george_on_the_outer

There is no point having a booming kick at FB if it isn't used. Possession is the name of the game today and Wheatley is not good enough to provide the accuracy. As others have noted the quick kick-in is required, yet Wheatley walks in to do the job with no urgency. Closest player to the ball should be kicking it in to get it moving, and delivered to the simplest, easiest option. It means the opposition have to react immediately, and collapse their zone defence, which creates holes for the next kick.

Quite simple really...he was playing in the mid-field. He was stuffed running around in the engine room, so don't expect his "run from behind" tackles and speed like we have been accustomed to when he was sitting in the forward line. Personally, I would prefer him back forward (is that English?), as we were sorely missing the pressure that he provides on the opposition defenders, the turnovers he creates and the goals he snares from crumbing.

Hitouts are something which is useful as a statistic to Dreamteam fanatics and nothing more.... In football the only statistic that is relevant is hitouts to advantage. Don't blame the mid-field if the hitout is 20 metres over their head to no-one in particular. Don't blame the mid-field if the hitout is directly into the arms of the opposition....but don't blame the ruck if the mids overrun the ball or cough it up with the first possession. True son of the club that he is, Jeffs best days are behind him. Not through any fault of his own but the centre square rule has killed him because he cannot use his leap to win the contest. It is no surprise that 200cm rucks are the norm now not the 196 type that he is. Then around the ground the 200cm giants just stand in the way at throw ups and boundary ball ins. Personally I don't think there is any advantage in having a ruck on the ground most of the time these days, unless they can do other things like Cox and Lade do. I have wondered before who will be the first coach to realise that no ruck but 4 mids will beat 1 ruck and 3 mids at the centre bounce more than 50% because there is noone to hit it to.

....or is it because Ron Walker is chair of Fairfax?

I'll be there. Good opportunity to hear the coach "up close and personal"....and you get fed to boot!

I watched a fair bit of the training over the summer of 2004-5 when Alwyn was trying out. Quite frankly, he showed absolutely nothing during those sessions which would warrant even a rookie selection. Disinterested, no evidence of the freakish pace of his brother, and nothing "magical" about him that would make you say: "maybe this kid has something worth looking at for the future...". Remember we took Aaron as a rookie gamble, again only after virtually every club had passed up on him. Our position about Alwyn was no different from the assessment made by 15 other clubs, including Essendon. To his credit he went to the SANFL for a year and absolutely blitzed the competition. It was no surprise when Essendon then jumped at the first opportunity, especially given the ageing, slow list that they have. Finally, is there room for 2 of this type of player on the field? Probably not, unless you wish to forgo a mid-fielder or forward. Yes he will do well at Essendon. He isn't as good as Aaron, and he probably wouldn't have made it at our club regardless.

There was a lot of negativity around at the end of the season following the injuries that we suffered last year, and people were trying to slate it home to the conditioning and training staff. Some injuries are simply bad luck. Nothing can be done about a knee or a break. Soft tissue is probably the area where medical and physiotherapy staff have the greatest responsibility to assist the players get back on the track. But is it luck, great medical facilities or younger bodies that gets the player back on the track this week or the week after? Probably the responsibility of the training and conditioning staff, in terms of injury, lies in the muscle preparation with the good old "hammy" as the major source of time out of the game. Once it happens then the medicos take over and the duration of time out is dependant upon the extent of injury. ( and perhaps the younger body again..) With our current crew headed by Bohdan B, they are first class preparers ( is there such a word? ) of athletes. They have been doing it for years. And they prepare the bodies according to the task at hand. Marathon runners need different preparation to sprinters. Weightlifters different to gymnasts. So what do AFL footballers need? They need to be marathon runners who can sprint, and muscle bound weightlifters who can leap and gyrate on a pin point. It ain't easy. So logically, if they cannot prepare the perfect body for the game of AFL, they prepare the best upon the coaches instructions. And this is the important point....if the coach says make them lose muscle because he wants them to run faster, then BB and his crew can do it. If the coach wants more muscle so they are not pushed out in a contest of strength, then the running might get reduced. Look at the example purported to be happening at Footscray where "muscle up" is the order of the day. And this coming from Eade who is one of the great advocates of the running game. So what I'm trying to get to is that the preparation for our game is heavily dependant upon the direction of the coaches. Last year the training staff were told to trim the players down for the running game. Did that work? Probably not. Did it cause more injury? Maybe made some players more susceptible to certain types of injury. Was it the fault of the conditioning staff....absolutely not. Back to the question...I don't know if anyone can answer it from around here, as we don't have access to what is going on in weights rooms and what sort of running is happening. However, there have been snippets from players that indicate that this year, the miles in the legs is being achieved by the training drills, rather than pounding the tan. My observations are that training is going much longer than last year, and there has been an increase in the time spent in the run and carry and touch football drills. It goes for an hour at a time. Then they do it again some more. The players are exhausted at the end, and then they have to do more beep test type drills. Is this a better preparation for the game today? We will see, but BB and his crew are obviously preparing according to the coaches instructions. Yes it's different. Will injuries be less? Who knows. Will the players be stronger? Who knows. Is this the best preparation for the type of game we intend to play? Yes. What is that plan?....wait for the first game

