pitmaster

I hve nothing to say about Taggert except disappointment at another pick wasted. Personally I know nothing of him. As for Nicholson, he IS indeed very lucky. I thought he must have been contracted. If not, then his survival must mean the teacher of the remedial disposal class (by hand AND foot) is going to be working over time.

May 31. Smack in the middle of the second term so that blows the idea of a holiday around Alice. I am not happy with the news but the weather could be ok. Those who reckon Darwin is just an excuse should remember 2013 versus Norf. Listless we were, from the get go. Darwin the week prior cannot have helped, specially when you think that game came during a period when we had shown some improvement. (I know, low base but it was improvement.)

Evans has dash and if he can string games together will be vauluable, M Jones was top four in the b&f and I would expect will improve with a year under the belt and Roos and Stone in his ear. I think it means more for guys like Bail and Nicholson who will either come on plenty or leave quietly in the not too distant. (ps: who else has allowed themselves a smile at Mark Robinson's expense this morning? Timing is everything.)

Most of those members are MCC members who join up when they renew their MCC membership which has to be paid in time for the finals each September. Then there's the automatic roll-overs who pay monthly to add on to the MCC lot. That's why our early numbers look so much stronger these days but we tend not to grow so well once the season is underway.

Go easy. It's a recurring pain. If anything Taylor Adams has given it a new emphasis and greater clarity. Little wonder we are hardly mentioned in despatches. It's going to be our own road back and no one else's.

Midfielder. Melbourne kid. Sandy Dragons. Might be the one (that is the two pick). What do we know?

Harsh. TJ showed much more, more consistently. I am sorry to see Col go but mostly he has been a tease.

Didja buy the ticket? I did. $200 I won't see again...oh well, gotta do your bit.

The key is what Leoncelli had to say about the slackness he found when he arrived. No amount of injuries can account for that.

So no-one here heard Andrew Leoncelli interviewed by the Coodabeens yesterday? It was pretty interesting in an historic sense. He was asked about the rise from wooden spooners in '97 to prelim finalists in '98 and put it down to the hatred of losing which Neale D brought to the club. Tougher training, harder running (no pushbikes). For me he confirmed what I have long thought about Neil Balme's coaching. 'Cells had been at Carlton briefly and not broken into their side (he said they were not interested in developing young players at the time) and he was plucked from the amos by Melbourne a couple of years later. He said Melbourne in '96 and '97 was about blokes enjoying themselves but not winning many games. Training was slack and losing was easy. Remember that Balme inherited a tough as nails mob from John Northey for the '94 season and we ran downhill steadily after that, aided by David Schwarz' dodgy knees for a distraction. The Coodabeens pointedly did not ask 'Cells who was coaching Melbourne when he arrived to discover its slackness, but he was full of praise for Daniher and how he hardened up the joint. Let's hope a similar conversion is possible now.

Tiges are welcome to him. They are made for each other.

Once an impression is created it's hard to erase. But if you read the Age article you'd see why your 'casual interest' line overstates it. The Age clearly says Martin's manager rang Roos. Not the other way around. So Carr is shopping his boy around and rings Roos, presumably because he thinks our number 2 pick is the sort of thing the Tiges would want. Roos confirms his reputation by not jumping for this troubled and troubling young fella and we dodge a bullet, except there never was a bullet except in Carr's imagination. The value I suspect existed in the exercise from our perspective is that it was a chance for Roos/MFC to flag our willingness to trade pick 2 in the right circumastances. That's all was ever to it.

Show me. Because what I clearly remember is that she said the rumours about him were over stated and not warranted. If that's "alluding to his isses" it does not count given the no-holds-barred approach applied to players of other clubs.

Spot on Sue.

Worse than character assassination, she effectively admitted suppressing negative stories about a RICHMOND player in the off season. As some pointed out here at the start of the year, she did not show the same consideration to a certain COLLINGWOOD player. There was no shortage of rumours about what Dusty was up to in the off-season but none of them materialised in the press. And CW seems to be saying that she colluded with her club to keep those stories out of the public eye. Now that might be a good thing for the bloke's long term future, but she did not show that concern for Dane Swan. For mine, I hope that Roos is using this to signal our willingness to trade for midfielders. I really do hope we don't get this bloke. A no-ratbag policy is preferred. We can do better and I hope Roos' talk is all about letting others know we are in the game. No more.

I have no idea how this will pan out but those bagging Jamar's trade value need to reconsider. Mature match hardened ruckmen are a rarity and much sought after. Look at Hawthorn: the latest is Hale and they are forever topping up their ruck stocks. Paul Salmon remember?

Agree regarding Clisby who looks an absolute goer, and Nicholson and Bail to go but Evans is worth perservering with.

Sellar, Davis, Couch, Tynan and Gillies with the three retirees makes for eight changes and little hurt so far. Davis I had hopes for at one stage but really did not progress. Sellar, for all the sledges he copped here was servicable at times but Couch and Gillies sadly did not cut it and Tynan at pick 52 could have been inspired, but wasn't. Three who could count themselves lucky (at least so far) are Strauss, Nicholson and Bail. Thanks to all however, for their efforts. They got a lot closer than I ever did.

That would explain the saint.

Agreement. The word is AGREEMENT. That thing you wrote is not a word, it's a modern distortion of a noun created by some clown who does not know his own language. I have nothing to add on the Roos matter. It is clearly done and all that is left is the timing. We need something else to post about, preferably in real English. (Not having a go at you PsD - just try not to murder the language again, pls.)

Missed the game last night but as soon as I saw the quote in the paper I thought it's on. Looks very likely now and Eade backing off suggests he may have been signalled.

So if Bates is gone (and he is) who's our doctor now?

There's never been more to this than a text message. If no-one can find evidence of Bomber players taking anything given their industrial style substance program how would there be evidence of a tube of cream for Trenners which he may have received but possibly never used? And the shot Dunn is supposed to have spoken of sounds like it would have been one of the approved vitamin shots alluded to in another text. I genuinely feel on reflection that we are cool.

Thanks a lot Mark Robinson - dropped us in it! God he has a good head for punching.

Did not see the game but the free kicks 25 to 11 looks seriously suspect. How come they never run that way when we host a non-Victorian club? So tell me before I watch the replay...how many goals were those frees worth to the margin?