Damo

I am genuinely feeling sorry for Dean Bailey. The season hasnt started yet and he cant win a trick. I wonder if he is giving direction to the leadership group? Im glad that we now have a no-nonsense approach that has unfortunately made Brock a three time loser.

This is as hopeful as I can be... Geelong West Coast StKilda Fremantle Port Adelaide Hawthorn Brisbane Collingwood Adelaide Sydney Carlton Melbourne Essendon North Melbourne Richmond Bulldogs Rodney Eade to be sacked by round 16.

Well I thought the fire had died out a bit too. It still seemed strange to read that the venerable H was being accused of being an apologist for the MFC. I was half expecting to read that we did well to select Chip Frawley soon. But no, Mo. FWIW I agree with you, BUT youve walked into the King St Sportsbar and asked the wrong guy to pay for the pool table.... (went to school with Phonse, as he was called then, never saw it coming. Thought I knew him well too...)

He isnt the first. Doug Hawkins tried it in the early 90's and it worked. He was very lucky as it only works occasionally. Mark Doran talked about it on SEN. They use Goretex. kevlar wears out! if it works and it still apparently is a bit of a long shot, he will be back by june. Otherwise he goes back to a more traditional rejig.

Wheatley and Green do play for their career all the time. Just like the Ooze plays for his. They want to play 250+ games in their career. So they manage themselves through games. They rarely give more than necessary. Green goes sometimes and it sticks out when he does. None of them go like Neitz, Carroll, Jones or McLean. They dont put their careers on the line. They put their bodies.

Well that clears that up....

While I think Aaron is a very good player, we dont really need another in the same mold.

Spot on.Should be pinned up. Get ready for a good old fashioned lynching Robbie.

I think he will. He has got form and his eyes were not on the ball. He tucked himself up to hit him under the armpit with his full body. I thought Kruezer did well to get up. No wonder he missed his shot at goal. Unfortunately Hawthorn's list is long and strong atm.

Just going on Point Kick outs, which in conjunction with kicking for goal, is the best method to work out who has best disposal; I would say Yze then Davey then Neitz then Green. If you look at our kicking out disasters Whelan and Wheatley were so bad, that often TJ had to amble from the centre to kick out. I reckon if Wheatley kicked long to the wings, he would have been a much better option but most of his (bad) kicks come from going short to the pocket. He is more accurate kicking longer distances than short in my opinion. he has a talent that is rarely used but highly rated by supporters.

Over on 'Ology they are saying he is OK and participated in this mornings swim.

Does anything concern you about our pre-season? Do you firmly believe things are going to plan?

Am I wrong or did he have a couple of operations on his legs over summer? I think this should be the year where he really has to show he is our best kick as he once was touted. At 27(?) Im tipping he will have a really good year. Im a fan. But on the other side he strikes me as a player who has to play in winning sides to do well on his own game. Robbo is another IMO, who always plays better when the team is performing.

That was two years ago now. Green plays within himself now. He needs to put his body on the line a bit more. I think Bruce and Yze will need to this year as well. Im a wrap for Greeny but our experienced players need to show some desperation when the real thing starts.

I dont agree. Hitting targets can be worked on and some players have great skills in this area. Handballing to stationary teammates, calling for the ball when you are not in a better position and not being aware enough to realise your mate is actually in a worse position are all awareness problems. They can be practised and theorys may be workshopped but they are not the same. FWIW Richmond are much worse than us in this area and that is our best hope of beating them on the weekend. Umm thats if we want to win on the weekend. I keep forgetting the secret plan of "getting under the radar".

Thats very funny. We are in the collective sh!T but the cockeyed optimism as expected from some quarters mixed with the Hanrahans(we'll all be doomed), has thrown up some funny one liners. It certainly seems a long way to the top ATM.

Sorry Graz, I dont believe that Dean Bailey would have sent those young blokes out on such a forlorn mission if Moloney, Davey, Miller and Frawley were available. If these players(or any other senior players) could play and he didnt play them, it stinks. As KB said today it was over within 60 seconds. It is unbelievable to me that we would have TRIED to put that team on the park. If that is genuine though, then I wonder if the strategy "we will sneak under the guard of a few clubs this year" is something that is being considered. Im pretty sad either way but i would prefer to believe our injuries are to blame.

Thanks Goodoil. I hope you make this a regular.

How I saw it from the Barwon Heads Hotel where I was constantly asked how we managed to hide Dean Bailey from 15 other clubs. 1. Its no use saying how many players we have got to come back, they werent fit to play so we played our best team. Why talk about who isnt fit? 3.Yesterdays team(our current best )is the bleakest outlook in (fill it in yourself) years. 3. Geelong took their foot off the pedal in the second half. Thompson didnt want them to get big heads. 4.We have no leaders.This is our major battle. Those in the leadership group yesterday were pantsed by Jones. Macca is a good ordinary player and NO leader. Green and White lived up to there teammates expectations. if we cant get some senior players back we wont beat Richmond next week. It is just the way it is.

Im not Sorry (for myself) But without having facts on hand, I believe most of the past 10 years can be characterised by our fitness at this time of the year. When we have a fair few out, we get off on a bad start and go downhill. If all are fit, even if we dont go well in the NAB cup, internal competition to get into the ones sees plenty of good performances. This year our outs are very significant and to add insult to injury, it seems that some of the outs are being carefully managed.i.e Rivers, Sylvia and Brock. The club seems to be telling the fans most of our injured are just niggles. This rings large bells in my empty head. The club has a history of playing down bad pre-seasons. To be as generous as I can be, Im tipping a rebuilding year. I will be pleasantly surprised if I got it wrong...

At least someone(else) thinks so.

I think that we should think about what Rhino says here. He is more likely to write something that is supportive of the club than write something negative. For him to express these concerns tells me we really need to try to urge our mates/family to get on board with memberships and show up at games.

The best thing about that article was that it sounded like Paul gardner was actually in Melbourne. Not New York, Mt.Everest, The Steve Irwin, Kokoda Track, etc.etc..

It would seem to me that Leuenberger and Gumbleton are good value bets.

I happened to hear a snippet of Greg Denham on KB's show yesterday. He said that a side issue of Harris' departure was Paul Gardners idea to remove the Demons logo by way of the supposed china link but was more correctly due to being proactive in getting ready for a merger. He said that it was clever thinking by PG. He then immediatley said it was a large topic for another day. KB let it go with that. They then went to talkback about the Harris departure and I had to turn off. Im surprised no-one else has brought it up or else they have and I missed that topic