When Dean Bailey arrived at the club he would have examined the list to see who had upside in some way. TJ didn't, Miller has. And the reason is that he is a big bodied mobile. This creates a lot of possibilities. And the one that everyone keeps overlooking is mid-field. He has been spending a fair bit of time with this group pre-season, read into that what you may. Dunne and Newton up front, Frawley and Rivers down back....we have options that release him. I can't wait to see the opening games. As for Franklin, as others have already noted, he doesn't beat you in the air. For someone who is that big he is very ordinary overhead. However, he is very mobile and quick, so you have to play a quick or a combination on him. But then he only turns it on every couple of games and is rapidly becoming another Richo on the field. Am especially awaiting further with his off-field antics which no doubt will resurface again this year.

It is actually very easy to explain.....when was the last time that CAC got a draft pick in the top 3 or 4. Yes Mclean and Sylvia...are they stars yet? Who knows.... But you have to go back to Travis Johnstone to find the previous of these picks, and that area is where you find the Stars you speak of. To put it simply, we haven't had the picks with which to select stars.

North have shot themselves in the foot. Brayshaws plan is nothing more than P...and Wind, and the fans have fallen for it. New sponsors...have added $300K to bottom line. 5 white knights....as if? What about the $5M debt....... And only 2500 turn up at Dallas Brooks. Even our club had a lock out on the night and filled both top and bottom auditoriums. Danger for us is a re-run of the Fitzroy saga. When North finally go broke and they are seeking to do anything other than relocate, up will pop the merger proposal......guess who with?

I'm with you furious.......the best football from Miller happened when he was throwing his weight around. Opposition players would sidestep when he was coming through. It was the last time that our opponents were afraid of a player wearing a Melbourne Jumper. The sooner this is reinvigorated the better for the team and the Club. Belt them Brad!

Done........

Spot on... 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.'.....George Santayana For those of us older than 15 we remember why the last Interstate series died a long slow death.: Clubs not interested in their players being injured and unavailable . Players not interested because they got injured playing for a meaningless result. The only ones who kept the fire burning were non-Victorians when there was no national competition, and players from clubs who had no hope of any success in their career outside this event ala Whitten. We now have a national game. South Australians barrack for SA sides, WA the same, Qld and NSW likewise. Who cares if the manufactured code of Rugby League gets the TV coverage from the same TV station that props up the sport in the 2 states where it has some credence? The AFL are myopic on this. The proposed round was meant to be a "rest" round for the players. If that's not going to happen, how about putting it toward a 30 game season, scrapping the pre-season cup and getting a fair draw for all clubs.

I don't think Aaron Davey has anything to worry about, unless double D can run a sub 10sec 100m....., but Robbo surely has..... if you watch the AFL video of this kid he is a strong leading forward with really, really sticky hands. He kicks better than anyone else recorded by Champion data, and he keeps his feet in contests.

Every year we have a new group of people come onto the site and start bagging the club for not running TV ads like Hawthorn and North and probably Richmond will. And every year the answer is the same....as Rhino has pointed out. It simply is not worthwhile financially! As others have said, they are extraordinarily expensive to make, and then even more expensive to run. For what? It actually doesn't convince those who will be a member to join up, because they will do it regardless. The membership phone ins that the people from Demonland-Demonology have produced far more membership renewals for the club than any TV ad. The club did some research years ago about the response rate to a TV ad programme. It produced only a minimal return at the aforementioned extortionate cost. The club has only limited resources ( as do all clubs ) It has to use them wisely, so it targets members in manners that get the results, not that make people feel good. And finally credit again to Rhino.....the best way to get people through the gate and signing up is on-field success. So I hope that this year we have a serious crack at things like the NAB cup, because it has not been on our radar for the past 10 years, and we still have nothing to show for that strategy.

....Richard Lounder, Anthony Banik, Aaron Fiora, Richard Tambling......does it matter who they pick?

