pitmaster

No thank you. (Spoken in that deliberate way your mum had when you were really in the s*7$. Lumumba does not cut it for me - has been exposed in a less than very good team as a one trick pony. Watts has more skill more time and more upside.

Dogs are great. I don't get it either.

Probably Jetta although Tyson goes close. My vote for Jetta is partly because his rise has meant Jamie Bennell's break out year for West Coast does not hurt as much.

I don't have time for Hutchy either but just for the record he runs a substantial pr company and is up to the gills in moolah. Back to the main thread and thanks to those who caught the interview.

Let's hope we get a move on before that changes.

Since my query about who was going did not elicit any positives, and since it was an intimate affair of about 60 Demon obsessives, including several family groups of parents and adult kids, I guess I was the accidental Demonland rep for the event. First let me say you missed out. On a sensational gourmet pie at least. I had the lamb shoulder and vegetables teamed with a shiraz or two and it was a seriously high class pie (night). Entree was antipasto of terrines, prosciutto, salami, pickles, house chutney. Damn fine and I had to limit myself out of politeness since I was at a table with nine strangers who may not appreciate my customary two fisted eating style. Dessert was some form of brownie with caramalised banana and icecream. It was better than it sounds but I know you couldn't give a rats about the food. It was upstairs at the Duke. Robbie was MC. Gawnie the special guest but Roosy the star. What did I learn? We won't draft Wright even if available. Roosy did not exactly say this but he gave a very strong indication when the words 'won't take Wright' came out as part of an unfinished sentence. He was going on to say something else but stopped himself, but it was his comments about talls and the TAC that were most informative. He told us about the special rules for the TAC about no double teaming on talls, no players dropping back to flood and the fact that talls at that level often are mismatched for opponents. Mids on the other hand are matched evenly and it was clear he reckons a good mid at TAC level has a much higher chance of being a good mid at AFL level than a tall has of making the same progression. In other words TAC is so unlike AFL that it's not a good guide for talls. He explicitly said - "you can't judge talls in the TAC Cup". Plus he talked about the need for many mids - high half forwards who play as mids, half backs ditto, wings...you get the picture. Key message for me was we will draft mids and trade for talls. In fact I wanted to ask would he have drafted Hogan but did not get the chance, but given the Hulk's exceptional body the answer was probably yes. In summary he does not value draft picks the way some of us do: 'at Sydney we traded many draft picks because it's a lottery, the draft". He described the loss of Mitch - "probably the best player on the list" - as season changing. No news there but good to hear it. He said Howie will eventually return to the forward line better for the experience of playing back this year. Ours is a very damaged football club - the players bear that damage more than anyone - and it can only be fixed in stages. He talked about free agency as a huge impediment to clubs like ours and that ultimately most players will lose out as he (heatedly) explained to the AFLPA two weeks ago all the money will go to the elite few and mid-ranking players will drop from 250K a year to 150k. We are not after any free agents. Players with big upside are Howe and Tyson, and Salem and Toumpas need two-three years development. Improvement will come from improving the list but he also said there is 10-15% improvement from higher fitness levels which will come out of this pre-season. Then there was a raffle - signed framed guernsy, autographed footy and $100 meal vouchers for the Duke so those who got the vouchers actually got their dough back.

At the Duke of Wellington Tuesday from 6.30pm $100 a head. Anyone going? (Apart from me who despite having lost all appetite for watching football after the GWS debacle have been sucked in again.)

Club self interest would also see several want to see us have a PP because we have shown a willingness to trade them. That's the point of Roos coming out on Monday to say pick 2 is on the table again. He has said that last year clubs did not think we were serious about trading pick 2 so they did not offer much. At the same time the other clubs were opposing us getting a PP. If they had known they could have traded for it maybe they would not have wanted to block us getting it. I think our strategy this time was to hope that last year's Dom Tyson trade would have had the other clubs less resistant to us having an extra pick. It's pretty clear it won't work though.

