it is viewed. For example if Paddy plays 15 games and has good KPIs he will be in clover. Maybe $450,000 or more. If however because of recurring injuries he plays only 10 games he might only make 2/3 of that. That isnt exactly what was said but he seemed to be making that point when asked about an average players salary. So to extrapolate that, Collingwood may believe he will only be able to play 10 "Good" games, whereas Elliot believes he is fit for 20 Excellent games and is prepared to risk KPI's to acheive $750,000

Jones stopped being outstanding 2 years ago.

We all feel the misery. Wallowing in it is optional.

Is anyone up to date about Aaron Van den Berg and Joel Smiths ability to commence Pre-season training? Please aim me to the correct thread if there is Learnings about this.

But it was the best "2 touch game" since Robert Klomp won a rank arena.

I thought I would see Nat Jones handing in his captaincy by now. That would be leadership.

If true this saddens me. If only because he has been a positive force and now he will get potted unmercifully on DL as are most who dont go out in a box.

No one would play better for us than Oooze when he was within 2 weeks of contract renewal.

Fair enough, I may have missed his highlights. I had been a bit disappointed that he didnt go hard enough. Although I did see he played well a couple of weeks back.