I was fortunate enough to say that I watched him play. For me he was the most talented person to pull on a pair of football boots for this club. You went to the game just to watch him. And you never knew whether he would kick 1goal 10 points or 10goals 1 point! The amazing thing was how many possessions he crafted from absolutely nothing. Just look through the list that BBP has provided. When did you last see a forward getting 16 or 17 shots on goal? Or with Jackovich, if he got 5 goals for the day it probably meant he only collected 6 touches. Such a great waste of talent, because he simply wouldn't do ANY work on the training track. Gary Lyon provides some insight in his book "Demon Within", and the frustrations of trying to convince him to get off his bum and train with the rest of them. He had the talent, flamboyance and charisma of Ablett, without the dedication, concentration and work ethic.

One of the great things about winning the pre-season cup is that it gives clubs who may not be in the main race to establish a winning culture. Gibbs and Murphy have already tasted success.....have Brock and Jones? There is absolutely nothing like winning SOMETHING. There are no positives to finishing 2nd,3rd.... When was our last success of any form? Yes you have to go back to the late 80's, which also coincided with a couple of serious cracks at the main event. The young players from then learnt something about winning, the feeling and the work required. It almost translated into the big prize. Finally, isn't it strange how one of the clubs who compete in the pre-season GF seem to finish in the end of year GF as well? And for our club the supporters would relish some show of positive hope at an early stage in the season, following the debacle of 2007 ( not to mention the financial stimulus ) One thing is for sure...North Melbourne will be going full tilt at it in 2008.

Spot on Rhino. Mergers are by far the most sensible option, but noone will stomach them. I was listening to SEN the other night when this first arose, and the most poignant call was from an old Fitzroy fan who wished that his club had relocated when it was first mooted. They didn't and then spent years being flogged on and off the field, before the skeleton of the side was finally taken over by Brisbane. He encouraged North to do the same, before their club died through uncompetiteness.

Check out the train tracks shot. Buckley second from the left...look at the size of the arms!

To play finals you only have to win just over 50% of your games. We were blighted last year by the Daniher "run and carry" debacle, that finally was exorcised with his sacking mid-year. How many games did that piece of stupidity cost us? We lost 3 games (North, Essendon, Bulldogs ) because the team was unable to hold onto a lead with less than 1 minute in the game to go. We were ultimately decimated by injury, and had Godders, Ward and Brown selected on a regular basis. So with the first 2 items gone next season, we can be knocking on the door. With luck with the 3rd we can be a lot better. Trouble is that the disaster of last season has scarred players and supporters. Can the new coach engender some hope? If we ARE to make it we need to see something bright and shining very early on in the piece, to bring the team back together and the supporters through the gate.

try this in the forum: http://demonology.midnight.net.au/Index.iH...amp;BoardType=0

No we will not be training on Gotschs paddock. There is a new oval to be built alongside our facility. Collingwood will share that with us. Until that time Collinwood has to train on the paddock, and when the new one is operational, they will have to walk past our home to use it.

There is NO relation between a clubs wealth and the ability to pay its players because of the salary cap. Each club is entitled to pay $6.94M to its players under the cap. How it distributes the money is up to it through the player contracts. However, NO club can pay below $6.38M ( 92% of the cap ). So the club paying the lowest amount to its players only has a "spare" $500K or so to throw at a Chris Judd type. A top paying club has ZERO. The fortunate thing for Carlton is that Koutifides and Lappin retired in a lowly side who would probably be paying toward the lower point in the salary cap. Those 2 players would probably free up $750K alone. Add the 500K for paying only 92%, and Judd can be paid $1.2M straight away. That is probably why Collingwood was not in the race either at the end. They would pay 100% of the cap and unless they could offload or "retire" some players ( say like Rocca ), they couldn't find any spare cash. And they are one of the richest clubs. The dangerous game for Carlton, is like what happened to Collingwood when they got Buckley, is that they now pay 100% of the cap, with a single player commanding 20%. How do they pay for any more players? How do they keep the likes of Gibbs, Murphy, Kruezer into the future as they command higher salaries? Or do they follow the Carlton tradition of rorting the cap again? But this time the AFL is keeping a very,very close eye on their activities, and I suspect they know it as well. So unless the addition of Judd to a team that finished last can create a Premiership in the very near future with the list that they currently have, then they are destined to wallow in the lower reaches of the ladder until he approaches retirement. Finally, the money that pays the admin and football department etc basically comes from you and me and the sponsors. The salary of the players is basically paid for by the AFL as part of their distribution to all clubs. If we want to improve our position off the field, it is up to YOU and ME!

I have just spoken with Tim_ about the problem. Unfortunately for Tim_ a tree had blown down from his neighbours and took out all his power and telephone connections ( and a bit of his house to boot!). So until my call he knew nothing, and was otherwise preoccupied with trying to keep warm in the cold weather we have been experiencing. I am attempting to call the ISP on his behalf, and hopefully we will get the problem sorted, prior to the Judd announcement.......