The interesting thing for me - well one of them - is the calibre of the teams we beat and challenged such as Essendon, Adelaide, Richmond, Carlton and Port (got close twice), and the fact that in six games against the teams around us on the ladder we have not won one. Two losses to the Dogs, two to the Giants, plust St Kilda and Brisbane. There's something seriously wrong above the shoulders.

Yeah but on that game our compensation will be a fourth rounder

I am amazed this thread has generated so much activity. I recorded AFL360 thinking that King and Maclure were going to give us some real injsights but there was nothing there but confirmation of what many have said on this site: essentially that Roos has spent the year teaching the team how to defend and to commit but that has taken us far as it was going to and the team now has to learn to attack. Trade Watts? You mean no-one's ever said that before? Trade Toumpas, Grimes, Trenners? As others have said, they don't know about Toump's surgery? Really, if that is as shallow as their research was just let it go. Trenners has been hampered this year and may well break out next. King's get in five picks inside 20 was an academic exercise, nothing more. The segment genuinely disappointed me, but maybe I should be cheered by the insight we get on this site.

But he's a genuinely great bloke and could always get one as the ump's friend.

It's funny because after last week's game I was as disenchanted as I have ever been, but now with another game closing I have it back. I think it's the feeling (or desperate hope) that the boys will be intent on making up for what was their absolute worst effort of the year. I want to see what they can give us the next few weeks, and I will be seriously p$#@ed off if we don't win at least the GWS game. We can say farewell to Strauss, Nicholson, Blease and McKenzie without a backward look. There might still be more to learn.

You weren't alone. I said to my mate 'this is no certainty'.

And we need allies on the MCC. So their alliegances are relevant. Not everyone on that committee is well disposed to propping up a struggling football division. This year I might even vote and anyone who has Demon on their CV gets my support.

One eight six showed us that they Cats like to showboat. None more so than Steve Johnson. I don't think they had the cue in the rack so much as our negativity shut them down as their sooking coach told us. Anyone else snakey about his comment about us not scoring without free kicks? What about his skipper staging for head high tackles and scoring from the resulting free? What about their constant throwing of the ball which went unpunished? What about Pederson pushed front on in a marking contest in front of goal and no free? (Before anyone jumps, I am not suggesting we were due anything less than a flogging but the scale was compounded by mediocre umpiring.)

We might at last beat the Saints. Lenny has sorted us plenty of times.

But the only one missing - apart from Hogan who we haven't really seen - who could have an impact is Cross. Cross would lift our midfield output, but who else on he list do you see making a difference? I guess it's time Tappy had a run to see if he can do anything, although my once high expectations are much lower now.

Sorry chief, but it's toe the line. It's not a fishing line that one casts but a line to which one stands, in conformity, like soldiers on parade. Pedantic? No, because I don't pick it up every time someone here gets it wrong, but that stuff about casting the line got to me since you clearly had the wrong idea. George Orwell had an entire essay on this stuff. It's worth checking out "Politics and the English Language". Otherwise I am in full agreement, and more power to you.

It's a pattern though - going back years against the 'Dogs. They do well against us. One time the Umpires even disguised themselves as Demons by wearing a pink tops for the breast cancer game (at night!) and it turned in the last six minutes after Clint Bartram turned it over by handballing to an umpire. Go back further and an umpire retired after gifting them the game with a clearly wrong free against Jim Stynes which resulted in the match winning goal to these canines.

I don't see why. Surely it's just a lighthearted comment about how much we are anticipating him getting out there.

Link http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/paul-roos-makes-melbourne-the-hardest-team-to-score-against-once-inside-50-20140616-zs9gp.html

The Bulldogs was won that got away, too. We were right in that despite a leaky defence. Anyway, we get our chance in a couple of weeks to show them how it should have gone.

Can't drop Riley. He is the only senior player on the list never to have played in a losing side. He is our totem. Big magic.

I have to admit for me he was seriously underwhelming until this year. He has been sensational. A big tackling presence for us. One of Roos' big improvers, and on the evidence of his game against the druggies Jordie Mac might be about to join him, but I don't want to hijack this thread...all hail the Jet.